What must a Michigan landlord disclose to a tenant, and what must the lease say?

No statute requires a residential lease to be in writing beyond the statute of frauds, so an oral tenancy is lawful. No statute requires the landlord to give the tenant a copy of the lease.

No Michigan statute requires a residential lease to be written, and none requires the landlord to give the tenant a copy of a signed one: neither act contains a copy duty or a deadline. A lease for a term longer than one year must be written and signed to be valid. The Truth in Renting Act works on content rather than delivery, and it reaches only a written agreement that says more than the parties, the premises, the rental period, the total rent and the amount and timing of payments, so a bare-bones writing and an oral tenancy both sit outside it. There is no duty to provide a lease in another language and no plain-language regime; the only formatting rules are attached to particular notices.

Statute of frauds: Every contract for the leasing of land for a longer period than one year, or for the sale of any land or interest in land, is void unless the contract, or some note or memorandum of it, is in writing and signed by the party by whom the lease or sale is to be made, or by a person that party authorized in writing (section 566.108). The threshold is a term longer than one year, and the sanction is voidness.

Format and plain-language rules: There is no plain-language act and no general type-size rule for a Michigan lease, but four notices carry their own typography. The required notice about the Truth in Renting Act must appear in a prominent place in type no smaller than twelve point, or in legible print with letters no smaller than one eighth of an inch. The written notice that goes with a security deposit must carry its prescribed sentence in twelve-point boldface type at least four points larger than the body of the notice or lease agreement, and the itemized damages notice at the end of a tenancy carries the same rule. The inventory checklist must carry its prescribed notice in twelve-point boldface type at the top of the first page.

Electronic leases and signatures: Michigan's electronic-transactions act applies to electronic records and signatures relating to a transaction, and its only exceptions are wills, codicils and testamentary trusts and parts of the commercial code. There is no landlord-tenant carve-out and no exception for a default, termination or eviction notice, so a Michigan residential lease and the notices under it may be signed and sent electronically. The act adds that a transaction subject to it is also subject to other applicable substantive law, so the lease-content and type-size duties on this page survive in an electronic lease: an electronic agreement must still carry the required notice in its prescribed size and prominence.

Yes — a statute requires the landlord to disclose the owner's or managing agent's identity to the tenant, in the lease or in a separate writing.

Michigan requires the disclosure twice, by two different routes. In the lease: a rental agreement must state the name and the address at which notice required under the Truth in Renting Act is to be given to the lessor (section 554.634, subsection 1). A name and a notice address are all that is required, there is no telephone number and the address need not be the owner's home. A landlord who leaves it out faces the Act's machinery, which is described in the void-clause row: the tenant gives written notice, the landlord has twenty days to cure, and after that the tenant may recover five hundred dollars or actual damages, whichever is greater, void the agreement and end the tenancy, obtain injunctions, and recover court costs and statutory attorney fees. With a deposit: a landlord may not require a security deposit unless, no later than fourteen days after the tenant takes possession, the landlord gives the tenant a written instrument stating the landlord's name and address for receipt of communications, the name and address of the bank or surety holding the deposit, and the tenant's duty to give a forwarding address in writing within four days after the tenancy ends, carrying the statutory warning about that four-day duty in twelve-point boldface type at least four points larger than the body (section 554.603). The consequence is stated in the section itself: a landlord who does not give the information relieves the tenant of the forwarding-address duty. Landlord for that purpose includes the owner, lessor or sublessor and anyone authorized to exercise any aspect of management, including a person who acts as rental agent or receives rent with no obligation to hand the receipts on. Michigan has no statewide landlord or rental registration; registration and inspection are city matters under the housing law.

If the landlord fails to comply: the tenant may recover damages and the tenant may terminate the tenancy. Threshold: The lease clause is owed only where the Truth in Renting Act applies, that is under a written agreement saying more than the bare recital of parties, premises, period and payments. The deposit notice is owed only where the landlord takes a security deposit.

