This January set the all-time highest mark for new calls/emails (2,050) to the tenant hotline in any month, eclipsing last January’s 2,043.
Here are the top 10 reasons for contacts in January, compared to January, 2025.
| Contact Reason | Number of Contacts | Change from Jan ’24 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Evictions | 590 | + 17% |
| 2. Repairs | 587 | + 4% |
| 3. Security Deposits | 170 | – 14% |
| 4. Break Lease | 153 | – 22% |
| 5. Lease Questions | 144 | – 28% |
| 6. Heat | 141 | + 41% |
| 7. Landlord Notice to Vacate | 133 | – 1% |
| 8. Financial Aid | 107 | + 35% |
| 9. Fees | 75 | – 2 % |
| 10. Privacy/Landlord Intrusion | 71 | – 7% |
Eviction filings were dramatically higher this January than in 2024, but this is likely to be an anomaly for 2025. On January 1, 2024, a new law took effect that required landlords to give a 14-day written warning before filing an eviction for non-payment. For the first two weeks of that month, most landlords were effectively barred from filing an eviction for non-payment of rent. Non-payment of rent is the primary reason for about 90% of all MN evictions, so for the first two weeks of last January, there was a practical moratorium on most MN evictions. That was the only month in 2024 so severely affected by the new law. By February, landlords had basically adapted to the new legal requirement and had enough time to give proper notices.
Heat contacts are also up substantially over last January. This year, we experienced some seriously low temperatures throughout a couple of periods in January that probably explains this uptick. A new law requiring the heat to be maintained at 68 degrees throughout the winter went into effect last January, but more tenants seem to be aware of this requirement when contacting the tenant hotline this January.
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