Mobile home eviction rules in Michigan

Michigan protects mobile home park residents with a "just cause" eviction standard: a park cannot end a tenancy unless one of the specific statutory grounds applies. The information below describes how the law generally works; anyone facing a specific notice should consider consulting a licensed attorney in Michigan.

What the statute says

MCL 600.5775(1) sets the rule: "The tenancy of a tenant in a mobile home park shall not be terminated unless there is just cause for the termination." Subsection (2) defines "just cause" as one or more of: use of the site "for an unlawful purpose"; failure to comply with the lease or a park rule "reasonably related to ... the health, safety, or welfare" of the park or its tenants; violation of Department of Public Health rules; "intentional physical injury" to people or "intentional physical damage" to property; failure to comply with a law "relating to mobile homes"; failure "to make timely payment of rent ... on 3 or more occasions during any 12-month period" after a written demand for possession; "conduct ... which constitutes a substantial annoyance ... after notice and an opportunity to cure"; failure to maintain the home or site in reasonable condition; "condemnation of the mobile home park"; "changes in the use or substantive nature of the mobile home park"; and "public health and safety violations by the tenant."

For the three-late-payments ground, §600.5775(2)(f) requires the written demand to carry the notice "Notice: Three or more late payments of rent during any 12-month period is just cause to evict you," and preserves the tenant's "meritorious defenses." A lease may set liquidated damages for a contested termination, capped by MCL 125.2328c at "not more than $500.00 for an action in the district court and not more than $300.00 for each appellate level."

How it works in general

A Michigan park must have one of the §600.5775 just-cause grounds to evict, and the eviction is pursued as a summary proceeding in district court. Nonpayment can lead to eviction through a demand for possession; a pattern of three or more late payments in a year becomes its own just-cause ground only after the park has used the statutory warning language. Several grounds — substantial annoyance, for example — require notice and a chance to cure first. A change in the use or nature of the park is itself just cause, but the park's broader change-of-use obligations (including a year's notice under §125.2328a) still apply. If a resident sells the home to the park after a just-cause termination, §125.2328a(4) lets the resident have it appraised and sets the price at no less than the appraised value.

Common scenarios

General examples Michigan park residents commonly encounter:

• A park tries to end a tenancy "just because." It cannot — there must be §600.5775 just cause.
• A resident is late three times in a year. That is just cause only if the park used the required written-demand warning language (§600.5775(2)(f)).
• A resident is evicted, then sells the home to the park. The resident can demand an appraisal and at least the appraised value (§125.2328a(4)).

Other authorities that may apply

MCL 600.5775 sets the grounds; the summary-proceedings law (Revised Judicature Act chapter 57a) and the demand-for-possession rules (MCL 600.5714) govern the court process. The Mobile Home Commission Act adds the liquidated-damages cap (§125.2328c) and the post-termination appraisal right (§125.2328a). Federal protections — the Fair Housing Act and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act — can also apply.