Maintenance & Repairs Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Minnesota law says, what's specific to Minneapolis - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Minnesota's figure is 14 days. Under Minn. Stat. § 504B.385, subd. 1(c), a tenant gives the landlord written notice specifying the violation, and if it is not corrected within 14 days, the tenant may deposit the rent due with the court administrator.
- The deposit is a court step, not a rent strike. While proceedings are pending, the tenant "must pay rent to the landlord or as directed by the court and may not withhold rent to remedy a violation."
- A housing code violation runs on the inspector's clock instead. § 504B.185, subd. 2(b) puts it this way: "A reasonable period of time must be allowed in which to correct the violations."
- § 504B.161 writes the repair duty into every residential lease, including heat of at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit from October 1 through April 30, and the parties "may not waive or modify" it.
- Minneapolis adds an emergency route. If a city emergency repair order is not met, Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.180 lets the emergency violation hearing board allow the occupants to make the repair and deduct the reasonable cost from rent.
Understanding the Maintenance & Repairs Clause
A repair clause in Minneapolis meets a Minnesota rule with a number in it. Under Minn. Stat. § 504B.385, a tenant who gives written notice of a violation can, if it is not corrected within 14 days, deposit the rent with the court administrator instead of paying the landlord.
That number belongs to a court route, and it has limits. A violation of a health, safety, housing, building, fire prevention or housing maintenance code waits instead for the time an inspector grants.
The loss of heat, running water, hot water, electricity or sanitary facilities has a separate emergency procedure under § 504B.381.
Underneath both sits the duty itself. § 504B.161 puts a repair covenant into every residential lease, and the parties may not waive or modify it. A paragraph that hands repairs to you is read against that section first, and Minneapolis adds a city route of its own for emergency repairs an owner leaves undone.
What renters assume
That a Minneapolis renter may simply stop paying rent once a repair request has gone unanswered for 14 days.
What is actually true
The 14 days in Minn. Stat. § 504B.385 opens a court route, not a right to keep the money. After it runs, the rent goes to the court administrator with an affidavit specifying the violation, and while proceedings are pending the tenant "may not withhold rent to remedy a violation."
The Minneapolis row in the comparison on this page shows 14 days. Five of the 21 rows sit at that figure: Chicago, Nashville, Boston, Las Vegas and Minneapolis.
The other figures fall into three groups. Los Angeles, Portland, Columbus and Baltimore sit at 30 days, with Columbus labelled an outer limit and Baltimore a presumed limit.
Seattle and Phoenix show 10 days, and Austin and Miami 7 days. Eight rows carry no figure: New York City, Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Newark, Detroit and Charlotte.
The Minneapolis bar measures a tenant's written notice, not an inspector's order. The 14 days comes from § 504B.385, subd. 1(c).
A code violation waits for the time the inspector grants under § 504B.185, and that section as our record quotes it carries no day count.
Plain English Version
If something the landlord must fix stays broken, tell the landlord in writing. If it is not corrected within 14 days of that notice, Minnesota lets you pay your rent to the court administrator instead and ask a judge to act; while the case is pending you keep paying as the court directs.
If a city or state inspector has cited the problem, you wait for the time the inspector gave. Losing heat, water or electricity has an emergency court route once you have tried to warn the landlord 24 hours ahead. And no lease can sign away the landlord's repair duty.
Repairs Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Minneapolis, MN
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
Tenants agree to pay for all damages to the apartment windows, screens, and doors, including exterior unit doors (including random acts of vandalism).
Quoted from the published opinion in De Stefano v. Apts. Downtown, Inc., 879 N.W.2d 155 (Iowa 2016). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“Tenants agree”
An agreement is what this sentence offers, and Minnesota fixes what an agreement about repairs can and cannot do. Under Minn. Stat. § 504B.161, subd. 1(b), the parties to a residential lease “may not waive or modify the covenants imposed by this section”. Under subd. 2, a tenant may take on specified repairs by an agreement “supported by adequate consideration and set forth in a conspicuous writing”.
“to pay for all damages”
Read this against the duty Minnesota writes in for you. Under § 504B.161, subd. 1(a) the landlord covenants to keep the premises and all common areas “in reasonable repair during the term of the lease or license”, including the extermination of insects, rodents, vermin or other pests. A promise to pay for all damages sits on top of that covenant, and the Iowa court refused to let a blanket term of this kind stand in for the landlord's own statutory duty.
“windows, screens”
Windows and screens carry extra weight in a Minnesota winter. § 504B.161, subd. 1(a) has the landlord furnish heat at a minimum of 68 degrees Fahrenheit in all places intended for habitation, including kitchens and bathrooms, from October 1 through April 30. A broken pane between those dates can turn into a heat problem, and the heat covenant is the landlord's.
