Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Minnesota

Land Lord Harassment

My brother rented a month-to-month apartment in Rochester, MN. He lived there for less than 2 months, and has now found a more permanent place to live. During this time in this apartment the land lord accused him of destroying the lawn, putting a hole in the carpet, burning incense and not notifying her when there was a problem with the plumbing. He moved out this past weekend, and she has indicated she will take him to court and keep his deposit, because he supposedly peed on the carpet and was mean to her, in addition to the items above. From his first day in the apartment she was accusing him of destroying things. We have taken pictures which show no damage, but she is unrelenting. He is worried he won't have the money to cover legal costs if he were to lose the court case, but he also feels she is hoping he will just pay up so she can replace things in the apartment on him. What rights does he have, and how can he fight her charges without losing are large sum of money? Is there a way to track down past tenants to see if they experienced similar harassment? Thank you for your time!


Asked on 3/06/02, 12:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bruce Buckrop Bruce Buckrop

Re: Land Lord Harassment

Your pictures are proof that she cannot take damage deposit, so sue her in small claims court, there is no public record of past tennants to see if she has a " modus operandi " of doing this to tennants. But the court would have her in a Plaintiffs index and defendants index in her county.

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Answered on 3/06/02, 12:31 pm


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