Minnesota: Residential Lease Execution Formalities

Requirements one by one

Writing threshold

Minnesota has two independent triggers. Minn. Stat. § 513.05 makes a lease for
longer than one year void unless the contract, note, or memorandum states the
consideration, is written, and is subscribed by the party making the lease or a
lawful agent authorized in writing. Section 513.04 excludes a lease not exceeding
one year from its land-interest writing rule.

The residential statute adds a building-size rule. Under § 504B.111, a landlord
of a residential building with 12 or more units must have a written lease for
every rented unit, even when the term is shorter. The lease must identify the
specific unit before the tenant signs.

Required signatures and authority

Sections 513.04 and 513.05 focus on the party creating or making the lease—
ordinarily the landlord—or that party's lawful agent with written authority.
When an agent makes a longer lease, § 513.05 also says the contract is not
entitled to record unless the agent's authority is recorded.

The residential copy law does not add a landlord-signature requirement.
Minn. Stat. § 504B.115 instead gives a copy to each occupying tenant whose own
signature appears on the agreement. Section 504B.111 separately requires the
unit to be identified before the tenant signs.

Witness, acknowledgment, and notary

Nothing in §§ 513.04-.05 or the cited Chapter 504B execution provisions requires
a witness, acknowledgment, or notary to make the lease enforceable between the
parties. Those formalities arrive only if the lease enters the land records.

For a recordable lease, § 507.24 requires an executed, legible, archivable
instrument, acknowledgment by the executing parties, certification of the
acknowledgment, and original signatures of the parties and notary or other
acknowledging officer.

Electronic execution

Minnesota's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act does not force electronic
dealing. Minn. Stat. § 325L.05 applies only when each party agrees, with consent
determined from context and conduct. Minn. Stat. § 325L.07 lets an electronic record
and electronic signature satisfy writing and signature requirements.

If the law requires written delivery, § 325L.08 requires an electronic record
that the recipient can print or store; a sender-blocked record is not enforceable
against the recipient. Real-estate recording is separate: § 325L.03 expressly
excludes § 507.24, and § 507.24, subdivision 2(b), permits electronic recording
only under the Electronic Real Estate Recording Commission's standards.

Required copy or written statement

Under § 504B.115, every occupying tenant whose signature appears on a written
lease must receive a copy. The statute fixes no delivery deadline or required
medium. A signed and dated receipt or acknowledgment is prima facie evidence of
delivery.

Minn. Stat. § 504B.181 requires the manager's and the landlord's or service agent's
name and address in the rental agreement or another writing before the tenancy,
plus conspicuous posting at the property. Under § 504B.146, the first page of a
written residential lease must state the start and end dates and any prorated
rent required when move-in or move-out falls outside the first or last day of a
month.

Renewal, modification, assignment, and surrender

Minn. Stat. § 504B.144 bars a landlord from requiring renewal more than six
months before a lease longer than ten months expires. A tenant waiver of that
protection is void.

Minn. Stat. § 504B.145 regulates a specific automatic-renewal structure: an original
term of at least two months, an automatic additional term of at least two months,
and a clause requiring the tenant to give quit notice. To enforce that clause,
the landlord must personally serve or certified-mail a written reminder that
directs attention to the clause 15 to 30 days before the tenant's deadline.
Assignments and surrenders of land interests remain within § 513.04's signed-
writing rule.

Recording and third-party effect

Minnesota draws its recording line at more than three years. Minn. Stat.
§ 507.01 defines a Chapter 507 conveyance but excludes leases for a term not
exceeding three years. A longer lease can be recorded in every county where the
land lies after satisfying § 507.24's execution and acknowledgment rules.

Under § 507.34, an unrecorded conveyance is void against a later purchaser in
good faith for value whose conveyance is first duly recorded, and against the
listed attachments and judgments. The statute does not make nonrecording a
validity rule between the original landlord and tenant. Section 507.24 contains
no lease-specific memorandum form.

Effect of noncompliance

Section 513.05 calls a noncompliant longer lease "void." For a 12-or-more-unit
building, § 504B.111 makes failure to provide the required written lease a petty
misdemeanor.

The copy remedy is narrower and practical. Under § 504B.115, missing the copy is
a tenant defense in most actions enforcing lease terms. The defense does not
apply to nonpayment, disturbing the peace, malicious property destruction, or a
§ 504B.171 violation, and the landlord can overcome it by proving the tenant
actually knew the relied-on term. Section 504B.181 separately bars an action for
rent or possession until the required identity information was disclosed or was
known to the tenant at least 30 days before suit.

What trips people up

A short lease can still have to be written. The one-year statute of frauds
and the 12-unit residential mandate are separate. A six-month lease in a
12-unit building still needs a written lease under § 504B.111.

The tenant-copy statute does not say “fully executed copy.” Section
504B.115 keys the right to the occupying tenant's signature and does not add a
landlord-signature or delivery-deadline term.

Execution and recording use different forms. A lease needs no notary between
the parties, but a lease over three years needs acknowledgment and original
signatures to enter the land records under § 507.24.

Common questions

Can a Minnesota landlord prove the tenant got the lease? A signed and dated
receipt or acknowledgment is prima facie proof under § 504B.115, though the
statute does not require the landlord to obtain one.

Can the landlord demand renewal a year before expiration? Not for a lease
longer than ten months. Section 504B.144 caps a required renewal decision at six
months before expiration.

Does e-signing make a long lease ready to record? Not by itself. The
electronic-transactions act excludes § 507.24, and electronic real-estate
recording must meet the separate statutory commission standards.

Statutes and sources

• Minn. Stat. §§ 513.04-.05 — one-year line, signed writing, consideration,
  agent authority, assignment/surrender, and recording of agent authority.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/513.05 (accessed 2026-07-30)
• Minn. Stat. §§ 504B.111, .115, .181 — 12-unit written lease, unit
  identification, tenant copy and defense, identity disclosure, posting, and
  action bar. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504B.115 (accessed
  2026-07-30)
• Minn. Stat. §§ 504B.144-.146 — early renewal, automatic-renewal reminder,
  and first-page duration/proration fields.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504B.145 (accessed 2026-07-30)
• Minn. Stat. §§ 325L.03, .05, .07, .08 — electronic scope, consent,
  equivalence, retainable delivery, and recording exclusion.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/325L.03 (accessed 2026-07-30)
• Minn. Stat. §§ 507.01, .24, .34 — three-year conveyance threshold,
  recording form, county office, electronic-recording standards, and priority.
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/507.24 (accessed 2026-07-30)