“random acts of vandalism”
Vandalism names a cause. Minnesota's repair routes start from a notice instead: under § 504B.385, subd. 1(c), if a violation is not corrected within 14 days of the tenant's written notice, the tenant may deposit the rent due with the court administrator along with an affidavit. Our Minnesota record does not say how a court here would treat a term billing a household for a third party's damage.
The tenants won the door. The Iowa Supreme Court held the landlord could not use this clause to bill them $598.46 for an exterior door wrecked by a burglar, and reversed the district court's decision against the tenant on liability for the door repair. Two reasons, and the second is the wider one. Iowa Code § 562A.15(2) lets a landlord and tenant agree only that the tenant will perform specified repairs; it does not let the landlord perform the repair and shift the cost. And the landlord's statutory duty to “make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition” is not satisfied “by merely making repairs and shifting the costs to the tenant pursuant to categorical provisions in the original lease agreement.” Note the word categorical: what failed was a blanket allocation written into a form lease before anyone knew who would break what. Why a renter should care: the damage here came from a stranger's crime, and the clause charged it to the household anyway. This is Iowa law, from the opinion as amended July 26, 2016, and a differently worded statute can produce the opposite answer - Texas's did in 2001.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Minnesota Law on Maintenance & Repairs Clause
- The repair duty is written into every residential lease and cannot be signed away. Minn. Stat. § 504B.161, subd. 1(a) provides that the landlord covenants "to keep the premises and all common areas in reasonable repair during the term of the lease or license, including services and conditions listed in section 504B.381, subdivision 1, and extermination of insects, rodents, vermin, or other pests on the premises", to maintain them in compliance with applicable health and safety laws "including ordinances regulating rental licensing", and to "equip or furnish heat at a minimum temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit in all places intended for habitation including kitchens and bathrooms from October 1 through April 30". Subdivision 1(b) says the parties "may not waive or modify the covenants imposed by this section", and under subd. 2 a tenant may take on specified repairs only by an agreement "supported by adequate consideration and set forth in a conspicuous writing".
- The 14 days is tied to a written notice and leads to court, not to self help. Section 504B.385, subd. 1(c) requires the tenant to "give written notice to the landlord specifying the violation", delivered personally or sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid, and provides that "If the violation is not corrected within 14 days, the residential tenant may deposit the amount of rent due to the landlord with the court administrator along with an affidavit specifying the violation." Subdivision 1(d) adds that while proceedings are pending the tenant "must pay rent to the landlord or as directed by the court and may not withhold rent to remedy a violation." A hearing must be held within ten to 14 days of the deposit under subd. 5, and under subd. 9 the court may order relief including retroactive rent abatement and release of escrowed rent to pay for the repair.
- Code violations and emergencies follow different clocks. Under § 504B.385, subd. 1(b), for a code violation the tenant "may not deposit the rent or file the written notice of the code violation until the time granted to make repairs has expired without satisfactory repairs being made, unless the residential tenant alleges that the time granted is excessive", and § 504B.185, subd. 2(b) says only that "A reasonable period of time must be allowed in which to correct the violations." For emergencies, § 504B.381 covers conditions including a serious infestation and the loss of running water, hot water, heat, electricity or sanitary facilities; the tenant "must attempt to notify the landlord, at least 24 hours before application to the court", and the court "shall order that the landlord immediately begin to remedy the violation".
- A separate tenant remedies action carries its own 14 day notice and a retaliation shield. Section 504B.395, subd. 4 requires that "A landlord must be informed in writing of an alleged violation at least 14 days before an action is brought" for violations other than code violations, and § 504B.425 lets the court order the landlord to remedy the violation, let the tenant remedy it "and deduct the cost from the rent", appoint an administrator to collect rents, or abate the rent. Under § 504B.441 a tenant may not be evicted or have obligations increased or services decreased as a penalty for a complaint, and "The burden of proving otherwise is on the landlord if the eviction or increase of obligations or decrease of services occurs within 90 days after filing the complaint".
Sources include Minn. Stat. § 504B.385; Minn. Stat. § 504B.161; Minn. Stat. § 504B.185; Minn. Stat. § 504B.381; Minn. Stat. § 504B.395; Minn. Stat. § 504B.425; Minn. Stat. § 504B.441; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.150; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.160; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.180; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.1930 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Minnesota answers a slow repair with a written notice, a 14 day wait and a courtroom. Under Minn. Stat. § 504B.385, subd. 1(c), the tenant must "give written notice to the landlord specifying the violation", delivered personally or sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid.