No — no state document or statement of tenant rights must be handed over; what the state prescribes is text the lease itself must carry.

Michigan prescribes words for the lease rather than a document. There is no state tenant-rights statement, summary, handbook or agency form, and no agency is directed to publish one, though a bill that would create one is before the Legislature. What the lease itself must carry is the notice about the Truth in Renting Act in its prescribed size and prominence, the lessor's name and notice address, the senior-housing and incapacity termination provision for leases made or renewed since June 1995, and the domestic violence statement unless the landlord posts or delivers the identical words instead. One further piece of text is required only if the landlord chooses an acceleration clause. The written notice that accompanies a security deposit and the notice at the top of the inventory checklist are prescribed too, but they belong to the deposit and move-in rows rather than to this one.

Required items:

Truth in Renting notice — words or content the lease itself must carry. Every rental agreement the Act reaches must state, in a prominent place and in type no smaller than twelve point or in legible print with letters no smaller than one eighth of an inch, a notice in substantially this form: that Michigan law establishes rights and obligations for parties to rental agreements, that the agreement is required to comply with the Truth in Renting Act, and that a tenant with a question about the interpretation or legality of a provision may want to seek assistance from a lawyer or other qualified person. Because the statute says in substantially the following form, the wording may vary but the substance may not. Leaving it out is the more expensive failure: after the tenant's written notice and a twenty-day chance to cure, it costs five hundred dollars or actual damages, whichever is greater, alongside avoidance of the agreement and the other remedies. Given at signing, inside the lease itself. The statute fixes the substance, not the words. Typography: In a prominent place, in type not smaller than twelve point, or in legible print with letters not smaller than one eighth of an inch. (MCL § 554.634(2))

Domestic violence release statement — words or content the lease itself must carry. A rental agreement may contain a provision stating that a tenant who has a reasonable apprehension of present danger to that tenant or the tenant's child from domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking may have special statutory rights to seek a release of rental obligation under section 554.601b. If the agreement does not contain it, the landlord must post a written notice visible to a reasonable person in the landlord's property management office, or deliver written notice to the tenant when the lease is signed, and the content of that written notice must be identical to the provision set out in the statute. The disclosure is mandatory; only the way it reaches the tenant is optional. The section states no penalty for failing to give it. Given at signing and by posting. The statute fixes the words. (MCL § 554.601b(1))

Senior-housing and incapacity termination provision — words or content the lease itself must carry. A rental agreement must provide that a tenant who has occupied the unit for more than thirteen months may end the lease on sixty days' written notice to the landlord if, during the lease term, the tenant becomes eligible to take possession of a subsidized rental unit in senior citizen housing and gives the landlord written proof of that eligibility, or becomes incapable of living independently as certified by a physician in a notarized statement. The substance is fixed and the words are not. The requirement applies only to leases entered into, renewed or renegotiated after June 15, 1995, and the section states no penalty of its own; the termination right itself is on the lease-termination page. Given at signing and on renewal, inside the lease itself. The statute fixes the substance, not the words. Threshold: Leases entered into, renewed or renegotiated after June 15, 1995; the right itself needs more than thirteen months of occupancy. (MCL § 554.601a(1)–(2))

Listed, but not a general duty counted above:

Rent-acceleration statement — words or content the lease itself must carry. A clause allowing rent to be accelerated when the tenant breaches is prohibited unless it also states that the tenant may not be liable for the whole accelerated amount because of the landlord's obligation to minimize damages, and that either party may have a court determine the actual amount owed, if any. The text is required only where the landlord chooses to include an acceleration clause, so it is listed here and not counted; without it the clause is void. Given at signing, inside the lease itself. The statute fixes the substance, not the words. (MCL § 554.633(1)(i))

Lease contents the statutes or rules address, each in the circumstance it names:

• The name and the address at which notice required under the Truth in Renting Act is to be given to the lessor (section 554.634, subsection 1).

• The notice about the Truth in Renting Act, in a prominent place and in type no smaller than twelve point or letters no smaller than one eighth of an inch (section 554.634, subsection 2).

