Landlord Retaliation in Michigan?

[Cristal A.]

Hello there, 

I'm in Michigan with a Section 8/Hud Vash tenant who has 3 more months on an initial lease.  

Inherited a house from my mother 11 years ago and jumped in after researching landlord/tenant laws in Mich, but admit I make some stupid  mistakes and learning from them as I go. About 8 months in,  she complained about power issues in the house: "low power in some rooms, too much power in others, flickering lights, etc. I also work 9-5 so I sent a contractor in (without me present (I know, mistake, but he sent me pics) who said there was 6 wet/corroded breakers due to water entering the box. Repairs were invoiced/ completed, then 4 days later I received a notice from sec 8 inspector that said that there were power surges all over the house: when she turns on basement stairwell lights, the stove power goes out and when turning on hallway light, the fan goes out in the bedroom, with 30 days to repair. Went back over there with contractor and none of those issued were happening. Inspector returns in 30 days and i passed, but I also wasnt allowed to present on this one.. She calls again a few days later saying power is still "wacky",  low in the kitchen and she can only plug and use appliances one at a time. Told her to call the electric company as the electrician did mention that it could be a "floating neutral" whatever that means, otherwise I told her shes free to break the lease.  Admit I made mistake again not being present when energy company showed up but they never give you exact time, and I assume there was no issues on their end because the tenant said nothing. Section 8 case manager emails me a mutual lease termination form. I signed, sent it back along with the required notice to quit termination of lease. 3rd mistake: not having her sign it first. She never signed and then called the city inspector because I received call from a city inspector saying that the property is not registered as a rental and also that the tenant showed him a video of appliances shutting off and the panel is only 60 amps with no main breaker. Previous tenants of 6 years never complained about any power issues and growing up in the house and mother owned it 30 Year's  never did either.

So i know made plenty mistakes here, but her lease will also be terminating in 3 months.  My concern is  that there is a MI law that states that if an eviction or non renewal of lease is initiated within 90 days of tenant contacting an inspector it will be presumed that the eviction/non renewal is an act of retaliation, but after 90 days the tenant will have the burden of proof. Would you non renew the lease with section at the risk of tenant claiming retaliation?  Or go mtm and try to terminate later. I was going to use the good cause reason that I would be removing the property from the market for renovations/upgrades, which is what I also told city inspector for why I haven't and won't be registering the property with the city.  The tenant is a veteran (Hud Vash) program and has mental health issues also. Thanks for reading if you read this far and appreciate any responses. 

[Joe Splitrock]

I work in the electrical industry for a major circuit breaker / panel board manufacture. First thing I will say is take your tenants complaints seriously. You seem to think because there was never a problem for the last 36 years that it will be fine for the next 36 years. That is completely illogical. Every building that ever collapsed was standing the previous day... It sounds like these power problems are intermittent, so assuming an electrician could trouble shoot, assumes the problems was occurring when they were there. I believe your tenant is telling the truth and this could be a fire hazard. Here are my thoughts and feel free to share with an electrician:

- I have had power surges and missing power issues traced back to a missing phase on the incoming line. Since typical power to homes had two hots and a neutral, missing one hot can result in power to only a portion of the home. The half of the house without power can still get partial voltage, since current can find alternate paths. In my rental house, it resulted in some light bulbs being lit up dimly, even thought the phase was gone! Call the utility and asked them what they found.

- I have had power issues related to bad receptacles, where the connections were intermittent. Receptacles can generally last 30-40 years before they may need replacing. Based on the appearance of the panel, the receptacles and switches are probably all very old. Some bad receptacles could be creating strange problems. 

- If you had a short from neutral to line, that would result in 240 volts at half the receptacles in the house and undervoltage at the other receptacles. This lines up with the description, but the short could literally be coming from anywhere and could be hard to trace. Circuit breakers should trip when the line voltage is shorted direct shorted, but if the short has high resistance, breakers will not trip but current will flow. This is a fire hazard. 

- The panel board needs to be updated. The 60 amp service and lack of main panel breaker is a safety hazard. A new panel board should be have a main breaker and I would install arc fault and ground fault breakers (depending on circuit). These breakers will help detect wiring issues that are likely the cause. 

- There are cloth jacketed wires in the panel board, which I can see damage to the jacket of the wire. That is not good and it speaks to the general condition of the wiring. Ideally you should rewire the entire property. This is a fire hazard and the power problems are probably a warning sign of a more serious issue. A high resistance short that doesn't trip circuit breakers is usually generating massive heat at the short point. This is the root of most electrical fires.

- Even if you don't replace the panel board. There are C&H/Eaton retrofit circuit breakers that have Arc Fault protection. These could be installed on the panelboard and probably reused in a new panel board if you replaced later.

- You mentioned water in the panel board and wet/corroded breakers. This is really bad and I believe it is true based on the rust damage in the photo. Water and electricity do not mix. Make sure the water issue is addressed. It was a good decision for your electrician to replace the breakers, but it is possible there is other damage he didn't see/address.

- I am unsure if this panel board has proper grounding and neutral. The ground bus bar has no large copper wire indicating it is grounded to a water line. It could be behind the panel board or the panel board itself may be acting as the ground. The panel board is steel, so that is not ideal. In a new installation there would be a large copper wire on the ground bus bar either tied to copper water lines or a ground rod that goes into the ground. Neutral is in the upper left hand corner but hard to see what it is tied too. The fact that your electrician mentioned neutral leads me to believe they saw a concern. Floating neutral or floating ground is an electrocution hazard and could cause other power issues.

My biggest concern is that these power problems are the signs of a serious safety and fire hazard. The electrical problems have been well documented, so you now have major liability concerns. Electrocution or fire is a very real concern. Talk to Section 8 about habitability concerns. The tenant should really move out so you can rewire and replace the panel board. You may even want to upgrade incoming service from the transformer. It would not be considered retaliation if you were asking the tenant to leave due to safety concerns. Documenting that may help with liability too. I would speak with an attorney before doing anything else.