The same subdivision then sets the clock: "If the violation is not corrected within 14 days, the residential tenant may deposit the amount of rent due to the landlord with the court administrator along with an affidavit specifying the violation." Under subd. 5, a hearing must be held within ten to 14 days of the deposit.
The deposit is not permission to stop paying. Under subd. 1(d), while proceedings are pending the tenant "must pay rent to the landlord or as directed by the court and may not withhold rent to remedy a violation." Under subd. 9, the court may order relief including retroactive rent abatement and the release of escrowed rent to pay for the repair.
A code violation follows a different clock. Under subd. 1(b), the tenant may not deposit rent "until the time granted to make repairs has expired without satisfactory repairs being made, unless the residential tenant alleges that the time granted is excessive". § 504B.185, subd. 2(b) adds no number: "A reasonable period of time must be allowed in which to correct the violations."
Emergencies have a route of their own. § 504B.381 covers conditions including a serious infestation and the loss of running water, hot water, heat, electricity or sanitary facilities. The tenant "must attempt to notify the landlord, at least 24 hours before application to the court", and the court "shall order that the landlord immediately begin to remedy the violation".
The duty behind all of this is § 504B.161. In every residential lease the landlord covenants to keep the premises and all common areas in reasonable repair, including the extermination of insects, rodents, vermin or other pests.
The landlord also covenants to furnish heat of at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit from October 1 through April 30, and under subd. 1(b) the parties "may not waive or modify" these covenants.
A tenant can take on repair work, on two conditions. Under subd. 2, an agreement for the tenant to do specified repairs must be "supported by adequate consideration and set forth in a conspicuous writing".
A separate tenant remedies action under § 504B.395 needs written notice at least 14 days before it is brought. § 504B.425 then lets the court order the repair, let the tenant make it and deduct the cost from rent, appoint an administrator, or abate the rent.
Minnesota Tenant Protections
Under Minn. Stat. § 504B.161 every residential landlord covenants to keep the premises and all common areas in reasonable repair during the term, including the extermination of insects, rodents, vermin or other pests. The landlord also covenants to furnish heat of at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit from October 1 through April 30.
The parties may not waive or modify those covenants, and an agreement for the tenant to take on specified repairs must be supported by adequate consideration and set forth in a conspicuous writing.
Under § 504B.385 a tenant who gives the landlord written notice of a violation may, if it is not corrected within 14 days, deposit the rent due with the court administrator along with an affidavit. While proceedings are pending the tenant must pay rent to the landlord or as directed by the court.
For a code violation the wait is the time the inspector grants under § 504B.185, and § 504B.381 gives an emergency court procedure for conditions such as the loss of heat, running water or electricity. Under § 504B.441 a tenant may not be evicted, or have obligations increased or services decreased, as a penalty for a complaint, and the landlord carries the burden of proving otherwise if that happens within 90 days after the complaint is filed.
In Minneapolis, when an emergency repair order is not met, § 244.180 lets the emergency violation hearing board allow occupants to make the repair and deduct the reasonable cost from rent. Section 244.80(b) bars ending a tenancy covered by the Housing Maintenance Code because the tenant reported a code violation. Read the current text of each section before relying on it.
What's Specific to Minneapolis
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
On repairs, Minnesota law and the Minneapolis Housing Maintenance Code do different jobs. The 14 day notice, the rent deposit and the emergency petition come from the state.
Notices of violation, emergency orders and a city repair and deduct route come from Minneapolis Code of Ordinances Chapter 244.
The city's notice sets its own time. A notice of violation under § 244.150 must allow a reasonable time for the performance of any act it requires. Reasonable is the measure, and our record of the section gives no day count beside it.
Emergencies can move at once. Under § 244.160, the director of regulatory services, the commissioner of health or the fire marshal may order immediate action in an emergency.
If an emergency repair order is not met, § 244.180 lets the city's emergency violation hearing board allow the occupants to make the repair and deduct the reasonable cost from rent. The board may guarantee payment of up to $2,000 to contractors from a city fund.
The section carries two limits worth knowing. Under § 244.180(e), an occupant financing an emergency repair by installment contract may deduct no more than the equivalent of three months' rent in any twelve month period.
Under § 244.180(h), the rights in the section may not be waived or modified.
The day counts Chapter 244 does fix run between the city and the license holder. Under § 244.1930, a licensee whose rental dwelling fails a licensing standard in § 244.1910 has ten days after the director's notice to correct the defects.
A building found substandard under § 244.1920 has sixty days, which the director may extend for good cause or shorten for an imminent hazard.
Neither of those counts starts with your request. Our record of Chapter 244 finds no Minneapolis section giving a landlord a set number of days to finish a repair after a tenant asks.
