Housing Volunteer Resources

2024 Annual Housing Law Seminar

Housing Volunteer and Organization of the Year Nominations
It’s that time of year again! We are collecting nominations for the Housing Volunteer and Organization of the Year! We’ll announce the winners at our Annual Housing Law Seminar. You have until March 22nd to nominate a volunteer or organization. And, you can submit multiple nominations. You can submit your nomination through the following form: https://vln.formstack.com/forms/housingvolunteeroftheyear

Volunteering with VLN’s Housing Law Program

The VLN Housing Law Program has five different opportunities for attorneys to volunteer: phone advice, eviction expungement representation, court clinics, eviction defense representation, and rent escrow representation. Phone advice appointments and eviction expungement representation are great for new volunteers or those with less experience. For those with or wanting more trial experience, eviction defense and rent escrow representation are a great option. VLN Housing Program Staff are here to help ensure that every attorney has the support they need, and that every client receives excellent service.

VOLUNTEER

  • Sign up for a housing court clinic shift below:
  • For shadowing opportunities and all other questions, contact Kait at housing@vlnmn.org.

COURT CLINIC BASICS

  • Shifts run 3-4 hours, AM or PM, Mondays – Thursdays.
  • You can expect to serve 2-4 clients who are a party in an eviction case or who need help preparing for their rent escrow hearing. This involves providing advice and brief services, such as negotiating a settlement agreement or making a limited court appearance.

VOLUNTEER RESOURCES

VOLUNTEER

PHONE ADVICE BASICS

  • Shifts run from 2-4pm, Mondays – Fridays.
  • You can expect to serve 2-4 clients with a variety of Minnesota-specific housing law issues, including: repairs and quality of accommodations, low-income landlord issues, and eviction/UD expungement. Volunteers provide advice and can help with drafting court forms, writing letters, or making phone calls on behalf of clients to try to resolve the issue.

VOLUNTEER

EVICTION EXPUNGEMENT BASICS

  • Eviction expungement helps a tenant permanently remove an eviction(s) from their record, consistent with Minnesota law. Each case involves drafting paperwork, filing it with the court, serving it on the other side, and possibly a hearing. It also involves notifying tenant screening agencies when the expungement is complete. 
  • Time Commitment: 2+ hours
  • Our staff attorneys will match you with a case based on your level of experience and be available for mentoring and assistance throughout the process.

VOLUNTEER RESOURCES

VOLUNTEER

RENT ESCROW BASICS

  • A tenant has the right to live in a home that meets inspection standards and is in reasonable repair. Rent escrow helps a tenant get a landlord to make repairs.
  • Time Commitment: 10+ hours
  • Our staff attorney Sebastian will be available for mentoring and assistance throughout the process.

VOLUNTEER RESOURCES

Trainings and Frequently Used Resources for the Housing Program

VLN’s Housing Law Program, in conjunction with our community partners like Legal Aid and Homeline, are focused on keeping our volunteers informed. We provide multiple educational opportunities throughout the year and have a library of on-demand CLEs available for our volunteers. If you have any questions about our trainings or materials, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

CLEs and Trainings on Housing Issues

VLN is happy to provide a number of training materials and on demand CLEs on a variety of legal issues. If you have a suggestion for a topic that you’d like to see a training about, please contact Muria. If there is a training that used to be here that you’d like to see, please let us know and we can send it to you.

HOUSING LAW 101

  • The Basics: Housing Court Clinic Training: On Demand (February 2024)
    This training is the foundational training for our housing court volunteers. It will cover what to expect when volunteering at VLN’s housing court clinics and the basics of landlord/tenant law.

  • Eviction Expungement: Highlighting the New Laws: On Demand (January 2024)
    This VLN training covers the new laws that came into effect January 1, 2024, including which cases should be automatically expunged and which will need a motion, along with the basics of Eviction Expungement in Minnesota.

  • Eviction Expungement Training (February 2022)
    Learn the basics of eviction expungement: why expungement is important, the legal standards, and the process.

  • Rent Escrow Training 101 (February 2022)
    When a landlord won’t make repairs, tenants can sue in court with a rent escrow action to get repairs made. This training will walk volunteers through the basics of the rent escrow process, from the 14-day letter to possible trial, hopefully giving volunteers the tools to successfully take on a rent escrow case for a low-income tenant!

  • Ethical Considerations in Housing Court (April 2021)
    This training covers the ethical considerations that often appear when representing tenants in Housing Court from an ethics attorney who has volunteered in Housing Court many times himself.

