Minnesota · Landlord Forms

Free Minnesota Landlord Forms

Every Minnesota landlord form we publish, organised by the stage of the tenancy it belongs to, each one paired with the statute behind it — including the three sentences a nonpayment notice must carry word for word, and the service rules that were rewritten from scratch in 2024.

Every form linked on this page is free, fillable in your browser, and downloadable as a PDF with no account, no membership and no paywall. Minnesota tenancies run on Minn. Stat. chapter 504B. That chapter has been rewritten repeatedly since 2023 — a pre-filing notice was added, the service section was repealed and replaced, and a fourteen-day rule that everybody remembers was struck out of the statute it used to live in. Guidance written even two years ago is now unsafe.

The Pre-Filing Notice, and the Three Sentences It Must Carry

This is the most consequential change in Minnesota landlord practice and it is the one stale guidance misses. Section 504B.321, subdivision 1a: “Before bringing an eviction action alleging nonpayment of rent or other unpaid financial obligation in violation of the lease, a landlord must provide written notice to the residential tenant specifying the basis for future eviction action.”

The tenant then has fourteen days: “If the residential tenant fails to correct the rent delinquency within 14 days of the delivery or mailing of the notice, or the number of days required by a local government rule or law if the notice period… is longer than 14 days, or fails to vacate, then the landlord may bring an eviction action.”

What the notice must contain

1. “the total amount due”;
2. “a specific accounting of the amount of the total due from unpaid rent, late fees, and other charges under the lease”;
3. “the name and address of the person authorized to receive rent and fees on behalf of the landlord”;
4. and the three scripted statements below.

Delivery is simple and the clock starts early: “The landlord or an agent of the landlord must deliver the notice personally or by first class mail to the residential tenant at the address of the leased premises.” The fourteen days run from delivery or mailing — there is no add-days-for-mailing rule anywhere in the chapter.

See our Minnesota eviction notice laws guide.

The Fourteen-Day Notice to Quit Was Struck Out

So for a periodic tenancy, the notice is the rent interval, or three months, whichever is less — in practice one month for a month-to-month tenancy. And section 504B.147 adds a symmetry rule that catches lease drafting: “The landlord may not give a notice to quit the premises or notice of a rent increase that is shorter than the time period the lease provides for the tenant to give notice of an intention to quit.” That rule “may not be waived or modified by the parties”, and “notice to quit” expressly “includes a notice of nonrenewal of a lease”.

Lease breach, and combining grounds

A tenant may be evicted who holds over “contrary to the conditions or covenants of the lease or agreement under which that person holds, or after any rent becomes due”. Nothing in the statute limits the landlord’s right “to terminate a tenancy for a violation by the tenant of a lawful, material provision of a lease or contract, whether written or oral” — and no statutory cure period attaches to a lease breach.

The two grounds may be run together: “An action for recovery of the premises may combine the allegation of nonpayment of rent and the allegation of material violation of the lease, which shall be heard as alternative grounds.” If you do, note the price: “The tenant shall be given up to seven days of additional time to pay any rent determined by the court to be due.”

Every Minnesota Landlord Form, by Stage of the Tenancy

An alphabetical index is the least useful arrangement, because a landlord arrives knowing what has happened, not what the document is called. These are ordered by where you are in the tenancy.

Service Was Repealed and Rewritten in 2024

Requirement	Detail
Seven days	“The summons and complaint must be served at least seven days before the date of the court appearance”
The electronic-communication duty — new	“If the plaintiff regularly uses electronic written communication to communicate with the defendant, the plaintiff must make a good faith attempt to communicate to the defendant that an eviction hearing has been scheduled at least seven days before the date of the court appearance. This requirement is in addition to completing service”
Two attempts, one in the evening	For service by mail and posting: “for residential evictions only, there must be at least two attempts at personal service. The personal service attempts must occur on different days at the last known address… At least one of the attempts must be made between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.”
Posting	“the summons and complaint must be posted on the entry to the defendant’s individual unit”
Affidavits	Must be filed at least three days before the court appearance

No add-days for mail arises here either, because these periods run backwards from the hearing date rather than forwards from a mailing.

