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Minnesota residential lease agreement

Answer the questions, download the lease. Free, no account, and it holds your figures to what Minnesota allows.

What Minnesota law does to your lease

These are the figures the builder holds you to. Each one is the statute's, not ours, and the citation is there so you can read it yourself.

RuleMinnesotaWhere it says so
Most a landlord may take as a depositNo statutory limitMinnesota sets no ceiling but the deposit earns the tenant simple interest at 1% a year from the month after it is paid until it comes back.Minn. Stat. 504B.178
Earliest a late fee may be chargedThe day after it is dueMinn. Stat. 504B.177
Most a late fee may be8% of the rentA late fee is chargeable only where the tenant and landlord have agreed to it in writing and the agreement says when it applies.Minn. Stat. 504B.177
Notice before the landlord may enter24 hoursThe entry needs a reasonable business purpose, the notice must name a time or a window, and entry is between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. unless the tenant agrees otherwise.Minn. Stat. 504B.211, subd. 2
Notice to end a month-to-month tenancy30 daysThe statute asks for the interval between rent days, or three months, whichever is less, which on a monthly tenancy is a month.Minn. Stat. 504B.135(a)

What Minnesota makes you disclose

Who manages and who is served
The rental agreement, or a writing given before the tenancy begins, must name and give the address of the person authorized to manage the premises and of the landlord or an agent authorized to accept service of process. The same information must be posted conspicuously on the property, along with a notice that the tenant may ask the Attorney General for the tenant rights statement. Minn. Stat. 504B.181

The clause most landlords get wrong

Rent stated as a base figure with mandatory fees bolted on beside it. If a fee is not optional, it is rent, and several states now say so outright: the lease has to carry one total figure that the landlord may not charge above. The builder asks for the total and then asks how much of it is fees, which is the same information in the order the law wants it.

The second is the assistance animal. A no-pets clause that does not carve one out is a fair-housing problem, not a pet problem, and no pet rent or pet deposit may be charged for one. Your lease says so whether or not you allow pets.

After it is signed

Download the PDF and it is yours, account or not. If you want the tenant to sign it without printing anything, a free Kouzr account sends it for signature, files the executed copy against the tenancy, and keeps it beside the listing, the rent record and the deposit accounting, so the paperwork for that home is in one place when the tenancy ends.

Is this Minnesota lease legally binding?

A written lease signed by the landlord and every adult tenant is a contract, and this one is built to say what Minnesota requires a residential lease to say. What it is not is legal advice, and no lawyer has reviewed it. It is a form you complete yourself, the same category as the fill-in-the-blank lease sold in an office supply shop, and it is worth having a lawyer in your state read it before you rely on it, especially on a property you will hold for years.

How much can a landlord charge as a security deposit in Minnesota?

Minnesota sets no statutory ceiling (Minn. Stat. 504B.178), so the figure is yours to choose. One month is the usual ask and two is the most a tenant will normally accept; every dollar above that is money you have to hold, account for line by line at move-out, and return on the state's clock.

Can a landlord charge a late fee in Minnesota?

Yes, but not without limit. Minnesota caps it at 8% of the rent (Minn. Stat. 504B.177). A fee charged earlier or larger than that is not enforceable, and the rest of the lease still stands. A late fee is chargeable only where the tenant and landlord have agreed to it in writing and the agreement says when it applies.

How much notice does a landlord have to give before entering in Minnesota?

24 hours for anything that is not an emergency, at a reasonable hour (Minn. Stat. 504B.211, subd. 2). A lease cannot shorten it, so the builder raises your figure if you enter a smaller one. Genuine emergencies need no notice anywhere. The entry needs a reasonable business purpose, the notice must name a time or a window, and entry is between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. unless the tenant agrees otherwise.

How much notice ends a month-to-month tenancy in Minnesota?

30 days of written notice from either side (Minn. Stat. 504B.135(a)). The builder writes that figure into the term clause. A lease may agree on longer notice than the statute; one that gives less is unenforceable to that extent, and the statutory period governs instead. The statute asks for the interval between rent days, or three months, whichever is less, which on a monthly tenancy is a month.

Do I have to include a lead-based paint disclosure?

Only if the home was built before 1978, and then yes, everywhere in the country. Federal law requires the landlord to disclose known lead-based paint, hand over any report they have, and give the tenant the EPA pamphlet before the tenant is committed to the lease (42 U.S.C. 4852d). Enter the year built and the builder attaches it for you.

Can I have the tenant sign it online?

Yes. Download the PDF and sign it however you like, or make a free Kouzr account and send it to the tenant for signature from here: they get a link, sign on a phone, and the executed copy files itself against the tenancy alongside rent and the deposit record. The PDF is free either way and does not require an account.

Kouzr is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. The builder produces a form you complete yourself, and no lawyer has reviewed the document it assembles. Have one admitted in Minnesota read it before you rely on it.