Michigan's Landlord and Tenant Relationships Act (MCL 554.601–.616) runs one of the most procedure-heavy deposit systems in the country — mandatory checklists, tight response windows on both sides, and a rule found almost nowhere else: a landlord who wants to keep disputed money must sue the tenant within 45 days or owe double.
How much can a landlord charge?
One and a half months' rent, maximum (MCL 554.602). The deposit remains the tenant's lawful property until the landlord establishes a right to it — and must be held at a regulated financial institution or secured by a cash/surety bond, with written notice to the tenant of where.
The checklist machinery
At move-in, the landlord must provide two blank inventory checklists covering everything landlord-owned — carpet, appliances, walls, fixtures, all of it. The tenant has 7 days to complete one and return it; it becomes the baseline. At termination, the landlord completes a matching termination inventory. Skip the checklists and the deduction case is crippled before it starts.
The four-day and 30-day clocks
The tenant must provide a forwarding address within 4 days of vacating. The landlord then has 30 days to return the deposit or send an itemized list of damages with any undisputed balance — and the notice must tell the tenant they have 7 days to respond. A tenant who disputes items in writing within those 7 days forces the next step.
The 45-day lawsuit rule — Michigan's teeth
If the tenant disputes and won't agree, the landlord must file suit within 45 days of the end of occupancy to keep the contested amount. No suit, no deduction — and a landlord who fails to comply with the return requirements can be liable for double the deposit. Michigan is the rare state where the burden of going to court sits on the landlord by default.
Why Michigan deposit disputes are documentation disputes
Michigan's whole design assumes the checklists settle condition — but a checklist is adjectives on a form, and "good condition" at move-in versus "damaged" at move-out is exactly the gap lawsuits live in. When the landlord has 45 days to decide whether to sue, the quality of the visual evidence decides whether they dare.
SealMove is the checklist's proof layer. Every photo and video is cryptographically sealed the instant it's captured, independently timestamped, and locked with Face ID into a tamper-evident archive. At move-out, your walkthrough lines up room-by-room against the sealed baseline — and either party can send the other a report to review and acknowledge, no app required.