After nearly a year and a half, the eviction moratorium in Minnesota has ended, and a law has been enacted providing an "off ramp" to the moratorium. Landlords would be smart to find out about their rights and responsibilities under that law.
The effect of the law is to divide evictions into two main types: evictions for nonpayment of rent, and evictions for "material" violations of the lease.
For nonpayment evictions, landlords must provide a notice of their intent to bring an eviction at least 15 days before actually filing. Landlords must provide that noticed until October 12, 2021. The notice must let the tenant know that the eviction moratorium has ended, the total amount of rent due and owing (as of the date of the notice),, and that the tenant may be eligible for financial assistance through www.renthelpmn.org.
For material breach of the lease evictions, landlords do not have to provide any notice of their intent to bring an eviction. ,Still, landlords may want to provide some sort of notice in an attempt to get an unwanted tenant to leave voluntarily.
The new law contains several key dates that landlords will want to pay attention to, as illustrated in the center graphic above (taken from the Home Line website). I will go over those dates now:
June 30, 2021: Landlords can terminate a lease If the tenant is seriously endangering others, significantly damaging rental property, violating Minn. Stat. 504B.171 (drugs, firearms, prostitution, stolen property).This is very close to the reasons permitted by Executive Order 20 – 79.
Landlords can also terminate a lease for nonpayment, although the landlord needs to provide the tenant with a 15 day advance notice in this case, but only if the tenant either has refused to apply for assistance at www.renthelpmn.org/, refuses to provide the landlord with proof of application, or refuses to provide the landlord with information that the landlord needs to apply for assistance on the tenant's behalf.
July 14, 2021: Landlords can file evictions for "material" violations of the lease EXCEPT for nonpayment of rent. Reasonable persons could disagree about whether a lease violation is "material" or not.As such, if a landlord brings an eviction based on a "material" violation of the lease, the landlord should expect that the tenant will request a trial to make the landlord prove that the violation is "material." I think that a "material" violation is one that is important to the landlord-tenant relationship, that is prohibited by the lease, like smoking in a non-smoking building,
September 12, 2021: Landlords can file evictions www.renthelpmn.org against tenants who have outstanding rent due and are in eligible for rental assistance through https://www.renthelpmn.org/. Landlords should note that any eviction for nonpayment requires a 15 day advance notice.
October 12, 2021: All evictions are allowed, EXCEPT for evictions for nonpayment against tenants who have filed for housing assistance with https://www.renthelpmn.org/ and are waiting to hear back. The obligation of the landlord to provide a 15-day notice before bringing an eviction for nonpayment also ends on this day.
June 1, 2022: All evictions are permitted, with no exceptions.
You can read the law here: /www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2021/1/Session+Law/Chapter/8/. I would also like to share with you to my favorite resources for landlord-tenant information on the Internet: https://homelinemn.org/phaseout/, and www.lawhelpmn.org/self-help-library/fact-sheet/covid-19-renters-rights-and-end-eviction-moratorium. I would be remiss if I did not say that I have gotten some information for this blog post from those two websites.
I would encourage every tenant who is reading this post who is behind on rent or knows they will have a problem paying the rent in the future to apply for financial assistance at www.renthelpmn.org/. Landlords who have tenants who are behind on their rent should encourage those tenants to apply for financial assistance at the same website.
However, landlords still need to be concerned about the CDC eviction moratorium and whether section 4024 of the federal CARES act requires a 30-day or longer notice for a property that is covered by that federal law (basically, a property is covered if the tenant receives a housing subsidy or the mortgage on the property is backed by a federal agency).
Every landlord – tenant situation is unique, and I recommend that landlords talk to an attorney experienced in evictions and landlord tenant law before taking action based on this blog post. To that end, I invite landlords to give me a call at 763-290-0445 to discuss their unique situation. The first thing I will ask you is what you want to have happen because, ultimately, the landlord is in control. I have represented many landlords, BUT DO NOT REPRESENT RESIDENTIAL TENANTS.
WARNING: The information contained in this blog post does not constitute legal advice and may not be applicable to your situation. Tim is licensed to practice law only in Minnesota, and the information contained in this blog post may not apply to jurisdictions outside of Minnesota. Further, reading this blog post does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Baland Law Office, P.L.L.C. You should always discuss your situation with an attorney before taking any action based on what you may read in this blog. To that end, please call (763) 290-0445 to set up an appointment to discuss your situation.
