You've heard the saying Buyer's Beware, but I recently learned that Renter's best beware also. According to Judge Servaas in the 63rd District Courts recent ruling, a renter upon vacating their premises can be liable for much more than their security deposit to the landlord. According to the law, the tenant must provide a forwarding address to the landlord within four days of vacating the premises to allow the landlord an address to send a "Statement of Deposits".
The landlord has thirty days to send that statement, the tenant has seven days to respond. That statement should include only actual damages to the rental unit not including normal wear and tear, rent in arrearage, rent due from early termination of the lease or unpaid utility bills by the tenant.
The catch? According to Judge Servaas, the tenant is liable for EVERYTHING the landlord puts on that statement above and beyond the security deposit. Want more? The landlord can send that statement out and you better receive it promptly. If the tenant does not respond within seven days, regardless of proof they did not receive that statement within that time frame, it doesn't matter... They have to pay for whatever the landlord has put on that statement as damages. You want an example.
Let's say you paid a $500.00 security deposit upon move in. You move out and give your parents address as a forwarding address to your previous landlord. Your parents receive the notice but dont give it to you for a week. You as the tenant don't receive it within seven days, and the landlord has put on there $5000.00 worth of damages.
Take it to the 63rd District Court and you won't even be able to speak, the landlord will get judgment for the entire amount. Doesn't said fair does it? Doesn't matter in this town. Check out MCL 554.601 through 554.616 which disputes that type of ruling. If you need more proof, research 213 Michigan Appellate Case 231,539 or 128 Michigan Appellate Case 671.
Ask for reconsideration based on those facts of Michigan law and Judge Servaas will schedule a hearing based on your findings only to refuse your presentation of the facts and then fine you. He will admit he erred against you, but hold your Constitutional right to your trial ransom. If you refuse to pay the ransom he will enter the judgment he has admitted was wrong. When you try to appeal that erroneous judgment, he will make the appeal bond you have to pay five times the normal bond, just "to make it as difficult as possible" to appeal.
Then he will allow the landlord to attempt to collect on the judgment he and the landlord know is wrong. So Renter's beware, the scum lords are protected in the 63rd District Court and you may end up paying for a landlord who places on the statement of deposits that you stole the company van which had the winning lottery ticket worth millions of dollars in it, place it in the mail, and the renter better pray to the Lord that the statement arrives within seven days.
Even heaven cant help you if it gets lost in the mail or delivered to the wrong address. The Judge will deny you any claim against what is placed on that statement because you didn't respond within the seven days, and you will be paying that debt! This is the justice system here, I say it's the just ice system. Or better yet, become a landlord in this District, it clearly pays well. My advice though: don't rent in the 63rd District Court area of Grand Rapids, or you may end up owing for a lifetime! I voted for this man, little did I know of the injustice that occurs in that court.
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