New law allows tenants to organize for improved living conditions

A new tenant-landlord law protects renters by amending housing lease provisions, allowing tenants to organize to improve living conditions, and providing further protection for victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Rep. Esther Agbaje (DFL-Mpls) and Sen. Zaynab Mohamed (DFL-Mpls) sponsor the law that takes effect Jan. 1, 2025, unless otherwise noted.

Victims of domestic abuse, criminal sexual conduct, sexual extortion, or harassment who are renters have previously been allowed to provide advance notice that they may need to terminate their lease if they fear further violence from a person who knows where they live. New provisions will allow tenants to state the advance date they will terminate their lease, to share this notice via any written communication method they regularly use with the landlord, and to confirm they are not terminating their lease until the date stated in their notice, even if they have vacated the property.

The new law will allow tenant associations to form an organization, whether incorporated or not, to improve housing conditions, amenities, or community life. It will further allow tenant organizers to assist tenants in establishing and operating an association provided they are not an employee or representative of the current or prospective landlord, property owner, manager, or landlord agent.

A landlord must not limit the organization’s peaceful assembly, canvassing, leafleting, or free expression, require organizations to seek permission to engage in these activities, or enforce rules that unreasonably limit the time, place, and manner of the meetings or communication with building tenants.

The law will prohibit landlords from retaliating against tenant organizations if they report a code violation to a government entity, seek assistance from a community organizer, contact the media, testify in any court or an administrative proceeding concerning the condition of the premises. Landlords who violate this provision may be ordered to pay the tenant $1,000 per occurrence and reasonable attorney fees. Forms of retaliation delineated in the law are increasing rent, decreasing services, altering existing agreements, filing legal action, or contacting law enforcement about a tenant’s immigration status.

The attorney general has the authority to investigate and prosecute violations of this chapter of law.

Other provisions include:

• mandating a tenant’s right to call for police or emergency assistance about domestic abuse or any other conduct, including mental health or health crises, and prohibiting landlords from imposing a penalty for the same, and further declaring that no local ordinance or rule shall apply if it requires a tenant to be evicted after a specified number of calls for police or emergency assistance in response to domestic abuse or any other conduct, including mental health or health crises;

• allowing tenants to ask a court to expunge eviction case records when they believe an eviction filed against them violates the law, when an eviction case is settled, and when the defendant has fulfilled the terms of the settlement;

• requiring landlords to obtain a prospective tenant’s current status in Minnesota court records online no more than 24 hours prior to issuing a tenant screening report, allowing the prospective tenant to bring civil action against the landlord, and delineating how a tenant may serve a summons and complaint to a landlord;

• prohibiting a landlord from denying any rental application based on previous or pending eviction actions;

• requiring a landlord who assesses an additional charge for a service or support animal to state in the lease that no further charges may be assessed, and allowing a tenant to bring action to recover any fees paid if the landlord fails to act according to this provision;

• requiring a landlord to provide the option for a prospective tenant to submit an individual taxpayer identification number on a rental application, and prohibiting the landlord from denying a rental application solely because the prospective tenant provided a tax identification number as opposed to a Social Security number;

• prohibiting a landlord from requiring a tenant to renew a lease sooner than six months before the current lease’s expiration;

• requiring a landlord to provide remedies if a move-in date changes due to construction delays;

• requiring a landlord to covenant in every lease that the communal areas will be in reasonable repair, inclusive of pest termination, in compliance with applicable safety laws, and be “reasonably” energy efficient by the installation of weatherstripping, caulking, storm windows, and doors;

• mandating that the landlord only calculate late fees on the portion of rent not covered by housing assistance payments, for those tenants who utilize government aid; and

• prohibiting a landlord from accepting rent if the property has received a vacation order due to code or rental licensing ordinance violations.

HF3591/SF3492*/CH118