You own the structure, but you rent the ground underneath it. That split is the whole reason Michigan mobile home law exists as its own body of rules instead of ordinary landlord-tenant law. It gives park residents protections that apartment renters never get, and it also creates deadlines that punish anyone who waits too long.
The short answer
Michigan mobile home law is the set of state rules that governs park lot tenancies. A 1987 statute, the Mobile Home Commission Act, licenses parks and bans certain fees. Chapter 57 of the Revised Judicature Act blocks eviction without just cause. After a judgment, you still get 90 days to sell or move your home.
Key takeaways
- A park needs a statutory just cause reason to end your tenancy. An expiring lease is not one of them.
- You must receive a written demand for possession at least 30 days before the park files in district court.
- You have 10 days from that demand to request a meeting with the park operator in writing.
- Michigan sets no cap on lot rent increases, so the fight is over notice, retaliation, and lease terms.
- Entrance fees, exit fees, and forced-purchase conditions are illegal under the 1987 Act.
- LARA handles licensing and health and safety. Only a district court can decide possession.
Which Michigan Mobile Home Law Statutes Actually Control Your Lot
Four laws do most of the work. Residents often quote the wrong one, then wonder why the state agency cannot help.
| Statute | What it covers | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile Home Commission Act, PA 96 of 1987 (MCL 125.2301 and following) | Park licensing, annual inspections, banned fees and practices, resident sale rights | This is the source of the fee bans and your right to sell in place |
| Revised Judicature Act, Chapter 57 (MCL 600.5773 to 600.5785) | Just cause grounds, demand for possession, judgments, the post-judgment window | Every eviction runs through these sections |
| Truth in Renting Act (MCL 554.631 and following) | Prohibited written lease clauses and statutory damages | Voids the clause your park tried to slip past you |
| Michigan Consumer Protection Act (MCL 445.901 and following) | Unfair and deceptive practices in trade | Backs up billing and advertising complaints |
One vocabulary note saves a lot of wasted searching. The statutes and the state agency mostly say “manufactured housing,” while residents, agents, and courts still say mobile home. They mean the same thing here, so search both terms when you look up rules.
Lot rent increases: what a park can and cannot do
Michigan has no rent control. A park may raise your lot rent when the lease term ends, and there is no statutory percentage ceiling. The law does regulate the process around the increase.
Your written lease has to state the rent and the term. A park cannot change the rent mid-term unless the lease itself spells out how. It also cannot raise rent as payback for a complaint you filed, which Michigan treats as retaliation. Increases so steep that they function as a disguised eviction have been challenged on that basis.
Corporate ownership has changed the math in many communities, and residents now see the same pricing tactics that drew scrutiny in the RealPage rent pricing lawsuit. If an increase arrives with no renewal paperwork, ask for the written agreement first. A rent figure that lives only on a flyer is hard to enforce.
What to keep before you push back
- Every signed lease and renewal, including the park rules attached to it
- Rent receipts or bank records for the last two years
- The dated notice of increase, plus the envelope if it came by mail
- Any complaint you filed with the park or the state, and the reply
Just cause: The only reasons a park can evict you
This is the strongest protection Michigan gives park residents. A park operator cannot simply decline to renew. It has to prove one of the statutory grounds under MCL 600.5775, and a district judge has to agree.
- Rent paid late three or more times in a 12-month period, after written demand each time
- Unlawful use of the site or the home
- Violation of the lease or of park rules tied to health, safety, welfare, quiet enjoyment or property maintenance
- Violation of state health department regulations
- Intentional injury to a person or damage to property in the community
- Conduct that substantially annoys other residents, after notice and a chance to cure
- Failure to keep the home in reasonable condition and repair
- Condemnation of the park or a change in its use
Notice how narrow that list is. “We want the lot back” is absent. So is “your lease expired.” A demand for possession that cites no ground is defective on its face, and saying so in court is often enough.
The notice timeline, step by step
The sequence matters more than most residents expect, because each stage has its own clock.
- Written demand for possession. Delivery is in person, to a household member, by first-class mail, or by email if you agreed to email in writing.
- Thirty days minimum. No court case may be filed until at least 30 days have run from that demand.
- Your 10-day meeting request. Send it by certified mail within 10 days. The operator then has 20 days to hold the meeting, and you may bring a lawyer.
