Landlord refused to give us keys

[happycat337]

My jurisdiction is: Michigan

We rented a house in June from a couple who were separated. Our rent is high for the area because it has a swimming pool. The wife told us her husband would have the pool fixed by around June 9. He came to fix it in the middle of July and said there was a part on backorder but he could make it work for the time being. I filled the pool (4000gal water) and in a day half of the water had leaked out. I pay the water.He never came back to fix it. My husband and I told the wife 5 or six times about the pool and the husband 6-8 times. Each time they acted like it was the first they had heard of it. I was also told the day I moved in that they would put an outlet in so that I could hook up my electric dryer. I asked the husband at least 5 times if he was going to do it or if I had to pay someone and each time he said he would take care of it. Never did. We also were never given house keys. I asked the woman twice for keys and my husband asked several times. Each time she said she never used the keys but would look for them at home. She said her inlaws who live across the street had a set and she would make copies from theirs. I told her I was home with 4 kids alone and needed them. We still don't have house keys!
My husband lost his job we talked to the woman about it and she was okay with us being a little late with rent. Now her and her husband are back together and want to move back in here. We were only 10 days late with our rent and she mailed us a 7 day notice to quit.
My questions are It it legal for her to not have given us house keys?
Can she evict us for being 10 days late? Don't we have to be at least a month behind? Does she still have to give us back our security deposit?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

It's important to understand that a landlord cannot actually "evict" someone; only the courts can do that.

However, the entire process of eviction typically starts with a landlord presenting a tenant with a notice to "Pay or Quit". This can be presented the day after rent is due and in Michigan is often a 7 day notice. A landlord does not need to wait until the rent is a month late before initiating this.

If the tenants do not respond to this notice then the next step is for the landlord to legally file for an eviction through the court system. You would be "served" with a notice that the landlord intends to evict you for nonpayment of rent and you will have a certain amount of time to provide an answer to the court regarding this issue. If you do not respond the landlord will automatically be granted the eviction and a time will be set up for this to take place. If you do respond to the served notice, a court hearing will be set up where you both can argue why or why not the eviction should take place.

The discussion regarding eviction really only involves whether or not you paid the rent. If you can come up with the rent money beforehand you can save yourself the stress of trauma of being evicted. You can argue about not getting the keys but frankly, that's not really going to negate the fact that you haven't paid rent for the month. Neither is the fact that the swimming pool leaks or that the landlord didn't put in an outlet for your electric dryer.

A security deposit can be used for owed rent and once the eviction takes place, this is likely what the landlord will use this for.

Here is a review of the eviction laws in your state...

http://www.rentlaw.com/eviction/mieviction.htm

Gail