Deposits: No Cap, One Per Cent, Three Weeks

There is no cap. We read all eleven subdivisions of section 504B.178 and it contains no maximum.

Rule	Detail
Interest — one per cent	The deposit “shall bear simple noncompounded interest at the rate of one percent per annum, computed from the first day of the next month following the full payment of the deposit” to compliance or judgment, whichever is earlier. “Any interest amount less than one dollar shall be excluded”
Return — three weeks	“within three weeks after termination of the tenancy” — or five days where the tenant leaves because the building was legally condemned for reasons not due to their own conduct — and “after receipt of the tenant’s mailing address or delivery instructions”
What you send	Either the deposit with interest, or “a written statement showing the specific reason for the withholding of the deposit or any portion”
The mailbox rule	Compliance is sufficient “if the deposit or written statement… is placed in the United States mail as first class mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope with a proper return address, correctly addressed according to the mailing address or delivery instructions furnished by the tenant, within the time required”
Permitted deductions	Only amounts reasonably necessary “(1) to remedy tenant defaults in the payment of rent or of other funds due…; or (2) to restore the premises to their condition at the commencement of the tenancy, ordinary wear and tear excepted”
Burden of proof	“In any action concerning the deposit, the burden of proving, by a fair preponderance of the evidence, the reason for withholding… shall be on the landlord”
Penalty	Failing to send the statement in time, to transfer or return on a sale, or to give and complete a requested walk-through, makes the landlord liable “for damages in an amount equal to the portion of the deposit withheld… as a penalty, in addition to the portion of the deposit wrongfully withheld”
Bad faith	“punitive damages not to exceed five hundred dollars for each deposit” on top — and retention “shall be presumed to be in bad faith” where the landlord failed to comply, unless the deposit is returned within two weeks of the action commencing
Sale of the building	Within sixty days the landlord must transfer the deposit with interest and tell the tenant the transferee’s name and address, or return it. A tenant who does not object within twenty days of written notice limits the successor’s obligation to the noticed amount
Venue	The county where the property is, or at the tenant’s option the county of the landlord’s residence
Waiver	“Any attempted waiver of this section by a landlord and tenant, by contract or otherwise, shall be void and unenforceable”

The walk-through right that carries a deposit penalty

Section 504B.182 is easy to overlook and expensive to ignore. “At the commencement of a residential tenancy, or within 14 days of a residential tenant occupying a unit, the landlord must notify the tenant of their option to request an initial review of the residential unit for the purposes of identifying existing deficiencies… to avoid deductions for the security deposit of the tenant at a future date.”

And on the way out: “At a reasonable time, but no earlier than five days before the termination or the end of the lease date, or day the tenant plans to vacate the unit, the landlord… shall, upon the request of the tenant, make a move-out walk-through of the premises.” Photographs or video may substitute “when a tenant agrees”, and the section cannot be waived. Failing to give the notice or complete a requested walk-through triggers the deposit penalty above.

See our Minnesota security deposit laws guide.

Entry: Twenty-Four Hours, Eight to Eight, and a Real Penalty

Section 504B.211, subdivision 2: a landlord may enter “only for a reasonable business purpose and after making a good faith effort to give the residential tenant reasonable notice under the circumstances of not less than 24 hours in advance”. The tenant may permit shorter notice if they wish.

Entry without prior notice is permitted only where the landlord “reasonably suspects” that immediate entry is necessary “to prevent injury to persons or property because of conditions relating to maintenance, building security, or law enforcement”, to “determine a residential tenant’s safety”, or to comply with local ordinances on unlawful activity. If the landlord enters while the tenant is out with no prior notice, they must place a written record of the entry in a conspicuous place in the premises.

The penalty is unusually broad: the tenant is entitled to “a penalty which may include a rent reduction up to full rescission of the lease, recovery of any damage deposit…, and up to a five hundred dollar civil penalty for each violation and reasonable attorney fees” — and a violation of the entry section is also a violation of the habitability covenants. See our Minnesota landlord entry laws guide.

