This blog post is essentially the same as the one posted in 2020. However, the 2023 legislature amended Minn. Stat. § 504B.301 by deleting its second sentence. This amendment is not material to the subject of the blog post but I decided to update the blog post by making minor changes to the blog post consistent with the amendment as well as fixing a few typos.
Minn. Stat. § 504B.285, subd. 1(a) allows a landlord to file an eviction action against a tenant for nonpayment of rent, breach of lease, holding over past the end of a lease, or holding over past a valid notice to quit. Minn. Stat. § 504B.291, subd. 1(a) amplifies the basis to evict for non payment. Thousands of these cases are filed each year by Minnesota landlords. However, a few landlords want to oust tenants for other reasons – such as the fact that the landlord has no rental license – and try using Minn. Stat. § 504B.301 instead, figuring it is a catchall statute to evict tenants. As this PDF essay shows, Minn. Stat. § 504B.301 is not a vehicle to evict tenants other than for possession of large amounts of contraband. Instead, Minn. Stat. § 504B.301 is a vehicle for evicting squatters and other persons who entered the premises illegally on Day One.
The essay is also available in Word. The Word version includes links to several products of my legal research. Three of these products, not available elsewhere, are available here as Appendix 1a, Appendix 2 (pretty large file, 6 MB), and Appendix 3 (large file, 30 MB). Appendix 4 consists of copies of the briefs in Berg v. Wiley I, 303 Minn. 247, 226 N.W.2d 904 (1975). These shed a bit more light on the meaning of Minn. Stat. § 504B.301, although nothing dramatically new.
Birnberg Minnesota Legislative Newsletter 