Minnesota Rental Application Form

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   Minnesota puts the written disclosure before the money, and that disclosure then fixes the lawful grounds for a rejection. Minn. Stat. Section 504B.173, subd. 3 provides that if a landlord accepts an applicant screening fee from a prospective tenant, the landlord must disclose in writing prior to accepting the fee both the name, address and telephone number of the tenant screening service the landlord will use, unless the landlord does not use a tenant screening service, and the criteria on which the decision to rent to the prospective tenant will be based. The same subdivision then requires the landlord to notify the applicant within 14 days of rejecting a rental application, identifying the criteria the applicant failed to meet. The interlock with subd. 2(a)(1) is the part worth knowing: a rejection resting on any reason that was not in the advance disclosure obliges the landlord to return the fee.

2. 2

   The return duties stack, so more than one can be live on the same application. Subd. 2(a)(1) covers rejection for any reason not listed in the subd. 3 disclosure. Subd. 2(a)(2) covers the case where a prior applicant is offered the unit and agrees to enter into a rental agreement. Subd. 2(b) covers the unused portion where the landlord does not perform a personal reference check or does not obtain a consumer credit report or tenant screening report. Subd. 2(c) sets out how the money may come back: the applicant screening fee may be returned by mail, may be destroyed upon the applicant's request if paid by check, or may be made available for the applicant to retrieve. One thing the subdivision does not do is set a deadline in days for the return itself, which is the clock the 14-day rejection notice supplies instead.

3. 3

   Minnesota regulates the timing of the charge rather than its size, and the distinction matters when comparing states. Section 504B.173 contains no dollar figure, no percentage of monthly rent and no ceiling tied to the landlord's own screening cost, so an applicant cannot test a Minnesota fee against a statutory number. What can be tested is the paperwork: whether the advance written disclosure arrived before the fee did, whether a written receipt was given on request, whether the stated rejection reason appears in that disclosure, and whether the money was held rather than spent while earlier applicants were still in the queue. Subdivisions 1 to 4 carry no credit after 2010 c 315 s 4, so these duties are long settled rather than newly arrived.

4. 4

   Two limitations in subdivision 1 operate before any screening happens, and both are absolute rather than measured. Subd. 1(1) provides that a landlord may not charge an applicant a screening fee when the landlord knows or should have known that no rental unit is available at that time or will be available within a reasonable future time. Subd. 1(3) provides that a landlord may not use, cash, or deposit an applicant screening fee until all prior applicants have either been screened and rejected, or offered the unit and declined to enter into a rental agreement. Taken together they mean the second applicant in a Minnesota queue has paid money the landlord is not yet entitled to touch, which is also why the receipt in subd. 1(2) is worth asking for at the moment of payment.

5. 5

   Minnesota's screening restriction is about court files, not about convictions, and the difference is the whole of it. Subd. 3a, added by the 2024 session, provides that no landlord may deny a rental application based on any of the following: a pending eviction action; any court file that is not public, has been expunged, or has been destroyed; or any eviction action that has not resulted in a writ of recovery of premises and order to vacate, as that term is defined in Section 504B.001, subdivision 15. Clause (2) is written as any court file, so it reaches a non-public or expunged criminal file as well as a civil one. What Minnesota does not prescribe anywhere is a conditional-offer step, an individualized-assessment duty or a lookback period, so this is a limit on the records themselves rather than a sequence the landlord has to follow.

6. 6

   The figures in Minnesota attach to the remedies rather than to the fee. Subd. 4(a) provides that in addition to any other remedies, a landlord who violates the section is liable to the applicant for the applicant screening fee plus a civil penalty of up to $100, civil court filing costs, and reasonable attorney fees incurred to enforce the remedy. Subd. 4(b) runs the other way: a prospective tenant who provides materially false information on the application, or omits material information requested, is liable to the landlord for damages, plus a civil penalty of up to $500, civil court filing costs and reasonable attorney fees. A larger figure sits in Section 504B.245, which allows a person injured by a violation of Section 504B.241 to recover the greater of $1,000 or actual damages, together with costs and disbursements including costs of investigation and reasonable attorney fees, against a residential tenant screening service or a landlord, and which gives the attorney general authority to investigate and prosecute. None of these figures is indexed.

7. 7

   Minnesota also regulates the screening company directly, which is unusual and gives the applicant somewhere else to look when a report is wrong. Section 504B.241, subd. 4(b) places an affirmative duty on every residential tenant screening service to update and verify the current status of court files by accessing Minnesota Court Records Online no more than 24 hours prior to issuing a residential tenant screening report, and subd. 4(a) requires the outcome and the specific basis of the court's decision to be accurately recorded. The service must disclose the applicant's full file on request with proper identification, without charge where information in a report has been used within the past 30 days to deny the rental or to increase the security deposit or rent, must mail a requested file within five business days, must reinvestigate a disputed item and delete what is inaccurate or cannot be verified, and must let the applicant attach an explanation of up to 100 words to an eviction report or an unresolved disputed item. That section was amended in the 2024 session.

Minnesota Requirements for Rental Application Form

• No Limit on the Amount, and What Is Limited Instead

  Minn. Stat. Section 504B.173 sets no dollar figure, no percentage of monthly rent and no actual-cost ceiling on an applicant screening fee, so there is no Minnesota number to measure a charge against. What the section limits is the timing and the handling: subd. 1(1) bars a fee where the landlord knows or should have known that no rental unit is available at that time or will be available within a reasonable future time; subd. 1(2) bars collecting or holding the fee without a written receipt on the applicant's request, which may be incorporated into the application form; and subd. 1(3) bars using, cashing or depositing the fee until all prior applicants have either been screened and rejected, or offered the unit and declined to enter into a rental agreement. Subdivisions 1 to 4 date from 1999 and carry no credit after their 2010 amendment.

