Real Estate Bookkeeping In Michigan
Michigan's markets stress different parts of the same rules. Detroit is acquisition and rehab, where the move-in baseline is the only thing separating new work from tenant damage a year later. Grand Rapids is mid-sized professional management where the failure is procedural drift, particularly deposits rolled forward between units. Ann Arbor turns over on an academic calendar, so hundreds of individual 30-day clocks start in the same fortnight.
Locate the city nearest to you and select your software below to learn more. Don’t see your city? Schedule a meeting with us to learn more about how REA can help your property management accounting needs.
Michigan at a glance
- Security deposit return
- 30 calendar days
- Governing statute
- MCL 554.609
- Cities we publish
- Detroit · Grand Rapids · Ann Arbor
What Michigan Law Changes About Your Books
Deposit Handling and Trust Requirements
Trust and deposit rules are set state by state, and they change the accounting itself, not just the paperwork around it. A deadline is a ledger requirement: you cannot return a deposit inside a statutory window if the ledger cannot say what is owed.
Security deposits
Michigan MCL 554.609 requires the itemised list of damages, including the estimated cost of repair for each item and the basis for the assessment, to be mailed within 30 days after termination of occupancy. Failure to comply constitutes AGREEMENT by the landlord that no damages are due and the full deposit must be returned, so the right to retain does not shrink, it disappears. A second clock follows: where damages are claimed and disputed, an action generally must be commenced within 45 days of the tenant vacating or the tenant may recover double.
Trust and segregation
Michigan caps the deposit at one and a half months' rent measured against the rent actually charged, and requires a move-in inventory checklist that functions as the baseline for every later deduction. Because the cap follows current rent, a deposit rolled forward when a tenant transfers units can quietly exceed the permitted maximum, so it has to be recalculated on transfer rather than carried across.
What we do about it
- Deposit liabilities tracked per tenant, so a 30 calendar days deadline is answerable from the ledger
- Trust accounts reconciled three ways, including every beneficiary balance
- Deduction documentation recorded against the correct ledger, not filed separately
- Aging deposits flagged before the statutory window closes
Summary of statutory requirements provided for orientation. It is not legal advice, and local ordinances can impose stricter rules than the state minimum.
Cities We Cover in Michigan
Market by Market
We work with property managers and investors across all of Michigan, all 886 cities and towns of it. The markets below are the ones we publish Michigan-specific detail for. If yours is not listed, the same team and the same MCL 554.609 rules still apply.
Detroit
Detroit portfolios are built heavily on acquisition and rehabilitation of older single-family stock, which means most tenancies begin in a unit whose condition has just changed. Michigan makes the record of that condition the foundation of every later deduction.
Bookkeeping by platform
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids has grown steadily rather than explosively, and its portfolios tend to be mid-sized and professionally managed. That makes the failure mode here procedural drift rather than inexperience.
Bookkeeping by platform
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor's rental year runs on an academic calendar, which means a portfolio can turn over a very large share of its units inside a few weeks. Michigan's deposit rules are written for individual tenancies, and they apply to every one of them simultaneously.
Bookkeeping by platform
Select Your Software
We Work Inside Your Platform, From Anywhere in Michigan
Services Available in This State
Every back-office function below is available on its own or as part of a full monthly close, anywhere in the state.
Experts In All Property Types
Residential, commercial and everything in between. The asset class changes what the books have to prove, and our teams are staffed accordingly.
- Single-Family
- Multifamily
- Student Housing
- Affordable Housing
- Community AssociationsSee the page
- CommercialSee the page
Check Out What Our Clients Have To Say About Us
Property Managers, Investors & Owner Operators
Came from a bookkeeper who did not know real estate
Following a series of erroneous financials from my previous bookkeeper, who lacked expertise in real estate, it's been truly remarkable to receive not only accurate financials on a consistent basis but also proactive advice without prompting. The REA team is a game-changer in real estate accounting!
Real-estate-only specialists
As REA exclusively specializes in Real Estate, I rest easy knowing my financials are precise every month while saving money at the same time, an invaluable benefit.
Handed over the whole accounting function
I highly recommend Real Estate Accounting (REA) services from this group. They truly are great and have helped us tremendously at a time we needed it the most. I felt very comfortable giving up all my accounting responsibilities to this team and I'm still glad I made the decision to work with this group. Nothing less than an amazing experience!
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Property Accounting for Michigan Portfolios
Schedule a call and we will walk your Michigan deposit and trust setup, tell you whether it reconciles today, and scope the monthly work.