Minnesota Legislative Update 2023: Essential Changes for Landlords

Welcome to the 2023 Minnesota Legislative Update for landlords. This post will cover six critical landlord forms updated for 2023. Let’s dive into the details of each form and the legislative changes you need to be aware of.

Key Forms and Updates

Minnesota 14-Day Eviction Notice

• This notice applies strictly to non-payment of rent.
• A new term, “total monthly payment,” now includes all non-optional fees, which must be disclosed in advertising and on the lease’s first page.
• A 24-hour notice requirement with a specific time window from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
• Emergency repairs must be handled promptly, and the statewide heat code requires a minimum of 68 degrees from October 1 to April 30.
• Termination of lease if moving into a medical care facility.
• A prohibition on declawing or devocalizing pets.

1. Notice to Enter Lease Premises

• Written notice is required 24 hours in advance for non-emergency entries, within the 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM time window.
• Violations can incur penalties up to $500 plus attorney’s fees.
• Always obtain written consent for entry if less than 24 hours’ notice is given.

2. Notice of Tenant Right to Move-In Inspection

• Tenants must be notified of their right to request an initial inspection at the commencement of tenancy or within 14 days of occupancy.
• Failure to provide this notice can result in significant penalties.

3. Notice of Tenant Right to Move-Out Inspection

• Tenants must be notified of their right to request a move-out inspection within a reasonable time after issuing intent to terminate the lease.
• The inspection should occur no earlier than five days before lease termination.

4. Minnesota Crime-Free Addendum

• Updates to this addendum now specify that lease termination for criminal activity cannot be based on events occurring off-premises unless they involve crimes of violence.

5. Practical Tips for Compliance

• Ensure all non-optional fees are itemized and disclosed in advertising and on the first page of the lease.
• Document all notices and retain proof of delivery to avoid disputes.
• Provide written notice for entry and obtain tenant consent if entering without the standard notice period.
• Regularly review and update your forms to comply with new legal standards.
• Use the new Minnesota Landlord Forms to ensure all legal requirements are met.

Conclusion

These legislative changes aim to protect both landlords and tenants, ensuring fair practices and clear communication. For detailed guidance and access to compliant forms, visit Minnesota Landlord Forms. Remember, this post is not legal advice, and consulting with a legal professional is always recommended for specific situations.

Stay informed and compliant to ensure smooth property management in 2024 and beyond. Thank you for reading, and have a great day!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Today’s lesson video is the Minnesota Legislative 2024 update. And in yellow here you’ll see the names of six specific forms from Minnesota landlord forms that will be covered today. First is the Minnesota 14 day eviction. Notice the notice to enter lease premises, a notice of tenant right to move in inspection, a notice of tenant right to move out inspection notice to terminate and to move to medical care facility and the Minnesota Crime Free addendum.  

Some of these names you may have seen before, some not, but they’re all effectively new documents for 2024. Hello and welcome to Minnesota Landlord Forms where we are empowering Minnesota landlords and property managers with on demand DIY forms and how-to videos. I’m Bradley m Sheppey with Minnesota Landlord Law and this is a new business that we are launching specific to forms and videos to allow property managers and landlords to really have the resources they need on demand all the time.  

While I am a real estate attorney, this is not legal advice. We’re really, this is an overview for the public and you’ll need to apply your own facts to the law and that will require hiring an attorney to answer those questions. Today’s lesson video sections will be first the Minnesota 14 day eviction notice, which is for non-payment only. A new term called total monthly payment for non-optional fees that apply to advertising postings.  

And page one of the lease, a new 24 hour notice requirement with an 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM bracket plus a time window requirement. Move in and move out. Inspection opportunity notices the expansion of emergency repairs statewide heat code minimum of 68 degrees October 1st to April 30th, termination of lease if to move into a medical care facility, unquote, a prohibition on delaw or de vocalized requirements of pets, a prohibition of the 14 day notice to pay or quit tenancy at will, which are month to month tenants, early lease renewal restrictions, and a new crime-free addendum update.  

Okay, here we go. So starting out with number one, you’ll see on the left of your screen that you, yellow is a citation to the specific law. So if you have questions as you follow along, that is where you can go to find the source law.  

At your convenience, you are starting out with the statewide 14 day pre eviction notice for nonpayment. And in yellow here refers again to the form. So on the right and the white, you’ll see specifics on this slide in all the future slides. From a high level, for those of you who have owned or managed property in city of Minneapolis, this is familiar to you where there’s very specific language that needs to go on a notice to a tenant delivered by a specific method.  