Late Fees: Eight Per Cent, and Only With a Written Agreement

Section 504B.177(a): “A landlord of a residential building may not charge a late fee if the rent is paid after the due date, unless the tenant and landlord have agreed in writing that a late fee may be imposed. The agreement must specify when the late fee will be imposed. In no case may the late fee exceed eight percent of the overdue rent payment.”

Two refinements. A charged late fee “is not considered to be either interest or liquidated damages”. And there is an anti-evasion clause: the “due date” does not include an earlier date by which paying rent earns a discount — so a “discount if paid by the first” scheme cannot be used to bring the fee forward.

Where a housing assistance payments contract is in place, “a late fee… must be calculated and assessed only on the portion of rent payable by the tenant”.

There is no statutory grace period. We read the section in full; the only timing rule is the anti-evasion clause. See our Minnesota late fee laws guide.

And all fees must be shown up front

Section 504B.120 is a recent addition with sharp teeth: “A landlord must disclose all nonoptional fees in the lease agreement. The sum total of rent and all nonoptional fees must be described as the Total Monthly Payment and be listed on the first page of the lease. A unit advertised for a residential tenancy must disclose the nonoptional fees included with the total amount for rent in any advertisement or posting.” The landlord must also say whether utilities are included.

The penalty is treble damages: a landlord who violates the section “is liable to the residential tenant for treble damages and the court may award the tenant reasonable attorney fees”.

Habitability and Rent Escrow

Section 504B.161 imposes non-waivable covenants including “that the premises and all common areas are fit for the use intended by the parties” and “to maintain the premises and all common areas in compliance with the applicable health and safety laws”. “The parties to a lease or license of residential premises may not waive or modify the covenants imposed by this section”, and the section “shall be liberally construed, and the opportunity to inspect the premises before concluding a lease… shall not defeat the covenants”.

Emergency relief under section 504B.381 is available where a licence has been revoked or a condemnation order issued, or in enumerated emergencies including “a serious infestation”, loss of running water, hot water, heat, electricity or sanitary facilities, “a nonfunctioning refrigerator”, and, if included in the lease, a nonfunctioning air conditioner or elevator. See our Minnesota habitability laws guide.

Court, the Writ, and the Ninety-Day Retaliation Window

Stage	Rule
Redemption	Unless the landlord also alleges a material lease violation, the tenant may “at any time before possession has been delivered, redeem the tenancy… by paying to the landlord or bringing to court the amount of the rent that is in arrears, with interest, costs of the action, and an attorney’s fee not to exceed five dollars”. Redemption may be made with a written guarantee from a government body or a qualifying nonprofit rental-assistance administrator
Money-order presumption	A rebuttable presumption that rent was paid arises where the tenant produces money orders or receipt stubs totalling the rent, dated about when it was due, and payable to the landlord
Order of application	Payments “must first be applied to rent claimed as due… from prior rental periods before applying any payment toward rent claimed… for the current rental period”
No pay-in as a precondition	“The court may not require the defendant to pay any amount of money into court, post a bond… or by any other means post security… prior to final disposition”, unless disposition may be delayed more than ten days — and even then the security may not include pre-filing arrears or exceed the rent accruing during the case
Writ — a 7-day stay	On judgment the court “shall immediately enter judgment… and immediately issue a writ” — but except for unlawful-activity cases and cases of serious endangerment or intentional serious damage, “the court shall stay the writ… for a reasonable period, not to exceed seven days”. The stay does not apply to a default judgment
Execution — 24 hours	The officer executes “by demanding that the defendant… relinquish possession and leave, taking family and all personal property from the premises within 24 hours”
Notice of the lockout itself	“The plaintiff shall notify the defendant of the date and approximate time the officer is scheduled to remove the defendant… The notice must be sent by first class mail. In addition, the plaintiff must make a good faith effort to notify the defendant by telephone.”
Removing property outside the writ	Unless the premises are abandoned, a landlord who enters and removes the tenant’s property in violation of the section “is guilty of an unlawful ouster… This section may not be waived or modified by lease or other agreement”
Retaliation — 90 days	It is a defence that the termination was “intended in whole or part as a penalty for the defendant’s good faith attempt to secure or enforce rights” or for a good-faith report of a code violation — and “If the notice to quit was served within 90 days of the date of an act of the tenant coming within the terms… the burden of proving that the notice to quit was not served in whole or part for a retaliatory purpose shall rest with the plaintiff”
Self-help	“No person may occupy or take possession of real property except where… allowed by law, and in such cases, the person may not enter by force, but only in a peaceable manner.” Unlawful ouster in bad faith costs “treble damages or five hundred dollars, whichever is greater, and reasonable attorney’s fees”
Conciliation court	Twenty thousand dollars, or four thousand for a consumer credit transaction

