Minnesota Landlord-Tenant Law for DIY Landlords (2026)

Security deposits, the 8 percent late fee cap, 24-hour entry notice, the 14-day pre-eviction notice and the eviction timeline in Minnesota, in plain English for landlords who manage their own rentals.

Last updated September 23, 2026

Minnesota rewrote its rental rules twice in two years. The 2023 session added a 14-day written notice before any non-payment eviction and a 24-hour entry notice, both starting January 1, 2024. Laws 2024, chapter 118 followed with new screening, tenant organizing and service rules, most of them effective January 1, 2025 according to that chapter's own effective-date provisions.

If your lease template and your eviction paperwork predate 2024, they need an update. Here is what a small Minnesota landlord has to get right, with the statute behind each rule.

Security deposits

There is no cap on the amount. Chapter 504B sets no statutory limit on what you can collect. The market and your city code set it, so check both.

The deposit earns 1 percent simple interest. It runs from the first day of the month after the tenant pays it in full (Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, subd. 2).

You have three weeks to return it. The clock runs from the end of the tenancy and the day you get the tenant's mailing address. A condemned building through no fault of the tenant cuts that to five days (§ 504B.178, subd. 3).

Keep anything and you owe a written statement. The statement has to give the specific reason for the withholding, and it goes out inside the same three-week window (§ 504B.178, subd. 3 and subd. 4).

Two lawful deductions. Unpaid rent or other money owed under the lease, and the cost of restoring the unit past ordinary wear and tear. The burden of proving a deduction sits on you.

The penalty has two layers. Miss the statement or the deadline and you owe the withheld amount plus interest as a penalty (§ 504B.178, subd. 4). Bad faith retention adds punitive damages up to $500 per deposit, and holding a deposit past two weeks after a tenant sues is presumed bad faith (§ 504B.178, subd. 7).

You cannot write around it. Any attempted waiver of the deposit section in a lease is void (§ 504B.178, subd. 10).

Late fees

The cap is 8 percent of the overdue rent payment. A late fee is charged only where the lease says in writing that one may be imposed and when it takes effect (§ 504B.177). It counts as neither interest nor liquidated damages.

No statutory grace period. Minnesota law sets none, so your lease defines when rent is late. On a subsidized tenancy, the fee is calculated only on the tenant's portion.

Rent increases and rent control

No state cap on increases. Under a fixed-term lease, rent stays put for the term, with the lease itself the only thing that can allow a change. On a month-to-month tenancy, the Attorney General's landlord-tenant handbook puts proper written notice of an increase at one rental period plus one day.

Cities are blocked from rent control, with one door left open. No city, county or town may adopt rent control on private residential property except through an ordinance or charter amendment approved at a general election (Minn. Stat. § 471.9996).

St. Paul walked through that door. The city caps most residential rent increases at 3 percent in a 12-month period, with exception paths for higher increases, and an amendment exempts newly constructed rental property, which the City's rent stabilization page dates to June 13, 2025. If your rental sits in St. Paul, the ordinance controls your increase, not state law.

Entering the unit

Give at least 24 hours' notice. The notice has to state a time or an anticipated window, and entry runs between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., absent an agreement with the tenant to do otherwise (Minn. Stat. § 504B.211).

Reasonable business purposes only. Showings, maintenance, health and safety inspections, checking on a suspected lease violation. Emergency entry needs no notice, and entry without the tenant present and without prior notice needs a written disclosure left in a conspicuous place.

The price of getting it wrong. A tenant can recover a rent reduction, a deposit refund, a civil penalty up to $500 per violation and attorney fees.

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

Either side ends a tenancy at will with written notice at least as long as the interval between rent payments, or three months, whichever is shorter (Minn. Stat. § 504B.135). Monthly rent means one full rental period of notice.

When rent isn't paid

Since January 1, 2024 you cannot file first. Serve a written 14-day notice that includes all of this (Minn. Stat. § 504B.321, subd. 1a).

The total amount due, itemised by rent, fees and other charges
The name and address of the person to pay
Information about legal and financial help
A statement that you can file an eviction case if the tenant does not pay the total due or move out within 14 days of the notice date

Deliver it personally or by first class mail. Payment in full inside the window ends the matter.

The eviction timeline

Serve the 14-day notice and wait out the period (§ 504B.321, subd. 1a).
File the complaint in district court in the county where the property sits, with the current or most recent lease attached, an itemised accounting, and the tenant's full name and date of birth (§ 504B.321).
Serve the summons and complaint at least seven days before the court appearance, with a good faith electronic attempt where you normally reach the tenant that way. File the affidavit of service at least three days before the appearance (§ 504B.332).
Go to trial. The court sets the date against the complexity of the case, discovery and the tenant's chance to get counsel. Non-payment cases get priority (§ 504B.335).
Expect a redemption attempt. A tenant stops a non-payment eviction by paying the rent due plus interest, costs and an attorney fee capped at $5 (§ 504B.291).
Judgment and writ. Win, and the court enters judgment and issues a writ of recovery of premises and order to vacate. Execution is usually stayed up to seven days, with non-payment cases an exception (§ 504B.345).
The sheriff executes. The officer demands possession and gives the tenant 24 hours to leave with their family and property. Notify the tenant of the scheduled removal by first class mail and a good faith phone attempt (§ 504B.365).

Never do it yourself. Lockouts, removing property and shutting off utilities to force a tenant out are barred (§ 504B.281).

Watch the 90-day window. Serve a notice to quit within 90 days of a tenant's good faith complaint or code report and the burden lands on you to prove the termination was not a penalty (§ 504B.285, subd. 2, and § 504B.441).

Repairs and habitability

Every Minnesota residential lease carries covenants that the landlord keeps the unit and the common areas fit to live in, in reasonable repair, free of pests and compliant with health and safety codes, with heat of at least 68 degrees from October 1 through April 30 (Minn. Stat. § 504B.161). Those covenants cannot be waived. The 2024 changes expanded the common area and pest duties starting January 1, 2025.

A tenant who gives written notice of a non-code violation and gets no fix within 14 days can deposit rent with the court and open a rent escrow action, heard within 10 to 14 days, with retroactive rent abatement on the table (§ 504B.385).

The short version

No statutory deposit cap, but 1 percent interest and a three-week return deadline with a written statement
Late fees capped at 8 percent of the overdue payment, in writing in the lease
24 hours' notice to enter, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., $500 per violation if you skip it
One full rental period of written notice to end a month-to-month
A detailed 14-day written notice before any non-payment filing
Service seven days before the hearing, then a writ and 24 hours for the tenant to go
St. Paul caps most rent increases at 3 percent

Let Taz handle the paperwork

Taz is an AI property manager for landlords who would rather not live in the statute books. It tracks deposit deadlines, sends rent reminders, takes maintenance requests day and night, and keeps the records a Minnesota judge would ask for, at a flat monthly price per door instead of a cut of your rent. See how Taz works.

Where this guide says a state has no rule on something, that means we found no statute setting one, which is not the same as none existing. Local ordinances and court practice can add requirements. Confirm anything you plan to rely on.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Laws change, and your city or county may add rules. Talk to a Minnesota attorney before acting on a specific situation. Last checked September 2026.