Outline of the eviction process in Michigan

Michigan evictions are summary proceedings under Chapter 57 of the Revised Judicature Act (MCL 600.5701 and following), with notice to quit rules in MCL 554.134 and procedure in Michigan Court Rule (MCR) 4.201. Cases are heard in the district court (MCL 600.5704).

Amendments to MCR 4.201 that took effect November 6, 2023 turned the first court date into an advice date: the judge must tell the tenant about counsel, rental assistance and other options, and if the judge then adjourns the trial, the new date is 7 to 14 days out. Many cases take two court dates. Michigan has no statewide just-cause rule for ordinary private rentals, and local rent control is prohibited (MCL 123.411).

1. Grounds

The residential grounds in MCL 600.5714(1) are:

• Nonpayment of rent, where the tenant has not paid within 7 days after service of a written demand for possession (§ 5714(1)(a)).
• Drug activity: holding over 24 hours after a written demand, where the lease has a clause allowing termination for unlawful manufacture, delivery or possession of a controlled substance on the premises. A formal police report must have been filed (§ 5714(1)(b); MCL 554.134(4)).
• Holdover after the lease is terminated under a power in the lease or implied by law, after the lease term ends, or after a notice to quit under MCL 554.134 (§ 5714(1)(c)).
• Serious and continuing health hazard or extensive and continuing physical injury to the premises, where the tenant does not move out or substantially repair within 7 days after a demand. The condition must have been discovered, or reasonably discoverable, not earlier than 90 days before you file (§ 5714(1)(d)).
• Causing or threatening physical injury to an individual on the landlord’s property: 7 days after a written notice to quit. The police department must have been notified, and the ground does not apply where the victim is the tenant or a household member, or where applying it would violate federal housing regulations (§ 5714(1)(e)).

Just cause applies only to two groups. Tenants of housing operated by a local government unit and tenants of mobile home parks are not treated as holding over unless the tenancy was terminated for just cause (§ 5714(2) and (3)).

Retaliation. The court may not enter a possession judgment where the termination was intended primarily as a penalty for enforcing legal rights, complaining to a government authority about code violations, or a lawful act such as joining a tenant organization. If the tenant shows that within 90 days before the case was started the tenant tried to enforce rights or complained through a court or government agency, and that effort was not dismissed or denied, retaliation is presumed (MCL 600.5720).

2. Notices

• Nonpayment, health hazard, physical injury and drug cases use the 7-day and 24-hour periods in section 1 (see also MCL 554.134(2) and (4)).
• Ending a month-to-month or other tenancy at will: one month’s notice to quit (MCL 554.134(1)). Where rent is payable at intervals shorter than three months, notice equal to the interval between rent payments is sufficient.
• Ending a year-to-year tenancy: a notice to quit given at any time ends the tenancy one year after it is served (MCL 554.134(3)).
• Lease violation. There is no separate statutory period. The lease must give you a power to terminate for the breach; you terminate under that clause and give a notice to quit. In practice landlords use the period the lease specifies, or one month (one rental period) if it is silent; this is practice, not a statutory number.
• Federally backed or subsidized properties may also be subject to the federal CARES Act 30-day notice requirement.

What the notice must say (MCL 600.5716). It must be in writing, addressed to the person in possession, describe the premises, clearly state the reasons and the time to take remedial action, state the amount due if nonpayment is claimed, and be dated and signed by the landlord, attorney or agent. The State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) publishes forms DC 100a, 100b and 100c.

How the notice is served (MCL 600.5718). Four methods only: personal delivery to the tenant; delivery on the premises to a member of the tenant’s family or household or an employee, of suitable age and discretion, with a request that it be given to the tenant; first-class mail addressed to the tenant; or electronic service, but only if the tenant has specifically consented in writing to electronic service and that consent was confirmed by an electronic exchange between the parties. Posting the notice on the door is not a listed method. Posting is available only later, for the summons.