  • Eviction Timeline (April 2018)
    This training covers the life cycle of an eviction: from the time it is filed through when it’s expunged. This training is highly recommended for all VLN Housing volunteers.

HOUSING LAW 201

  • Eviction Defense 201: Beyond Jurisdictional Defenses: On Demand (April 2023)
    This training builds upon VLN’s first eviction defense training, “Housing Court Clinic Training Basics”, by going more in-depth into common eviction defenses we see in housing courts such as repair issues, retaliation, non-material breach, inappropriate ledger charges and fair housing.

  • Best Practices When Working with People (April 2022)
    This presentation from Luci Russell, (they/them) BWS, MSW, LGSW encourages viewers to challenge their biases by reflecting on their privilege and power and the relationship dynamic between attorneys and clients.

  • Bias and Its Effect on the Legal Profession (April 2021)
    This presentation explores the lack of diversity in the legal profession and the effect that has on clients with a particular emphasis on how bias impacts housing issues. It offers concrete recommendations so that every participant will be equipped to address these problems, both individually and institutionally.

  • Reasonable Accommodations as a Defense to Eviction (March 2021)
    Federal and state fair housing laws protect tenants with disabilities from discrimination, including evictions when the landlord fails to reasonably accommodate the tenant’s disabilities. Experienced housing attorneys from Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid in Minneapolis share about the use of Reasonable Accommodations on behalf of tenants with disabilities in defending eviction. This training will provide an overview of the relevant laws and practical recommendations for volunteer attorneys representing tenants in this context.

VLN & Court Forms

A comprehensive compilation of blank motions and court forms, sourced from the following places: ProJusticeMNLarry McDonough’s website, the Minnesota Judicial Branch, and HOMEline.

VLN Administrative Forms

Fee Waiver Forms

Eviction

Expungement: 

Rent Escrow/ETRA

Service Documents

Other Common Housing Forms

Form Letters from Homeline

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Contact Kait!

Practice Tips

New Tip! Eviction Expungement Changes January 1, 2024 (December 2023)
The Legislature made many changes to the law surrounding eviction expungements which come into effect January 1, 2024. This tip will start with an overview of the importance of eviction expungement and defining eviction expungement, and then review of the law prior to 2024. Finally, this tip will cover the new law starting January 1, 2024 and some issues raised by the new laws.

Manufactured Home Park Evictions (November 2023)
One source of deeply affordable housing in Minnesota is manufactured home parks. According to All Parks Alliance for Change, there are almost 180,000 people in Minnesota who live in manufactured home parks and 80% of those people are low- to very-low income. Additionally, there are more units of affordable housing in manufactured home parks (48,700) than in HUD subsidized units (3600) and Rural Development units (12,400) combined. Finally, we also know that, at least in some parts of Minnesota, manufactured home parks are the leading source of housing for Latino migrant workers, and those Latino residents can make up over 90% of the population in those parks. We further know that evictions are deeply destabilizing to families, in particular low-income families, and that evictions continue at an increased rate here in the Twin Cities area. Therefore, it’s important to understand the special protections in place to assist individuals living in manufactured homes from being evicted. This tip will focus on the statutory legal protections for people living in manufactured home parks in the eviction process.

New Landlord/Tenant Laws as of August 1, 2023 (August 2023)
It has been almost three months since the end of a truly historic legislative session in Minnesota. While a great number of the new statutory changes to landlord/tenant laws are going into effect on January 1, 2024, there are a certain number that already are in effect today. Those include (1) a limited right to counsel in public housing breach of lease cases, (2) new laws surrounding the legalization of cannabis, and (3) new laws for sober housing tenants.

The New 504B Statute: What Every Lawyer Should Know About the Recent Legislative Changes to Landlord/Tenant Law in Minnesota (July 2023)
This practice tip covers some of the more significant changes to Minn. Stat. 504B that came out of the Minnesota Legislature this year.

Fees Charged to Tenants (October 2022)
Now that nonpayment of rent is back to being the primary reason for eviction in Minnesota, it’s a good time to review fees that landlords can charge to tenants. This practice tip will cover the laws governing fees charged to tenants, the primary types of fees and other things to keep in mind when reviewing ledgers.

Volunteering at a Remote Housing Court Clinic (March 2022)
Appearing over Zoom as a volunteer at a housing court clinic is straightforward. If you are new to Zoom or new to appearing in court over Zoom, below is a breakdown of what you need to know.

