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Michigan Grounds for Eviction in Summary Proceedings: MCL 600.5714

MCL 600.5714(1) says a person entitled to possession of premises may recover possession by summary proceedings in eight listed circumstances, (a) through (h). Subdivisions (a), (b), (d) and (e) turn on a demand for possession or a notice to quit followed by a stated period (7 days, 24 hours, 7 days and 7 days); (c) borrows its notice from the lease or from MCL 554.134, and (f) through (h) state no period.

(a) Nonpayment of rent

The subdivision applies when a person “holds over premises after failing or refusing to pay rent due under the lease or agreement by which the person holds the premises within 7 days from the service of a written demand for possession for nonpayment of the rent due.” It adds that rent due “does not include any accelerated indebtedness because of a breach of the lease under which the premises are held.” The 7 days run from service of the written demand, and accelerated indebtedness does not count as rent due under this subdivision.

MCL 600.5716 says a demand for possession or payment must be in writing, addressed to the person in possession, and give the address or other brief description of the premises. It must clearly state the reasons and the time to take remedial action, state the amount due at the time of the demand when nonpayment is claimed, and be dated and signed by the person entitled to possession, his attorney or agent.

(b) Controlled substance clause

This applies to a person who holds over for 24 hours following service of a written demand for possession for termination of the lease under a lease clause providing for termination because a tenant, a member of the tenant’s household, or other person under the tenant’s control has unlawfully manufactured, delivered, possessed with intent to deliver, or possessed a controlled substance on the leased premises. The subdivision “applies only if a formal police report has been filed alleging” that conduct, so both the lease clause and the filed report are needed. For this subdivision, a controlled substance is a substance or a counterfeit substance classified in schedule 1, 2, or 3 under sections 7211 to 7216 of the public health code (not in these files). MCL 554.134(4) has a matching written 24-hour notice to quit.

(c) Holding over after termination or expiry

The subdivision covers a person who holds over: (i) after termination of the lease under a power to terminate provided in the lease or implied by law; (ii) after the term for which the premises are demised to the person or to the person under whom he or she holds; or (iii) after the termination of the person’s estate by a notice to quit as provided by MCL 554.134.

Under 554.134(1), an estate at will or by sufferance may be terminated by 1 month’s notice, or, if rent is payable at periods of less than 3 months, by a notice equal to the interval between payments. A tenant who neglects or refuses to pay rent may be given a written 7-day notice to quit (subsection (2)), and a year-to-year tenancy ends 1 year after service of the notice (subsection (3)).

(d) Serious health hazard or extensive injury to the premises

This applies when the person in possession willfully or negligently causes a serious and continuing health hazard to exist on the premises, or causes extensive and continuing physical injury to the premises, and two conditions hold: (1) the party seeking possession discovered it, or should reasonably have discovered it, not earlier than 90 days before the institution of proceedings; and (2) the person in possession neglects or refuses, for 7 days after service of a demand for possession, to deliver up possession or to substantially restore or repair the premises. Under MCL 600.5716 the demand must be in writing.

(e) Physical injury to an individual

This applies when a person holds over for 7 days following service of a written notice to quit for termination of the lease after the tenant, a member of the tenant’s household, or a person under the tenant’s control, on real property owned or operated by the tenant’s landlord, has caused or threatened physical injury to an individual. It applies only if the police department with jurisdiction has been notified of that conduct. It does not apply if the individual injured or threatened is the tenant or a member of the tenant’s household, or if applying it would violate federal housing regulations.

(f) Forcible entry or trespass

This applies when a person takes possession of premises by means of a forcible entry, holds possession of premises by force after a peaceable entry, or comes into possession of premises by trespass without color of title or other possessory interest. The statute calls it a remedy “in addition to the remedy of entry permitted under section 5711(3)”; see MCL 600.5711(3). Subdivision (f) states no demand or notice period, and it does not say whether another notice or procedure applies; ask the court clerk or a Michigan attorney.

Subsection (1) speaks of “a person entitled to possession,” not only a landlord, and MCL 600.2918(6) refers to an action for possession under (1)(f) by a person who has lost possession.

(g) and (h): Sale on a mortgage or execution; sale by a personal representative

Subdivision (g) covers a person who continues in possession of premises sold by virtue of a mortgage or execution, after the time limited by law for redemption of the premises. Subdivision (h) covers a person who continues in possession of premises sold and conveyed by a personal representative under license from the probate court or under authority in the will. The redemption period and the sale rules are not in these files; ask a Michigan attorney.

Local-government housing and mobile home parks

MCL 600.5714(2) says a tenant or occupant of housing operated by a city, village, township, or other unit of local government, as provided in 1933 (Ex Sess) PA 18, is not considered to be holding over under (1)(b) or (c) unless the tenancy or agreement has been terminated for just cause, as provided by lawful rules of the local housing commission or by law. Subsection (3) says a tenant of a mobile home park is not considered to be holding over under (1)(b) or (c) unless the tenancy or lease agreement is terminated for just cause pursuant to chapter 57a. Neither the local housing rules nor chapter 57a is in these files, and both subsections name only (b) and (c).

Common mistakes

Checked against the text published on legislature.mi.gov on 5 October 2026.

Sources

Related guides

Informational only, not legal advice. Statute text checked against the Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL 554.131 to 554.139, 554.601 to 554.616, 554.631 to 554.641 and 600.2918, 600.5701 to 600.5759) as published at legislature.mi.gov on October 5, 2026. Statutes change and a court may read them differently than a summary does; for a dispute, an eviction or anything expensive to get wrong, talk to a Michigan landlord-tenant attorney.

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