Counting days. A mailed notice is treated as served on the next regular day for delivery of mail after the day it was mailed (§ 5718).

3. Filing

File in the district court for the county or district where the premises are located (MCL 600.5706). MCR 4.201(B) requires the complaint to attach the lease or other written instrument and copies of any notice to quit or demand for possession. For residential premises the complaint must also allege that the landlord has kept the premises fit for the use intended, in reasonable repair, and in compliance with applicable state and local health and safety laws. SCAO complaint forms are in the DC 102 series and the summons is form DC 104.

Filing and service fees vary with the money claim and the court; check the current schedule. MCR 4.201 does not say who may appear for a corporation or LLC; confirm with your court before an entity files without an attorney.

4. Summons, service and the first court date

In a landlord and tenant case the summons must set the appearance within 10 days of the date the summons is issued, and it must be served at least 3 days before that date (MCL 600.5735(2)). A court may by local rule instead set the appearance within 5 days after service (MCL 600.5735(4)).

Service (MCR 4.201(D)). The summons and complaint must be mailed to the tenant, by the court or by you. They must also be served in one of three ways: by a method allowed by MCR 2.105 (such as personal service); by delivering them at the premises to a household member; or, only after diligent attempts at personal service, by securely attaching them to the main entrance of the dwelling unit. If the tenant was served only by mail and posting and does not appear or answer, a money claim must be dismissed without prejudice or adjourned until service is complete (MCR 4.201(H)(1)(b)); you can still obtain possession.

The first date is often not the trial. At the date set in the summons the judge must verbally inform the parties of the right to counsel, the right to a jury, rental assistance, dispute resolution programs and conditional dismissal (MCR 4.201(K)(2)). If there is no triable issue, the court must enter judgment. If the court adjourns the trial after giving that advice, the new date must be at least 7 but not more than 14 days later, unless a jury is demanded (orally at the first appearance or in writing within five days, MCR 4.201(G)(4)) or good cause is shown, in which case the adjournment can run up to 56 days (MCR 4.201(K)(1)).

Default. A tenant who was personally served and does not appear can be defaulted on the first date. If service was by posting, a default for possession requires either that the court mailed a second copy of the summons and complaint and kept a record, or that the case is pleaded and proved under § 5714(1)(b), (d), (e) or (f) (MCR 4.201(G)(5)).

Rental assistance stay. In a nonpayment case the court must stay the proceedings if the tenant applies for rental assistance and gives the court written proof of the application within five days after being informed of the option. The stay runs 14 days at first and may not exceed 28 days in total (MCR 4.201(I)(3)).

5. Judgment, pay and stay, and appeal

The judgment must state when and on what conditions an order of eviction will issue (MCR 4.201(L)). In a nonpayment case the judge or jury determines the amount due at the time of trial, and the judgment states that amount as the sum which, with taxed costs, the tenant may pay to prevent the eviction (MCL 600.5741). This is Michigan’s pay and stay right: if that amount and the taxed costs are paid within the time provided, ordinarily the 10 days after judgment, the order of eviction must not be issued (MCL 600.5744(5) and (7)).

Partial payments after judgment are a trap. If you accept a partial payment, the court may not issue the order of eviction without a hearing on notice to the tenant, unless the judgment provides that accepting partial payment will not prevent the order (MCR 4.201(M)).

Appeal. An appeal of right from a possession judgment must be filed within 10 days after entry of judgment, and postjudgment motions are also due within 10 days (MCR 4.201(N) and (O)). Appeals go to the circuit court (MCR 7.103). A tenant who appeals must file a bond covering the costs of appeal, the amount due stated in the judgment and damages, or obtain an escrow order from the court; the appeal with the bond or escrow order stays all proceedings, including an unexecuted order of eviction.

6. The order of eviction and the move-out

The statute calls it a writ of restitution; the court rule calls it an order of eviction. Ordinarily it may not be issued until 10 days after entry of the judgment (MCL 600.5744(5)). It may be issued immediately on specified grounds that are pleaded and proved, including drug activity, a serious health hazard or extensive damage, and forcible entry or trespass (MCL 600.5744(3)). You must apply for it in writing, verified by someone with knowledge of the facts (MCR 4.201(M)(1)).

