New Court Case: Landlords must make reasonable efforts to contact police when criminal activity is occurring in common areas of rental property.

On July 30, 2013, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in the case of Bailey v Schaaf, that Landlords have a duty to make reasonable efforts to contact police when they know about criminal acts occurring in common areas of rental property which may cause harm to a tenant or other person on the property. It should be noted that this responsibility to contact the police does not extend to criminal activity occurring within an apartment leased by a tenant. In addition, although a landlord does not have to specifically intervene and attempt to break up the criminal activity, landlords should nevertheless notify police when they are made aware of criminal activity on the rental property, particularly when the criminal activity is taking place in the common areas shared by the tenants.

Categories: Real Estate