Michigan Residential Lease Requirements: What a Lease Must Include

Michigan gives landlords wide latitude to draft their own residential leases, so no state form dictates what a lease looks like. Two statutes still shape what a valid lease can and cannot say: the Truth in Renting Act and the security deposit law. This article covers when a lease must be written, the notice and disclosure language the law requires inside it, the security deposit rules a lease has to respect, and the clauses Michigan makes void. The broader framework sits in Michigan landlord-tenant law, which orients tenants and landlords to the rights and deadlines these lease rules depend on.

Does a Michigan lease have to be in writing?

A residential rental agreement can be oral or written when the term is one year or less. For a longer term, the statute of frauds controls. Under Mich. Comp. Laws § 566.108, a contract “for the leasing for a longer period than 1 year” is void unless it is in writing and signed by the party leasing out the property. A handshake deal for a two-year tenancy is unenforceable as a two-year lease; a written, signed document is what makes the longer term hold.

Most landlords use a written lease even for shorter or month-to-month tenancies. The written document is what carries the notices and disclosures the rest of this article describes, and it is also what gives both sides a record of the rent, the term, and the rules if a dispute reaches district court.

Core terms a Michigan lease identifies

Beyond the statutory language, a functional Michigan lease identifies the parties (the landlord and each adult tenant), the rental property, the rent amount and due date, the length of the term, and the amount of any security deposit. Michigan law does not set a maximum rent or require a grace period for late payment, so those terms are whatever the parties agree to in the lease.

One identifying detail is mandatory rather than optional. Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.634 requires a rental agreement to state the name and address at which a tenant can send the landlord the notices the Truth in Renting Act allows. A lease that names a management company but gives no address for legal notices is missing a required term.

The Truth in Renting notice every written lease must carry

The Truth in Renting Act, adopted as 1978 Public Act 454, regulates the content of residential leases. Its most visible requirement is a boilerplate notice. Under Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.634, a lease must state, in a prominent place and in type no smaller than 12-point (or print with letters at least 1/8 inch), a notice in substantially this form:

The statute requires the substance of that language, not a word-for-word copy, but the type-size rule is specific. A lease that buries the notice in the same small font as the rest of the document, or omits it, does not satisfy section 554.634.

Security deposit terms and the required deposit notice

A Michigan lease can require a security deposit, but the amount and the paperwork are regulated. Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.602 caps a security deposit at 1.5 months’ rent. A deposit clause that demands two months’ rent as a “deposit” exceeds the statutory limit for the portion that functions as a security deposit.

The lease or an accompanying document also has to deliver a specific notice. Under Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.603, a landlord who takes a deposit must, within 14 days after the tenant takes possession, notify the tenant in writing of the landlord’s name and address, the name and address of the financial institution or surety holding the deposit, and the tenant’s duty to give a forwarding address within 4 days of moving out. That notice must include, in 12-point boldface type at least 4 points larger than the body text, the statement that a tenant who fails to provide a forwarding address within 4 days after moving loses the protection of the itemized-damages rules. A lease that collects a deposit without providing this notice leaves the landlord out of compliance with section 554.603.

Lease clauses Michigan law prohibits

The Truth in Renting Act lists provisions a residential lease may not contain. Under Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633, a rental agreement clause is void if it does any of the following, among others:

• Waives or alters a remedy tied to the covenants of fitness and habitability. This ties into Michigan’s implied warranty of habitability, which a lease cannot sign away.
• Waives a tenant’s rights under the security deposit law.
• Provides for a confession of judgment by a party.
• Exculpates the landlord from liability for failing to perform, or negligently performing, a legal duty.
• Waives the right to a jury trial or another right of notice or procedure in a lawsuit under the lease.
• Makes a tenant liable for the other side’s attorney fees beyond what a statute allows.
• Accelerates all remaining rent on a breach, unless the clause also states that the tenant may not owe the full accelerated amount because the landlord must minimize damages and that a court can decide the actual amount owed.
• Releases a party from the duty to mitigate damages.
• Waives or alters a party’s rights in eviction or summary possession proceedings.
• Requires the tenant to give the landlord a power of attorney.

Two of these matter most in everyday disputes. A rent-acceleration clause is common, and it is only enforceable in the limited, qualified form the statute describes, which connects directly to the rules on breaking a lease in Michigan and the landlord’s duty to re-rent. A clause purporting to shortcut the courts is likewise void, because a lease cannot strip a tenant of the protections built into the Michigan eviction process. A lease can allow the landlord to change certain terms only on at least 30 days’ written notice, and only for narrow reasons such as legal changes, safety rules, or documented cost increases, per section 554.633. Any clause that violates the section is void, though the rest of the lease stays in force.

Federal lead-based paint disclosure for older housing

One disclosure comes from federal law, not Michigan’s. Under 42 U.S.C. § 4852d and the implementing rule, a landlord renting most housing built before 1978 must disclose known lead-based paint and lead hazards, give the tenant any related records, provide the EPA-approved pamphlet, and include a lead warning statement in the lease. The EPA’s real estate disclosure rules describe the exact disclosure and the “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home” pamphlet the landlord must supply. Housing built in 1978 or later is generally exempt, as are certain zero-bedroom and housing-for-the-elderly units.