Landlord-Tenant Matters

A mobile home park near Flint, Michigan, has no water, as it has been shut off by the city. This leaves all of the tenants who pay for their spaces in the park without basic functionality for drinking, cooking and bathing. However, the fault seems to lie entirely with the

Disputes between Michigan landlords and their tenants centered around bedbugs have been a more frequent media occurrence of late. Landlords want to protect their investments but also have to balance that with respecting the rights of their tenants. Current Michigan law does not mention bedbugs, which are becoming a presence

The malls in Grand Rapids, Michigan, are finally filling up with tenant business again. This could be a sure-fire sign that consumer confidence is up, and the downward spiraling economy is solidly on an up-swirl. In fact, a lot of malls are at 98 or 99 percent occupancy. According to

Certain Michigan mobile home owners have been suffering from issues relating to the sale of their homes. Recently, unscrupulous mobile home parks have been trying to make an investment property out of their homes on the cheap. The problem is that many of the mobile homeowners are unsophisticated when it

A 69-year-old woman who lives on Mansfield, Michigan, is angry with landlords who accept money from state and federal programs to cover rent for poor people, yet fail to pay for city taxes. According to the woman, she paid $2,100 to the city of Detroit last year on a home

In 2010, Michigan enacted a tough anti-smoking law that banned smoking in bars, restaurants and many other public places. However, that law stopped short of addressing the issue of smoking in apartments and homes. A recent decision by an apartment complex in Ann Arbor will test those limits in the

The bill that would allow Michigan landlords to refuse to let tenants grow or smoke medical marijuana cleared another hurdle on Mach 4 when it was approved by a 31-7 vote in the state Senate. Under the bill, landlords would be able to issue a written notice to tenants that

Bedbugs are at the center of a landlord-tenant dispute in Michigan. According to reports, Greenbriar Apartments issued a notice to its tenants on Feb. 19 that maintenance would begin throwing out all furniture in residents’ apartments that was deemed infested by the insects. The notice, left under the door, stated

With marijuana becoming popular for both medical and recreational use, it’s likely that states will continue to vote it legal in small quantities. However, that’s going to have an impact on the residential lease agreement you sign, especially if you want to smoke marijuana for medical reasons. In Michigan, a

One of the responsibilities of a landlord is to ensure that an investment property is kept in suitable living condition. When a building is not maintained to code standards, or either party does not follow the terms of the lease, serious issues can arise and sometimes bring about litigation. Two

A popular coffeehouse located just a short drive from Detroit closed up shop this month after 20 years. The closing is largely being attributed to a landlord-tenant disagreement over the amount of rent due. The owner of The Grind said that she had to close when a new landlord informed

The Fair Housing Center of Southeastern Michigan and the ACLU have requested that the Inkster Housing Commission cease its efforts to evict a pregnant woman from one of the apartments they manage. This landlord-tenant disagreement centers on the fact that the woman is being evicted due to domestic abuse. The

Michigan residents may be interested to hear of a proposed bill that could affect tenants in Lansing. The proposed law would shift the burden of maintaining a property from the owner, where it currently sits, to the person living on the premises. The stated purpose of the bill is to

Michigan, like many other states, saw the value of homes drop during the recession. Many homeowners realized that they would make very little or perhaps loose money on a house. While waiting for the housing market to recover, many owners in this situation found themselves entering into a residential lease

Landlord-tenant disputes are not uncommon in Michigan, but rarely do they get as extreme as one recently did in New York. A Westchester County landlord set two separate fires outside her home early in the morning of November 3. Her own family members, including two grandchildren, were sleeping inside the

Michigan readers may be interested in a recent decision by an Ohio appellate court regarding a landlord’s obligation to reasonably protect the safety of a tenant. The issues between the three people involved in the case bring a possible new take on whether or not a lease agreement can be

Both Michigan animal lovers and rental property owners are following a case in which a woman faced eviction for owning a cat in a no-pet residence. Her residential lease agreement notwithstanding, the woman said that she had kept cats in her condominium for 11 years and had never received a

Tenant advocates contend that many landlords are not aware of their legal responsibilities. This can lead to landlord-tenant disagreements regarding important matters, including the maintenance of the unit, the rent, visits and leaving the unit. For this reason, tenants in Michigan must be aware of their own rights so that

If you’re like most of our readers, you’ve probably heard about the gigantic sinkhole that opened up beneath a condominium recently, swallowing half of s building and leaving dozens of people without housing. Though many of the sinkholes reported in the last few months have mostly occurred in Florida, some

While most recent high school graduates here in Michigan are likely more worried about where they are going to go to college, others are more worried about where they are going to stay, especially if that school is out of state. It’s a lot of pressure to be living on

Readers of our blog who reside in Detroit may be familiar with the real estate dispute that has been going on between the Sterling Heights-based investment firm and Forza Development LLC, the company whose partnership with Flavor Flav’s restaurant has spurred the problems. According to the Sterling Heights-based firm, Avenue

When renters in Michigan first sign a lease agreement, they generally know what the price of their rent is going to be for the duration of their lease agreement. While most renters know that their rent can increase over the course of their stay at a rental property, some may

Many of our readers here in Michigan may be familiar with the show Hoarders on A&E which depicts people with real-life hoarding problems and the serious problems they face when their compulsive habits are discovered. The show can be both moving and disturbing, showing viewers how much damage these hoards

Most commercial property owners in Michigan know that they must abide by all state and federal housing laws in order to continue lawful operation of their establishment. In all cases, this includes the federal Fair Housing Act which prohibits a property owner from discriminating against an applicant based on any

With home prices on the rise, buying a house now in Michigan is a lot better decision than it was just three years ago. That’s because the housing market is finally rebounding after the burst of the market bubble that cost thousands of people their homes. But despite the fact

When it comes to infestations in an apartment complex, figuring out who is at fault can sometimes be a tricky matter. Did the landlord know about the infestation before renting out the property or were the pests introduced after the tenant arrived? This is exactly the question jurors in Maryland

For landlords in Michigan, retaining your tenants is an important part of doing business. They can mean the difference between turning a profit and not making good on your investment. But what is a landlord to do about a tenant that is being a nuisance to other tenants in your

Premises liability is probably something that all landlords think about but hope they never have to deal with the litigation that follows.  In most cases of premises liability, landlords are sued by their tenants or other people on their property, who have received injury as a result of an accident

Last week, one of our posts detailed the development of the new Arbor Hills shopping center. Located on Washtenaw Avenue in Ann Arbor, the project seems to be catching more steam this month as the developers on the project announced that they have had 15 tenants sign leases already and

In Michigan, we’ve seen small businesses close for one reason or another and although sad, most people never think twice about the reasons for which they closed. Maybe it was because of financial troubles or maybe it was because of location, but most people usually don’t think it was because