The Ann Arbor Tenant Bill of Rights

Introduction

Power-building and tenant rights in Ann Arbor

Exploited and mistreated, tenants occupy a precarious position in the tenant-landlord relationship. In recent times, the cost of living has continued to increase as wages have stagnated. Many renters are left behind, facing increasingly costly rents, hostile landlords, expensive and stressful housing searches, and threat of eviction. In Ann Arbor, the skyrocketing rents and a shortage of affordable housing have left tenants feeling frustrated and worried. Current state and local laws do not provide sufficient tenant protections. Preliminary survey results show that many Ann Arbor tenants have dealt with unresponsive maintenance requests, dangerous or improperly maintained living conditions all while paying too much for rent.

This platform— the Tenant Bill of Rights—reflects collective demands of Ann Arbor tenants and supporters of fair and affordable housing. This platform was constructed by members of the Ann Arbor Tenants Union and the Huron Valley Democratic Socialists of America, and is a living vision for our future. This platform is part of our attempt to create a democratic future for tenants, one in which we choose and realize our own material conditions. We’ll return to and continue constructing that vision as our organizing grows, we wage fights on the terms described here, and as the housing landscape changes.

As a broad platform, it will take years to win the full slate of rights described here. We’ll pursue each of these rights progressively, in the form of local ballot initiatives, council ordinances, statewide campaigns, or battles in courts. Each of those fights serves as an organizing vehicle, lending momentum from a campaign so that we can establish long-term structures in the form of local tenant associations. In that sense, we hope to create a democratic culture of fighting tenants both through the process of organizing and through the victories we hope to attain by passing these legislation. It’s only through establishing that culture—not through winning any single legislative victory—that tenants in Ann Arbor can take back the dignity and affordability that has been stolen from us for too long.

1. Right to Organize

Tenants deserve the right to organize — when landlords do things that are within the law that still negatively impact tenants, they should have the right to come together, talk and organize for their own protections. At the same time, absent a statewide, strong rent control measure, tenant-led organizing is the only sustainable way the cost of rent can be managed by tenants. Tenant organizing across the country has led to several recent wins for renters. We believe that tenant organizing is an essential tool that should be protected.

The Right to Organize entails several protections. We demand:

• The right to perform outreach.

  • Tenant unions, or unions of any kind, cannot form or function if tenants are banned from interacting with their neighbors. Unfortunately, we’ve already seen this kind of harassment and repression in Ann Arbor. For instance, representatives of Hayman Company management company at Ann Arbor Woods threatened eviction and arrest when demanding we [AATU] cease all flyering and doorknocking.

  • Accordingly, we demand protections for the distribution of literature relating to tenants’ rights under tenants’ doors or in common areas, and protections for anyone knocking on doors to discuss tenants’ issues or an organizing campaign.

• The right to gather.

  • Tenants can only inform each other of their issues, rights, and strategies to fight for better conditions if they can freely communicate with each other and gather.

  • We demand that the City of Ann Arbor prevent landlords from restricting tenants in any way from gathering in common areas for any reason.

• The right to non-interference.

  • We demand that the City of Ann Arbor prevent landlords from intimidating, retaliating, or discriminating against tenants for their participation in a union. This includes, but is not limited to, any communications to tenants disparaging organizing efforts, providing preferential treatment in the form of discounts to tenants who do not participate in union activities, threatening to raise rent or evict tenants that participate in union organizing activities, and calling the police on gatherings of tenants.

• The right to collectively bargained leases.

  • We demand that City Council pass an ordinance requiring landlords to engage in good-faith bargaining with collectives of tenants for their leases. The power built by tenant unions structurally cannot be based solely on one time small changes in additional benefits. And as long as we lack legal protections and recognition landlords will continue to raise rents and further living quality.

These are not new proposals, some Michigan senators, including our own Jeff Irwin proposed these very same rights in Senate Bill 900 of 2024. These champions are still fighting for better tenant protections but are highly unlikely to pass given the current situation. The passage of strong protections for tenant organizers in Ann Arbor will pave the way for other municipalities, future efforts in the State of Michigan, and the national tenants’ movement.

2. Right to Rent Control

Tenants deserve the right to affordable housing. Unfortunately, housing is treated as a commodity rather than a human right. We demand a reality in which no one is rent burdened and everyone is housed. Recent reports show that Ann Arbor has the highest rent burden in Michigan, with 33.9% of Ann Arborite’s income going towards rent. Additionally, in Michigan, 26% of renters spend more than half of their income on rent with a person needing to work over 80 hours a week at minimum wage to afford the average 1-bed. This high cost of living is not sustainable for many residents, especially as rents continue to skyrocket. It has been proven time and time again that high rents in cities negatively impact communities. Thus, we ask for affordable housing to help our neighbors and make the city a better place to live for everyone.