• The provision letting a tenant of more than thirteen months end the lease on sixty days' written notice on becoming eligible for subsidized senior citizen housing or incapable of living independently, for leases entered into, renewed or renegotiated after June 15, 1995 (section 554.601a).

• The domestic violence release statement, unless the landlord instead posts the identical statement in the property management office or delivers it to the tenant when the lease is signed (section 554.601b).

• Where the agreement allows rent to be accelerated on a breach, the statement that the tenant may not be liable for the whole accelerated amount because of the landlord's duty to minimize damages and that either party may have a court determine the actual amount owed (section 554.633, subsection 1, paragraph i).

Yes, where a security deposit is taken.

The landlord must use inventory checklists at both the start and the end of occupancy for each unit for which a security deposit is required, detailing the unit's condition, so the duty exists only where a deposit is taken. The commencement checklist must be furnished in two blank copies and must be identical in form to the termination checklist, and it must list all items in the unit owned by the landlord, including carpeting, draperies, appliances, windows, furniture, walls, closets, shelves, paint, doors and plumbing and electrical fixtures. It must carry, in twelve-point boldface type at the top of the first page, the notice telling the tenant to complete the checklist noting the condition of the property and return it within seven days after obtaining possession, and telling the tenant of the right to request and receive a copy of the last termination checklist showing what claims were charged to the previous tenants. The form is the landlord's own; no agency publishes one, and what the state prescribes is the contents, the identity of the two forms and the notice at the top. The consequences are severe. The itemized list of damages at the end may not include damage already claimed on a termination checklist from before this tenancy, and a landlord who does not comply fully with the damages-claim section waives all claimed damages and is liable to the tenant for double the amount of the deposit retained.

When and who signs: At the commencement of the lease the landlord furnishes two blank copies of the commencement checklist; the tenant reviews it, notes the condition and returns one copy within seven days after receiving possession, unless the parties agree on a shorter period. The statute asks the tenant to review, note and return, and does not require a signature. At the end of the tenancy the landlord completes a termination checklist listing the damage claimed. Consequence under the section: the landlord's right to keep any part of the deposit is limited or lost, as the section states.

Deposit notice at signing: No later than fourteen days after the tenant takes possession, a landlord who requires a security deposit must give the tenant a written instrument stating the landlord's name and address for communications, the name and address of the bank or surety holding the deposit, and the tenant's duty to give a forwarding address in writing within four days after moving out, with the statutory warning about that duty in twelve-point boldface type at least four points larger than the body (section 554.603). The amount, the interest and the return rules are on the security-deposits page.

No in-force state hazard disclosure duty applies at signing beyond the federal lead-paint rule. No state duty exists for lead, mold, bed bugs, radon, methamphetamine, asbestos, or any other hazard.

Every state duty and every stated absence, hazard by hazard:

Lead (state add-on to the federal rule) — no state duty. Michigan adds no lead disclosure of its own: no state form, pamphlet, registration, certificate or renewal re-disclosure runs from a landlord to a tenant. The state's lead provisions are an abatement, licensing, certification and enforcement scheme, and the one provision aimed at landlords is criminal rather than informational. A property manager, housing commission or owner who rents or continues to rent a unit to a family with a minor child found to have ten micrograms or more of lead per deciliter of venous blood commits a misdemeanor if they had prior actual knowledge that the unit contains a lead-based paint hazard, at least ninety days have passed, and they have not acted in good faith to reduce the hazard through interim controls or abatement; prior actual knowledge is presumed only where the owner signed an acknowledgment following a risk assessment or was served with notice by first-class mail with a return receipt. The penalty is up to ninety-three days or five thousand dollars, or up to ten thousand dollars on a second conviction under that section or a local ordinance substantially corresponding to it, and two defenses are available. None of that prescribes a notice, a form, a deadline or anything handed to a tenant. A state rule does put a lead pamphlet into an occupant's hands before a renovation, but it binds the renovator, meaning anyone who performs a renovation for compensation, rather than a landlord as landlord. The federal lead disclosure for housing built before 1978 is described on the federal page.

