Minnesota Statutes 504B.221 – Unlawful Termination of Utilities
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, if a landlord, an agent, or other person acting under the landlord’s direction or control, interrupts or causes the interruption of electricity, heat, gas, or water services to the tenant, the tenant may recover from the landlord treble damages or $500, whichever is greater, and reasonable attorney’s fees. It is a defense to any action brought under this section that the interruption was the result of the deliberate or negligent act or omission of a tenant or anyone acting under the direction or control of the tenant. The tenant may recover only actual damages under this section if:
Terms Used In Minnesota Statutes 504B.221
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
(1) the tenant has not given the landlord, an agent, or other person acting under the landlord’s direction or control, notice of the interruption; or
(2) the landlord, an agent, or other person acting under the landlord’s direction or control, after receiving notice of the interruption from the tenant and within a reasonable period of time after the interruption, taking into account the nature of the service interrupted and the effect of the interrupted service on the health, welfare, and safety of the tenants, has reinstated or made a good faith effort to reinstate the service or has taken other remedial action; or
(3) the interruption was for the purpose of repairing or correcting faulty or defective equipment or protecting the health and safety of the occupants of the premises involved and the service was reinstated or a good faith effort was made to reinstate the service or other remedial action was taken by the landlord, an agent, or other person acting under the landlord’s direction or control within a reasonable period of time, taking into account the nature of the defect, the nature of the service interrupted, and the effect of the interrupted service on the health, welfare, and safety of the tenants.
(b) The remedies provided in this section are in addition to and shall not limit other rights or remedies available to landlords and tenants. Any provision, whether oral or written, of any lease or other agreement, whereby any provision of this section is waived by a tenant, is contrary to public policy and void. The provisions of this section also apply to occupants and owners of residential real property which is the subject of a mortgage foreclosure or contract for deed cancellation and as to which the period for redemption or reinstatement of the contract has expired.