A group of tenants is suing Detroit’s 36th District Court, claiming that its judges allow landlords to illegally collect rent or evict tenants when their properties lack a city issued safety certification.
If successful, the lawsuit could dramatically shift how judges in one of the nation’s busiest courts consider eviction cases because only 14% of rental properties in Detroit currently have such a certification.
“This protects renters,” said Steven Rimmer, director of the Detroit Tenants Union. “The city code is pretty clear on this one.”
City ordinance requires that landlords have a certificate of compliance from the city’s building department showing their property has been inspected and is safe to live in. And judges, the tenants group says, must require landlords to show that certificate before permitting evictions or rent collection to take place. Currently, judges consider whether a building is certified only if the renter brings it up.
The suit, filed July 2 in Wayne County Circuit Court, against Chief Judge William McConico in his administrative capacity comes after the union and its lawyers sent a letter last month to McConico urging the court to enforce the city of Detroit’s rental ordinance. In response to the tenants’ letter, a group of landlords’ attorneys pushed back with their own letter to the court, arguing that what the tenants union was asking for “would prevent judges from being judges.”
McConico declined to comment on pending litigation.
“The Court has always been willing to meet with all stakeholders to discuss matters affecting the administration of justice and values open dialogue with all interested parties,” McConico said in a statement to the Free Press. “It is unfortunate that we were not able to bring all parties together for that discussion before this matter proceeded to litigation.”
The court had scheduled a meeting for this week with judges and landlord and tenants lawyers. That meeting has been cancelled because of the lawsuit.
“We’re saying the place where this is failing, is the court,” said Donovan McCarty, director of the Michigan State University College of Law’s Housing Justice Clinic, an attorney for the tenant’s group. “The place where this needs to be operationalized is the court. That is the place where landlords are able to say, ‘Well, we know that there’s going to be no real repercussion, so why would we get into compliance?’ And if we allow that kind of lawlessness to continue, then it will never be resolved.”
What the tenants’ lawsuit says
The 36th District Court is failing to uphold Detroit city code, state laws and court rules, according to the group, undercutting the protections baked in for tenants living in a city where just 14% of rentals have the safety certifications needed to legally operate.
The Detroit Tenants Union and an unnamed renter brought the suit against the court. The tenants union has members living in rentals without a certificate of compliance. The anonymous renter resides in a building without the clearance and is withholding rent for “habitability concerns.” His landlord could take him to court for not paying rent.
The court does not require a certificate of compliance before a landlord can file for eviction. If that certification is absent, it’s an issue the tenant must raise and that’s a problem because the court places the burden of proof on the renter even though it’s the landlord or the city with those records, the Detroit Tenants Union argues. It’s an issue that hits tenants who fail to appear in court the hardest, the group said. The court’s current practice exposes thousands of Detroit renters each year to evictions brought by landlords without the compliance documents, it said.
The tenants union is focused on the stage of an eviction when the court enters a judgment for rent or possession, in situations where someone hasn’t paid rent. A landlord without a valid certificate of compliance during the time for which they are trying to collect rent is not entitled to a judgment for that rent, they argue.
The suit cites cases involving eight properties in which the court entered default judgments. That’s when a tenant fails to show up to court and must move, pay the requested amount or explain why they missed their hearing. The properties did not have valid certificates of compliance during the time period the landlords sought rent, according to the complaint.
The court, the union says, is equipped to require landlords to demonstrate they have certification to rent out their property. The group is asking Wayne County Circuit Court to direct the 36th District Court to issue an administrative order barring judgments for eviction and rent collection for the time period landlords don’t have a valid certificate of compliance, update public facing instructions and forms to say as much and to inform tenants during the first hearing about what the city’s rental ordinance says.
“We see a deteriorating housing stock that is only getting worse and worse as landlords keep extracting profit from these properties and leaving them to deteriorate and having a certificate of compliance regime that is effective will allow us to maintain that housing stock for generations to come,” McCarty said.
In a June 16 letter to McConico, a group of 13 landlords attorneys called the Detroit Landlords’ Bar, told the chief judge that while they recognize the importance of safe rental housing, what the tenants demand would be “handcuffing” judges.
They point to state and city laws that already allow tenants living in rentals without certificates of compliance to withhold rent and put the money into an escrow account. State law upholds “actions” for rent and for possession if a tenant doesn’t put rent into escrow, they point out. All that to say, a wholesale directive from the chief judge won’t work, the landlords’ attorneys argue. The certificate of compliance issue should be left to assigned judges on a case-by-case basis, instead, they said.
Rental compliance in Detroit
Rental compliance and lack of enforcement have long been an issue, despite repeated efforts by city officials to tighten rules.
In Detroit, rental properties must be registered and pass a 15-point safety inspection. If the rental is in good condition, the city issues a certificate of compliance. Properties without this certificate can be ticketed hundreds of dollars and can be subject to liens placed for unpaid tickets, according to a Detroit rental ordinance guide.
Of the estimated 81,024 rental properties in Detroit, 33%, or 26,412 properties, are registered with the city, according to data provided to the Free Press from the city. Fourteen percent of rentals, or 11,129 properties, have passed inspections and obtained an active certificate of compliance.
That is up from 10% in 2024, when Detroit City Council approved changes to the rental ordinance in an effort to crack down on negligent landlords and boost inspections.
Reach reporter Nushrat Rahman at nrahman@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit tenants group sues 36th District Court over eviction process
Reporting by Nushrat Rahman, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Nushrat Rahman, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
