Pay or quit rules in MN

[Jennifer Rysdam]

Hey everyone :) I have a tenant that is a few months behind in rent for various reasons. (I know, really stupid on my part - will not happen again!). Now I want to give them a pay or quit notice. Do I have to do the 14 days? My month to month lease states: "Failure to pay rent by the 10th may result in immediate termination of this lease and eviction proceedings".

Any advice would be appreciated. Also, if anyone has a MN form they'd like to share I'd appreciate it. 

Thanks so much!

[John G.]

I'm not a lawyer here just so you know, you should ask them.  But, the best path is to file an eviction case with your local court system, for a fee have the Sherriff serve them notice.  It is possible to get them out as early as 1 week.  Keep in mind Minnesota is a "pay and stay" state.  So if they decide to show up in court and pay full amount they get to stay (the judge will give them an additional week to pay court fees that you will have as long as you stated that).  Now if they have broken your lease in other ways, then you may include all of that in your eviction as well.  But, be careful in doing so because it opens the door for them to come back at you about whatever they want to make up.  If you evict based on rents alone....technically the Judge is not supposed to listen to anything else.

Like I say I'm not a lawyer nor claim to know all the rules here, but I have had my own experience with this personally and took tenant to court without using a lawyer on my end.  They got a got a public defender and tried to come at me.  I had a file a mile thick ready if needed.  In the end I won.

Hope this helps you

Best of luck