EasyKnock Michigan Settlement Puts Sale-Leaseback Home Equity Deals In The Homeowner Ledger

BadPD source-check, June 20, 2026; primary source date June 3, 2026: Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says her office secured an agreement resolving an investigation into EasyKnock, Inc. and related entities over alleged deceptive sale-leaseback practices involving financially distressed homeowners.

The agreement creates an $85,000 consumer fund, requires business-practice reforms for the companies involved, and bars the covered entities from conducting sale-leaseback transactions in Michigan. The settlement is not a court finding of liability. The assurance of voluntary compliance says the respondents deny violating the Michigan Consumer Protection Act or other Michigan statutes, deny that their conduct was unfair or deceptive, and state that the agreement is not an admission of wrongdoing or liability.

What Michigan Says Happened

The Attorney General’s June 2026 release says the investigation began in 2024, when the department sent EasyKnock a notice of intended action and ordered the company to cease and desist from alleged unlawful business practices. The state says EasyKnock offered “Sell & Stay” transactions to homeowners with low credit and high home equity. In those transactions, homeowners sold their homes to EasyKnock and remained in the property as tenants under a lease agreement.

Michigan says EasyKnock represented that homeowners would receive 100 percent of their home’s value, but the department alleged that homeowners received only a fraction of that value in cash after processing fees, closing costs, and repair holdbacks. The state also says repurchasing the home likely required access to traditional financing that the target consumers typically lacked, while rent and repurchase-price increases could make the buyback path harder.

EasyKnock went out of business in late 2024. Michigan says ongoing sale-leaseback transactions are being serviced by NESE Property Management Company LLC and that Michigan homes are owned by EK Real Estate Fund I, LLC. That servicing handoff is why this is not only a historical settlement. It also affects active Michigan consumers who may still be living inside contracts created before the company shutdown.

What The Agreement Requires

The assurance of voluntary compliance gives the more precise ledger. It identifies EasyKnock, NESE Property Management LLC, EK Real Estate Services of NY, LLC, EK Real Estate Fund I, LLC, and Jarred Kessler as respondents. It says EasyKnock ceased operations in December 2024 and informed customers that responsibilities were transitioning to NESE.

The agreement says the Consumer Protection Division determined that respondents engaged in unfair or deceptive trade practices in the marketing, sale, and administration of sale-leaseback transactions with Michigan consumers. It then preserves the respondents’ denial of violations and no-admission position. That distinction matters: the public record supports reporting the state allegations, the agreement terms, and the denials. It does not support stating that a court adjudicated fraud.

Going forward, the covered entities may not offer or engage in transactions in which they purchase or acquire a lien or interest in a Michigan consumer’s residential property, including sale-leaseback transactions, home-equity sharing agreements, or home-equity investment transactions. For active Michigan consumers, the agreement also requires notice, training, and a set of practical protections tied to rental charges, sale proceeds, credit reporting, and home-sale options.

Protections To Track For Active Consumers

The agreement says NESE and EK Real Estate Fund I must give Michigan consumers in active sale-leaseback transactions the option, upon request, to have timely lease payments reported to credit reporting agencies. It requires compliance with state and local housing laws and ordinances. It requires refunds to Michigan consumers who provide proof that they paid rental registration or inspection fees that were the landlord’s legal responsibility.

It also places capital-expenditure responsibility on NESE and the EK entities for needed work on Michigan homes and bars them from charging those costs back to Michigan consumers. For 30 days after NESE sends the required notice, active Michigan consumers must have an opportunity to exercise an option to direct sale of the home for a three-month listing period.

The sale provisions are unusually important for an equity-accountability ledger. The agreement says any sale directed by NESE or the EK entities must be listed within a price range determined by an independent Michigan-licensed real estate agent, and that no offer more than 5 percent below the lower end of that range may be accepted during the initial listing period without the consumer’s approval. It also restricts deductions from proceeds owed to consumers, including accrued expenses, accrued rent, and large unspent repair-fund amounts.

Within 10 days of closing, the agreement requires reasonable best efforts to deliver the full amount of money owed to a consumer and provide the Consumer Protection Division with final accounting. NESE must also send notice by first-class mail and email to Michigan consumers in active sale-leaseback transactions and train employees interacting with Michigan consumers to comply with the agreement and Michigan law.

The $85,000 Fund

The assurance requires an $85,000 payment to the State of Michigan, with distribution to affected consumers at the discretion of the Consumer Protection Division. Michigan’s release says previously identified consumers harmed by specific alleged practices will receive a portion of that settlement.