Mold — no state duty. No Michigan statute or rule requires a mold disclosure to a tenant. The word appears in the Compiled Laws in dairy and food standards, in liens for the work of a molder, in franchise and business-opportunity disclosure, and on the seller's disclosure form, and nowhere as a duty owed by a landlord.

Bed bugs — no state duty. Michigan law says nothing about bed bugs. Neither spelling of the term appears anywhere in the Compiled Laws, and no administrative rule carries a bed-bug duty. There is no history disclosure, no treatment notice and no inspection duty.

Radon — no state duty. There is no radon duty on a Michigan landlord. Radon appears in four places in the Compiled Laws: two environmental provisions about state facilities and cleanup criteria, one public health provision, and the seller's disclosure form, which by its own scope clause never attaches to an ordinary lease.

Methamphetamine — no state duty. Michigan has no drug-laboratory disclosure and no bar on renting a formerly contaminated property. Every appearance of methamphetamine in the Compiled Laws is in the criminal code, controlled-substance scheduling, pharmacy precursor sales, child protection or the sentencing guidelines. Unlike states that bar the rental instead, Michigan has no rule either way.

Asbestos — no state duty. No asbestos notice is owed to a Michigan tenant. The state's asbestos provisions are the abatement contractor licensing act, occupational safety standards, environmental permitting, school asbestos programs and the seller's disclosure form; none of them speaks from a lessor to a tenant.

Pesticide, ordnance, pool and utility-hazard notices — no state duty. Michigan requires no pesticide-application notice, military ordnance or noise-zone notice, pool-safety notice or utility-hazard notice to a tenant. Neither landlord-tenant act carries one, and none appears in the wider statutes or rules.

No.

Michigan requires no flood disclosure to a tenant. Both landlord-tenant acts were read through and neither mentions flooding, and the phrase flood plain appears in only three places in the Compiled Laws, two in floodplain regulation and one in a set of land-division definitions. The state's flood question lives on the seller's disclosure form, and that form's scope clause is unusually clear: the seller disclosure requirements apply to the transfer of an interest in real estate of not less than one and not more than four residential dwelling units, whether by sale, exchange, installment land contract, lease with an option to purchase, any other option to purchase, or ground lease coupled with proposed improvements by the purchaser or tenant, or a transfer of stock or an interest in a residential cooperative. An ordinary residential lease is not on that list, so the form, which asks about flood plain, radon, asbestos and lead-based paint, never attaches to a rental.

Yes — the statute lists the lease provisions that are void or prohibited.

Michigan's roster is one of the most detailed in the country and it sits in a single section: fourteen enumerated prohibitions plus a rolling catch-all for any clause that had been prohibited by statute or held unenforceable by the Michigan or United States Supreme Court at least ninety days before the lease was signed. The roster is drafted neutrally and several items reach either side's clause, including the waiver of a party's jury-trial right and the fee-shifting ban. Two structural provisions complete it: a provision violating the section is void, and the Act's requirements may not be waived. What makes Michigan distinctive is that the money is cure-first. A landlord who includes a void clause and then, within twenty days of the tenant's written notice, sends every current tenant a notice declaring the clause void or bringing it into line, pays nothing. The inversion is worth noticing too: the higher of the two figures attaches to a missing required statement rather than to a bad clause. One more rule reaches the form trade: a printed rental agreement form that omits a required statement, contains an express prohibition or carries a clause prohibited or held unenforceable at least ninety days before the sale may not be offered for sale in Michigan by a commercial seller, who is liable for the damages a purchaser of the form suffers in a tenant's action.

The landlord must be given twenty days to cure before liability.

