Just cause eviction rules in Oakland County, MI — sometimes called tenant protection or "for cause" eviction ordinances — list the specific legal reasons a landlord can end a tenancy.
Oakland County has no county-wide just-cause eviction ordinance. Landlord-tenant disputes in Royal Oak, Troy, Farmington Hills, Southfield, Pontiac, and every other Oakland County municipality are governed by the Michigan summary proceedings statute, MCL 600.5714, and are heard in the county's 43rd, 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, 50th, 51st, or 52nd District Court depending on jurisdiction. A landlord may recover possession only on the statutory grounds listed in MCL 600.5714 — generally nonpayment of rent (7-day notice), material lease violation (30-day notice), serious health hazard or extensive property damage (7-day notice), or controlled-substance activity confirmed by police report (24-hour notice). Holdover after a fixed-term lease ends is also a permitted ground.
Michigan is one of about 35 states that has no statewide just-cause eviction protection for private market tenants. Outside of subsidized public housing and mobile home parks, a landlord may decline to renew a month-to-month tenancy or fixed-term lease for any non-discriminatory, non-retaliatory reason simply by serving a 30-day notice to quit under MCL 554.134(1). However, MCL 600.5714(1)(g) does require just cause to evict a tenant of a city, village, township, or other unit-of-local-government housing, and (1)(h) extends just-cause protection to mobile-home park tenants. To start an eviction in Oakland County, the landlord must (1) serve the proper notice on a SCAO-approved form (DC 100c for non-payment), (2) wait out the notice period, (3) file a summons and complaint (DC 102) in the appropriate district court, and (4) appear at the hearing — typically scheduled within 10 days. Self-help eviction (changing locks, removing belongings, shutting off utilities) is illegal anywhere in Michigan and exposes the landlord to treble damages under MCL 600.2918.
A tenant facing eviction without a statutory ground may appear at the hearing and raise the defective notice as a defense, resulting in dismissal of the case. A tenant locked out, denied utilities, or whose belongings are removed without a court order may sue under MCL 600.2918 for actual damages or $200, whichever is greater, plus treble damages for willful violations, attorney fees, and injunctive relief. Retaliatory eviction within 90 days of a code complaint or tenant-organizing activity is presumptively unlawful under MCL 600.5720 and is a complete defense to the summary proceeding.
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