Michigan Eviction Process: Notice Periods, Timeline, and Costs

Use SCAO form DC 100a, which must state the amount of rent due at the time of the demand, describe the premises, clearly state the reason and the time to take remedial action, and be dated and signed by the landlord or agent under MCL 600.5716. Serve it by personal delivery, delivery on the premises to a family or household member or employee of suitable age and discretion, first-class mail, or email if the tenant consented in writing under MCL 600.5718; a mailed demand is not served until the next regular mail delivery day. The day of service is not counted under MCR 1.108, so the earliest you can file is the eighth day. Slipping the demand under the door, leaving it outside the door, taping it to the property, or mailing it by a method requiring a signature are all improper service.

A 7-day Demand for Possession applies when a tenant willfully or negligently causes a serious and continuing health hazard or extensive and continuing physical injury to the premises discovered no earlier than 90 days before filing (form DC 100b, MCL 600.5714(1)(d)), and a 7-day notice to quit applies after a tenant or household member caused or threatened physical injury to someone on the landlord's property if the police were notified (form DC 100c, MCL 600.5714(1)(e)). Controlled substance activity carries a 24-hour demand (form DC 100e, MCL 554.134(4) and MCL 600.5714(1)(b)), but only if the lease contains a termination clause covering it and a formal police report has been filed. Ordinary lease breaches have no special statutory period — you terminate under the lease's own termination clause under MCL 600.5714(1)(c)(i), or serve a 30-day notice to quit on a month-to-month tenant.

MCL 554.134(1) requires one month's notice, or notice equal to the interval between rent payments if rent is payable more often than every 3 months, so a month-to-month tenancy takes a 30-day notice to quit on form DC 100c. A year-to-year tenancy requires a full year's notice under MCL 554.134(3). Mobile home park tenants and tenants of municipally operated housing cannot be terminated this way without just cause under MCL 600.5775 and MCL 600.5714(2) and (3).

Filing is $45 for a possession-only complaint under MCL 600.5756(1), plus a supplemental $25 to $150 if you join a money claim for unpaid rent, keyed to the amount in controversy. Budget also for a $10 e-filing fee, roughly $15 for the order of eviction, an optional per-defendant court mailing fee, a $50 jury demand fee if either side demands one, and court officer service and eviction-day fees that vary by county.

The summons commands the tenant to appear for trial within 10 days of its issuance and must be served at least 3 days before that date under MCL 600.5735(2)(b), though some district courts instead require appearance within 5 days after service under a local rule authorized by MCL 600.5735(4)(b). No written answer is required — MCR 4.201(G)(1) lets the tenant appear and orally answer each allegation on the record.

A clean uncontested nonpayment case runs roughly 6 to 9 weeks: 7-day demand, file on day 8, first hearing set within about 10 days of the summons, a mandatory 7-to-14-day adjournment after the court delivers the advice of rights under MCR 4.201(K)(1)(a), then a 10-day wait after judgment before an order of eviction may issue under MCL 600.5744(5). Most cases end in a consent judgment with a payment plan rather than a trial, and a tenant's pending rental assistance application can stay the case up to 28 days.

MCL 600.2918 bars self-help eviction and cannot be waived by lease. Unlawful interference with a tenant's possessory interest includes force or threats of force, removing, retaining, or destroying the tenant's personal property, changing or adding locks without immediately providing keys, boarding up the premises, removing doors, windows, or locks, cutting off heat, running water, hot water, electric, or gas service, and introducing noise, odor, or other nuisance. A tenant may recover actual damages or $200, whichever is greater, for each occurrence plus possession, and 3 times actual damages or $200, whichever is greater, if forcibly ejected or kept out; narrow exceptions cover acting under court order, temporary interference for necessary repairs or inspection, and a good-faith abandonment determination after diligent inquiry.

Michigan's eviction notice periods did not change in 2024-2026 — MCL 554.134 was last amended in 2012, MCL 600.5714 in 2014, and MCL 600.5744 and MCL 600.2918 in 2019. The live changes are procedural: the MCR 4.201 overhaul is now fully in force, adding a mandatory verbal advice of rights, a required 7-to-14-day trial adjournment, a stay of up to 28 days while a tenant's rental assistance application is pending, and the removal of district court magistrates from landlord-tenant cases; form DC 100c was revised in October 2024, and proposed statewide eviction record sealing has not been enacted.

The most common fatal mistake is the wrong form: DC 100a is nonpayment, DC 100b is damage or health hazard, DC 100c is a notice to quit to recover possession, DC 100d is a mobile home park, and DC 100e is drug activity. Miscounting the 7 days is next — the service date itself does not count, and a mailed demand is not served until the next regular mail delivery day. Note that many sites describe MCL 554.134(4) as a 7-day health hazard notice; it is the 24-hour controlled-substance notice, and the 7-day health hazard ground is MCL 600.5714(1)(d). In Detroit and Ann Arbor the unit must be registered with a current certificate of compliance, the 36th District Court requires the certificate at filing, and MCL 125.530 suspends the duty to pay rent and diverts it into escrow while a certificate is missing or suspended. An individual owner may represent himself, but Michigan district courts require a licensed attorney to appear for an LLC, corporation, or management company, and MCR 4.201(B)(3)(c) requires every residential complaint to allege that the landlord kept the premises fit, in reasonable repair, and in compliance with state and local health and safety laws.

• MCL 554.134
• MCL 600.5714
• MCL 600.2918