Eviction records: nonpublic, and expunged on any dismissal

Minnesota expunges an eviction file without any motion where the defendant prevailed on the merits, “if the complaint is dismissed for any reason”, where the parties agreed to expungement, or three years after the eviction was ordered. On a defendant’s motion it is also expunged where the case was filed against a crime victim in breach of the statute, or where the case settled and the defendant performed the settlement. Expungement means “the removal of evidence of the court file’s existence from the publicly accessible records”.

That matters to anyone using Minnesota eviction records in screening — and it pairs with section 504B.173, which bars denying an application based on “(1) a pending eviction action; (2) any court file that is not public, has been expunged, or has been destroyed; or (3) any eviction action that has not resulted in a writ”. See our Minnesota tenant screening laws guide.

Which Minnesota Form Do I Need?

1. The tenant has not paid rent. The fourteen-day pre-filing notice, with the total, the accounting, the payee details and the three scripted statements — then file, attaching it.
2. The tenant has broken a material lease term. A notice on your lease’s terms; there is no statutory cure period.
3. Both at once. You may combine them as alternative grounds — but the tenant gets up to seven extra days to pay.
4. Nobody is at fault and it is periodic. The rent interval or three months, whichever is less — and not shorter than what your lease asks of the tenant.
5. You want to raise the rent. Same symmetry rule applies.
6. You need to get into the property. Twenty-four hours, a stated time or window, and between eight and eight.
7. The tenant is moving out. Offer the walk-through, and do it if asked.
8. The tenant has gone. Three weeks from termination and receipt of their address, with interest, or a statement giving the specific reason.

How to Fill Out the Minnesota Fourteen-Day Notice

1. State the total amount due.
2. Break it down into unpaid rent, late fees and other charges under the lease. A lump sum does not satisfy the statute.
3. Name the person authorised to receive rent and fees, with their address.
4. Reproduce the three statements exactly — legal help, financial help, and the fourteen-day warning.
5. Deliver personally or by first class mail to the leased premises.
6. Count fourteen days from delivery or mailing. No days are added for mail.
7. Check your city. The statute expressly contemplates a local notice period longer than fourteen days.
8. Attach it to the complaint. Without it the case is dismissed and the file expunged.

What Happens If the Form Is Wrong

The distinctively Minnesota failure is serving an old-style fourteen-day notice to quit and treating it as terminating the tenancy. That sentence was struck from the statute in 2023. The fourteen days that remain are a pre-filing notice with mandatory scripted content.

The second is omitting one of the three statements, or giving a lump-sum figure with no accounting.

The third is citing the repealed service section and missing the two-attempt rule, the evening attempt, and the electronic-communication duty.

And the fourth is skipping the walk-through offer, which most landlords have never heard of and which carries the deposit penalty.

What This Page Does Not Have

We would rather scope this honestly than promise documents we do not host. Minnesota landlords also commonly want a rental application, a sublease, a roommate agreement, a commercial lease, a pet addendum, a lease amendment and an adverse action notice. Those are not published here as Minnesota-specific forms.

