Breaking a lease in Minnesota

A tenant may end a lease early in the cases the statute lists: a tenant or authorized occupant who fears imminent violence after domestic abuse, criminal sexual conduct, sexual extortion or harassment; the death of the tenant (or all tenants); and a tenant who must move into a medical care facility.

Minn. Stat. § 504B.206 Minn. Stat. § 504B.265 Minn. Stat. § 504B.266

• A violence victim gives signed, dated advance written notice with a qualifying document such as an order for protection. A sole tenant owes rent for the full month in which the tenancy ends and gives up the deposit, but owes nothing for the rest of the term. Minn. Stat. § 504B.206, subd. 1 Minn. Stat. § 504B.206, subd. 3
• Do not disclose anything in that notice or document, the tenant's new address or their status as a victim; a violation costs $2,000 plus attorney's fees and costs. Minn. Stat. § 504B.206, subd. 2
• After a tenant's death, you or the estate's personal representative may end the lease on at least two months' written notice effective on the last day of a calendar month; a lease term requiring longer notice is void. Minn. Stat. § 504B.265
• A tenant a medical professional finds must move into a medical care facility, and who meets the statute's care-need test, may end the lease on two months' written notice effective at a month's end, with the medical documentation and proof of acceptance or a pending application, unless the tenant needs an accessible unit and you can offer one in the same complex within two months. Minn. Stat. § 504B.266
• If a tenant abandons the home during the lease, make reasonable efforts to rent it at fair rental value; the lease ends when a new tenancy begins, and the tenant owes no rent after the lease ends. Waivers are void. Minn. Stat. § 504B.154

Either side may end a tenancy at will, such as a month-to-month tenancy, with written notice at least as long as the time between rent due dates or three months, whichever is less. For monthly rent that is one full rental period.

Minn. Stat. § 504B.135

• When a tenant of urban real estate stays on after the lease ends without your express agreement, only a tenancy for the shortest interval between rent payments under the old lease is implied. Minn. Stat. § 504B.141
• An automatic renewal clause for a term of two months or more is enforceable only if you remind the tenant of it in writing, personally or by certified mail, 15 to 30 days before the tenant's notice of leaving is due. Minn. Stat. § 504B.145
• For a lease longer than ten months, you may not require the tenant to renew more than six months before it expires. Minn. Stat. § 504B.144
• A tenant may not be evicted or refused renewal because a child joined the household during the tenancy until a year has passed and you have given six months' written notice, unless the tenant does not pay, damages the home, disturbs others or otherwise breaches the lease. Minn. Stat. § 504B.315