Two 56-day clocks. Unless the court holds a hearing on notice to the tenant, an order of eviction may not be issued later than 56 days after the judgment is entered, and may not be executed later than 56 days after it is issued (MCR 4.201(M)(4)).

Who executes it. The order is directed to a court officer appointed by or a bailiff of the issuing court, the sheriff or a deputy sheriff, or a local law enforcement officer (MCL 600.5744(1)). Ask the clerk which your court uses. The landlord may not carry out the eviction personally.

Tenant property. The officer is commanded to put the landlord in full, peaceful possession “by removing all occupants and all personal property from the premises” and then either leaving the property in an area open to the public or the public right-of-way, or delivering it to the sheriff as the sheriff authorizes (MCL 600.5744(1)). The officer serving the order, not the landlord, decides whether the premises and property are abandoned (§ 5744(2)). We found no storage period imposed on the landlord in Chapter 57; ask the officer about local set-out practice.

Self-help is unlawful (MCL 600.2918). A tenant ejected by force can recover three times actual damages or $200, whichever is greater. For other interference, such as changing locks without giving a key, removing doors or the tenant’s property, or shutting off utilities, the tenant recovers actual damages or $200 per occurrence, whichever is greater, and can recover possession. Acting under a court order is the main exception; there is also a narrow abandonment exception.

7. Detroit

• Right to counsel. Detroit adopted a right-to-counsel ordinance in May 2022 and created the Office of Eviction Defense. The city says it provides free lawyers in 36th District Court eviction cases to households with gross income up to twice the federal poverty level. News reports in 2026 described its funding as uncertain; check current status.
• Rental registration. The city requires rentals to be registered and hold a certificate of compliance, and runs a rent escrow program for tenants of properties without one. The ordinance was amended in late 2024; confirm current requirements with the city.

Recent law changes landlords should know

• MCR 4.201 overhaul (effective November 6, 2023). The advice date, adjournment window and rental assistance stay described above.
• Source of income protection (effective April 2, 2025). A landlord with five or more Michigan rental units (counting related entities) may not deny or condition a tenancy based on source of income, including vouchers and emergency rental assistance (MCL 554.601c, added by 2024 PA 178).
• Not law. We found no enacted 2025 or 2026 change to Chapter 57 or MCL 554.134. Tenant bills on record sealing, screening and fees, and a mobile home park package that passed the Senate in May 2026, were not law as far as we could confirm in September 2026.

What actually goes wrong

• Posting the 7-day demand on the door. MCL 600.5718 does not allow it.
• Counting a mailed notice from the mailing date.
• A demand that omits the amount due, or is unsigned or undated.
• Posting the summons without diligent attempts at personal service, or expecting a money judgment after mail-and-post service.
• Taking a partial payment after judgment without the partial-payment language.
• Missing either 56-day limit.

When to bring in an attorney

An individual landlord can often handle an uncontested nonpayment case. Use counsel when the owner is a corporation or LLC, when the tenant has a lawyer, raises retaliation or code violations, or demands a jury, for subsidized housing and mobile home parks, and for appeals. The Michigan attorneys listed below represent landlords in the district courts.

Sources

• Revised Judicature Act, Chapter 57: MCL 600.5704, 600.5706, 600.5714, 600.5716, 600.5718, 600.5720, 600.5735, 600.5741 and 600.5744.
• MCL 554.134, 554.601c, 600.2918 and 123.411.
• Michigan Court Rules 4.201 (as amended effective November 6, 2023) and 7.103.
• SCAO forms as listed by the 46th District Court; City of Detroit Office of Eviction Defense and rental ordinance pages.

This guide is general information about Michigan procedure and is not legal advice. Local practice differs. Confirm the current text before relying on any deadline.