Make a Michigan Rental Application

The Michigan Rental Application Process

A Michigan rental application requests personal information from applicants like their address, income, employment history, and credit history. Though these may seem like invasive questions, they are essential for the landlord as a tenant screening tool to determine which prospective tenant will be most likely to pay the rent on time and also take care of the property. Rental applications also generally come with a fee that ranges from $25 to $75 but can be higher.

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A Sample Michigan Rental Application with Examples for Each Step

To create a Michigan rental application form to help you with the screening process with potential tenants, including the following sections.

• The first section of the rental application to capture the personal information of the potential tenant. This must include their full legal name as well as their birthday. Collect this information for each tenant. This section should have enough room for at least two tenants since you may have at least two tenants who are married or part of a civil union.
• Collect the contact information for each tenant. This includes cell phone numbers, work phone numbers, and email addresses.
• If you plan to run a credit check or a background check, you also need to collect the social security number for each potential tenant who is a party to the rental agreement.
• The next section of the rental application must capture the full address for the current residence. This should include the city, state, and zip code.
• Since a rental application is part of the screening process, it should ask how long the potential tenant has lived at their current address, the amount of rent they currently pay, the name of their current landlord, and the phone number for their current landlord.
• The next section should collect information about the applicant's previous rental history. This includes previous addresses, former landlords and property managers, and (when possible) contact information for the former landlords and property managers.
• The next section should capture the applicant's employment history, starting with their most current employer. Obtain the name of their current employer, their employer’s address, their job title, the length of time they've worked for their employer, the name of their supervisor, and the contact phone number for either human resources or their supervisor.
• Create a section to capture the applicant's sources of income. This helps you understand whether they will be able to fulfill the lease agreement.
• The next section should ask the applicant whether they have checking or savings accounts and which financial institutions manage those accounts. The applicant will likely not disclose the account numbers, but they will tell you whether they have checking or savings accounts.
• Create a section to capture information about the applicant's vehicles. This is particularly important for Michigan landlords who have rental properties where parking is limited. Knowing how many vehicles the applicant has and the make model of each vehicle helps ensure that only authorized people are parking on the property.
• The rental application form should request emergency contact information for the applicant.
• Create a section that captures the name and age of each person who will reside on the rental property with the tenant.
• Create a section for the applicant to indicate if they have pets, how many, the type, and the size.
• Create a final section that provides a disclosure that complies with Michigan law that informs the applicant about whether you run a credit check or background check and whether the application fee they paid is refundable.
• Finally, include a signature line for each applicant and a place for the date of the signature.

Rental Application Resources for Tenants in Michigan

Signing a rental lease agreement means that you're entering into a legally binding contract. It may seem like you have no rights as a tenant, but that's not true. There are several resources in Michigan that can help you.

• Michigan Legal Aid's website helps tenants understand their rights before they rent, to understand their civil rights, their rights during the time they move in, their rights during the time they're renting, and their rights when they move out. They also provide links to several of the Fair Housing Centers in Michigan.
• If you're a tenant and need to break a lease because of a situation involving domestic violence, Michigan Legal Aid, provides a specific page to help you.
• Michigan Attorney General website provides multiple resources such as a practical guide for tenants and landlords, access to the MSU Housing Clinic, and Michigan Legal Help.  

Michigan Rental Application Laws

Michigan law caps security deposits at one and one-half the monthly rent (1.5x) and requires landlords to return a tenant’s deposit to him or her within 30 days (Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 554.602 to 554.616).