And unless you do so, you cannot file for an eviction for nonpayment of rent, meaning the form has to follow very specific standards. You have to wait for that period of time, not be paid in full. Then you can evict. So here’s an example of what the notice must include. We’re not gonna cover it all specifically. You can read them at your convenience, but just understand the form in the law is very specific as to what needs to be in there. You can’t simply write an email to a tenant and say, Hey, you have 14 days to pay rent, and if you don’t, I’ll file an eviction If you do so, and that’s your notice, your eviction will be dismissed and you’ll have to file again and pay more money.  

Note also here at the very bottom, there’s language about some cities may be more stringent or also have specifics and you’ll want to stay tuned to those. Minneapolis has some specific language on how to pay, where they can call for more information. And in some cities there’s even more stringent than 14 days.  

Brooklyn Center is cited below. Again, here’s more specific language that will, that is on our form, but effectively it must be delivered personally or in first class. Mail personally can just be you someone with your company and directly to their door. It’s not a process server. But the key thing is that you’ll want to have backup of this. That’s what I’m referring to here on the bottom. Take a photo, email the photo to yourself.  

Same as if you’re dropping in the mail. You don’t wanna be put in a position to have no evidence that you in fact did send the 14 day notice ’cause otherwise that could be raised as a defense. So the, the more documentation you have that the 14 day notice went out, the better. I even recommend doing a backup email as a secondary way, but that won’t apply. Here’s a quick snapshot of what the form looks like from Minnesota Landlord forms. We have it all laid out for you.  

So effectively we’ve, we’ve customized a form that meets the standard of the new Minnesota law that applies to all cities in Minnesota. As I mentioned, with the exception, you may want to check if you are in a city that has more stringent specifics. Okay, moving on to 5 0 4 B one 20. Again, you can go to that, Google that number and go to the statute. There’s this new concept of called total monthly payment.  

Effectively what that means is a sum total of rent and all non-optional fees that require disclosure in all advertising. Posting in page one of the lease in the landlord must also disclose whether the utilities are included in rent. We move on to a violation here. It’s steep treble damages and attorney’s fees. And specifically what this means is a tenant can in fact bring a case, what’s called a rent escrow against you even if you haven’t filed an eviction against the tenant for a violation of the lease seeking damages.  

So you absolutely have to comply with this. And so if we go down to practice tips, talks about disclose all non-optional fees and itemize and breakout on page one of the lease, make sure that all of your ads, all of your postings and page one of the lease include all of this.  

And lastly, you have to be careful that if you’re, if you have admin or insurance fees or your like online portal payment charges a credit card fee to the tenant or your utility provider has a requirement, I would go above and beyond what may the law may have anticipated and disclose the fact that those exist. It gets complicated. So I would say over disclose and if you have any questions, consult an attorney for future advice. Okay, we’re moving on now to the 24 hour notice requirement 5 0 4 B two 11.  

For those who have been landlords for quite a while, many of you have used 24 hours notice, written notice to a tenant as the standard. Well, in fact, that has not been the law. It effectively was reasonable notice for a reasonable business purpose. Now we have, the same thing, which is the reasonable business purpose, which under that statute lists out specifics that are on the list but not an exhaustive list.  

And now it says specifically that not less than 24 hours in advance. And we are talking about non-emergencies here. And so the new law of brackets, that has to be between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM unless the 10 degrees. And I would say again, it has to be in writing. Otherwise you could run afoul of the law. The tenant obviously may permit less than 24 hours and you must specify the time or anticipated window of time of entry. It’s very vague. It doesn’t say two hours, four hours am pm or it doesn’t even prohibit you from doing multiple days at once.  

It’s very vague. So stay tuned, but understand that you have to put a time anticipated window in there. This cannot be waived in the lease. And most importantly, violations now range up to $500 up from a hundred plus attorney’s fees. So here’s an example that you should not find yourself in. If you’re at the property for some other reason, you’re dropping off something you didn’t intend to enter, the tenant says, Hey, please come in.  

I have an issue I’d like you to fix. I would stop there, not enter unless that tenant texts or emails you and says, I approve. You know, I might the specific name approve you to enter the property address immediately without notice. Unless you have that, say thank you for your request, please place a work order in writing and someone will be back to the property. A few other notes, the statute’s silent on written.  

It doesn’t say, you know, text, email, mail, it’s not even in there. But I would just say always do it in writing. And again, as I just mentioned, never ever, ever let yourself in and never ever, ever do that. Even if the tenant welcomes you in, unless you have writing under 24 hours, you, so here’s an example I lay out here. The tenant verbally asked staff at a Building to help.  

