I have a court date early next week. Have filed against this tenant twice before. He paid in full both times and I dismissed. I have yet to see the inside of a Michigan courtroom. I don't think he is going to pay this time, so I would be very thankful for any advice to help me prepare for my first encounter with a Michigan judge.

Basically, in Michigan, all of the forms (DC100A, DC102A, DC107) say that rent has not been paid and that is the reason for eviction. Usually, the court even issues a document that says "You must pay $X to stay in possession." So, they get to stay if they pay.

Evicting for any other reason -- unless there is excessive damage or a health hazard -- is a lot more difficult.

You could use a DC100C and say that you are terminating the tenancy due to lease violations such as habitual late payments. In my area, that would be unlikely to go through if the tenant paid up.

Also, from my reading of the law in Michigan, it still isn't clear if you can refuse rent once eviction has started. It looks to me at first glance that you CAN'T -- again, since all of the forms are designed to allow them to pay-and-stay. But it isn't clear to me if that is just "what the standard forms say, so just write up a different form" -- or it is more "the letter of the law."

Michigan law is sometimes poorly written and/or vague when it comes to some LL/tenant aspects.

- John...

Vee, good advice, but this is the kind of guy that is best avoided during an eviction. Wife also. I put them into that place before I learned about proper screening on this site.

John, maybe burning him out with a big rent increase is my best option?

Scott,

If this helps...

Locally, my judge says there is a difference between DELIVERED/RECEIVED and ACCEPTED.

The res can DELIVER the money order but we can HOLD it and not ACCEPT it as payment. He says the LL is not required to accept money.

We take the MO to court in an envelope and IF ASKED, we tell the judge we are not accepting this payment. Judge says EVICTED and we walk out with the MO and deposit it.

BRAD

Since you mentioned a rent increase... So, this isn't a lease, but is a month-to-month? If so, then you can just terminate it. You don't need a reason in Michigan to terminate a MTM agreement. You can just decide that you want different tenants.

I thought you were trying to evict during a lease. If that is not the case, then you should be able to just give proper notice and end the MTM agreement. If they don't leave, then you can evict (using the DC100C form that you are just Terminating Tenancy).

- John...

(Although, depending on the situation, sure, it might be better to just increase the rent and see what they do! Maybe they'll pay it for a while! :) )

- John...

Sounds good! Let us know how it goes. I'm anxious to see if they actually move out. Fingers crossed! :)

- John...