Common Minnesota Landlord Form Mistakes

• Using a fourteen-day notice to quit to terminate a tenancy. That provision was struck in 2023.
• Filing without the pre-filing notice. Dismissal and expungement.
• Giving a lump-sum total with no specific accounting.
• Omitting or paraphrasing any of the three statements.
• Leaving out the name and address of the person authorised to receive rent.
• Adding days for mailing. The clock runs from delivery or mailing.
• Ignoring a longer local notice period.
• Citing the repealed service section and missing the two-attempt and evening-attempt rules.
• Skipping the good-faith electronic message where you normally email or text the tenant.
• Giving a shorter notice to quit or rent increase than the lease requires from the tenant.
• Returning the deposit late, or without the one per cent interest.
• Deducting for ordinary wear and tear.
• Never offering the initial walk-through, or refusing the move-out one.
• Charging a late fee with no written agreement, or above eight per cent.
• Using an early-payment discount to bring the late fee date forward.
• Advertising a rent figure that omits nonoptional fees. Treble damages.
• Entering on less than twenty-four hours, outside eight to eight, or without stating a time.
• Requiring a waiver of entry notice as a lease condition.
• Denying an application over a pending or expunged eviction.
• Removing the tenant’s property outside the writ. Unlawful ouster.

Free Fillable Forms Versus the Paid Minnesota Form Sites

Minnesota’s results page for this query is one of the shallower ones in the country, and that is a problem rather than an opportunity, because Minnesota is one of the states where the form’s content is prescribed. A template with a blank for the amount owed is not a Minnesota notice unless it also carries three specific sentences, an itemised accounting and the payee’s name and address.

The other reason depth matters here is churn. Between 2023 and 2026 Minnesota added a pre-filing notice, struck a fourteen-day termination rule, repealed and replaced the service section, added a walk-through duty enforced through the deposit penalty, and added a fee-transparency rule with treble damages. A page written in 2022 is wrong in five places while looking perfectly reasonable.

Every form linked from this page is free, fills in the browser, and downloads as a finished PDF. There is no account, no trial and no upsell attached to the documents themselves. What we ask in return is straightforward: if you are about to hand keys to someone, run the screening first, because nearly every dispute described on this page is cheaper to prevent than to litigate.

Minnesota Landlord Forms: FAQ

Related Minnesota Guides

• Minnesota landlord-tenant laws — the full statutory overview.
• Minnesota eviction notice laws — the pre-filing notice and the 2024 service rules.
• Minnesota security deposit laws — interest, the three weeks and the penalties.
• Minnesota rent increase laws — the symmetry rule explained.
• Minnesota lease termination laws — what section 504B.135 says now.
• Minnesota breaking lease laws — early termination and mitigation.
• Minnesota late fee laws — the eight per cent cap and the fee-transparency rule.
• Minnesota landlord entry laws — twenty-four hours, eight to eight, and the penalty.
• Minnesota habitability laws — the covenants, rent escrow and emergency relief.
• Minnesota pet and ESA laws — pets, deposits and assistance animals.
• Minnesota tenant screening laws — screening fees, denials and expungement.

About the Author

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check · Editorial Team

Established 2004. Our editorial team has spent two decades helping landlords and property managers run lawful tenant screening and follow state landlord-tenant codes across all fifty states. The hardest item on this page was proving what happened to section 504B.135. The section is served as live law, so a keyword check suggests nothing changed. We resolved it by pulling the archived edition and comparing it line by line against the current text, which is how we can say precisely which sentence disappeared and which survived.

Updated 2026

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Last reviewed 2026. This page is general information about Minnesota landlord-tenant law, not legal advice. It rests substantially on the Office of the Revisor of Statutes; the judicial branch site was unreachable on this pass, so no court form number is named here, and we print no minimum indoor temperature figure because we could not obtain it verbatim. Chapter 504B has changed repeatedly since 2023, including a repealed service section and a struck termination provision, and two 2026 technical amendments whose text we could not read. A local government may require a notice period longer than fourteen days. Confirm the current position with the court or a Minnesota attorney before serving a notice or filing a case.