We demand the right to rent control. We demand our state legislature repeal Act 226 of 1988, which forbids rent control in the state of Michigan. Repealing this legislation would improve the lives of renters across the state. Ultimately, there should be no paywall for housing, as it is a human right. Nonetheless, our long-term fight must be done incrementally, with the most reasonable and rapid steps to be taken first to aid our low-income and homeless neighbors. Given the high number of evictions across the state and the well-documented, devastating impacts of eviction, making housing more affordable would improve the lives of Michiganders. Upon successful repeal of Act 226, we demand the City of Ann Arbor pass rent control legislation. Considering the amount of time and additional funding to build more housing in Ann Arbor, rent control is the fastest and most effective way to make Ann Arbor more livable. It will stabilize the unchecked rental growth that has made housing inaccessible for our neighbors.

3. Right to Eviction Protection

Recent data show that Washtenaw County’s eviction rates are above the national average¹. Evictions are disruptive events that dramatically impact the lives of individuals as well as their households and neighborhoods. The Michigan Eviction Project has documented the patterns, prevalence, and causes of Michigan evictions and have offered policy recommendations². We consider such recommendations along with those listed in Senate Bill 801 of 2024 as we demand the City of Ann Arbor to pass protective measures as safeguards against eviction and limit the damage conferred by eviction histories.

We demand the City of Ann Arbor create and fund an eviction diversion program within the 15th Judicial District Court.

We demand the City of Ann Arbor enact a just cause requirement for non renewal of a tenant’s lease. Just cause may include nonpayment of rent, violating the terms of the lease, engaging in illegal activity, or the landlord moving into the unit currently occupied by the tenant.

Furthermore, we demand the automatic expungement of eviction records two years after summary proceedings are finalized.

Finally, we demand that landlords be banned from charging late fees until the rent is at least 30 days overdue³. The practice of charging exorbitant late fees immediately after a missed rent payment is punitive and serves only to increase instability for tenants, ultimately making eviction a more likely outcome.

In cases where evictions do occur, the city can and must act to reduce the harm caused to individuals and their communities when someone is forced out of their home.

We demand a required notice period for evictions of at least three months before a landlord can take legal action to have tenants evicted. This period would be essential to allow those subject to eviction notices to either remedy the cause of their eviction or find alternate housing.

We demand mandated relocation assistance in the case of eviction due to the landlords’ sale or renovation of a building, or because the landlord has gone out of business or chosen to stop renting units in that building.

4. Right to Counsel

When tenants do face eviction, they must not do so alone! Ann Arbor, like most of the country, does not guarantee legal representation in civil court proceedings such as evictions. In courtrooms where the odds are already stacked against us, tenants are left to fend for ourselves in court, while landlords hire attorneys to protect their interests. The unjust ramifications of a system like this are clear — when tenants have legal representation in eviction proceedings, we are more likely to defeat the landlord's claim and remain in our homes. Additionally, we pay less in court costs and, in cases where the eviction does proceed, have more time to find a new apartment. In Detroit, where a Right to Counsel program was launched in 2023, 46% of tenants who were represented in eviction proceedings remained in their homes.

Most importantly, the right to counsel shifts the balance of power in Ann Arbor. Eviction court today is a tool by which landlords exert control over their property and exercise power over tenants. Statistics don’t capture the cases that aren’t brought when landlords know they will have to face a lawyer in court. With the right to counsel, landlords would have to think twice before bringing baseless cases to bully or intimidate their tenants. When they did initiate proceedings, they would have to fight to prove their case.

We demand full legal representation be provided to [income qualifying] tenants facing eviction proceedings, free of charge. Tenants should be informed of the program when they receive an eviction notice, and have access to their lawyer within 15 days of the receipt of the notice. Legislation for this purpose was introduced in 2023 in the state legislature, and highlighted as part of the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness’ Housing Homestretch Campaign — but it never succeeded. We plan to build the power needed to win the Right to Counsel decisively in Ann Arbor.

5. Right to Truth in Renting

Landlords love to swindle tenants out of every dollar and penny they can — by hiding key information about units, omitting fees from leases, and by taking advantage of the opaque nature of the Ann Arbor housing market. We demand a complete end to this practice.

We demand a complete ban on junk fees, continuing our call in 2024 for City Council to ban all rental junk fees. City Council made a strong reduction of waitlist fees in January 2025, but tenants in Ann Arbor are used to an assortment of other hidden fees like administrative fees, move-in fees, move-out fees, cleaning fees, lease change fees, late fees, “no-hassle fees”, waitlist fees, options fees, holding fees, sublet fees, reservation fees, pet fees, parking fees, trash fees, and more. These fees are seldom transparent and rarely correspond to legitimate, tangible services.

We demand that landlords be required to provide to all applicants an option to tour the unit that the applicant seeks to rent. Even with the other forms of transparency fought for in the Right to Truth in Renting, landlords can and will attempt to deceive tenants into paying rent for subpar housing. Issues with housing are easily hidden by the photos and websites landlords use to show their units. Tenants deserve a live, physical inspection of the unit they plan to rent — tours of “sample units” and video call tours do not suffice.

