Detroit / Move in guide

Moving into a Detroit rental without costly surprises

By Homzora Team · September 26, 2026

Moving into a Detroit rental involves two sets of rules: Michigan's statewide deposit and lease requirements, and Detroit's own rental inspection and certificate system. Several of these rules come with short deadlines in your first week. This guide walks through the process in order, with a source for every rule.

Before you apply: check the certificate

Detroit requires rental properties to be registered and inspected and to obtain a Certificate of Compliance.^[1] Under amendments effective January 1, 2025, landlords without a certificate cannot legally collect rent.^[2] Before you apply, ask the landlord for the certificate and when it was issued. A certified home has passed an inspection, and a landlord who cannot show one may bring other problems. If you later discover the home lacks a certificate, you may be able to pay rent into the city's escrow program instead of to the landlord, provided your rent is current.^[3]

Ask for the total move in cost in writing before you pay anything: application fees, first month's rent, the deposit and any other charges. Never pay a fee or deposit to anyone who has not shown you the inside of the unit, and be cautious about any request for payment by gift card, wire transfer or cryptocurrency.

Source of income protection

Since April 2, 2025, Michigan law has prohibited landlords from discriminating against an otherwise eligible tenant based on the source of their lawful income. When applying income requirements, a landlord must count housing vouchers, with an exception for emergency rental assistance.^[4] If you pay rent with a voucher or benefits, a landlord should evaluate your application on the same terms as anyone else's.

The deposit and the notice you should receive

Michigan limits security deposits to one and a half months' rent.^[5] Within 14 days after you move in, the landlord must give you a written notice with its name and address, the name and address of the bank or surety holding the deposit, and a statement, in bold, that you must give a forwarding address in writing within four days after moving out. If the landlord does not give you this notice, you are not required to give a forwarding address.^[6] Keep the notice with your lease.

Pay by a method that leaves a record, such as a check or bank transfer, and get a written receipt showing the amount and what it covers.

The inventory checklist: seven days

Michigan requires landlords to give tenants an inventory checklist for recording the condition of the unit. You have seven days after you take possession to complete it and return it, unless you and the landlord agreed to a shorter period.^[7] This is one of the most important deadlines of the whole tenancy. Walk through every room, describe each existing problem specifically, with its location and size, and return the checklist within the deadline. Keep a copy.

At the same time, photograph and film every room: walls, floors, ceilings, windows, screens, blinds, doors, the inside and outside of each appliance, cabinets, closets, bathrooms, the basement and any porch. Take close ups of existing damage with a wider shot showing where it is. Email the photographs, or a link to them, to the landlord with your checklist, so there is a dated record that it received both. The evidence guide explains how to organize these records.

Read the lease before you sign

Michigan's Truth in Renting Act requires every lease to include a notice, in type of at least 12 points, stating that Michigan law establishes rights and obligations for landlords and tenants, along with the name and address for giving notices to the landlord.^[8] Look for both in the lease, and save the notice address for repair requests.

Read every page and addendum, and ask for anything unclear to be explained in writing. Check the rent, the due date, the lease term and renewal terms, who pays each utility, parking, rules on pets and guests, and how repair requests are made. Michigan does not set a statutory cap on late fees, and it does not have a general statute on how much notice a landlord must give before entering, so the lease usually decides both.^[9] Ask for reasonable terms, such as advance notice before entry, to be written in.

Repairs and basic standards

Michigan requires landlords to keep the home and common areas fit for the use intended, to keep them in reasonable repair and to comply with state and local health and safety laws, except where damage was caused by the tenant's willful or irresponsible conduct.^[10] Before you sign, test the furnace, run every tap, flush each toilet, check that windows and doors close and lock, and look at the basement for signs of water. Note anything that needs attention on your checklist and ask for it to be repaired in writing.

Lead safety in older homes

Much of Detroit's rental housing was built before 1978. Federal law requires landlords renting most such housing to disclose known lead based paint and lead hazards and to provide an approved pamphlet before the lease is signed.^[11] Detroit's rental ordinance adds its own lead safety requirements, including risk assessments every three years for properties with interim lead controls.^[1] If children will live in the home, ask about its lead status and read the disclosure carefully.

Set up utilities and services

DTE Energy provides electricity and natural gas in Detroit.^[12] Ask the landlord which accounts must be in your name, and start them before move in day so the heat and power are on when you arrive. Ask who pays for water, which is provided by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. If you may need help with bills, ask DTE about its Shutoff Protection Plan, which is open to customers at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level and to seniors.^[13]

Insurance before the keys

Many leases require renters insurance. Most standard policies do not cover flood damage, which is sold separately^[14], and Detroit's Basement Backup Protection Program is not open to renters.^[15] If the home has a basement, ask your insurer about sewer backup coverage, and buy renters coverage before move in day so your belongings are protected while they are being moved.

Pets and roommates

If you have a pet, get the pet terms in writing, including any pet rent and deposit, and remember that the total deposit may not exceed one and a half months' rent.^[5] If you are moving in with roommates, make sure every adult is named on the lease or approved in writing, and agree among yourselves how rent, utilities and the deposit refund will be divided.

Winter readiness

If you move in during warmer months, check the home's winter readiness before you sign, because problems are much harder to fix in January. Turn on the furnace and confirm that heat reaches every room. Ask when the furnace was last serviced and when the filter was changed. Look at windows for cracked glass, broken seals and drafts, and at doors for worn weather stripping. Ask whether pipes have ever frozen, and where the water shut off is in case one bursts. Ask who clears snow from walkways, steps and the driveway, and how quickly. A home that is comfortable in August can be expensive and uncomfortable in winter if these basics are neglected.

