Standard Residential Lease

Check the Truth in Renting notice, its required placement and format, the landlord's notice address, applicable lead materials and protected early-ending information. Keep prescribed notice wording intact rather than replacing it with a short summary. Review any proposed waiver or fee clause before signing.

Review the one-and-a-half-month deposit limit, including payments that count toward it. Prepare the required deposit notice with account or bond information and forwarding-address instructions. Use the move-in inventory copies, record the actual condition and photographs, and review the seven-day return period or any permitted shorter agreement. The Michigan renter resources include guidance on deposits and inventories.

Keep payment records, a forwarding address, move-out condition records and supporting costs for deposit accounting. Review the thirty-day damage-notice and balance-return process, required statement language, tenant response and any further dispute steps; mailing a list does not resolve every disagreement. Distinguish ordinary wear from permitted charges and retain the delivery record.

Write practical entry arrangements, repair contacts and reporting procedures. Review rent changes, fixed-term expiry, local renewal protections and ending a periodic tenancy separately. A rental-period ending notice is not an entry-notice rule. Use the Michigan rental-law guide for the actual tenancy and protected circumstances, and keep later changes in writing.

Record the recurring period and notice dates. Identify when the monthly arrangement begins, when rent is due and which earlier lease terms continue. The ordinary periodic ending notice follows the rental-payment interval, usually one month for monthly rent. Check the actual agreement, local renewal protections and protected circumstances before choosing a final date; do not assume every month equals a flat 30 days. Keep a written notice and delivery record, and separately arrange keys, condition review and the forwarding address.

Review the agreement before proposing new rent. State the proposed amount, first affected rental period and delivery method. Read the lease’s rent, change and renewal provisions, and allow advance written communication so the resident can consider the proposal. An existing fixed-term rent is not automatically open to change; any permitted adjustment clause needs review of its scope and notice requirements. Check housing-program restrictions and prohibited retaliation or discrimination, then keep the proposal, response and any agreed amendment together. See the Michigan rent-change guide for related context.

Describe the room and the household's costs. Identify the private room, furnishings, storage and parking, together with access to shared facilities. Confirm the signing parties and any approval needed under an existing lease. Record rent contributions, deposit payments and how heating, electricity, internet and other shared bills are allocated, including seasonal changes in cost. Keep a roommate cost-sharing agreement consistent with the landlord's lease and record any later approved change in occupants or responsibilities.

Set clear routines for shared living. Discuss cleaning, guests, quiet hours, pets, shared supplies and repair reporting. Include the private room and supplied items in the condition record, alongside the shared areas relevant to the rental. Agree on how maintenance or inspection access to the private room will be requested and scheduled, with separate arrangements for emergencies. Keep communications and changes in writing, and review the applicable agreement, notice and possession process before responding to an unresolved payment or household dispute.