Your answer should be no, please send an email portal to request in writing and staff will follow up in 24 hours. No, but only if you have, if you, I will enter if there’s clear writing, yes, the landlord may immediately enter to look at the stove. Unless you have that, be very, very careful because let’s say you file for an eviction for nonpayment of rent. A tenant could, could basically say the landlord came into my unit without my approval under 24 hours. I’m seeking $500 off of that eviction.  

And unless you have something In writing, you would not be able to disprove that claim, which even though it’s untrue, could put you in a bind. So be very, very careful of entering without 24 hours notice is my final practice tip. Here’s an example of the form again, it really goes through the law and allows staff owner or property management to make sure they’re complying with the notice requirement and make sure if someone enters, this is an older statute, if someone does enter and it’s under and no one is home, make sure you leave behind written Notice that someone entered the property and they were not home.  

That also now is subject to a $500 penalty. If that does not occur, not the hundred from before. And understand that is even if you’ve already properly noticed, it simply means was the landlord or management there, even if they have noticed and no one was home, you need to leave written notice.  

So again, make sure you also leave a notice that someone was there without their presence. If that’s the case, you could even consider a business business practice of doing it all the time. Leave something there all the time. Okay, moving on. The tenant 5 0 4 B 1 78. A tenant notice to request a move, move-in inspection, there’s a new form that’s down below. And so essentially the new law basically Says the tenant needs to know that they have the option to request.  

But The law is Very tricky as it’s written as to When the notice Goes out. So you can’t just bake It into the lease. It says at commencement of residential tenancy or within 14 days of occupancy, then the landlord must notify the tenant of option to request an initial inspection. So you just have to be very careful. It can be at a mutually acceptable time. And as I mentioned, I don’t believe the lease sign at at time of lease signing.  

So you really want a separate notice to go out that they can request their inspection. Again, commencement of residential tenancy. And just because someone signs a lease, that doesn’t mean the tenancy is commit commenced. The tenancy commence when someone actually moves in and occupies. And that’s what this is about. A residential tenant is a person occupying under a lease or contract. So if someone has an occupied that’s not at the commencement of residential tenancy, therefore the notice wouldn’t apply.  

So be careful. You know, there’s also language about alternative compliance, meaning the landlord and tenant Agree in writing that, to acknowledge videos and photos of the condition. But again, be very careful of This, of how this specifically works. If you have questions, you’re free to request a consultation with Minnesota Landlord Law and understand here that there is again, a major penalty for failure to provide the notice. it basically says that it’s the same penalties that we were aware of Before for Security deposit ’cause that’s where this is held.  

But just Understand this is not a minor thing and you really Need to pay attention. Here’s an example of a form that will help Property managers and owners do this move in right to move in inspection notice, Okay, the counterpart is the move out inspection slightly different, but the same concept applies. The tenant has to know, be notified in writing of their option to request a move out inspection and to be present at the inspection.  

Again, the trick of the law is when This just Can’t be at the beginning of the lease because of the timing, it says the landlord shall notify within reasonable time after the landlord or tenant issue an intent to terminate the lease or before the end of the lease term. And it says the inspection has to be at a reasonable time, but no earlier than five days before termination of end of lease date or the day the tenant plans to vacate the unit.  

If tenant requests, they can attempt to schedule a mutually acceptable day and time. And if the de tenant does not request the landlord duties are discharged. Again, there’s this alternative compliance, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to give the notice of their opportunity to request. This is a way to comply with what’s required but not the notice itself. Again, we talked about damages and that’s right there. Similarly to the move in this is the move out inspection slightly different, but it is again, a separate notice that’s required during the specific time via specific method.  

Okay, so now we’re going to 5 0 4 B 3 81. For those of you who’ve been around a long time, there have been a, there’s, there’s always been a statute 5 0 4 B 3 81 that that basically said, these items are emergencies and effectively need to be addressed immediately. You can’t wait 14 days to fix these.  

And generally it’s been, you know, the water doesn’t work, the heat doesn’t work. It was a very short list up here in bullet points, it shows that we, the list has been expanded to what’s called serious infestation. A non-functioning refrigerator, if it’s in the lease, a non-functioning air conditioner elevator if applicable. And then this catchall that talks about any condition services or facilities that pose serious and negative impact on health or safety. Never helpful to have broad language in a statute, but I think the people who wanted this pass knew exactly what they were doing.  