Notice to Vacate (November 2021)
On October 12, 2021, the protections in Minnesota’s eviction moratorium Phase Out statute ended except for tenants who are being evicted for non-payment of rent and have a pending Rent Help MN or other authorized application. This means that landlords may now end tenancies upon proper legal notice to tenants, which include a notice to vacate (or lease termination) given within the proper notice period. If the tenant does not leave by the date given in the notice to vacate, a landlord can file a holdover eviction. This tip is an update for our volunteers as we expect to be seeing many more holdover evictions in the coming months.

What to Do When Clients Stop Responding (September 2021)
VLN staff are frequently asked what to do when a client stops responding to phone calls and/or emails. Here are some guidelines that may be helpful!

A Step-by-Step Overview of Full Representation Rent Escrow Cases (June 2021)
When landlords do not keep rental units habitable and do not respond to tenants’ requests for repairs, tenants may enforce the covenants of habitability by bringing a rent escrow action in court. Rent escrow actions can be a powerful tool for tenants: they allow them to pay rent directly into court and have a judicial officer decide which repairs must be made.

A Step-By-Step Guide to Eviction Expungement (November 2020)
This is a Step-by-Step Guide to Eviction Expungement and an update on the COVID-19 changes which make it easier for volunteers to take cases for full representation.

Three Steps to Becoming a Housing Phone Advice Attorney with VLN (September 2020)
This tip gives you an inside scoop on how to be a great phone clinic volunteer with VLN. 

Pay Or Quit (August 2020)
VLN has become aware of instances where landlords are offering tenants forgiveness of unpaid back rent or other cash incentives during the pandemic and in some instances, then demanding the tenant leave immediately. This practice tip considers whether this is a loophole when it comes to the eviction moratorium of Executive Order 20-79.

Statutory Costs and Expungement in Eviction Case Dismissals (February 2020)
This practice tip discusses how tenants, who have had their eviction action dismissed, can seek the $200 in costs and/or expungement of the eviction both which are statutorily allowed upon dismissal.The practice tip outlines how to ensure a tenant can receive the benefits of both the monetary award and expungement in the way most beneficial to the tenant.

Retaliation Defense (February 2020)
When a landlord attempts to end a tenancy or raise a tenant’s rent because the tenant has sought to exercise the tenant’s rights protected by law, the tenant has certain remedies in court.  This practice tip discusses the tenant’s remedies when retaliation is an issue. 

Rule 105: Withdrawal (November 2019)
While a volunteer attorney’s representation of a client can often be limited to a one-time appearance, at the conclusion of any representation of a client, the attorney should file a notice of withdrawal pursuant to Rule 105 of the General Rules of Practice for the District Courts.  This practice tip discusses the process of filing the notice of withdrawal, provides tips on filing a notice of withdrawal when the attorney has lost contact with the client and tips on filing the notice of withdrawal in an eviction expungement case. 

Invalid Service of Eviction Action Complaint (October 2019)
Because the consequences of losing an eviction action, are so dire for the tenant-defendant, the courts require strict compliance with the eviction statute service requirements. This practice tip discusses what is needed for a landlord to comply with the statutory service requirements, and how to use defective service to help the tenant in settlement negotiations or move to dismiss the action.

Proper Plaintiff (September 2019)
In order to bring an eviction action, the person asserting the action must have the proper authority to possess the property. This practice tip helps to think through whether the plaintiff in an action has the proper authority to bring the action, or whether the tenant has a defense in the eviction case and could challenge that the named plaintiff is not the proper plaintiff. 

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Contact Kait!

Housing Links

e-Filing

Rent Escrow and Repair Specific Links

General Links and Resources

Quick Non-Legal Referrals for Tenants

Habitability Fund

VLN administers a Habitability Fund which assists tenants who are unable to make court ordered escrow payments in order to pursue their legal claims. The fund is a revolving fund, so any money received back from the litigation must first be used to refund the Fund.

To use the funds, a tenant must:

  1. Be represented by a CMLS, MMLA, SMRLS, ARS, or VLN attorney;
  2. Have a housing court claim in Hennepin, Ramsey or Anoka county, and be unable to pursue it because of a court required escrow payment.
  3. Complete a Habitability Fund Application and Addendum to the Representation Agreement.
  4. Funds are not guaranteed until the application has been approved by VLN.

Questions, and completed applications and addendums, can be directed to VLN’s Housing Program Manager and Resource Attorney at Muria@vlnmn.org or 612-752-6647.