HOME Line’s statewide tenant hotline remained historically busy in May. Prior to this year our busiest May was in 2019 when we had 1,317 client interactions (calls or emails). This year we’ve had 1,604 new client interactions. When including follow-up client interactions, last month HOME Line had 2,807 client interactions with tenants, a 63% increase over last May.
Evictions remain at the top of the list and have been for three straight months. As mentioned last month, this isn’t normal. Repairs have almost always been the top reason for tenants to contact HOME Line. Evictions aren’t even always in the top 2 spots—sometimes they’re replaced by Security Deposit questions. This increase of inquiries from renters facing eviction comes at the same time eviction case filings have spiked throughout the state, see this June 1st Star Tribune article about what is occurring.
Security Deposits are up two spots from April. This is to be expected as we are entering the security deposit dispute season. Tenants contact HOME Line about security deposits most often when they are moving out or have just moved out. Generally, tenants in Minnesota prefer not to move in the colder months (Nov-March) and many leases are intentionally designed to end in the warmer months (Apr-Oct). This is when security deposit issues typically arise—when tenants move out of a rental unit and the landlord figures out what to do with their deposit.
Rent Increases also remained in the top 10 reasons— for the fourth straight month. Even though Rent Increases dropped one spot on our top 10 reasons for tenants to contact HOME Line, the actual number of questions about rent increases went up from 73 to 78. St. Paul’s rent stabilization policy going into effect on May 1st may have contributed to the uptick. To learn more about this new policy in St. Paul, consider watching a recording of the free webinar we hosted on June 1 about the law, which included guest speakers from the city.
Leave a Reply