How to become a landlord in Minnesota

List every nonoptional fee in the lease, and show the rent plus all nonoptional fees as the Total Monthly Payment on the first page, saying whether utilities are included. The first page must also give the lease start and end dates and any prorated rent for a partial month. Before the tenancy starts, disclose in writing who manages the property and who may receive notices and legal papers for you (Minn. Stat. § 504B.120, subd. 1; Minn. Stat. § 504B.146).

• Breaking the fee disclosure rule makes you liable for three times the tenant's damages, and the court may award attorney's fees. Advertisements must show nonoptional fees and say whether utilities are included (Minn. Stat. § 504B.120).
• Give a prospective tenant copies of outstanding inspection orders with a citation issued that the inspector marked as threatening health or safety, and any condemnation order or unfit-for-habitation declaration, before they sign or pay rent or a deposit (Minn. Stat. § 504B.195, subd. 1).
• If you have received notice of a mortgage foreclosure sale or contract for deed cancellation, tell a prospective tenant in writing before signing and before taking money, and limit the term as the statute requires; the penalty is $500 (Minn. Stat. § 504B.151, subd. 1).
• If natural gas or water and sewer is apportioned among tenants, a lease entered into or renewed on or after January 1, 2025 must attach the utility bills notice worded as the statute prescribes (Minn. Stat. § 504B.216, subd. 10).
• Give each tenant who signed a written lease a copy of it (Minn. Stat. § 504B.115, subd. 1).
• A landlord of a building with 12 or more residential units must use a written lease for each unit that identifies the unit before the tenant signs (Minn. Stat. § 504B.111).
• Minnesota's radon disclosure applies to sales and transfers of a single-family home, including a lease with an option to purchase, not to an ordinary lease (Minn. Stat. § 144.496, subd. 3).

Before the tenancy starts, disclose to the tenant in writing (in the lease or separately) the name and address of the person authorized to manage the property, and of the landlord or an agent authorized to accept legal papers and receive notices. Post the same information in a conspicuous place on the property (Minn. Stat. § 504B.181, subd. 1).

• Also post a notice that the Attorney General's statement of landlord and tenant rights is available to tenants on request, unless you must post a city license or similar document that already tells tenants they may contact the Attorney General (Minn. Stat. § 504B.181, subd. 2(b)).
• You may not bring an action for rent or possession unless the information was disclosed, or the tenant knew it at least 30 days before the action (Minn. Stat. § 504B.181, subd. 4).
• If you have not disclosed, a caretaker, manager or person who collects rent is treated as your agent to receive legal papers and notices (Minn. Stat. § 504B.181, subd. 3).

Minnesota's landlord and tenant chapter has no flood disclosure rule. Other Minnesota law was not checked for one (Minn. Stat. § 504B).

Every dwelling unit must have a smoke alarm meeting the State Fire Code, mounted as state rules require, and the owner is responsible for maintaining smoke alarms in units the owner does not occupy. Every dwelling unit must also have an approved, working carbon monoxide alarm within ten feet of each room lawfully used for sleeping, with limited exceptions for some multifamily buildings (Minn. Stat. § 299F.362, subd. 3; Minn. Stat. § 299F.362, subd. 5; Minn. Stat. § 299F.51, subd. 1; Minn. Stat. § 299F.51, subd. 5).

• The occupant must tell the owner within 24 hours of finding a smoke alarm not working. An occupant who willfully disables one, causing damage or injury, commits a misdemeanor (Minn. Stat. § 299F.362, subd. 5a; Minn. Stat. § 299F.362, subd. 6).
• In a multifamily building, replace any carbon monoxide alarm that was stolen, removed or made inoperable during a prior occupancy before a new occupancy begins; the occupant then maintains it (Minn. Stat. § 299F.51, subd. 2; Minn. Stat. § 299F.51, subd. 3).
• A first carbon monoxide alarm violation brings a safety warning; later ones are petty misdemeanors (Minn. Stat. § 299F.51, subd. 6).

Minnesota's landlord and tenant chapter has no rule requiring particular locks or rekeying between tenants. Other Minnesota codes were not checked for one (Minn. Stat. § 504B.375, subd. 1).

• Removing doors, windows or locks to keep a tenant out is an unlawful exclusion the tenant can undo through the court (Minn. Stat. § 504B.375, subd. 1).

Minnesota does not cap the amount of a security deposit. The deposit rules cover any money that secures the tenant's performance under the rental agreement, except a deposit that is only rent paid in advance (Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, subd. 1).

• A payment taken from a prospective tenant before a rental agreement is signed (other than a reasonable screening fee) needs a conspicuous written agreement stating when it will be returned and that it will be returned within seven days after that happens (Minn. Stat. § 504B.175, subd. 2).
• If the parties do sign a rental agreement, that prelease payment must be applied to the tenant's security deposit or rent (Minn. Stat. § 504B.175, subd. 3).
• A landlord who breaks the prelease deposit rules owes the payer the amount paid plus half of that amount as a penalty (Minn. Stat. § 504B.175, subd. 4).
• The City's Minneapolis guidance limits the deposit to one month's rent. If more than one month's rent is collected upfront, the deposit cap drops to half a month's rent, and the tenant may pay it over three months (City of Minneapolis: renter rights guidance).

The deposit earns simple, noncompounded interest of 1 percent a year, from the first day of the month after it is paid in full until the last day of the month in which you return it or account for it in good faith, or the date a court enters judgment on it if that comes first. Interest under $1 does not have to be paid (Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, subd. 2).

• The statute says the landlord holds the deposit for the tenant and does not receive it in a fiduciary capacity. No section of the landlord and tenant chapter requires a separate or interest-bearing account (Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, subd. 2).
• When the property changes hands, the deposit moves or is returned with its interest, and the new owner takes on the old owner's obligations for it (Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, subd. 5; Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, subd. 6).

At the start of a tenancy, or within 14 days after the tenant moves in, tell the tenant they may ask for an initial inspection to record existing problems, so they are not charged for them later. If the tenant asks, schedule it at a time you both accept (Minn. Stat. § 504B.182).

• Within a reasonable time after either side gives notice to end the tenancy, or before the lease ends, tell the tenant in writing that they may ask for a move-out inspection and be present for it (Minn. Stat. § 504B.182, subd. 2).
• A requested move-out inspection happens at a reasonable time, no earlier than five days before the tenancy ends or the tenant plans to leave, so the tenant can fix problems before any deposit deduction (Minn. Stat. § 504B.182, subd. 2).
• If the tenant agrees, you may instead acknowledge in writing photos or videos of the home and agree on its condition at the start or end of the tenancy (Minn. Stat. § 504B.182, subd. 1(b)).
• Skipping these notices, or not completing an inspection the tenant asks for, triggers the deposit penalty (Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, subd. 4).
• A lease term waiving these rights is void, except where the tenant chooses not to ask for an inspection or agrees to the photo alternative (Minn. Stat. § 504B.182, subd. 4).

Before accepting a screening fee, disclose in writing the name, address and phone number of any tenant screening service you will use and the criteria your decision will be based on. Do not charge a fee when you know or should know no unit is or soon will be available, give a receipt on request, and do not use, cash or deposit the fee until every earlier applicant has been screened and rejected or has turned the unit down (Minn. Stat. § 504B.173).

• Return the fee if you reject the applicant for a reason not in your written criteria, or if an earlier applicant takes the unit. Return any part you did not spend on a personal reference check or a credit or screening report (Minn. Stat. § 504B.173, subd. 2).
• Tell a rejected applicant within 14 days, naming the criteria they did not meet (Minn. Stat. § 504B.173, subd. 3).
• You may not deny an application because of a pending eviction case, a court file that is not public or was expunged or destroyed, or an eviction case that did not end in a writ of recovery of premises and order to vacate (Minn. Stat. § 504B.173, subd. 3a).
• A landlord who breaks these rules owes the applicant the fee plus a civil penalty of up to $100, filing costs and attorney's fees. An applicant who gives materially false information or leaves out requested material information owes damages plus a civil penalty of up to $500, filing costs and attorney's fees (Minn. Stat. § 504B.173, subd. 4).
• No section of the landlord and tenant chapter sets a dollar limit on the screening fee (Minn. Stat. § 504B.173).
• Minneapolis offers two screening routes: use the City's inclusive criteria or make an individual assessment when using stricter criteria. Inclusive criteria restrict criminal, rental and credit history; examples include excluding misdemeanors older than three years and minimum credit scores. With stricter criteria, allow supplemental information, consider it and give a specific denial reason. Check the ordinance's details and exceptions (City of Minneapolis: renter rights guidance).
• An applicant may ask the screening service, with proper identification, for the information in their file and its sources. Disclosure is free when a report was used in the past 30 days to deny housing or increase rent or the deposit. A properly identified written request for a mailed copy must be mailed within five business days after receipt (Minn. Stat. 504B.241, subd. 1).
• Dispute inaccurate or incomplete information with the screening service. It must reinvestigate and delete information that is inaccurate or cannot be verified; on request, it must notify report recipients from the past six months of deletions. An applicant may add an explanation of an eviction report or unresolved disputed item, which the service may limit to 100 words (Minn. Stat. 504B.241, subds. 2, 3).
• A screening service must verify current court-file status through Minnesota Court Records Online no more than 24 hours before issuing its report and accurately record the outcome and available basis of the decision. These are reporting duties; the separate limits on using eviction records to deny an application still apply (Minn. Stat. 504B.241, subd. 4; Minn. Stat. 504B.173, subd. 3a).
• Track the Minnesota rejection-criteria notice separately from federal consumer-report duties. If a report contributes to a denial or less favorable rent, deposit or cosigner terms, give the required adverse-action notice. Include the reporting company's name, address and phone number, explain that it did not make the decision and cannot explain your reasons, and state the rights to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information and request a free report from that company within sixty days of the notice. Keep the notices, delivery records, criteria and relevant correction information together. Federal notice compliance does not permit using an eviction record Minnesota prohibits (CFPB: rental denial and screening reports; FTC: landlord consumer-report guidance; Minn. Stat. § 504B.173, subd. 3a).