Minnesota: Eviction Notice Requirements

Requirements one by one

Notice for unpaid rent

Since 2023, Minnesota requires a warning before a nonpayment eviction. "Before
bringing an eviction action alleging nonpayment of rent... a landlord must
provide written notice to the residential tenant" giving the tenant 14 days to
pay or move (§ 504B.321 subd. 1a). Paying the full amount within 14 days — or a
longer period if your city sets one — stops the filing. The notice is not a bare
demand: it must state "the total amount due," give "a specific accounting" of
rent, late fees, and other charges, name the person authorized to receive rent,
and include the statute's exact legal-aid and rent-assistance statements. And it
has teeth: if the landlord files without attaching the notice, "the court shall
dismiss an action without prejudice... and grant an expungement of the eviction
case court file" (§ 504B.321 subd. 1).

Notice for a lease violation

Minnesota has no statutory cure-or-quit notice for a non-rent lease violation.
A landlord may evict when a tenant "holds over... contrary to the conditions or
covenants of the lease" (§ 504B.285 subd. 1), but the right to evict for a
particular breach comes from the lease, not the statute. The eviction complaint
must "identify the clause of the lease which is the basis of the allegation, the
nature of the conduct... and the clause granting the right to evict based on the
alleged conduct" (§ 504B.321 subd. 3). So whether you get a chance to fix the
problem, and how much notice you get, depends on what your lease says — there is
no state-law floor of days.

Unconditional quit (no cure allowed)

Minnesota does not use a fixed-day "unconditional quit" notice. Instead, for the
most serious conduct — a tenant who "seriously endangers the safety of other
residents, or intentionally and seriously damages the property," or unlawful or
drug activity under § 504B.171 — the landlord files a sworn affidavit and asks
for an expedited hearing: "the appearance... shall be not less than five days
nor more than seven days from the date the summons is issued," served within 24
hours (§ 504B.321 subd. 2). This is a fast court action rather than a pre-suit
cure notice; the court can fine a landlord who misuses it. (A 2026 amendment,
effective August 1, 2026, adds an assault on the landlord or their employees or
contractors as an expedited ground and raises that misuse penalty — see "What
trips people up.")

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

To end a tenancy at will — which includes an ordinary month-to-month tenancy —
"either party" must give "notice in writing," and "the time of the notice must
be at least as long as the interval between the time rent is due or three months,
whichever is less" (§ 504B.135). For a tenancy where rent is due monthly, that is
one month's written notice; the three-month cap only matters where rent is paid
on a longer cycle. No reason need be given.

How the notice must be served

The 14-day nonpayment notice must be delivered "personally or by first class
mail to the residential tenant at the address of the leased premises"
(§ 504B.321 subd. 1a). A notice ending a tenancy at will simply must be "in
writing" (§ 504B.135); Minnesota does not impose a personal-service ladder for
that notice the way some states do. What is mandatory is the nonpayment notice's
content and attachment: a complaint filed without it "must" be dismissed and the
record expunged (§ 504B.321 subd. 1, subd. 5).

Tenant's right to cure/reinstate

Minnesota's pay-and-stay protection is among the strongest in the country. Before
a case is filed, paying the total due within the 14-day window stops it. After a
nonpayment case is filed, the tenant "may, at any time before possession has been
delivered, redeem the tenancy and be restored to possession by paying... the
amount of the rent that is in arrears, with interest, costs of the action, and an
attorney's fee not to exceed $5" (§ 504B.291 subd. 1) — unless the landlord also
alleged a material lease violation. If the landlord combines nonpayment with a
lease-violation claim and fails to prove the violation, "the tenant shall be
given up to seven days of additional time to pay any rent determined by the court
to be due" (§ 504B.285 subd. 5). And a notice to quit served within 90 days of a
tenant's good-faith code complaint or attempt to enforce a lease right is
presumed retaliatory, shifting the burden to the landlord (§ 504B.285 subd. 2;
§ 504B.441).

What trips people up

The 14-day nonpayment notice is new and easy to skip — to the landlord's
peril. Minnesota only began requiring a pre-filing nonpayment notice in 2023.
A landlord who files without first serving the correctly-worded 14-day notice and
attaching it to the complaint gets the case dismissed and the record expunged, so
a defective or missing notice is a real defense for the tenant.

"One month" for a month-to-month means the rent interval, not a flat 30 days.
The notice to end a tenancy at will must be at least as long as the gap between
rent payments. For monthly rent that is a month; for weekly rent it is a week.
The "three months" figure in the statute is only a ceiling for unusually long
rent cycles, not the normal notice period.

A 2026 change to the fast-track eviction takes effect August 1, 2026. As of
this page's verification date, the expedited-hearing grounds are serious
endangerment of other residents and intentional serious property damage (plus
unlawful activity). Effective August 1, 2026, an assault on the landlord or the
landlord's employees or contractors is added as a ground, and the penalty for
abusing the expedited process rises from $500 to $750. Until that date the older
rule controls.

Common questions

My landlord filed for eviction the day after rent was late. Is that allowed?
No. Minnesota requires a written 14-day notice before a nonpayment eviction can
be filed, and the notice must be attached to the complaint. A case filed without
it is dismissed and expunged.

If I pay everything I owe, can I still be evicted for the back rent? Usually
not. You can pay within the 14-day notice period to prevent a filing, and even
after a nonpayment case is filed you can redeem — by paying the rent owed plus
interest, costs, and up to a $5 fee — any time before you are actually removed,
unless the landlord also proved a lease violation.

Can my landlord evict me for no reason? For a month-to-month tenancy, yes —
with written notice at least as long as the interval between rent payments (one
month for monthly rent). Minnesota has no statewide just-cause requirement,
though some cities do.

Does Minnesota make my landlord give me time to fix a lease violation? Not by
statute. For anything other than unpaid rent, whether you get a cure period, and
how long, depends on your lease — the state sets no minimum number of days for a
lease-violation notice.

Statutes and sources

• Minn. Stat. § 504B.321 — complaint and summons: mandatory 14-day nonpayment notice and its contents (subd. 1a); dismissal/expungement if the notice is not attached (subd. 1, subd. 5); expedited hearing for endangerment/serious damage (subd. 2); required complaint contents (subd. 3).
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504B.321 (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Minn. Stat. § 504B.285 — eviction grounds (holdover contrary to covenants; tenant at will after notice to quit); retaliation defense with 90-day burden-shift (subd. 2); 7 extra days to pay when grounds are combined (subd. 5).
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504B.285 (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Minn. Stat. § 504B.135 — terminating a tenancy at will: written notice at least as long as the rent interval, capped at three months.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504B.135 (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Minn. Stat. § 504B.291 — nonpayment eviction and the tenant's right to redeem before possession is delivered.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504B.291 (accessed 2026-07-10)
• Minn. Stat. § 504B.441 — residential tenant may not be penalized (evicted) for a complaint; 90-day burden-shift.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504B.441 (accessed 2026-07-10)
• MN 2026 c 81 (SF 4171) — enrolled act amending § 504B.321 subd. 2 (assault ground, $750 penalty), effective Aug. 1, 2026.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2026/0/Session+Law/Chapter/81/ (checked 2026-07-16)