Farmington Hills, MI Rental Property Rules: Rental Registration (2026)

Section 7-343 requires the owner of a single-family rental dwelling to register it with the department before the home is rented or offered for rent, and states that registering is what entitles the owner to collect rent from tenants and occupants in the first place. Registration is submitted on a department form listing the name, address, telephone number and a driver's license or Michigan ID number for every owner and managing agent; if the owner is a business entity, the names and addresses of its officers, partners, members or managers must be listed too, and if that entity is controlled by another entity with no other substantial assets, that parent entity's officers must be listed as well. Any change to the information on file must be reported to the department in writing within 30 days.

Every existing single-family rental had to register within 90 days of the article's 2014 effective date and every three years after that; a home converted to a rental later must register before its first day of rental occupancy, and a purchaser of an already-registered rental must re-register within 30 days of the sale, though an existing certificate of compliance carries over to the new owner until it expires or is revoked. Section 7-344 backs the registration duty with an occupancy rule: no one may occupy, and no owner may rent out, a single-family rental unless a certificate of compliance has been applied for and issued, subject to a grace period for homes already rented on the article's effective date.