Minnesota Just Gave Landlords One More Tool for Dangerous Situations
If you own a duplex, triplex, or fourplex in Minnesota, here’s a law the state legislature just changed that’s worth knowing about before it takes effect August 1.
The new law expands the circumstances under which you can request an expedited eviction hearing and increases the penalty for people who abuse the process.
What’s an expedited eviction hearing?
Minnesota law already allows housing providers to request a faster eviction hearing rather than waiting the normal amount of time when a tenant:
- Violates the drug/controlled substance statute (504B.171)
- Seriously endangers the safety of other residents
- Intentionally and seriously damages the landlord’s or another tenant’s property
An expedited hearing gets you in front of a judge in five to seven days from when the summons is issued. The summons itself has to be served within 24 hours of issuance. That’s fast by court standards.
The newly passed change adds the following criteria to the list of reasons for expedited evictions:
- Intentional infliction or attempted infliction of bodily harm, as well as putting someone in fear of immediate bodily harm.
In other words, if a tenant physically attacks you, your property manager, your maintenance person, or any contractor working at your property, you now have grounds to request an expedited hearing.
This is an important change for small housing providers, especially if you live in a duplex and the person causing the problem lives in the other unit.
Of course, this isn’t something you can just something you can use as an excuse to get rid of a problem tenant outside of the usual channels. To ensure you don’t, the legislation also increased the penalty from $500 to $750 if a court determines you filed for an expedited hearing without sufficient basis.
The process still requires you to file an affidavit with specific facts explaining why the expedited procedure is warranted. A referee or judge reviews it before scheduling anything. If your affidavit doesn’t hold up, you’re on the hook for that penalty.
So use it correctly. As always, document everything. Be specific.