Renters Insurance Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Michigan law says, what's specific to Detroit - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- No state requirement appears in the Michigan sections our record read. Neither the Truth in Renting Act nor the security deposit act, as read, requires a tenant to carry renters insurance or names a coverage amount.
- § 554.633(1)(e) bars a lease provision that "Exculpates the lessor from liability for the lessor's failure to perform, or negligent performance of, a duty imposed by law." § 554.633(3) makes a violating provision void.
- The bar has an insurance exception. It does not apply to a release from fire or other casualty loss "for which insurance is carried by the other party", under a policy that permits waiver of liability and waives the insurer's rights of subrogation.
- Under § 554.636(1), a landlord who does not cure within 20 days of written notice can be sued to void the lease, stop the provision, or for "damages in the amount of $250.00 per action, or actual damages, whichever is greater."
- Detroit's City Code, in the chapters our record read, sets no renters insurance requirement. The insurance duties found in § 22-1-5 and § 22-6-5 fall on people repairing and occupying abandoned or City-owned homes under city program contracts.
Understanding the Renters Insurance Clause
A renters insurance clause can ask two different things of you. It can ask you to insure your own belongings, and it can ask you to carry risks the landlord would otherwise carry. Michigan's lease statute speaks to the second.
The Michigan sections our record read do not require renters insurance or name a coverage figure, which leaves the lease as the source of any amount. What Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(1)(e) does is bar a lease provision excusing the landlord from liability for failing to perform, or negligently performing, a duty imposed by law.
A fire or casualty release backed by the other party's insurance is excepted, where the policy permits waiver of liability and waives subrogation. Detroit's code, in the chapters our record read, adds no tenant insurance rule.
Read the current text of § 554.633 yourself, since a 2026 amendment adds a subdivision to it.
What renters assume
A lease that requires renters insurance can also excuse the landlord from its own failures, since you are insured anyway and the policy is meant to pick up the loss.
What is actually true
§ 554.633(1)(e) bars a lease provision that "Exculpates the lessor from liability for the lessor's failure to perform, or negligent performance of, a duty imposed by law", and § 554.633(3) makes a violating provision void. The exception is written narrowly: a release from fire or other casualty loss that the other party insures, under a policy that waives the insurer's rights of subrogation.
Eighteen rows sit in the comparison further down this page. Eleven are drawn at $100,000, and seven have no bar: Philadelphia, Boston, Las Vegas, Washington, Columbus, Newark and Detroit.
Detroit's row reads No state requirement, a label it shares with Philadelphia, Boston, Las Vegas and Newark.
Among the eleven bars, Los Angeles reads $100,000 (statutory), from the waterbed liability policy in Cal. Civ. Code § 1940.5, and Portland reads $100,000 cap under ORS 90.222. Washington's empty row is labelled for liability waivers, and Michigan's rule works on similar ground. § 554.633(1)(e) reaches the clause excusing the landlord rather than the size of your policy, and no bar measures that.
Nor can a bar show the 30 days' written notice § 554.633(1)(l) sets before a rise in the landlord's insurance premiums reaches a Detroit rent.
Plain English Version
If your Detroit lease tells you to carry renters insurance, the lease is where that demand and its amount come from: the Michigan sections our record read set neither. What Michigan does limit is a clause excusing the landlord from its own legal duties, which § 554.633 makes void, with a narrow exception for insured fire or casualty losses.
And the landlord may not change the lease without your written consent, though a lease may provide for rent adjustments on at least 30 days' written notice, including rises in the landlord's own insurance premiums.
Renters Insurance Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Detroit, MI
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
7. Insurance. [The Riggses are] responsible for obtaining fire and extended coverage, including public liability[ ] insurance with [the Harkers] to be listed as an additional insured under the policy. [The Riggses] shall also be responsible for renter's coverage on [the Riggses'] own personal property located on the Leased Premises. [The Riggses] shall indemnify and hold [the Harkers] harmless from all claims of thi9rd [sic] parties for bodily injury, property damage or death arising from [the Riggses'] use or occupancy of the Leased Premises.
Quoted from the published opinion in Hoosier Insurance Co. v. Riggs, 92 N.E.3d 685 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“[The Riggses are] responsible for obtaining fire”
Fire cover is where Michigan's lease statute writes insurance into its own rule. § 554.633(1)(e) bars a clause excusing the landlord from its legal duties. The bar “does not apply to a provision that releases a party from liability arising from loss, damage, or injury caused by fire or other casualty for which insurance is carried by the other party”. The policy must permit waiver of liability and waive the insurer's rights of subrogation.