Sanction as the statute states it: A provision that violates the section is void, and the Act's requirements may not be waived. What follows beyond voidness depends on a cure. The tenant gives the landlord written notice of the provision believed to be in violation and the reason; the landlord may cure within twenty days by giving written notice to all current tenants that the provision is void and unenforceable, or by altering it to comply, delivered personally or by first class or certified mail. If the landlord does not cure, the tenant may void the agreement and end the tenancy, obtain an injunction against including the provision in future agreements and requiring cure notices to existing tenants, and recover two hundred and fifty dollars per action or actual damages, whichever is greater. For a missing required statement, or for a clause explicitly and unambiguously prohibited, the figure is five hundred dollars or actual damages, whichever is greater. Prior notice is not needed where a court of record has already held the provision to violate the section in an action the lessor was party to, or where the lessor actually knew the provision was prohibited or that a required statement was missing, actual knowledge being shown by written documentation, an admission, or a previous cure notice about the same provision. Only one two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar judgment is awarded for a particular provision across joined actions and multiple plaintiffs where the lessor gives the prescribed notice that the provision's enforceability is in dispute; actual damages are unaffected. Where the violation arises only from a court's construction, the cure window is thirty days. A party who prevails in an action under the remedies section recovers court costs plus statutory attorney fees.

The listed provisions:

• A provision that waives or alters a remedy available to the parties when the premises are in a condition that violates the statutory covenants of fitness and habitability (section 554.633, subsection 1, paragraph a).

• A provision that the parties waive a right established by the security-deposit act (paragraph b).

• A provision that excludes or discriminates against a person in violation of the state civil rights act or the persons with disabilities civil rights act (paragraph c).

• A provision for a confession of judgment by a party (paragraph d).

• A provision that exculpates the lessor from liability for failing to perform, or for negligently performing, a duty imposed by law, subject to a carve-out for an insurance and subrogation waiver (paragraph e).

• A provision that waives or alters a party's right to demand a trial by jury or any other right of notice or procedure required by law in a judicial proceeding arising under the agreement (paragraph f).

• A provision that makes a party liable for the legal costs or attorney's fees of another party in a dispute under the agreement, beyond the costs or fees a statute specifically permits (paragraph g).

• A provision giving the lessor a security interest in the tenant's personal property to assure payment of rent or other charges, except as specifically allowed by law (paragraph h).

• A provision accelerating rent on the tenant's breach, unless it also states that the tenant may not be liable for the whole accelerated amount because of the landlord's duty to minimize damages and that either party may have a court determine the actual amount owed (paragraph i).

• A provision that waives or alters a party's rights in possession or eviction proceedings under the anti-lockout statute or in summary proceedings (paragraph j).

• A provision that releases a party from the duty to mitigate damages (paragraph k).

• A provision letting the lessor alter the agreement after it starts without the tenant's written consent, except three adjustments on at least thirty days' written notice: changes required by law, changes in rules protecting health, safety or peaceful enjoyment, and rent changes covering named increases in taxes, utilities or insurance premiums (paragraph l).

• A provision that violates the state consumer protection act (paragraph m).

• A provision requiring the tenant to give the lessor a power of attorney (paragraph n).

• Any clause or provision that, not less than ninety days before the agreement was executed, had been prohibited by statute or declared unenforceable by a published decision of the Michigan Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court relating to Michigan law (section 554.633, subsection 2).

A lease clause charging either party's attorney fees to the other is void.

Michigan voids the clause rather than rewriting it. A rental agreement may not provide that a party is liable for the legal costs or attorney's fees incurred by another party in a dispute arising under the agreement, beyond costs or fees a statute specifically permits, and a provision that violates the section is void. The ban runs both ways: it speaks of a party and another party, so a clause charging the landlord is as void as one charging the tenant. There is no prevailing-party rule for tenancies generally and no conversion of a one-way clause into a reciprocal one. The only fee award in this area is statutory and does not depend on any clause: a party who prevails in an action under the Truth in Renting Act's remedies section is entitled to court costs plus statutory attorney fees, which is a narrow right tied to that Act rather than a general rule for landlord-tenant disputes.