Tenants in Minnesota gain long list of new rights, protections after last legislative session

Neighbors in Jean Flores' senior apartment building often come to resident association meetings to talk about how they might approach management about maintenance problems. But many stop coming, she said, because they're afraid their landlord will discover they're involved in organizing and find a reason to evict them.

"They'll quit because of their fear of retaliation," said Flores, 67, a tenant leader at the Legends of Spring Lake Park apartments. "Many won't get involved in the first place."

Community organizers believe that sentiment could change soon around the state as nervous renters, who want to meet to resolve issues like rising rent, security concerns and maintenance delays, learn about a new state law that prohibits property owners from retaliating against resident associations and tenants trying to organize.

"It was quite challenging to do the organizing without the law in place," said Juan Luis Rivera-Reyes, a coalition organizer with Equity in Place, a Minneapolis coalition of community groups concerned with racial equity issues in housing.

Rivera-Reyes said many residents of apartment buildings began trying to organize in recent years, but some groups were unsuccessful because residents were scared of losing their housing. Tenant associations aren't illegal, but they also aren't protected, he said.

Legends of Spring Lake Park has an "open-door policy" and wants to hear about concerns from residents, assistant community manager Jeremias Luna Fierro said in a statement. "We look forward to working with all of our residents to create a great environment for all of them."

The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, has already "reinvigorated" some residents and associations, Rivera-Reyes said.

It's one of about 20 new measures intended to protect renters. The new changes come after more than a dozen new renters' rights laws passed in the 2023 legislative session — the most significant series of changes in years.

"This biennium has been really transformative in the areas of tenant-landlord law," said Rachael Sterling, a housing attorney for HOME Line, a tenants' rights organization that operates a hotline. "The pandemic and housing crisis ... really did put a spotlight on the power imbalances."

The new laws clarify that property owners must keep common areas of buildings reasonably maintained and provide new regulations for apartment buildings where a single utility meter is shared by multiple tenants. Developers will also need to offer alternative housing, or the right to end a lease, if construction delays prevent residents from moving into a new building.

Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, who authored the Tenant's Rights Omnibus Bill in the Senate, noted that one-third of Minnesotans are renters.

"That is a huge community across the state that is renting that needs to be protected," she said, adding that the new laws aren't meant to punish property owners.

Cecil Smith, president and CEO of the Minnesota Multi Housing Association, a trade group for property owners and operators, said there was "good dialogue" among involved parties about potential changes and how they would work.

Smith said that, though he supports several of them, complying with the new laws will require more training, new processes and updates to leases; some of that is already underway.

"All of that means costs, expenses, and that's at a time when certainly the affordable housing sector of our industry ... [is] already under a little duress with rising expenses," he said.

Landlords must try to re-rent 'abandoned' units

Before 2023, many tenant-landlord laws hadn't been updated since the 1980s. The goal with the new laws is to put renters and property owners on equal footing, said Rep. Esther Agbaje, DFL-Minneapolis, who carried several tenants' rights bills in the House of Representatives.

One important change will require landlords to try to rent out a unit if a tenant leaves mid-lease, Agbaje said. Landlords have to show that they have "made a good faith effort" to find a new tenant instead of continuing to collect rent from the previous one.

Smith countered that most landlords were already doing this, since they're unlikely to see any additional rent once a tenant has abandoned their lease.

911 mental health calls protected

Another key law guarantees a tenant's right to call 911 for emergency assistance, specifically in instances involving mental health, without being penalized by their landlord.

Sue Abderholden, executive director of the National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI) Minnesota, who advocated for this change, said her organization heard from renters who were nervous to call 911 more than a couple of times. They feared the city would go after their landlord, threatening to take away their rental license for excessive emergency calls, and the landlord would try to evict them. Parents of suicidal children or those with autism were worried, she said.

In some cases, police were viewing calls about mental health as nuisance calls, she said.

"When you're having a mental health crisis, that is not a nuisance," she said. "This is a bona fide crisis."

Abderholden said the change applies to any health-related call.

Smith called this change "best practice" and said property owners "don't need the city on their case" when they're trying to resolve a situation involving a resident's mental health.

Protections for renters with shared utility meters

Another new law aims to define how utility costs should be divided for renters who share a common utility meter for natural gas, water or electricity.

Previously, it was unclear how the bills should be calculated and there was no enforcement mechanism if renters were charged incorrectly by landlords or a third party. There was no regulation about how common areas were billed or how much landlords could charge in extra fees. People could be evicted for neglecting to pay the landlord for utilities on time.

Now, there are logical rules for how bills are divided up, said Sen. Scott Dibble, who authored the bill in the Senate. Gas is charged on a square-footage basis, for instance.

Tenants will receive all protections any utility customer would get, such as the right to appeal charges.

The law now applies Minnesota's cold weather rule to landlords in charge of shared-meter billing – they can't evict a tenant for not paying utilities from Oct. 1 through April 30 and must try to make a payment plan with the tenant if bills are unpaid, said Sterling, of HOME Line.

If electricity is billed separately by the landlord, a submeter, or individual power meter, must now be installed to measure exact electricity use. Otherwise, electricity costs must be rolled into tenants' rent.

Smith said the measure will affect a majority of Minnesota renters, adding: "We think it's a balanced approach."