“public liability[ ] insurance with [the Harkers]”
A liability policy naming the landlord is a term the Michigan sections our record read do not price: they name no coverage amount, which leaves the lease as the source of the figure. The landlord's own liability insurance can reach you another way. § 554.633(1)(l) lets a lease provide for rent changes covering the landlord's “increases in premiums paid for liability, fire, or worker compensation insurance”, on written notice of not less than 30 days.
“[The Riggses] shall indemnify and”
Indemnity is where a renters insurance clause can turn into something larger. § 554.633(1)(e) bars a lease provision that “Exculpates the lessor from liability for the lessor's failure to perform, or negligent performance of, a duty imposed by law”, and § 554.633(3) makes a provision that violates the section void. Whether a given indemnity sentence works as that kind of exculpation is a question our record does not answer, so read your clause against the subdivision's own words.
“from all claims of thi9rd [sic] parties for bodily injury, property damage”
The sentence reaches past your belongings to injuries suffered by other people. In the Michigan act our record read, damage a tenant causes to the unit is backed by the deposit rather than a policy. § 554.607 lets a security deposit cover actual damages beyond normal habitation, unpaid rent and unpaid utility bills, and § 554.602 caps it at 1 1/2 months' rent. Claims by third parties sit outside what our record covers, which leaves the paragraph you signed as the document that sets them.
The insurer's claim survived. Nobody was held liable. The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a Rule 12(B)(6) dismissal and sent the case back. Under Indiana's case-by-case approach this insurance paragraph has to be construed to work out who the parties intended to bear the risk of fire loss, which means the landlord's insurer could be a real party in interest entitled to sue the tenants in subrogation. The rule it leaned on is worth reading twice: “if a lease obligates a tenant to procure insurance covering a particular type of loss, such a provision will provide evidence that the parties reasonably anticipated that the tenant would be liable for that particular loss, which would allow an [ ] insurer who pays the loss to bring a subrogation action against the tenant.” The case was remanded for the trial court to read the lease and weigh the equities. So the clause was enough to keep the subrogation claim alive - it did not decide it, and no renter should read this as a ruling that the tenants owed the money.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Michigan Law on Renters Insurance Clause
- The limit in the lease statute runs against exculpation clauses. Section 554.633(1)(e) bars a lease provision that "Exculpates the lessor from liability for the lessor's failure to perform, or negligent performance of, a duty imposed by law." It "does not apply to a provision that releases a party from liability arising from loss, damage, or injury caused by fire or other casualty for which insurance is carried by the other party, under a policy that permits waiver of liability and waives the insurer's rights of subrogation, to the extent of any recovery by the insured party under the policy."
- Insurance costs can reach the rent only through a clause written in advance. Section 554.633(1)(l) bars a clause letting a landlord change the lease without the tenant's written consent, except that a lease may provide for adjustments on written notice of not less than 30 days, including rent changes to cover the landlord's "increases in premiums paid for liability, fire, or worker compensation insurance."
- A void clause has a set remedy. Under § 554.636(1), if the landlord does not cure a § 554.633 violation within 20 days after the tenant's written notice, the tenant may sue to void the lease, to stop the provision being used, or for "damages in the amount of $250.00 per action, or actual damages, whichever is greater." Section 554.636(4) lets the party who prevails recover court costs plus statutory attorney fees.
- Damage a tenant causes is backed in the act we read by the deposit, not a policy. Section 554.607 lets a security deposit cover actual damages "that are the direct result of conduct not reasonably expected in the normal course of habitation of a dwelling", unpaid rent and unpaid utility bills, and § 554.602 caps that deposit at 1 1/2 months' rent.
Sources include Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(1)(e); Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(1)(l)(iii); Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(3); Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.636; Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.607; Detroit City Code § 22-1-5; Detroit City Code § 22-6-5 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Start with the scope. The Michigan sections our record read, in the Truth in Renting Act and the security deposit act, do not require a tenant to carry renters insurance or name a liability coverage amount.
Where a Detroit lease demands a policy, the lease is the source of that demand.
The insurance language our record found is in Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(1)(e). It bars a lease provision that "Exculpates the lessor from liability for the lessor's failure to perform, or negligent performance of, a duty imposed by law."
