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Education for Justice |
FACT SHEET H-1 |
Fall
2011 |
BASIC
INFORMATION FOR TENANTS
LOOKING FOR AN APARTMENT
·
Ask the landlord you have now to give you a good
reference. If they will not, get a
letter of recommendation from someone else, like a pastor or community leader.
·
Never rent an apartment you have not seen. Make sure you are looking at the one you
would be renting. Do not let a landlord
show you one “just like it.”
·
Do not pay an application fee unless you have a
good chance of getting the apartment. If
you have any bad information in your rental or credit history, tell the
landlord about it before you pay the fee.
Keep all of your papers about the
application and sue in conciliation court if the landlord breaks this law. See our fact sheet C-1
Conciliation Court.
·
If a landlord uses a tenant screening agency,
they must tell you its name, address, and phone number before taking an
application fee. They have to give you a
receipt for the fee. If they don’t, ask for one.
·
A landlord cannot collect a fee to get a report
from a screening agency if no unit is available.
·
If you are turned down because of information in
a tenant screening report, contact the tenant screening agency. Get a copy of their report. You have the right to correct any mistakes. See our fact sheet, H-4 Tenant Screening.
·
You have the right to be treated equally. For example, it is illegal for a landlord to
turn you down because you are a person of color, a person with a disability, a
person who gets welfare, or a parent with children. If you suspect discrimination, call your
legal aid office right away. See our
fact sheet, H-6
Housing Discrimination.
·
NEVER pay a security deposit before you have been approved for an
apartment and signed a lease.
·
Some landlords ask for a “pre-lease deposit” to
hold the apartment for you before you sign the lease. This is different from a security
deposit. A landlord can’t collect a
“pre-lease deposit” without a written agreement. The agreement should tell you
how and when you get the deposit money back.
See our fact sheet, H-3 Looking for an Apartment.
SIGNING A LEASE
·
Read the lease before you sign it! The landlord must give you a copy.
·
Do not sign a lease until you have inspected the
apartment. Make a list of anything that
is dirty, damaged, or broken. Ask the
landlord to sign the list and agree to fix any problems. Save a copy.
·
The landlord must use a written lease if there
are 12 or more units in the building.
·
Unless you want to move again soon, you are
better off with a written, one-year lease than renting month-to-month.
·
You can bargain with your landlord to change the
lease before you sign it. You should
both put your initials next to any change that is made.
·
The landlord must give you their business street
address. A P.O. Box is not good enough.
·
When your lease runs out (usually after 1 year),
you should sign a new lease, unless your lease states that it automatically
renews. If you do not sign a new lease,
you will be renting month-to-month, and the landlord can ask you to leave with
only a month and a day’s notice.
FAMILY VIOLENCE AND BREAKING A LEASE
If you or one of your children is a victim of domestic abuse
and you think the abuse will continue if you stay in the unit, you can end the
lease early. If you want to end the lease early there are things you must do:
You still owe rent for the month
you end the lease. You will also need to pay a charge for ending the lease
early. This extra charge is the same amount as one month's rent, and must be
paid before you move.
You do not have to give your landlord any details about the
abuse, and your landlord does not have the right to block your moving. The law
does not say how much notice you have to give, but you should give as much
notice was possible.
Even if you do not do all of these
things, you still can move, but you still might owe rent to your landlord until
the landlord rents to a new tenant.
See our fact sheet H-23 Victims of Domestic Violence: Your Right to
Break Your Lease.
PAYING RENT
·
Always get a receipt for your rent payment. The landlord has to give you a receipt for
rent paid in cash within 3 days. The
receipt should have the date, the amount, and the landlord or manager’s signature. It does not have to be on a special form.
·
In most leases, the rent is due on the first of
the month. Some leases have a rent payment “grace period.” If you do not pay your rent by the deadlines,
the landlord can charge you late fees or file an eviction case, also called an
unlawful detainer or UD.
·
Always pay your rent on time. Your rent is your most important bill that
you pay. Never count on a landlord to be
patient and wait for it.
·
If you have a written lease, that will tell you
when the landlord can raise the rent. If
you do not have a written lease, then the landlord can raise the rent if they
give you a month and a day’s written notice.
IF YOU HAVE ROOMMATES
·
Be very careful in choosing roommates. If your roommate does not pay the rent, you still
have to pay it. If your roommate breaks
the lease, you can be evicted.
·
If you have a written lease, it probably says
that you cannot add a new roommate without your landlord saying it is ok. Even without a written lease, it is a good
idea to get the landlord’s permission.
·
If your name is on a utility bill, the company
can charge you for the whole bill. Utility
companies try to keep track of residents and previous addresses. If you move they might charge you for the
service later, at your new home.
If a utility company charges you
for a bill that was in another person’s name, and you never agreed to pay for
it, call legal aid. Also, call legal aid
if a utility company charges you for service your landlord agreed to pay for.
·
If you move out, be sure the landlord agrees in
writing to take you off the lease.
Otherwise, you can still be charged for the rent. Make sure your name is taken off all
utilities, too.
·
See our fact sheet, H-5 Roommates.
PRIVACY
·
The landlord can only enter your apartment for a
business reason or an emergency.
·
If it is not an emergency, the landlord must
make a good faith effort to give you “reasonable” notice.
·
If the landlord enters without giving you notice
first, and you are not home, they must leave a note.
·
If the landlord breaks this law, you can sue in
Conciliation Court to get rent money back and/or to be let out of your lease. See our fact sheet C-1
Conciliation Court.