They wanted to catch all that would open the doors to many other things, and that will be difficult to litigate. However, note again, the reason you have to take this seriously is that the tenant can bring actions under emergency tenant remedies, tenant remedies action. So if someone says, my refrigerator’s out doesn’t work, you can’t wait 10 days, you could potentially face a tenant bringing their own suit seeking attorney’s fees, I’m sorry, attorney’s fees up to $500 and other costs to do so.  

So you have to be very careful about responding much more quickly now to air conditioning refrigerator. And typically people have been involved in, you know, the standard pest infestation, but just understand of a heightened urgency to address that. Now we’re to new statewide minimum heat language 5 0 4 B 1 61. Many larger cities have had this for a long time, but understand that this new law, which says 68 degrees from October one to April 30, is this new statewide law.  

So if there’s not a more stringent city standard, it must apply. Also know that it didn’t give any specific way to measure that. Some other cities have that, as I talked about down here, and don’t assume the minimum is 68 degrees from those days. It’s possible in Minnesota that, that they do exist. Other cities may require that 12 months a year, they may require a different temperature and also, so basically be aware of more stringent city standards.  

And also some of the cities may define where it’s supposed to be taken. Some cities may say, you know, five feet off the floor, three feet from the floor and wall. But just note to self, it’s not as easy as following the state law. There may be cities out there with their own specific laws, okay? So 5 0 4 4 2 66, the right to terminate, lease early and move into a medical care facility.  

The notice form is down below. This doesn’t mean that your tenants sick and they can move out, expect a lot of people and tenants trying to take advantage of this, but do understand that it’s very, very specific. There’s a lot of defined terms such as medical professional medical care facility and when they can give notice and what type of notice they have to have. So it is very specific, and we can go through all this, but just from a very high level, it basically means that someone, a medical doctor, a medical professional, although it does go down all the way to social workers, therapists, and psychologists.  

So it is a rather broad list of people, but understand most of those people will not be referring them to nursing homes, hospice assisted living. So there is some, you know, modest standard built in there. So effectively the test is laid out here. The medical professional must determine the need to move into a medical fit care facility and also finds medical reasons for a disability, three impairments, or they need to move to a nursing facility.  

And there are, there is a minor exception if it’s for a specific physical disability and there’s units available in that apartment building, but understand that the, the exception is very narrow. All right, so here’s an example. The form again, and the form would be very helpful for the tenant as well as anyone who may have just given you notice that doesn’t necessarily comply.  

this is the Minnesota Landlord Forms document that gets into the specifics as to who’s the medical professional, does it meet the test of a medical care facility, et cetera, et cetera. Is the proper notice method followed. So very helpful document. Okay, moving on. This one’s relatively easy, 5 0 4 B one one. It basically says that you can’t refuse to rent to tenants because they, the tenant will not declaw or de vocalize their dog or cat.  

Most landlords in property management companies do not do this today, but know it applies and it also applies to advertising. So basically you can’t design to discourage them, but you can continue to say, you know, anything about barking and everything is still a nuisance. So as long as you stay away from anything about declawing or de vocalizing or even referring to that, you’ll be fine. But also understand stiff civil penalty here where county attorney or Attorney General may bring an action in district court against you.  

But here’s a tip, just stay away from it, it’s not worth it. We’ll move on. Okay, real briefly, 5 0 4 B 1 35. For those of you who are not familiar, some people misapplied what’s called a notice to pay or quit. It had historically was authorized in law in Minnesota, but only applied to month to month residential landlord tenants.  

And what does that mean? In Minnesota, you can evict a tenant for non-payment of rent and they have the right to redeem by paying a few statutory costs, court costs process server and the back rent, and they can stay in their unit. Well, a notice to payer quit would allow the landlord to terminate the tenancy. If the tenant didn’t pay the full amount in 14 days, then the landlord could evict them as an unlawful holdover because the lease had terminated. So effectively what happens now is they deleted the whole provision that allowed the notice to payer quit.  

And at will tenant, which means month, month, this never applied to term tenants like six month, one month, or I’m sorry, one year tenants. You never, this never applied anyway. And most people actually either misapplied this or didn’t use it. So if this news to you, don’t worry about it. Just understand that the, if you have a month, month to month tenant, you basically have to non-renew or evict them for nonpayment and they can redeem.  

Or if there’s some other scenario where there’s a material material breach of lease and you terminate for some reason that terminates the lease. Okay? Early renewal restriction, 5 0 4 B 5 4 4. So there’s new language that basically says if the lease is greater than 10 months, then the landlord must wait until six months from expiration before requiring a tenant to renew a lease. So where Queen is very vague and broad, and so I kind of lay out a couple of good options.  

