- Minnesota law says your landlord has to give you the court papers in a specific way. If the landlord doesn’t give them to you in the right way, you can ask for the case to be dismissed and expunged (removed from public view).
- Your landlord must file a paper with the court that says how they gave you the court papers. This paper is called an affidavit of service. You don’t get a copy of the affidavit of service. You should ask the court clerk to show it to you.
The landlord must follow these steps to give you the court documents:
First, they have to try to give the court papers to you in person. They have to try at least twice on 2 different days. One try has to be between 6 PM and 10 PM. It’s ok for the landlord to give the papers to someone who lives at your home, but that person has to be old enough to understand them. If the papers are delivered this way, “Service” is done.
But if the landlord can’t find you or can’t deliver the papers they have to go through more steps. The landlord has to do all of these things:
- The landlord has to file a paper with the court called “affidavit of not found.”
- The landlord has to mail the court papers to you at your last known address.
- After they mail them, they have to file an “affidavit of mailing” with the court that says they mailed the court papers to you.
- Then the landlord has to go to the address and post the court papers on the door.
- The landlord has to then file an “affidavit of posting” with the court.
You must get the court papers at least 7 days before the court hearing.
If your landlord did not follow any of these rules of service, you can ask for the case to be dismissed and expunged.