·
Sexual harassment by a landlord, caretaker,
manager, or security guard is illegal.
·
See our fact sheet, H-19 Can My Landlord Enter My Home?
REPAIRS
·
When you need repairs, call your landlord right
away. Do not let it wait.
·
If it is an emergency (like no heat, no power or
water, no hot water, broken toilet, or an intent to condemn notice), call your
legal aid office right away. Ask about
an Emergency Tenant Remedy Action. See
our fact sheet, H-12 Emergency Repair Problems.
·
If it isn’t an emergency, write the landlord a
letter listing the problems. Keep a copy
of the letter. If s/he does not fix them
within 14 days, call your legal aid office and ask about a Rent Escrow
case. With a Rent Escrow case, you pay
your rent into court. The court can
order repairs and return some of your rent to you. See our fact sheet, H-11 Getting a Landlord to Make Repairs.
·
You can also call a municipal building
inspector. Inspectors can be very
helpful in getting repairs done.
·
Do not withhold payment of your rent. Do not make repairs and then deduct the cost
from your rent.
·
You can also sue your landlord in
LOCK OUTS AND SHUT-OFFS
·
The only way for a landlord to evict you is to
file a court case called an eviction.
The landlord can’t change the locks, move your property, shut off
utilities, or do anything else to force you out of the apartment without going
to eviction court first.
·
If you get locked out, call your landlord and explain
that a lockout is a crime under Minnesota Statute 504B.225. If they do not let you back in, call the
police. If that does not work, call your
legal aid office.
·
You can file a lock out case in court to be let
back in. If the landlord locked you out,
shut off your utilities or acted in “bad faith,” you can get $500 plus attorney
fees. You can also sue
for this
later in
·
See our fact sheet, H-17 Lock-Outs and Shut-Offs are Illegal.
EVICTIONS
·
If you are being evicted, read our fact sheet, H-26 Evictions. Call legal aid right away.
·
Your landlord can file an eviction if you don’t
pay the rent on time, if you break the lease, or if you stay in the apartment
after you were given proper notice to leave.
·
You must get the court papers within 7 days of
the hearing.
·
Go to court and be on time, or you will lose by
default. Go to court even if you just more
time to move out.
·
If you lose, the most time the court can give
you to move out is 7 days.
·
If you owe rent money and late fees, you must
bring the money to court. If you pay all
of this money in court, you will not be evicted. The court papers may list the amount of the
landlord’s filing fee. If not, call the
court to find out. You must pay the
filing fee also but you can ask for up to 7 days to pay that amount.
·
If you held back rent because of repair
problems, you must bring all the money to court in cash, money order or cashier’s
check. You will not need the late fees
or filing fees but you will need to
pay all of the rent into court and prove that your landlord failed to make
repairs.
EXPUNGEMENTS
·
The court record of an eviction case is public
when it is first filed. Tenant screening
companies can report it for 7 years. It
is hard, but not impossible, to have the court record erased or “expunged” so
tenant screening companies cannot report it.
·
When you go to court in an eviction, ask the
court to expunge the record if you win the case or settle it with an agreement.
·
If you lose in eviction court, it is not likely
that the court will expunge it.
·
If there is an old eviction case on your record,
that is keeping
you from getting housing, contact your court about expunging it.
·
You also have the right to give an explanation
of any eviction to a tenant screening company.
They have to put your explanation (up to 100 words) in any report they
send out.
·
See our fact sheet, H-27 Expunging Evictions.
MOVING OUT
·
If you do not have a written lease, you are probably
renting month-to-month. Your landlord
can ask you to leave if they give you 1 month and 1 day’s written notice. In other words, if they want you out by July
31, you must get the notice by June 30.
·
If you have a written lease and want to move
out, check your lease to see how much notice you must give. If you do not have a lease, you must give at
least 1 month plus 1 day written
notice. The landlord must get the notice
by the deadline. Keep a copy of the notice you send.
·
You cannot use your security deposit for the
last month’s rent. If you do, you can be
evicted in the middle of the month. You
can only skip paying the last month’s rent if you paid it in advance when you
moved in.
·
You must leave the apartment clean. Have the landlord or caretaker inspect it
when you move out and sign a paper saying that it is completely clean and
undamaged. It is a good idea to take photos.
·
If you want to move out before your lease is up,
talk to your landlord right away. You
may be able to work something out, especially if you can find a new tenant for
them. Otherwise, you might have to pay
the rent until the end of the lease.
·
If you have to move out because of repair
problems or other problems that are the landlord’s fault, keep proof of the
problems and what you did to get the landlord to fix them. Send a letter to the landlord. Then you can argue that you should not have
to pay rent after you have moved.
·
If you were evicted or moved out and left some
of your belongings behind, see our fact sheet H-30
Getting Property Back After You Move Out.
SECURITY DEPOSITS
·
The landlord must return your deposit within 21
days. If they do not return all of it,
they have to send you a letter explaining why.
·
The interest rate for deposits
is 1%. At 1%, a deposit of $500 earns about $5 per
year.
·
The landlord can only deduct for damages, unpaid
rent, and fees that you agreed to (like cleaning charges for things you left
dirty, fees for lost keys, etc.) The
landlord cannot charge you for “ordinary wear and tear” to the apartment.
·
If your landlord will not return the deposit,
you can sue in
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MN Legal Services Coalition |
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© 2011 Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance. This document may be reproduced and
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document, go to www.lawhelpmn.org/LASMfactsheets.