Eviction & Housing Court Information

There are two types of letters you should have received:

1. A written letter from your property manager or their attorney stating you must vacate the premises within 14 days or they will file an eviction with housing court.

2. Letter from Hennepin County Court telling you that your property manager filed an order for eviction. The letter will look official and would likely say: “Civil Court” “Civil Court of Hennepin County” “Hennepin County housing court” “Notice of petition” “First appearance”

GO TO COURT!

If you do not go to court the judge will automatically favor the judgement to your property manager because you did not show up - this is called an “automatic judgement”. The same applies for your property manager, if they file and eviction, and do not show up, and you do, the court will favor you because you showed up.

Hennepin County Court Address:

4th District Housing Court

Hennepin County Govt. Center

300 South 6th Street, C-300

Minneapolis, MN 55487 Map »

Courtrooms: Floor C3

Phone: (612) 348-6000

Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday

Going to Court? Find out more about parking and transportation here!

If you can’t go to court, you need to call the Court clerk line to ask for their pre-trial hearing to be moved. Court phone number:

(612) 348-5186

A tenant will receive an eviction summons a few weeks before appearing in court. This will give the tenant some time to find community resources that may be able to help them with their rent. The tenant shows up to court at the Government Center and goes to 3rd floor Housing Court. The court clerk will read off the case file number for the tenant versus property manager. Most times property manager are represented by an attorney and tenants who are not represented by an attorney, can request to speak with an attorney. The tenant will then go through a screening process to see if they are eligible for a free attorney. The tenant is then able to go into a secluded room to speak with an attorney and then is able to connect with rent assistance over Teams. After seeing if they qualify for a free attorney and/or rent assistance. The tenant’s attorney can then go and talk to the property manager’s attorney to discuss a settlement agreement and/or come up with a plan of how the tenant will pay their past due balance. The tenant will return to court and discuss the settlement agreement with the judge.

Before your court date, make sure you have reached out to all community agencies that could potentially help pay down some of your rent. Make sure to have your eviction summons with you and any documents that will help you prepare for your case. Arrange for child care if necessary.

Day of your Court Date:

• Make sure to allow enough time to get to court and plan to be early.

• Dress business casual to business formal (example: black pants and dress shirt/blouse)

• Anticipate being at court for half of the day (5 hours), you may get done early. You may need to plan for child care, or take off work, etc.

Bring with you:

• Court summons

• photo ID

• lease agreement

• utility bills

• and any other documents that would help you with their case in housing court (example: new payments made)

Expungement means removing the record of a court case from the public view. If your eviction court case is expunged, then someone searching court files cannot find a record of your eviction case. This is important because if you have an eviction on your rental history, it will be harder for you to find housing in the future. Courts sometimes expunge eviction cases, but it can be hard to get an expungement.

Eviction cases used to be called “unlawful detainer” (UD). Some records might show that you have UDs, this is the same thing as an eviction.

Find out more about expungement here.

Usually during court, a tenant can speak with their lawyer so see if they can get a fee waiver. The lawyer will ask the judge for a fee waive which they can grant or deny.

Typically no, however currently, there are some lawyers who will be available for renters to talk to. You might qualify for a free attorney from the legal agencies that are present.

The lawyer might only give you legal advice and not represent you(talk to the judge on your behalf). Make sure you are clear when talking to the lawyer if they represent you or not. If not, take notes on what to say to the judge.

Try to get legal advice before your court date! - you might qualify for free advice if your income is below a certain amount

At certain agencies, there may be different requirements to obtain free legal advice. Below are a list of legal resources that we refer tenants to, when they call the Tenant Resource Connections.

• Volunteer Lawyers Network: 612-752-6677, 10-1PM intake hours, vlnmn.org

• Hennepin County Adult Representative Services: General intake 612-348-7012 or contactARS@hennepin.us. For in-person help, drop into the office between 8 and 4:30 at HC Govt Ctr 10th Floor Admin Tower. More info here.

• Homeline: Statewide tenant hotline. Provide advice over the phone for tenants. No income eligibility required. Phone number: 612-728-5767. E-mail An Attorney

• Legal Aid: Individuals can call the legal aid intake line to complete the traditional intake process. Phone number: 612-334-5970

Check out our community resource page here!

Your case will default and there could be a UD on your record

If a tenant still owes a property manager rent money after moving out, the property manager can try to sue them for the rent money in conciliation court. If the property manager wins in conciliation court, they could try to take income from the tenant. But some kinds of income are protected from this. Learn more here.

4th District Housing Court

Hennepin County Govt. Center

300 South 6th Street, C-300

Minneapolis, MN 55487 Map »

Courtrooms: Floor C3

Phone: (612) 348-6000

Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday

Find out more about parking and transportation here!