If you own rental property in Detroit, a missing Certificate of Compliance can adjourn your case, send your rent into escrow, or stall the eviction entirely. Here’s what’s changed - and how to stay ahead of it.
We want every Detroit landlord to know about a development that is changing how landlord-tenant cases move through the 36th District Court.
The City of Detroit’s rental ordinance makes it unlawful to collect rent or obtain a nonpayment eviction judgment for any period a rental property lacked a current Rental Registration and a valid Certificate of Compliance. The 36th District Court has reaffirmed it will enforce that rule, and in 2026 enforcement is tightening. Landlords are increasingly being asked to produce a valid Certificate of Compliance for a case to move forward, and tenants’ attorneys are raising the absence of one as a defense.
What this means for you
A Certificate of Compliance can take weeks or months to obtain. Walking into court without one doesn’t just risk an adjournment - it hands the tenant a defense and can add months to the time it takes to get your property back.
By the City’s own figures, only about 14% of Detroit rentals currently hold a valid Certificate of Compliance. Tenant advocates are pressing the court to verify compliance before entering any judgment for rent or possession - which makes it more likely than ever that this surfaces in your case, whether you raise it or not.
The fix is simple and it’s in your control: review the compliance status of every Detroit property you own, and clear any open inspection, registration, or certification issues before an eviction becomes necessary. Compliance handled in advance is the most reliable way to protect your timeline and your right to collect.
Tenants’ attorneys like to frame the missing Certificate of Compliance as a wall: no certificate, no valid lease, no eviction, no rent. But that argument cuts both ways - and it does not leave a Detroit landlord stuck, out of options, and forced to house a non-paying tenant indefinitely.
Here is the trap many owners don’t see coming. One of the City’s requirements for issuing a Certificate of Compliance is an on-site inspection of the unit. A tenant who knows the property isn’t yet certified - and who would rather stay without paying - can simply refuse to let the inspector in. No access, no inspection; no inspection, no certificate. In theory, a single uncooperative tenant can keep a landlord in a holding pattern indefinitely, weaponizing the very condition they are blocking the landlord from curing.
Our legal position
A tenant cannot have it both ways. If the tenant’s position is that the absence of a Certificate of Compliance renders the lease invalid, then there is no valid fixed-term lease governing the tenancy - and a tenant occupying without a valid lease is a month-to-month (tenancy-at-will) tenant. A month-to-month tenancy can be ended for any reason, or no reason, on a 30-day notice to terminate the tenancy. That is a termination case, not a nonpayment case: it does not turn on the certificate or the disputed back rent. The tenant cannot use the missing certificate to void the lease and rely on that same lease to remain in possession.
So when a Detroit tenant tries to turn the compliance requirement into a permanent shield - especially by stonewalling the inspection that would resolve it - we stop fighting on the ground they’ve chosen. Instead of pressing a nonpayment eviction the certificate defense is designed to stall, we pivot to a 30-day notice to vacate (termination of tenancy) built on the tenant’s own logic turned back around: if the lease is invalid, the tenant is month-to-month, and a month-to-month tenant can be served a 30-day termination and evicted. It reframes the matter from “was rent collected on a noncompliant unit” to “this at-will tenancy is being terminated” - a question the compliance argument simply doesn’t answer.
Whether this strategy fits depends on the specific facts of your matter, the lease at issue, and how a particular judge applies the law - but a 30-day termination is the path we lead with when a tenant uses the certificate requirement to try to stay forever. We’ll assess your file and recommend the approach most likely to get your property back.
We don’t run the City’s inspection, rental registration, or Certificate of Compliance process for you. What we do: when you file a Detroit matter through GetMyMoney.com, we collect proof of ownership and your Certificate of Compliance (or renter’s license) up front, and we advise on eviction strategy and timing around these requirements so nothing catches you by surprise at the hearing. And when a tenant tries to use the missing certificate as a shield - refusing the inspection that would let you cure - we don’t leave you in limbo: we evaluate a 30-day termination of tenancy on the theory that an invalid lease makes the tenant month-to-month. We’re also watching the 36th District Court closely and will update this page as things develop.
Start the eviction now. We mail your Notice to Quit free, and we’ll guide you through the Detroit ownership and compliance documents before anything is filed.