In what our record read, the figure tied to your own written notice is the state's 14 days.
Reporting a problem is protected in the city code as well. § 244.80(b) provides that no tenancy covered by the Housing Maintenance Code may be terminated because the tenant reported a code violation or sued to enforce the code.
Our record read Chapter 244 through Municode's service for the code codified through Ordinance No. 2026-020, adopted June 25, 2026 (Supplement 73, Update 1). Three adopted ordinances were not yet codified, No. 2025-047, No. 2026-024 and No. 2026-025, and none amends a section cited here.
Read § 244.150, § 244.180 and § 244.1930 as they stand on the day you need them.
Useful. § 504B.385, subd. 1(c) requires written notice delivered personally or sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid, and the 14 days runs from that notice.
Good. § 504B.161 writes that covenant into every residential lease, including heat of at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit from October 1 through April 30.
Question it. Under § 504B.161, subd. 2, an agreement for the tenant to do specified repairs must be "supported by adequate consideration and set forth in a conspicuous writing", and subd. 1(b) bars waiving the covenants.
Question it. Under § 504B.385, subd. 9 a court may order retroactive rent abatement, and § 504B.425 lets it abate the rent or let the tenant make the repair and deduct the cost.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Minn. Stat. § 504B.385; Minn. Stat. § 504B.161; Minn. Stat. § 504B.185; Minn. Stat. § 504B.381; Minn. Stat. § 504B.395; Minn. Stat. § 504B.425; Minn. Stat. § 504B.441; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.150; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.160; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.180; Minneapolis Code of Ordinances § 244.1930, read on revisor.mn.gov. The Minnesota Revisor of Statutes prints this section in its 2025 Minnesota Statutes edition with a History line ending 2025 c 32 art 4 s 6, and its list of 2026 session laws affecting Chapter 504B does not include it.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
-
A waiver of the landlord's repair duty
§ 504B.161, subd. 1(b) says the parties "may not waive or modify" the repair covenants. A clause that tries to is one to question before you sign.
-
Repairs handed to you for nothing
Under § 504B.161, subd. 2, an agreement for the tenant to do specified repairs must be supported by adequate consideration and set out in a conspicuous writing. Look for both.
-
Withholding rent offered as your remedy
Under § 504B.385, subd. 1(d), while proceedings are pending the tenant "may not withhold rent to remedy a violation." After 14 days the rent goes to the court administrator, not into your pocket.
-
Wording that punishes complaints
§ 504B.441 bars eviction, higher obligations or fewer services as a penalty for a complaint, with the burden on the landlord within 90 days after filing. Minneapolis's § 244.80(b) protects a report to code enforcement.
-
No heat treated as a minor repair
§ 504B.161 requires heat of at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit from October 1 through April 30, and the loss of heat is on the emergency list in § 504B.381.
Your Rights as a Minneapolis Tenant
-
A repair covenant you cannot sign away
§ 504B.161 has the landlord keep the premises and all common areas in reasonable repair during the term, and the parties may not waive or modify that covenant.
-
Rent paid into court after 14 days
Under § 504B.385, subd. 1(c), if a violation is not corrected within 14 days of written notice, the tenant may deposit the rent due with the court administrator.
-
An emergency order from the court
For conditions including the loss of heat, running water or electricity, § 504B.381 has the court order that the landlord immediately begin to remedy the violation.
-
A city repair and deduct route
When an emergency repair order is not met, § 244.180 lets the board allow occupants to make the repair and deduct the reasonable cost from rent, and guarantee up to $2,000 to contractors.
What To Do - Step by Step
Write to the landlord and keep a copy
Name the unit, the defect and the date. § 504B.385, subd. 1(c) needs written notice specifying the violation, delivered personally or sent to where rent is normally paid.
Photograph the condition with dates
A deposit under § 504B.385 goes in with an affidavit specifying the violation. Dated photographs and a note of what failed make that affidavit easier to write.
Call the city if it is a code problem
A Minneapolis notice of violation under § 244.150 must allow a reasonable time to act. Under § 504B.385, subd. 1(b), you then wait for that time unless you allege it is excessive.
In an emergency, warn the landlord first
Under § 504B.381 the tenant must attempt to notify the landlord at least 24 hours before going to court. The city can also order immediate action under § 244.160.
Keep paying while the case runs
Under § 504B.385, subd. 1(d), rent is paid to the landlord or as the court directs while proceedings are pending. A hearing must be held within ten to 14 days of a deposit.
Take advice before the deposit
Paying rent to the court administrator changes where your money sits. Minnesota legal aid or a tenant advice service can go through § 504B.385 with you, and read the current text yourself.