- Summons and complaint. Show up. A default judgment is the most common way residents lose a case they could have won.
- Judgment. If the park wins, the 90-day clock described below starts.
What happens to your home after a judgment
A judgment for possession does not mean the sheriff hauls your house away next week. State court guidance settles the point. Michigan’s Residential Landlord-Tenant Law Benchbook, published by the Michigan Judicial Institute, gives a resident 90 days after judgment to sell or remove the home under MCL 600.5781. That window extends if a genuine purchase offer comes in.
Three conditions ride along with it. You keep paying rent for those 90 days. You have to show the home is winterized. And the operator may disconnect utilities 10 days after judgment, which is why selling fast beats sitting tight through a Michigan winter.
Fees and lease terms Michigan parks cannot use
The 1987 Act lists practices that are off limits, whatever the lease says:
- Entrance fees and exit fees, under any label
- Making you buy the home, or any goods or services, as a condition of renting a lot
- Billing you for utilities the park does not accurately measure
- Renting a site to anyone without a written lease
- Blocking a resident from selling on site at a price the resident sets
The Truth in Renting Act adds teeth on the paperwork side. Clauses waiving your security deposit rights, confessions of judgment, landlord liens on your belongings, and jury trial waivers are all void. When a lease carries a provision the statute explicitly prohibits, the benchbook’s Truth in Renting section notes that MCL 554.636(2) allows $500 or actual damages, whichever is greater. You give written notice first, and the landlord gets 20 days to fix it.
Junk fee litigation against large operators, including the Greystar lawsuit over hidden rental fees, has made these charges a live issue nationally. Read every line item on your monthly statement against the lease.
Selling your home and surviving a park closure
You may sell your home on its site, at a price you set, and the park cannot force you to use its sales office. It also cannot unreasonably refuse a qualified buyer who wants to stay on the lot, though it may screen that buyer like any applicant.
Closures are harder. Condemnation or a conversion to another use is itself a just cause ground. Residents then face relocation with a structure that may be too old to travel safely. Michigan’s current framework offers no state relocation fund, which is the gap the pending legislation aims to fill.
What is changing in 2026
The Michigan Senate passed Senate Bills 934 through 939 on May 19, 2026, a bipartisan package aimed at the first real overhaul since 1987. Sponsors describe roughly 1,100 licensed communities and about 250,000 manufactured homes statewide. The bills cover a modernized eviction process, a right of first negotiation when a community goes up for sale, and financing tools.
None of that is law until the House acts and the governor signs. Track it the way you would track any other shift in new real estate laws, and assume the 1987 rules govern your lot today.
Where to complain, and who can actually fix it
Residents lose months by sending the right complaint to the wrong office. The state’s Bureau of Construction Codes, inside LARA, licenses communities and runs annual inspections. Its own guidance says it has no legal authority over contractual, monetary, or warranty issues. Rent disputes, lease terms and possession belong to your district court.
| Your problem | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Sewage, water, road or utility conditions in the park | LARA Bureau of Construction Codes, written complaint |
| Unlicensed operator | LARA Bureau of Construction Codes |
| Illegal entrance or exit fee | Private suit under MCL 125.2328 |
| Prohibited lease clause | Written notice, then suit under the Truth in Renting Act |
| Eviction, rent increase, possession | District court in the county where the park sits |
Your next step
Read your lease tonight, then compare it against the fee bans and the just cause list above. If a demand for possession has already arrived, calendar the 10-day meeting request and the 30-day filing date before anything else. Michigan mobile home law rewards residents who move early and quietly punishes the ones who wait for the summons. When the paperwork stops being a paperwork problem, litigation attorneys who handle housing cases can review the demand and the lease before your hearing date.
Michigan mobile home law FAQ
Yes, but only on a just cause ground, and only through a court case. Owning the structure protects the asset, not the lot tenancy.
At least 30 days from a written demand for possession. Some grounds need earlier warnings, such as the repeated demands behind a three-late-payments case.
No statewide cap exists. An increase must still follow your lease, and it cannot be retaliation for a complaint you made.
Only partly. Installation, titling, and construction standards still apply, but the park tenancy protections in Chapter 57 do not, since there is no lot lease.
Report it to LARA in writing. An unlicensed operator still cannot evict you outside the same court process.
