Dearborn Heights, MI Rental Property Rules: Rental Registration (2026)

Sec. 7-620 of the Dearborn Heights City Code requires every rental dwelling in the city to be registered with the building department before it is rented. If the owner does not live within thirty miles of the City of Dearborn Heights, the owner must designate a responsible local agent who is accountable for operating the dwelling in compliance with the law, and any official notice served on that agent counts as service on the owner of record. Owners and agents must keep a current count of occupants for each rental dwelling, and the building department will not issue a rental unit certificate of compliance unless the registration requirement has been met.

New rental dwellings, and dwellings newly converted to rental use, must be registered before any new unit is occupied, and an owner must update the registration within sixty days of any change in the required information, such as a change in the responsible agent or a change in ownership. Registration applications, filed on forms provided by the building department director, must list the address and unit count of the dwelling along with the name, addresses and phone numbers of the owner and of the manager or responsible local agent, plus an address for accepting notices.

Giving inaccurate registration information, or failing to provide the required information, is itself a separate violation of this article. Sec. 7-624 makes failure to timely register, or any other Division 10 violation, a municipal civil infraction carrying a $500 fine for the first offense and every subsequent offense, plus court costs, and unpaid fines and costs can become a lien on the property under state law.