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Tenants are protected from illegal discrimination in housing. This article explains who is protected from what. It is a guide for both landlords and tenants.
Discrimination is unfairly treating a person or people differently from others.
Starting April 2, 2025, it is unlawful for a landlord to discriminate against a tenant or potential tenant based on their source of income. This includes if someone has a Section 8 voucher, gets emergency rental assistance, or gets certain government benefits, like disability or social security.
This article is only a general guide. Local laws, called ordinances, vary widely. Check what laws apply to you.
What Are Tenants Protected From?
In Michigan, a landlord cannot discriminate against tenants based on their:
- Religion
- Race
- Color
- National origin
- Age
- Source of Income (like whether the person gets Section 8, emergency rental assistance, or government benefits)
- Sex
- Sexual Orientation
- Gender Identity or Expression
- Familial or marital status
- Disability
Illegal Actions
Acts of discrimination include:
- Refusing to sell or rent to a tenant
- Refusing to let a potential tenant view a property
- Giving a different price for housing or asking for different payments
- Changing terms, conditions, or privileges in a lease
- Falsely telling someone there are no rentals available
- Falsely telling someone a particular unit is unavailable
- Refusing to accommodate a disability, unless it would be a major burden for the landlord
- Evicting a tenant
- Harassing, intimidating, or threatening a person
Exceptions
These rules do not apply to all properties. These exceptions include if the rental property has units for two families and the landlord or a member of their family lives in the other unit.
The law against discrimination based on someone's source of income (such as Section 8 or if they get government benefits) also doesn't apply if the landlord has 4 or fewer units.
What Types of Disabilities Are Protected in Michigan?
People with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities that significantly limit one or more major life activities are protected. Discrimination based on these disabilities is illegal.
Landlords can exclude some people from housing based on their behavior, such as people who use illegal drugs and those who seriously threaten others' safety or damage property.
To learn more, read Rights of Tenants With Disabilities.
Familial Status
A landlord may not discriminate against a tenant who has children or is pregnant. This includes parents of adopted children and legal custodians of children. A landlord can’t:
- Refuse to rent to a tenant with a child
- Charge extra fees for children
- Put tenants with children in a separate area of the building
- Refuse to let a boy and a girl sleep in the same room
- Unreasonably limit the number of people in a room
A landlord who owns housing for older people is not limited by rules against age and familial status discrimination. These types of housing require 80% or more of their rooms to be occupied by people over the age of 55 and must follow other rules.
Marital Status
In Michigan, a landlord may not discriminate against people based on if they are married, divorced, or single. This means a landlord:
- Can’t refuse to rent because two unrelated people want to live in the same room
- Can’t charge two application fees or make each tenant qualify separately for a rental
- Must allow unrelated roommates to do anything a married couple can
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Landlords can’t discriminate in ads. They can’t say or hint that a landlord prefers one type of person over another, like an ad searching for "working professionals" or "no children".
A landlord who owns housing for older people can target their ads toward people over the age of 55. These types of housing require 80% or more of their rooms to be occupied by people over the age of 55.
Discrimination Takes Many Forms
Housing discrimination does not need to be written or obvious to be illegal. For example, it is illegal if every tenant with a wheelchair is quoted a higher price. Also, policies that seem legal may discriminate. For example, a policy that allows only two people in a room may discriminate against tenants with children.
Some examples of spoken discrimination could be:
- “No disability, we only rent to working people”
- “We aren’t set up for children”
- “You might feel more comfortable in another neighborhood”
- “Most of the people who live in this building are ‘professionals’”
- “You can’t build a ramp for access to the building—it won’t look good”
- “That dog isn’t allowed here, it is way too small to help you”
What Can Tenants Do if They Have Been Discriminated Against?
Tenants who believe they’ve been discriminated against can contact a fair housing center. The centers in Michigan are: