Minnesota tenant screening laws

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).

Minnesota's Human Rights Act bars refusing to rent, setting different terms or services, or advertising a limitation because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, disability, sexual orientation or familial status (Minn. Stat. § 363A.09, subd. 1).

• You may not deny full and equal access to a person with a disability who uses a service animal, or charge extra for the animal; the tenant is liable for damage the animal does (Minn. Stat. § 363A.09, subd. 5).
• A resident owner renting rooms in a one-family home is exempt as to sex, gender identity, marital status, public assistance status, sexual orientation and disability; the familial status rule does not apply to an owner-occupied building of four or fewer units or to qualifying housing for older persons (Minn. Stat. § 363A.21, subd. 1; Minn. Stat. § 363A.21, subd. 2).
• Coercing, threatening or interfering with anyone exercising these rights is also prohibited (Minn. Stat. § 363A.09, subd. 6).