The subdivision carries its own exception, written in insurance terms. It "does not apply to a provision that releases a party from liability arising from loss, damage, or injury caused by fire or other casualty for which insurance is carried by the other party".
The policy must permit waiver of liability and waive the insurer's rights of subrogation, and the release runs "to the extent of any recovery by the insured party under the policy."
Read that exception against your lease. It describes a release from fire or casualty loss that the other party has insured, and the bar on excusing the landlord's legal duties stands around it. § 554.633(3) makes a lease provision that violates the section void.
Insurance costs can also reach your rent. § 554.633(1)(l) bars a clause letting a landlord change the lease without your written consent. A lease may still provide for adjustments on written notice of not less than 30 days, including rent changes to cover the landlord's "increases in premiums paid for liability, fire, or worker compensation insurance."
A void clause has a set remedy. Under § 554.636(1), the landlord has 20 days after your written notice to cure a § 554.633 violation.
If it is not cured, you may sue to void the lease, to stop the provision being used, or for "damages in the amount of $250.00 per action, or actual damages, whichever is greater." § 554.636(4) lets the party who prevails recover court costs plus statutory attorney fees.
Damage you cause is backed, in the act our record read, by the deposit rather than a policy. § 554.607 lets a security deposit cover actual damages beyond normal habitation, unpaid rent and unpaid utility bills, and § 554.602 caps that deposit at 1 1/2 months' rent.
Our copy of § 554.633 is an archived Legislature page dated September 17, 2025, complete through Public Act 5 of 2025. A 2026 amendment adds a subdivision (o) on rent payment fees and leaves (e) unchanged, so confirm the current text before relying on it.
Michigan Tenant Protections
No section our record read in Michigan's Truth in Renting Act or security deposit act requires a tenant to carry renters insurance or names a liability coverage amount, which leaves any required amount to the lease itself. Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(1)(e) bars a lease provision that exculpates the lessor from liability for the lessor's failure to perform, or negligent performance of, a duty imposed by law.
That bar does not apply to a provision releasing a party from liability for loss, damage or injury caused by fire or other casualty for which insurance is carried by the other party. The policy must permit waiver of liability and waive the insurer's rights of subrogation, and the release runs to the extent of any recovery under the policy.
Under § 554.633(3), a lease provision that violates the section is void.
Section 554.633(1)(l) bars a clause letting the landlord change the lease without the tenant's written consent. A lease may still provide for adjustments on written notice of not less than 30 days, including rent changes to cover increases in the landlord's liability, fire or worker compensation insurance premiums.
Under § 554.636(1), a landlord has 20 days after the tenant's written notice to cure a violation.
If it is not cured, the tenant may sue to void the lease, to stop the provision being used, or for damages of $250.00 per action or actual damages, whichever is greater. Section 554.636(4) lets the party who prevails recover court costs plus statutory attorney fees.
In Detroit, the City Code chapters our record read set no renters insurance requirement and no coverage amount for tenants.
What's Specific to Detroit
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Detroit's code, in the chapters our record read, puts no renters insurance requirement on a tenant and names no coverage amount. Those were Chapter 22 (Housing) in full and Chapter 8, Article XV (Property Maintenance Code), read on Municode.
Text searches of the code for "renters insurance" and "renter's insurance" returned no results.
The insurance duties our record did find in Chapter 22 are easy to misread. § 22-1-5 and § 22-6-5 put them on people repairing and occupying abandoned or City-owned homes under city program contracts, not on renters.
Under § 22-1-5, a contract for an abandoned dwelling includes a provision that the contractor agrees to secure liability insurance for damages arising from the repair and occupancy of the premises. Under § 22-6-5, a person in the City's repair-to-own program obtains liability insurance with the City listed as an additionally insured during the contract.
Neither is a lease term. If a Detroit lease or addendum credits its coverage requirement to the city, ask which section it means, and compare the answer with what that section says and whom it binds.
Where our record of Detroit's code is silent, the state sections are what our record carries for a Detroit renter. Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(1)(e) bars a clause excusing the landlord from its legal duties, with the insured fire or casualty exception, and § 554.633(3) makes a violating provision void.
The remedy runs through § 554.636. Send the landlord written notice naming the clause, and if it is not cured within 20 days, the section lets you sue to void the lease, to stop the provision being used, or for $250.00 per action or actual damages, whichever is greater.