The fund is useful as a public receipt, but it also leaves records to watch. The missing facts include how many consumers receive payments, the size of individual payments, whether all notices are delivered, whether consumers successfully direct third-party sales, whether final accounting is provided quickly, and whether any private claims or other agency actions proceed separately. The agreement says private claims and other agency rights are not waived.

Why Sale-Leasebacks Belong In The Homeowner Ledger

The FTC warned consumers in 2024 that a sale-leaseback means selling a home and becoming a renter. Its consumer alert highlighted risks that can be hidden in complicated contracts, including fees, high rent, and eviction exposure if rent becomes unaffordable. NPR’s December 2024 reporting put EasyKnock’s shutdown into national context, describing a model aimed at homeowners who struggle to access traditional loans and reporting that customers rarely bought back their homes in the deals NPR reviewed. NPR also noted lawsuits and state attorney general investigations, while preserving EasyKnock’s position that its deals helped many customers and its denial of liability.

That is the BadPD frame here: homeowner distress should not become a shortcut for stripping equity through confusing contracts, escalating rent, or sale-proceeds deductions that ordinary families cannot audit. A consumer-protection settlement should be judged not just by the headline amount but by whether active homeowners get usable notice, fair sale terms, accurate accounting, and a real path to keep or recover value from their homes.

Confirmed, Alleged, Pending

Confirmed by official records: Michigan announced the EasyKnock agreement on June 3, 2026; the agreement creates an $85,000 consumer fund; the covered entities are barred from sale-leaseback and related home-equity transactions in Michigan; EasyKnock ceased operations in December 2024; NESE is servicing active transactions; the agreement includes notice, training, sale-process, deduction, refund, credit-reporting, and accounting requirements.

Alleged or disputed: Michigan alleges deceptive business practices involving financially distressed homeowners, representations about receiving 100 percent of home value, deductions from value, and difficulty repurchasing homes. The respondents deny violations, deny unfair or deceptive conduct, and do not admit liability.

Missing records to verify: court filing confirmation in Ingham County Circuit Court, consumer-payment distribution records, number of affected Michigan consumers, proof of notices mailed and emailed, sale outcomes for active transactions, complaint follow-up, private litigation status, property-level accounting, and any state or federal action after the agreement.

BadPD Bottom Line

This is a clean consumer-accountability receipt because it ties a national sale-leaseback model to a state enforcement record, a settlement fund, and specific protections for active Michigan consumers. It is also a homeowner-distress warning: when the pitch is cash now and stay in the home, the accountability record has to follow who owns the house, who controls the sale, who keeps the fees, who pays the rent, and who gets the equity when the deal ends.

BadPD will update this ledger if Michigan posts the filed assurance, consumer distribution totals, active-transaction outcomes, or follow-on enforcement records. Affected homeowners should rely on official notices from the Michigan Attorney General, court filings, qualified counsel, or trusted housing-assistance organizations for their own rights and deadlines.

Source Trail

• Michigan Attorney General: AG Nessel Secures Agreement in Investigation of Sale-Leaseback Company (June 3, 2026) – Primary official release with $85,000 consumer fund, alleged deceptive-practice summary, sale-leaseback ban, and consumer-protection reforms.
• Michigan Attorney General assurance of voluntary compliance: EasyKnock / NESE / EK Real Estate Fund I (June 2026) – Primary agreement text with no-admission language, active-consumer protections, $85,000 payment terms, notice requirements, and reserved-rights provisions.
• Michigan Attorney General: AG Nessel Takes Action Against EasyKnock For Deceptive Business Practices (May 22, 2024) – Primary official source for the notice of intended action, cease-and-desist demand, and the state investigation baseline.
• FTC Consumer Advice: Risky business – offers to cash out your home equity through a sale-leaseback (October 30, 2024) – Federal consumer-risk context explaining sale-leasebacks, homeowner-to-renter risk, fees, rent, and potential eviction exposure.
• NPR: A company that turned homeowners into renters abruptly shuts down (December 6, 2024) – Accountable reporting on EasyKnock shutdown, sale-leaseback model, lawsuits and investigations, company response, and NESE servicing context.
• Senator Elizabeth Warren: Lawmakers probe EasyKnock after abrupt closure (December 20, 2024) – Congressional oversight receipt preserving the customer-impact questions raised after EasyKnock shut down.