Understand your Leases!
Tenants may find themselves getting pinched for failing to observe the finer points of their leases. These can be avoided by properly understanding the roles and bargaining powers prior to and throughout the landlord/tenant relationship. The economics of supply and demand govern the power balances between landlords and tenants, so each party should be sensitive to the market and negotiate accordingly. In this current market, landlords have the better market as people are losing homes to foreclosure and being evicted from prior rentals. Moreover, declining home prices make the financial benefits of renting much more attractive. Before knowing what lease provisions are in a lease, it is necessary to understand what statutory rights and remedies are available. Furthermore, landlord and tenants, if they do not believe a lease is in place, are incorrect: oral, action-based, and statutory lease terms exist as well.
First, in apartment buildings with more than twelve units, a landlord is required to have a written lease; otherwise, he is guilty of a criminal petty misdemeanor. If the building or house does not require a written lease, then rent checks, actions of the parties, or other writings can demonstrate terms of an oral lease, length, or the amount of rent due. Second, whoever has actual possession of the leasehold premises is required to pay the rent. The landlord does not have to hunt down the person that signed the lease. Third, automatic renewal provisions of a lease are void unless notice of the tenant’s lease expiration is brought to the tenant’s attention at least fifteen days, but not more than thirty days, prior to the time that the tenant is required to furnish notice to not renew the lease. Fourth, tenants are liable for rent payments for the length of their lease, but landlords have a duty to mitigate damages by trying to rent out the premises as quickly as reasonably possible.
One of the most commonly missed and most costly lease terms is the termination of an at-will (usually oral) lease. Tenants are required to give WRITTEN NOTICE of their intention to leave one full month prior to the last month of the tenancy. Without that notice, it is then assumed when the landlord discovers that the tenants have left and has retaken possession, making a tenant liable for another one or two months of rent.
Another issue common to rental relationships is abandoned personal property after the tenant has left. The landlord is required to remove and store the property for sixty days after the landlord discovers it, and the landlord can charge the costs of removal and storage to the tenant. After sixty days, the landlord may sell, but he must give the tenant actual notice of the sale fourteen days prior to the sale. After all costs have been deducted, the landlord must return any proceeds of the sale of personal property. Landlords who unlawfully hold personal property are liable for punitive damages in the amount of $300 plus attorney fees.
Both landlords and tenants should look to the statutes when contemplating rental agreements, and leases can be entered into or modified by agreement at any time, even after the start of the landlord/tenant relationship. Landlord/tenant provisions are located at Chapter 504B of the Minnesota Statutes, which can be found at the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, by googling “504b, Minnesota, statutes.” Check these out!