• Written Disclosure of the Screening Service and the Criteria, Before the Fee

  Minn. Stat. Section 504B.173, subd. 3(1) provides that if a landlord accepts an applicant screening fee from a prospective tenant, the landlord must disclose in writing prior to accepting the fee the name, address, and telephone number of the tenant screening service the landlord will use, unless the landlord does not use a tenant screening service, and the criteria on which the decision to rent to the prospective tenant will be based. Both halves are preconditions to taking the money rather than duties owed afterwards. Naming the service also matters later, because Section 504B.241 gives the applicant file-access and correction rights against that named service.

• The 14-Day Rejection Notice, Naming the Criteria the Applicant Failed

  Minn. Stat. Section 504B.173, subd. 3(2) requires the landlord to notify the applicant within 14 days of rejecting a rental application, identifying the criteria the applicant failed to meet. The 14 days is unamended since the 2010 amendment and is the period in the current edition of the statutes. Read it with subd. 2(a)(1): if the criterion named in the rejection notice did not appear in the advance written disclosure, the landlord has to return the fee. That is what makes the advance disclosure worth keeping a copy of.

• Four Ways the Fee Comes Back

  Minn. Stat. Section 504B.173, subd. 2(a) requires the landlord to return the applicant screening fee if the applicant is rejected for any reason not listed in the disclosure required under subdivision 3, or if a prior applicant is offered the unit and agrees to enter into a rental agreement. Subd. 2(b) requires return of any amount of the fee not used for those purposes where the landlord does not perform a personal reference check or does not obtain a consumer credit report or tenant screening report. Subd. 1(2) adds the written receipt on request. Subd. 2(c) sets the permitted methods: the fee may be returned by mail, may be destroyed upon the applicant's request if paid by check, or may be made available for the applicant to retrieve. The subdivision sets no deadline in days for the return itself.

• No Fee Where No Unit Is Available, and No Cashing It Until the Queue Clears

  Two limitations in Minn. Stat. Section 504B.173, subd. 1 operate before any screening happens. Subd. 1(1) provides that a landlord may not charge an applicant a screening fee when the landlord knows or should have known that no rental unit is available at that time or will be available within a reasonable future time. Subd. 1(3) provides that a landlord may not use, cash, or deposit an applicant screening fee until all prior applicants have either been screened and rejected, or offered the unit and declined to enter into a rental agreement. Neither is answered by pointing at a modest amount, because neither is about the amount. An applicant second in the queue has paid money the landlord is not yet entitled to spend.

• Court Records That May Not Support a Denial

  Added by the 2024 session. Minn. Stat. Section 504B.173, subd. 3a provides that no landlord may deny a rental application based on any of the following: a pending eviction action; any court file that is not public, has been expunged, or has been destroyed; or any eviction action that has not resulted in a writ of recovery of premises and order to vacate, as that term is defined in Section 504B.001, subdivision 15. Clause (2) is drafted as any court file, so it reaches a non-public or expunged criminal file as well as a civil one. Minnesota prescribes no conditional-offer sequence, no individualized assessment and no lookback period, so the limit is on the records rather than on the order of steps. Separately, Minn. Stat. Section 363A.09, subd. 1 clause (3) makes it an unfair discriminatory practice to use any form of application for the rental of real property, or to make any record or inquiry in connection with a prospective rental, which expresses directly or indirectly any limitation, specification or discrimination as to the characteristics that subdivision protects, which include status with regard to public assistance.

• The Penalties, and They Run Both Ways

  Minn. Stat. Section 504B.173, subd. 4(a) provides that in addition to any other remedies, a landlord who violates the section is liable to the applicant for the applicant screening fee plus a civil penalty of up to $100, civil court filing costs, and reasonable attorney fees incurred to enforce this remedy. Subd. 4(b) provides that a prospective tenant who provides materially false information on the application or omits material information requested is liable to the landlord for damages, plus a civil penalty of up to $500, civil court filing costs, and reasonable attorney fees. A larger figure covers the report itself: Minn. Stat. Section 504B.245 allows a person injured by a violation of Section 504B.241 to recover the greater of $1,000 or actual damages, together with costs and disbursements including costs of investigation and reasonable attorney fees, against a residential tenant screening service or a landlord, and gives the attorney general authority to investigate and prosecute. The figures are flat and not indexed.

• Duties the Screening Service Itself Owes the Applicant

  Minnesota regulates the screening company and not only the landlord, which gives an applicant a second place to go when a report is wrong. Minn. Stat. Section 504B.241, subd. 4(b) places an affirmative duty on every residential tenant screening service to update and verify the current status of court files by accessing Minnesota Court Records Online no more than 24 hours prior to issuing a residential tenant screening report, and subd. 4(a) requires the outcome and the specific basis of the court's decision to be accurately recorded. The service must disclose the applicant's full file on request with proper identification, and must do so without charge where information in a report has been used within the past 30 days to deny the rental or to increase the security deposit or rent; must mail a requested file within five business days; must reinvestigate a disputed item and delete anything inaccurate or unverifiable; and must allow the applicant to attach an explanation of up to 100 words to an eviction report or an unresolved disputed item. The section was amended in the 2024 session.