Can a tenant withhold rent for repairs in Michigan?

In Michigan, where the Housing Law of Michigan applies, a tenant’s duty to pay rent is suspended while the premises have no certificate of compliance or the certificate is suspended, and the suspended rent must be paid into an escrow account set up by the enforcing agency. The suspension does not apply until the owner has had a reasonable time after notice of violations to apply for a temporary certificate, and it does not apply where the owner shows that the occupant caused the hazardous conditions. Escrowed rent is paid out to the landlord or another party authorized to make repairs to cover correcting the violations, and rent becomes due again once the certificate is reinstated or a temporary certificate is issued. If withheld rent is not paid into the escrow account, the landlord may sue for rent and for possession for nonpayment, subject to the tenant’s defenses. The Housing Law applies to each city, village and township with a population of 10,000 or more, but not to private and two-family dwellings in a place with fewer than 100,000 people unless its legislative body adopts those provisions by resolution. Separately, in an eviction for nonpayment the judge or jury must deduct any portion of the rent found to be excused by the landlord’s breach of the lease or of the statutory covenants of fitness and repair. Repair-and-deduct is a different remedy with its own rules. This is MCL 125.530, 125.401, 600.5741.

WhatMichigan
Rent withholdingRent to agency escrow without a compliance certificate
How it worksThe rent is paid into court or an escrow account instead

What the statute says

“The duty to pay rent in accordance with the terms of any lease or agreement or under the provisions of any statute shall be suspended and the suspended rentals shall be paid into an escrow account as provided in subsection (4)”

Quoted word for word from the section’s text.

Source

MCL 125.530, 125.401, 600.5741

Read the statute in the Michigan Compiled Laws (Michigan Legislature): legislature.mi.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 15, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

Every deadline on this page runs from the tenant’s notice. A repair request filed in Seayora keeps the date it was made and every update after it, on the website and both phone apps, so owner and tenant are working from the same date.

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