When a landlord and a tenant enter into a rental agreement, ideally, each party would get an equal and fair shake. Renters have an expectation that their lease should provide equal protections to both parties. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Leases are drafted by landlords (or their attorney), presented by landlords, and primarily protect the interests of landlords. A landlord has more bargaining power and often looks into a prospective tenant’s record to see if they have any previous rental, credit, or criminal issues. Landlords can ultimately choose whether or not to rent to that person.
But what can a tenant do to make sure they’re getting a good deal and will be treated fairly? The most obvious answer would be to look over the lease, and some people do this to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, what many don’t realize is how much more power a landlord has compared to a tenant, and this disparity oftentimes manifests in the lease itself. 
The image above is a sample lease, and it shows that the amount of tenant obligations in a lease is much larger than the number of obligations a landlord has to the tenant. Almost all of the provisions in a typical lease start with “Tenant must…” or “Tenant cannot,” while very few start with “Landlord must…” or “Landlord cannot.” In the above lease, out of thirty provisions only one of them is a requirement of the landlord, which is highlighted. When you compare that to the other 29 provisions, all of which outline what a tenant must or cannot do, the difference in power is startling.
This power imbalance begs the question, what rights do tenants have? We certainly know what a landlord can do if they believe a tenant is in violation of their rental agreement. As most leases stipulate, if a tenant violates these various provisions, a landlord can be entitled to terminate the lease and evict them. However, if a tenant is unhappy with their housing or the landlord is failing to uphold one of their obligations, like keeping up with repairs or providing adequate heating, what can they do?
Tenants’ main source of legal recourse when a landlord is not upholding an obligation is to pursue a rent escrow action. Minnesota’s rent escrow law requires that the tenant provide the landlord with 14 days written notice highlighting all of the issues the tenant wants remedied. If the landlord does not fix these issues within 14 days (or communicate their plan to complete the repairs) the tenant can pay roughly $70 and file a court case. The case will likely have a first hearing within an additional 14 days—but may not be resolved for some time and/or multiple hearings after that. This means that for many issues, including things like serious infestations, broken refrigerators, or a broken elevator, a tenant may have to wait a month before even getting into court. It often takes even longer for the issues to be fixed. HOME Line is advocating for an expedited process for many of these issues so tenants can more easily assert their rights and get their repairs issues remedied in a timely manner.
As it stands now, many tenants find themselves powerless, or at least relegated to waiting a long time for repairs, when their landlord fails to uphold their part of the agreement to maintain a habitable living environment. This powerlessness can in turn lead to other issues in the greater community like tenants living in unsafe or subpar housing situations. Safe and adequate housing is the foundation for all other aspects of life, and without a stable place to live, people struggle to maintain their well-being. This further adds to the disproportionate amount of power a landlord has, as the tenants are sometimes coming from a place of urgent need.
This is a conflict in rental agreements that needs to be remedied. Minnesota law tells tenants and landlords what their rights and responsibilities are, but the law must be updated to level the playing field for tenants. A lease is a contract between two parties and should not be the foundation of a pervasive and dire power imbalance. To most people, the court system is an intimidating place, so it is important to prevent issues from getting to that point. So what can tenants do to assert their rights while avoiding court intervention? On an individual level, tenants should read over their lease carefully, and make sure they are reasonably comfortable with the provisions outlined. If tenants have any questions about their lease or about their landlords obligations, they should contact HOME Line. HOME Line not only advocates for tenant rights and provides legal advice, they also let legislators know what problems tenants are facing. In this current legislative session, HOME Line has been involved with a number of bills that address issues like expanding what can be considered an emergency repair, like in the case of a broken refrigerator. This type of work offers some legal protection for tenants in their rental agreements, and attempts to correct the power imbalance we currently see in most leases. To learn more and to aid HOME Line’s fight for change, read the 2021 Renter’s Agenda and contact your legislator to show your support.
Anna Baish is in her final semester at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Majoring in Political Science and Spanish, she is interning at HOME Line through the Inequality in America program of the Higher Education Consortium on Urban Affairs (HECUA).
Great work! Very interesting and disturbing.