Finally, we demand that the City of Ann Arbor maintain a public rent registry, containing basic information on rental units each landlord holds including the rent being charged and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms included in a given unit. Only when tenants can make a fair comparison of leases they are negotiating with other units can they avoid being pressured into paying exorbitant rates for shoddy housing. In establishing a rent registry, the City would follow numerous other municipalities in providing transparency to tenants, including Montreal, Oakland, Concord, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and D.C.

6. Right to Housing Access

Housing is a human right — and that means everyone deserves access to a fair housing application process. Searching for housing can be stressful and costly for potential tenants, and addressing discriminatory practices in the rental process makes the application process easier and more equitable. We have seen this in Ann Arbor for example take the form as immense pre-tenancy fees and much more.

Michigan already has significant protections regarding housing access through the federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination because of race, skin color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability, but this stops short of making housing accessible for everyone. Taking inspiration from and extending House Bill 4878 of 2023 and Ordinance No. 21-06, we demand the City of Ann Arbor prohibit discrimination of rental housing based on criminal history, credit scores, eviction history, or history of homelessness.

Banning discrimination requires expansive action — landlords are well-known for their insistence on skirting fair housing laws through creative language, refusing to disclose reasons for denials, and of course simply breaking the law blatantly. To fight this practice effectively and enshrine a Right to Housing Access for all in Ann Arbor, the City must prohibit landlords from asking about tenants about any of the above protected features, they must prohibit landlords from advertising that rental units are not available to or otherwise providing misleadingly exclusive advertising, and must prohibit landlords from making any decision at all affected by their knowledge of any of these categories. The City must also act swiftly and decisively through proportionate fines to deter this kind of discrimination when it does occur.

7. Right to Repair and Deduct

Ann Arbor is a town that constantly fluctuates between who is renting what due to the University of Michigan. Combined with the highly competitive housing market, landlords have allowed properties to fall into disrepair, or generally maintain rental units at a lower quality. There have been plenty of examples where, even the repairs, break down within days of the proposed “fix”.

To combat this, we demand the city of Ann Arbor pass additional, clearer legislature to ensure all housing within Ann Arbor is habitable. Specifically:

1. Allow tenants to withhold rent in an escrow account if landlords are not making repairs in a timely manner. This is particularly important if the state of the rental property is unsafe.

2. Legally codify right to repair and deduct provisions. This will allow tenants to make repairs themselves, and deduct the cost from their rent. Many other states and cities have successfully enacted such policies.

Currently, the Act 167 of 1917 in the Michigan Housing Law states renters can make a repair hand deduct its cost from rent after a judge has authorized the repair. Of course, most tenants do not have the time or money to bring these cases to court to get such approval. Stronger repair and deduct precedents exist in practice; as established in Anchor Inn of Mich, Inc v Knopman (71 Mich App 64, 67, 1976)), common law was established that further strengthens the right to repair and deduct when the tenant is not the cause of the unsafe conditions.

These are insufficient. Clear legal language has not been codified to allow tenants to make repairs themselves, or to withhold rent in response to poor housing conditions. Tenants are therefore left guessing with respect to the timelines in which the repair and deduct process can take place and how much to deduct from their rent payments as a result of the repair. Uncertainty around this process leads to fear of retaliation from landlords, who can allege tenants are incorrectly exercising their rights and take them to court — an everyday occurrence for landlords and their corporate lawyers, but a threat to livelihoods and stability for tenants.

Tenants can’t exercise their rights when they’re threatened with retaliation at every turn — we need codification and protection now!

8. Right to a Fair Lease

As tenants, our apartments are our homes, they aren’t just places to live. We should have the right to live and use our apartments without being subject to the arbitrary whims of the landlord!

We demand the city create a framework for just and sensible leases, expanding the number of terms that are banned from being included in the lease and creating ways to ensure that all leases are fully compliant with the law. The Rights and Duties booklet, a standardized third-party document of rights distributed to all tenants, explicitly acknowledges landlords’ coercive power with lease creation, saying that leases “often contain clauses that are misleading or unenforceable to intimidate tenants who don’t know the law.”

• Leases in Ann Arbor often have unenforceable clauses and landlords are never punished for that — they trick and coerce tenants into signing clauses

• The lease cannot:

  • Infringe on tenants freedom of expression — we should have the right to display posters and flyers in their windows, on their porches or patios and in other exterior areas of the apartment.

  • Allow the landlord to trespass the guests of tenants (except in the rare case that the guest poses a danger to tenants or community members).

  • Limit access to or usage of common spaces.

Additionally, leases must always be open to negotiation on specific terms. Generally, leases are contracts of adhesion — tenants are expected to sign the lease as presented by the landlord in exchange for access to housing. This is unacceptable. We demand an enforcement mechanism to ensure that landlords engage in good faith negotiations with tenants over the terms of their lease.

Finally, we demand a stipulation that the landlord cannot unilaterally change the lease while it is active, except to follow a new law.

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1. Eviction lab, 2018 data↩︎

2. Researchers of eviction in the state of Michigan have recommended policies that minimize the case and consequences of eviction.↩︎

3. Per the recommendation of the Michigan Eviction Project.↩︎