If the unit is not ready on move in day

Walk through before you carry anything inside. If the home is not clean, the heat does not work, an appliance is broken or the previous tenant's belongings remain, photograph the problem, tell the landlord in writing that day and record it on your inventory checklist. Michigan requires the landlord to keep the home fit for its intended use and in reasonable repair.^[10] If documented code violations threaten your health or safety, Detroit's escrow program may allow you to pay rent into escrow rather than to the landlord while repairs are made, as long as your rent is current.^[3] The inspection guide explains that process in detail.

Keep your paperwork together

Create one folder, on paper and backed up digitally, for everything from the start of the tenancy: the application receipt, the lease and addenda, the Certificate of Compliance details, the deposit notice, your completed inventory checklist, the lead disclosure, move in photographs, utility account details and every written message with the landlord. Name files by date so they sort in order. When a question comes up months later, such as a disputed deduction or the date of a repair request, that folder is what settles it.

Your first week

Return the completed inventory checklist within seven days.^[7]
Watch for the deposit notice, due within 14 days of move in.^[6]
Test the smoke alarms and the furnace, and report problems in writing.
Find the water shut off valve and the electrical panel.
Keep your lease, certificate details, receipts and photographs together.

Where to get help

Detroit's Housing Resource HelpLine can be reached at 866 313 2520, and property complaints can go to the city's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department at 313 628 2451.^[16]

Your completion record

Certificate of Compliance confirmed
Deposit within the legal limit
Deposit notice received
Inventory checklist returned in seven days
Truth in Renting notice in the lease
Lead disclosure received
Utilities started
Renters insurance

Keep this record with your lease. Use the planning tools to test your move in costs, and see the inspection guide for what to check in each room.

Sources and official resources

Use the planning tools · All Detroit guides

Comparing possible destinations? Read Detroit vs. Minneapolis Cost Of Living for metropolitan price comparisons, illustrative budgets and the limits of the underlying data.

Put your moving payments on a calendar

When reusing moving boxes, separate the materials you already own from items you still need to purchase. Free boxes do not remove labor, transport or replacement costs for unsuitable packaging. Confirm the mover accepts the packing arrangement before reducing the allowance in your cash schedule.

A dated cash schedule is more useful than one large total

Use the following worksheet after collecting the actual written payment requirements for your home. It is an illustrative planning exercise shared across Homzora editions, not a survey of local prices, a recommended deposit or a statement that every listed charge is permitted. Confirm applicable rules separately. The point is to see what leaves your account before the next reliable income arrives.

Begin with money that is available for the move after setting aside your other commitments. Do not include an expected deposit refund, an unconfirmed reimbursement or a future sale of furniture as though it has already cleared. Enter a future receipt on its expected date and test a second version in which it arrives later. This distinction matters even when your total monthly income looks sufficient.

Hypothetical moving cash schedule starting with $5,000
Timing	Assumed transaction	Cash movement	Balance
Before payments	Available moving funds	$5,000 opening funds	$5,000
Fourteen days before entry	Deposit and moving reservation	$1,000 plus $100 paid	$3,900
Two days before entry	Initial rent and utility allowance	$1,500 plus $200 paid	$2,200
Entry day	Remaining moving balance	$300 paid	$1,900
Three days after entry	Essential household purchases	$200 paid	$1,700
Seven days after entry	Assumed income receipt	$900 received	$2,600

The assumed payments total $3,300. The $100 moving reservation is part of the $400 moving bill, so the delivery day balance is $300, not another $400. The assumed $1,000 deposit uses cash even if it may later be returned. Whether the $200 utility allowance contains a refundable deposit, a fee or both must be established from the real provider documents. These amounts deliberately separate a payment schedule from a final expense calculation.

Find the lowest balance before committing

In this example, the lowest balance is $1,700 before the assumed income arrives. If you want to retain $300 for unexpected needs, the remaining headroom at that point is $1,400. The reserve is still part of your money; do not subtract it as an expense and then count it again as a bill. Keep a separate column showing how much of the balance is committed or deliberately retained.

If opening funds were only $3,000 with every other assumption unchanged, the balance would reach negative $300 before the income receipt. Keeping a $300 reserve would require another $600 available by then, or equivalent agreed reductions or timing changes. A positive balance after payday would not solve the earlier shortage. Do not assume a provider will delay payment unless that change has been confirmed.

Make every row traceable

For your own version, add the payee, written amount, due date, payment reference and refund conditions. Record what a reservation payment will be applied toward. When an estimate changes, preserve the old version and explain which row changed. For a shared household, separate the person who pays the provider from the people who reimburse that person. Otherwise the same expense can appear several times or a funding gap can be hidden inside an informal promise.

Before sending money, verify the property, the person authorized to receive payment and the instructions through a contact method you have independently checked. A payment request arriving in an existing email conversation is not enough by itself to prove that new account details are genuine. Keep evidence of what you agreed and of the payment you actually made.

Connect the budget to the existing guide

Use the local sources and lease questions elsewhere in this guide to establish the actual terms, then enter the confirmed figures into this worksheet. Add storage, extra travel, overlapping housing payments, insurance or other services only when they apply to your move. Existing optional provider links can help you request quotes, but a quote is useful only when its scope matches the arrangement you intend to buy. Recheck the schedule after the first ordinary week in the home.

Continue with a focused decision worksheet

Detroit Rental Choices: Compare Repair Promises Before Treating Two Rents as Equal