Number one is if you wanna be a hundred percent safe, just don’t do anything until six months or under, you’re not gonna run afoul of the lease. Some risk might be to interpret it as I can still offer, I can still send someone, let’s say this applies to student housing in the fall, okay? It’s now October. And once you, here’s an offer to renew your lease for, September 1st, August 1st, whatever it is. But there’s no follow up, there’s no required, there’s no consequences. It’s possible that’s not requiring a tenant that’s simply an offer to renew a lease.  

but just stay, as I said, stay tuned to the attorney general enforcement on this one. But if you’re risk adverse, just don’t do anything before six months anyway. And I would recommend contacting an attorney on however you, you may want to specifically tailor this. Okay? And then lastly, remember that showing a unit prior to a termination is not a reasonable business purpose. So you, you can’t also, you can’t give notice, here’s an offer and then start showing it before the termination.  

Either party gives termination of the lease. That’s not a reasonable business purpose. So just something to be aware of it that relates to this provision. Okay, crime free addendum. There’s a new restriction. Here’s a new form below 5 0 4 B 1 71. The new key here is that we used to have broad crime-free addendums that that could allow for events that occurred off of the premises by the tenant or household member.  

Now, there’s a, there’s a, there’s a more narrow interpretation of that, that, that you, you can’t terminate the lease for one of these events occurring off the premises or the curtilage, which basically means, you know, the, the, The, the common area of the property with some exceptions, which are this higher a crime of violence against another tenant, a tenant’s guest, landlord or landlord’s employees, regardless of whether a charge was brought or conviction obtained. So again, this is against someone at the property or let’s say a property management office that was a victim, or that means you don’t need a conviction or if it results in a conviction, if it’s a crime of violence against a person unrelated to the premises.  

And that means that’s a very defined term. Assaults, murder, theft of firearm, burglary, harassment, terroristic threat. And these are defined, but you need a conviction, conviction of a crime.  

So if you, if you have a concern about terminating the lease for a crime, you have to be very, very careful because you, you may no longer comply with the revised, statute and understand that if you had an old crime-free addendum, it’s likely outdated because the new language is more narrow. That doesn’t allow these non-con convictions off of the premises unless there are crime of violence. Here’s an example of, of Minnesota landlord forms New Minnesota crime-free drug-free addendum.  

Okay, quick summary overview, everyone. We covered total monthly payment and how key it is, as a new legal definition for advertising for your website. Anywhere. You’re talking about how the, the rent payment is broken down, and that it’s, it’s pivotal that it’s now in page one of the lease. A good way of saying is all of the dollar amounts flow into one main number with the exception of possibly adding some caveat language about subject to additional vendor required vendor fees, that you don’t know or utilities, right?  

that, that are not known. There’s the new crime free addendum language. I’m sorry I skipped ahead, but the new 24 hour notice and time window, the move in inspection opportunity. Notice the move out inspection opportunity. Notice the 14 day eviction notice and how to do that. And you know, one last practice tip there is may sound heavy handed, but if you have your lease, the rent is due on day one and they don’t pay it, you may consider just having automatic, notification on the following day of 14 day eviction notice it may seem heavy handed, but otherwise, if you wait for two weeks to negotiate with the tenant and they don’t pay, you’re still gonna have to give a 14 day eviction notice.  

And then you may lose that full month with no rent and then by the time you get to court, you may lose another month.  

So just be aware of, of how to do that. And some people think you may need to wait for the late fee. The the date, the due date is different from the late fee and basically the, the day rent is due is the day that that would, that would trigger non the day after it’s due would trigger the rent was due and not paid. The late fee is something else. And just a reminder, all of the new law is so baked in new attorney’s fees and $500 civil penalties per occurrence.  

And so you absolutely have to have systems for this and not think, oh, what should I do? You really need to make sure either using software or have kind of a checklist form to make sure either you and or your employees or staff are following all of these new laws. And one thing we did, there’s, there’s other things we didn’t cover today on, they’re more in the attorney side, but what needs to be in the, evictions, how, whether or not tenants have to deposit additional money into court.  

So there’s way more things than we covered today, but the bulk of what we did today was for on the, the landlord and the owner and the property management side. Okay, so coming soon, if this is still, if you’re watching this and it’s January, 2024, we’ll be launching Minnesota Landlord Forms in February, 2024. If you’re watching this, later than that date, just look for [email protected]. That’s where you’ll find the forms that we covered today many more and other how-to videos that break down how you use all of these individual forms.  

Thank you very much. My name is Bradley m Sheppey with Minnesota Landlord Forms LLC, and none of this was legal advice. Thank you very much and have a great day.