Minn. Stat. § 504B.211, Minnesota’s Tenant’s Right to Privacy statute that requires landlords to give residential tenants notice of a non-emergency entry, has an unusual remedies clause. It requires the tenant to sue via an Emergency Tenant Remedies Action, a Rent Escrow lawsuit, or a Tenant Remedies Action. These laws were designed to help tenants whose landlords were not making needed repairs – i.e. problems that can be fixed – and so are ill-fitted for an illegal entry, a problem that cannot be fixed since the harm is done once the entry has occurred. This essay, available in PDF and in Word, shows how the exact language of section 504B.211 allows the tenant to file the needed lawsuit by following ten specific procedural requirements in the Emergency Tenant Remedies Action, Rent Escrow and Tenant Remedies Action statutes.
Part of the essay discusses a detailed legislative history of this law. It is available here.
Birnberg Minnesota Legislative Newsletter 