Minnesota Tenant Screening Laws: Fees, Denials, and Notices

Minnesota’s tenant screening laws require a landlord to give you a written list of their screening criteria and the name of their screening service before they can collect an application fee, apply those criteria the same way to every applicant, and notify you in writing within 14 days if your application is denied. The core rules sit in Minn. Stat. 504B.173, with additional protections against discrimination under the Minnesota Human Rights Act and tighter limits on criminal and eviction history inside Minneapolis.¹

What a Landlord Must Give You Before Taking a Screening Fee

Before any money changes hands, the landlord has to hand you a written disclosure with two things on it: the name and contact information of the screening service they’ll use, and the specific criteria they’ll use to decide whether to rent to you. That means you should know going in whether they’re looking at credit scores, income thresholds, rental references, criminal history, or some mix of all of them.¹

Those criteria then have to be applied the same way to every applicant. A landlord who enforces a 3x income rule for some people and a 2x rule for others is building a paper trail that works against them, especially if the inconsistency lines up with a protected class. The written disclosure is not a courtesy. It’s the legal condition for collecting the fee at all.

Application Fees and Refunds

Minnesota does not cap the dollar amount of an application fee, but the fee is tied to actual screening costs. If the landlord collects your fee and then never pulls a credit report or calls a reference, they have to return whatever portion wasn’t spent.¹

You’re also owed a full refund in two specific situations: the landlord rejects you for a reason that wasn’t on the written criteria list, or the unit is no longer available because a prior applicant already signed a lease. In either case, the fee comes back to you.¹

The 14-Day Denial Notice

If a landlord turns you down, they must notify you within 14 days and tell you which screening criteria you failed to meet. A one-line “application denied” with no explanation does not satisfy the statute. The reason has to be specific enough that you can understand what happened and decide whether to challenge it.¹

When a third-party screening service was involved, the landlord also has to pass along the service’s contact information so you can request your report and dispute anything inaccurate. If the stated reason doesn’t match the criteria the landlord disclosed up front, that’s a statutory violation on its own, regardless of whether the actual reason would have been legitimate.¹

Credit Reports and the Adverse Action Notice

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act runs alongside the state rules. If a landlord uses your credit information to deny the application, require a bigger deposit, or charge more rent, they must give you an adverse action notice containing:

The name, address, and phone number of the credit reporting agency that supplied the report
A statement that the agency didn’t make the decision and can’t explain the reasons
Notice of your right to a free copy of your report within 60 days
Notice of your right to dispute inaccurate information with the agency

The notice can be delivered orally, in writing, or electronically, though a written one is much easier to prove later.²

The FCRA also limits how far back credit information can reach. Chapter 7 bankruptcies can appear for up to ten years. Most other negative items, including collection accounts, civil judgments, and paid tax liens, are capped at seven years. Criminal convictions have no federal time limit on the credit report side.³

You should receive both notices when applicable: the federal one identifying the credit bureau and your dispute rights, and the state one identifying which screening criteria you failed to meet.

What a Landlord Cannot Screen You Out For

The Minnesota Human Rights Act makes it illegal for a landlord to refuse to rent, set different lease terms, or screen applicants differently because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, familial status, or status with regard to public assistance.⁴

Public assistance status is the one many renters don’t know about. Anywhere in Minnesota, a landlord cannot reject you simply because your income comes from Section 8 vouchers, Social Security, disability, or other government assistance. They can still apply the same financial standards they use for everyone else, like requiring income to equal a set multiple of the rent, but they cannot single out the source. Minneapolis reinforced this with a 2017 ordinance that also bans “no Section 8” advertising, though the statewide law already covers the underlying prohibition.⁴

Income-to-rent ratios are not themselves regulated. Most landlords require combined gross income of two to three times monthly rent, and the state treats that range as reasonable. What matters is consistency. A landlord who uses a 3x ratio for voucher holders and 2x for everyone else is discriminating by source of income.

Criminal History Screening

Inside Minneapolis, Section 244.2030 of the city code sharply limits what criminal history a landlord using standard screening criteria can hold against you:

Arrests in inactive cases that didn’t lead to a conviction
Expunged, vacated, dismissed, or sealed convictions
Juvenile adjudications
Misdemeanor convictions with sentencing dates older than three years
Felony convictions with sentencing dates older than seven years
A ten-year lookback applies instead for specific serious felonies, including first-degree murder, kidnapping, first-degree arson, and first-degree criminal sexual conduct

Minneapolis landlords can still deny applicants convicted of drug manufacturing or distribution under the federal Controlled Substances Act, and those whose household includes someone subject to lifetime sex offender registration. As an alternative to the preset limits, a Minneapolis landlord can do an individualized assessment, weighing the nature of the offense, time elapsed, and evidence of rehabilitation.⁵

Outside Minneapolis, Minnesota landlords have more discretion, but they’re still bound by the federal Fair Housing Act and the Minnesota Human Rights Act. HUD’s 2016 guidance warns that blanket criminal-record policies can violate the Fair Housing Act when they disproportionately exclude people of a particular race or national origin without being tied to a legitimate safety concern. A rule rejecting every applicant with any conviction, regardless of age or severity, is the kind that draws scrutiny.⁶

Eviction and Rental History

Minneapolis also restricts how eviction records can be used. Landlords in the city cannot refuse to rent based on eviction cases that were dismissed or that resulted in a judgment in the tenant’s favor. The ordinance limits how far back landlords can consider actions that ended in settlement or an unfavorable outcome, though recent evictions resulting in a judgment against the tenant can still be weighed.⁷

Statewide, Minn. Stat. 504B.241 gives you the right to see what any residential tenant screening service has on file about you. On request with proper identification, the service must disclose the nature of all information in your file and the sources of that information. If information from your file was used in the past 30 days to deny you housing or increase your deposit or rent, the disclosure is free.⁸

If you find inaccurate or outdated information, you can dispute it, and the service has to investigate and correct verified errors. Pulling your file before you start applying is worth the trouble. Wrong addresses, debts that aren’t yours, or eviction filings that were dismissed can quietly sink applications before you ever hear why.⁸

What to Do If a Landlord Breaks the Rules

For a screening fee or disclosure violation, 504B.173 gives you a direct claim: the landlord owes you the fee back, a civil penalty of up to $100, your court filing costs, and reasonable attorney fees. You can bring the claim in district court, and because the statute builds in attorney fees, you don’t need to show large damages to make it worth pursuing.¹

For discrimination, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights investigates complaints under the Minnesota Human Rights Act. You have one year from the alleged discriminatory act to file. MDHR runs a neutral investigation and can find probable cause for a violation, which may lead to mediation, administrative penalties, or further legal action.⁹

Keep the paperwork. The written criteria you were handed before paying, your application, the fee receipt, and whatever denial communication arrived afterward are the record that makes a 504B.173 claim straightforward and a discrimination complaint credible.

1
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 504B.173 – Applicant Screening Fee
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681m – Requirements on Users of Consumer Reports
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
4
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 363A.09 – Unfair Discriminatory Practices Relating to Real Property
5
City of Minneapolis. Minneapolis Code of Ordinances – Renter Protections Ordinance
6
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Office of General Counsel Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records
7
City of Minneapolis. Renter Protection Ordinance – Evictions Summary
8
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 504B.241 – Residential Tenant Reports Disclosure and Corrections
9
Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Civil Rights Investigation Process