3 days ago
Michigan bills would require landlords to do repairs within 48 hours or renters can withhold rent
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Renters in Michigan would be permitted to withhold rent or have the cost of repairs deducted from their rent if landlords don't make timely safety-related repairs under bills being considered by the Michigan Senate.
Lansing, where the State Capitol Building is located, is the backdrop to more than 700 red-tagged homes, meaning they have been deemed by the city as uninhabitable, Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) told lawmakers on the Senate Housing and Human Services Committee last week. Residents are being forced from their homes, bearing the financial burden of finding new rentals or short-term hotel stays due to issues that could have been resolved if their landlord had acted, Anthony added.
'We're here because we all know and we hear about Michigan's housing crisis, and we're hitting a critical point,' Anthony said. 'And whether you live in a rural township, a city or neighborhood, families across our state are struggling to find and keep safe, affordable and quality places to live.'
Senate Bills 19 and 20 of the Tenant Empowerment Package seek to mandate property owners respond to notifications from their lessees of defective conditions on the premises of their residence within 48 hours. If the property owner does not commence repairs to the issue posing a hazard to residents, under the legislation, renters could withhold rent or get the issue repaired and deduct the repair from the rent.
Michigan's housing stock is old and in critical need of repair if families are going to have healthy and affordable housing opportunities in the state, Julie Cassidy, Michigan League for Public Policy's senior policy analyst, told lawmakers at the committee meeting.
Research from the University of Michigan and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority last year found that 61% of Michigan's housing units were constructed prior to 1980, around the time lead-based paint was banned in homes as it posed health risks, most of all for children. Additionally, the 2024 Michigan State Housing Needs assessment, also collaborated on by the two entities, determined there are more than 1 million renter-occupied units in Michigan.
Too many residents in Michigan live in homes with serious health and safety issues that require timely response from landlords, but those issues are not being addressed, Cassidy said.
'Many landlords do operate with ethics and care for their tenants, but the law must be strengthened to empower families whose landlords don't meet their legal obligation to maintain basic standards of health and safety,' Cassidy said.
There needs to be a shift in how Michigan thinks and addresses the needs of renters, MI Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition Coordinator, William Lawrence said.
Despite societal perceptions of renters, many tenants would like to view the places they rent as homes, Lawrence said. That means homes where they can raise a family, establish their career and invest in the community.
The inability to access repairs or perform them themselves leaves tenants feeling 'trapped' and distances them from investing in areas that don't feel like home, Lawrence said.
'When one is empowered to make necessary repairs to improve your surroundings, it deepens your commitment to that place. It deepens your commitment to the neighborhood,' Lawrence said. 'And when tenants are allowed to take responsibility for the places they live, the property owners at that property and in the neighborhood also benefit and our city's benefit because the right to repair goes a long way towards abating the pink and red tag crisis, which is so severe here in Lansing, and other communities around the state.'
Other bills in the package aim to empower tenants in other ways, Anthony told lawmakers last week.
Senate Bill 21 would require that if a landlord offers lease renewal to a current tenant and plans on increasing the rent, the landlord would have to alert the tenant to the increase at least 90 days before the end of the lease.
Senate Bill 22 would allow landlords to return security deposits to tenants electronically as opposed to a check.
While Erika Farley, executive director for the Rental Property Owners Association of Michigan, said they support Senate Bill 22 for providing electronic options renters may prefer over paper checks, the association opposes the rest of the package.
However, Farley thanked Anthony for including the association in talks surrounding the bills.
'We as an association support that all the properties, these are homes for people, this is where they live, that they're being kept up and they're being taken care of in the way that they're supposed to,' Farley said. 'At this time, we are opposed, but we are continuing to work with the sponsor and thank her for her help.'
The package of bills is scheduled to be back before the committee on Tuesday.
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