The effect of the law is to divide evictions into two main types: evictions for nonpayment of rent, and evictions for "material" violations of the lease.
For nonpayment evictions, landlords must provide a notice of their intent to bring an eviction at least 15 days before actually filing. Landlords must provide that noticed until October 12, 2021. The notice must let the tenant know that the eviction moratorium has ended, the total amount of rent due and owing (as of the date of the notice),, and that the tenant may be eligible for financial assistance through www.renthelpmn.org.
For material breach of the lease evictions, landlords do not have to provide any notice of their intent to bring an eviction. ,Still, landlords may want to provide some sort of notice in an attempt to get an unwanted tenant to leave voluntarily.
The new law contains several key dates that landlords will want to pay attention to, as illustrated in the center graphic above (taken from the Home Line website). I will go over those dates now:
June 30, 2021: Landlords can terminate a lease If the tenant is seriously endangering others, significantly damaging rental property, violating Minn. Stat. 504B.171 (drugs, firearms, prostitution, stolen property).This is very close to the reasons permitted by Executive Order 20 – 79.
Landlords can also terminate a lease for nonpayment, although the landlord needs to provide the tenant with a 15 day advance notice in this case, but only if the tenant either has refused to apply for assistance at www.renthelpmn.org/, refuses to provide the landlord with proof of application, or refuses to provide the landlord with information that the landlord needs to apply for assistance on the tenant's behalf.
July 14, 2021: Landlords can file evictions for "material" violations of the lease EXCEPT for nonpayment of rent. Reasonable persons could disagree about whether a lease violation is "material" or not.As such, if a landlord brings an eviction based on a "material" violation of the lease, the landlord should expect that the tenant will request a trial to make the landlord prove that the violation is "material." I think that a "material" violation is one that is important to the landlord-tenant relationship, that is prohibited by the lease, like smoking in a non-smoking building,
September 12, 2021: Landlords can file evictions www.renthelpmn.org against tenants who have outstanding rent due and are in eligible for rental assistance through https://www.renthelpmn.org/. Landlords should note that any eviction for nonpayment requires a 15 day advance notice.
October 12, 2021: All evictions are allowed, EXCEPT for evictions for nonpayment against tenants who have filed for housing assistance with https://www.renthelpmn.org/ and are waiting to hear back. The obligation of the landlord to provide a 15-day notice before bringing an eviction for nonpayment also ends on this day.
June 1, 2022: All evictions are permitted, with no exceptions.
You can read the law here: /www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2021/1/Session+Law/Chapter/8/. I would also like to share with you to my favorite resources for landlord-tenant information on the Internet: https://homelinemn.org/phaseout/, and www.lawhelpmn.org/self-help-library/fact-sheet/covid-19-renters-rights-and-end-eviction-moratorium. I would be remiss if I did not say that I have gotten some information for this blog post from those two websites.
I would encourage every tenant who is reading this post who is behind on rent or knows they will have a problem paying the rent in the future to apply for financial assistance at www.renthelpmn.org/. Landlords who have tenants who are behind on their rent should encourage those tenants to apply for financial assistance at the same website.
However, landlords still need to be concerned about the CDC eviction moratorium and whether section 4024 of the federal CARES act requires a 30-day or longer notice for a property that is covered by that federal law (basically, a property is covered if the tenant receives a housing subsidy or the mortgage on the property is backed by a federal agency).
Every landlord – tenant situation is unique, and I recommend that landlords talk to an attorney experienced in evictions and landlord tenant law before taking action based on this blog post. To that end, I invite landlords to give me a call at 763-290-0445 to discuss their unique situation. The first thing I will ask you is what you want to have happen because, ultimately, the landlord is in control. I have represented many landlords, BUT DO NOT REPRESENT RESIDENTIAL TENANTS.
WARNING: The information contained in this blog post does not constitute legal advice and may not be applicable to your situation. Tim is licensed to practice law only in Minnesota, and the information contained in this blog post may not apply to jurisdictions outside of Minnesota. Further, reading this blog post does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Baland Law Office, P.L.L.C. You should always discuss your situation with an attorney before taking any action based on what you may read in this blog. To that end, please call (763) 290-0445 to set up an appointment to discuss your situation.
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