I found one of the clauses in my apartment lease violates the security deposit laws of Michigan. What should I do about the illegal section in the lease?
Full Question:
I rent an apartment in Grand Rapids in Michigan with my family. I recently renewed my apartment lease with my landlord. The lease contained a provision that allowed the landlord to keep 50% of the security deposit at the end of the lease. I found the provision was against the Michigan Security Deposit Laws. I would like to know what I should do if the lease contains an illegal section.
11/09/2016 |
Category: Landlord Ten... » Residential ... |
State: Michigan |
#26491
Answer:
In Michigan, if a lease has an illegal section and the landlord does not change it within 20 days of getting written notice of it, the tenants may do any of the following:
- The tenant may cancel the lease and end the rental
- The tenant may force the landlord to send out a correction to all tenants who signed the lease and prevent the landlord from breaking the rules in future leases
- The tenant may sue the landlord for $250.00 or any actual costs from the bad lease, whichever is more.
In order to exercise any of these options, the tenant must file a case in court. Further, a tenant may exercise the same options and sue for $500 if a required section is missing in the lease. Moreover, a tenant who sues may get $250 for each illegal section of the lease or $500 for missing sections. However, tenants under one lease can only get damages once.