A Detroit lease can also carry the landlord's own insurance costs into your rent. § 554.633(1)(l) allows that where the lease provides for adjustments on written notice of not less than 30 days, covering increases in the landlord's liability, fire or worker compensation insurance premiums.
The date on the Detroit text matters. That copy of the code states it is codified through Ordinance No. 2024-17, effective March 26, 2024, and Ordinance No. 2024-32, effective June 25, 2024, and Municode lists later Detroit ordinances that are not yet in it.
Confirm the current Detroit code before relying on the absence of a city rule. Read § 554.633 as it stands today as well, since a 2026 amendment adds a subdivision on rent payment fees.
Then you know exactly what the lease asks. The Michigan sections our record read set no coverage figure, which leaves the lease as the place that number is fixed.
§ 554.633(1)(e) excepts a release from fire or casualty loss for which the other party carries insurance, under a policy that permits waiver of liability and waives the insurer's rights of subrogation.
§ 554.633(1)(e) bars a provision exculpating the lessor for failing to perform, or negligently performing, a duty imposed by law, and § 554.633(3) makes it void.
§ 554.633(1)(l) bars changing the lease without your written consent, except adjustments the lease provides for on written notice of not less than 30 days.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(1)(e); Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(1)(l)(iii); Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(3); Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.636; Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.607; Detroit City Code § 22-1-5; Detroit City Code § 22-6-5, read on web.archive.org. The Michigan Legislature's page for § 554.633, read as an archived copy dated September 17, 2025, marks the compiled laws complete through Public Act 5 of 2025; a 2026 amendment adds a subdivision (o) on rent payment fees and leaves subdivision (e) unchanged, so confirm the current text before relying on it.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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A coverage figure credited to Michigan law
The Michigan sections our record read set no coverage figure a lease may demand. A clause that attributes its number to state law should name the section it means.
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A release of the landlord's own failures
§ 554.633(1)(e) bars a provision that exculpates the lessor for failing to perform, or negligently performing, a duty imposed by law. § 554.633(3) makes it void.
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A fire release with no insurance behind it
The exception in § 554.633(1)(e) covers fire or casualty loss for which the other party carries insurance, under a policy that waives the insurer's rights of subrogation.
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Premium increases added mid-lease
§ 554.633(1)(l) allows rent changes for the landlord's insurance premiums where the lease provides for them, on written notice of not less than 30 days.
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A Detroit program rule borrowed
The insurance duties in § 22-1-5 and § 22-6-5 bind people repairing and occupying abandoned or City-owned homes under city program contracts, not renters.
Your Rights as a Detroit Tenant
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No release of the landlord's legal duties
Mich. Comp. Laws § 554.633(1)(e) bars a lease provision exculpating the lessor for failing to perform, or negligently performing, a duty imposed by law.
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A void clause stays void
§ 554.633(3) makes a lease provision that violates the section void, whatever the rest of the lease says.
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Damages for a clause left uncured
§ 554.636(1) allows $250.00 per action or actual damages, whichever is greater, after 20 days without a cure, and § 554.636(4) adds costs and statutory attorney fees.
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Written consent before changes
§ 554.633(1)(l) bars changing the lease without your written consent, apart from adjustments the lease provides for on at least 30 days' written notice.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find the amount and its stated source
Copy out the coverage figure and any law the clause credits for it. The Michigan sections our record read set no figure, so a clause citing one should name its section.
Mark every sentence about the landlord's liability
Read those apart from the policy requirement. § 554.633(1)(e) bars a provision excusing the landlord from a duty imposed by law, and § 554.633(3) makes it void.
Check any fire-loss release
Ask whose policy carries the loss and whether it waives the insurer's rights of subrogation. Those are the terms of the exception in § 554.633(1)(e).
Look for a premium pass-through
§ 554.633(1)(l) lets a lease provide for rent changes covering the landlord's insurance premiums on written notice of not less than 30 days. Note whether yours does before you sign.
Send written notice of a void clause
Name the clause and § 554.633. If it is not cured within 20 days, § 554.636(1) lets you sue for $250.00 per action or actual damages, whichever is greater.
Keep the paper trail together
File the lease, your policy, any certificate you send and the notice in one place. § 554.636(4) lets the party who prevails recover court costs plus statutory attorney fees.