On August 26, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the CDC’s section eviction moratorium. That opinion can be found here.
At the time it was uncertain what this meant for Michigan courts handling evictions in light of the July 2 amendments to Michigan Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 2020-17 (“Order 17”), found here.
As of Friday August 27, 2021, when the author personally filed landlord-side eviction actions at a district court near you, the district courts were still requiring use of SCAO form DC 511 – a form modeled after the CDC moratorium and allowing tenant declarations consistent with it. Thus, with various administratively-ordered procedural changes to eviction cases, it was unclear what changes, if any, would follow from the striking of the CDC moratorium. Since that time the State Court Administrator’s Office has removed links to form DC 511 and are verbally advising that the office pulled the form. It is not a mistake or a dead link. At the time of publication of this update however, there does not appear to be a Michigan Supreme Court order so directing. Specifics have been requested from the SCAO office on this.
Please check back for updates on this issue. We will update this blog if further procedural changes are ordered. In the meantime, form DC 511 should not be necessary for filing new eviction cases.
Jared Roberts is a shareholder at Fraser Trebilcock who works in real estate litigation and transactions, among other areas of the law. Jared is Chair of the firm’s Real Estate department, and also “walks the walk” as a landlord and owner of residential rental properties and apartments in Downtown Lansing. He may be reached at jroberts@fraserlawfirm.com and (517) 482-0887.