Minnesota · Evictions · Updated Oct 2026
Minnesota eviction rules for tenants
In Minnesota, only a judge can order an eviction. See your dates below and get free help today.
Checked against official sources: Oct 24, 2026
Short answer
- Notice for unpaid rent
- 14 days
- Time to answer in court
- The date on your court papers (see Legal details)
- Judge's order
- No eviction without a judge's order. Your landlord can't lock you out or remove you on their own.
Free help: Minnesota Attorney General: Landlords and Tenants: Rights and Responsibilities · LawHelpMN (statewide legal aid)
Official forms and court help: Court self-help: evictions in Minnesota
If you get an eviction notice
- Read it closely: the kind of notice, the amount, the dates and how it was delivered. Use the timeline below.
- Don't move out or stop paying because of a notice alone. Only a court can order an eviction; the notice is the first step.
- Get free legal help now. Legal aid and the court's self-help center can check whether the notice is valid.
- If you are served with court papers, respond by the deadline and go to every hearing. Missing one can mean losing by default.
- Keep copies of the notice, your lease, rent receipts, texts and photos.
Eviction notice timeline for Minnesota
Got a notice from your landlord? Enter the kind of notice and the day you got it to see the dates that follow from your state's rule, what your landlord may not do, and where to get free help fast.
This is not legal advice. Eviction deadlines are short and missing one can cost you your home. Read your notice carefully and contact legal aid or your court's self-help center right away.
Where to get free help in Minnesota
Legal details
- Notice for unpaid rent
- Before filing for unpaid rent, the landlord must give a written 14-day notice listing the total owed, a breakdown of rent and fees, who to pay, and legal aid and rental assistance information. If you pay or move out within 14 days (or a longer local notice period), the landlord cannot file. In court, you can usually keep your home by paying all rent owed plus costs any time before you are removed (redemption) (Minn. Stat. §§504B.321, 504B.291).
- Notice for a lease violation
- No statewide notice required for a material lease violation unless the lease requires one; check your lease. Expedited hearings (5-7 days) apply to serious safety threats or intentional serious damage.
- Ending a month-to-month tenancy
- Written notice at least as long as the rent period (one month for month-to-month), or 3 months if less; from either side (Minn. Stat. §504B.135). Leases may require more.
- Time to respond to an eviction lawsuit
- The court hearing is set 7 to 14 days after the summons is issued; go to the hearing (Minn. Stat. §504B.321).
- Lockouts and utility shutoffs
- Lockouts, removing doors, windows or locks, and shutting off utilities to force you out are illegal. You can ask the court for an immediate order putting you back in (§504B.375) and recover treble damages or $500, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees (§504B.231). Intentional ouster or utility shutoff is a misdemeanor (§504B.225).
- Court self-help
- The court's eviction self-help page
- Law
- Minn. Stat. §§504B.135, 504B.225, 504B.231, 504B.285, 504B.291, 504B.321, 504B.375
Retaliation in Minnesota
A landlord may not evict you, raise your obligations or cut services as a penalty for your (or a neighborhood housing organization's) good-faith complaint of a violation. If the action comes within 90 days after the complaint, the landlord must prove it was not retaliation (Minn. Stat. §504B.441; also §504B.285).
Rent increases and rent control in Minnesota
- Notice of a rent increase
- No statute setting a rent-increase notice; for month-to-month, the landlord must give notice at least one rental period ahead to change terms, and during a lease only as the lease allows.
- Rent control
- No statewide rent control. Cities may adopt rent control only by voter approval; St. Paul has a voter-approved rent stabilization ordinance.
More for Minnesota renters
- All Minnesota tenant rights
- Security deposit: Minnesota
- Repairs: Minnesota
- Eviction notice periods by state
- Guide: what to do if you get an eviction notice
Eviction in nearby states
Sources
- Minn. Stat. §504B.178 Security deposits
- Minn. Stat. §504B.211 Tenant's right to privacy
- Minn. Stat. §504B.177 Late fees
- Minn. Stat. §504B.321 Complaint and summons; 14-day notice
- Minn. Stat. §504B.385 Rent escrow
- Minn. Stat. §504B.231 Damages for ouster
- Minnesota AG: Landlords and Tenants handbook
- 2024 Minn. Laws ch. 118
Checked against official sources: Oct 24, 2026