The drafting table is open
The Minnesota Rent Assurance & Deposit Protection Act — the full working draft, readable end to end. No party owns it. Everyone may read it, mark it, and stand where they stand.
Working Draft — as of November 2, 2026 · Session of 2027
What follows is the entire working draft — findings, definitions, four titles, every clause. Margin + marks open a door to the Inkwell on that clause. Open drafting questions are shown in italics where they stand — nothing is hidden.
Findings & Definitions
Drafting placeholder. "Residential landlord" attaches to the rental relationship, not a municipal license — Minnesota has no statewide rental license. Defined terms to include: Pool, Fund, Administrator, Adjudicator, Covered hardship, Manufactured claim, Clean year.
+Title I — Deposit Protection
The proven, self-funding core. Amends Minn. Stat. § 504B.178. Precedent: UK Tenancy Deposit Protection.
Every residential security deposit is paid into bonded program escrow at lease signing and held there for the tenancy. The landlord never holds, itemizes, or returns the deposit. Statutory 1% interest continues to accrue to the tenant.
Locked design — UK custodial shape.
+Deposit and damage claims are decided by an independent adjudication body on an administrative-law model. Neither the landlord nor the administering carrier decides claims.
+Tenants bring deposit claims through the same body; the administrator answers to claimants, not landlords.
+A paid claim is not recoverable from the tenant by any party. Applies across all titles — a paid claim ends the matter, forever.
+Clean years earn the renter an annual dividend declared from pool surplus — a mutual model, not a guaranteed payment.
+Aggregate per-owner claims data published; accuracy and dispute rules modeled on the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
+A claim proven fabricated carries a surcharge plus referral. Symmetric penalty for knowingly-false fraud referrals against tenants; tenant notice and a defense window before any referral transmits.
+Pooled float above the statutory 1% (≈3% net of escrowed deposits, ≈$23M/year at scale) funds escrow administration and adjudication. Adjudication carries its own budget line.
+Licensed security-deposit replacement products may be offered in Minnesota only if they are no-subrogation, refundable-principal, and report claims through the registry — convert the industry, don't just ban it.
Open drafting decision — new clause under review.
+Title II — Rent Assurance
The guarantee-fund leg — administered like insurance on the unemployment-insurance precedent. Recommended path: MHFA pilot on subsidized properties first; statewide rollout follows pilot actuarials.
The fund pays covered rent to the landlord during verified tenant hardship from a defined trigger list (job loss, medical crisis — documented per UI-style verification) for a defined coverage term.
Open drafting question: trigger list and a 2–6 month term — awaits actuarial review.
+A paid claim is not recoverable from the tenant. A repayment plan applies solely to rent accruing after the coverage period — a condition of continued coverage, not of the claim.
+Split ratio open pending actuarial (≈$3.25 + $6 + $6 ≈ $15/mo at $1,300 rent).
+Coverage phases in as escrow crosses a threshold; or a repayable state advance against future premiums (UI trust-fund precedent), with legislative appropriation backup.
Open drafting decision — one mechanism to be chosen and stated.
+Verified triggers, per-lease coverage caps, claims-history pricing at renewal, repayment-plan cooperation.
+The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency may operate Title II as a pilot on publicly-subsidized properties without further appropriation; pilot data constitutes the fiscal note for statewide rollout.
+Title III — Renter's Belongings Coverage
Included so the structure is visible; shape left open pending actuarial review.
Contents coverage (fire / theft / water) rides the same pool as a third line. Opt-in vs. mandatory, cap, and deductible are open pending actuarial. Fire and habitability events coordinate with Title II as a single integrated claim.
+Title IV — Governance, Home Agency, Review
Tenant and consumer seats on the governing board — the people the pool serves sit at the table where it is run. Anti-capture by design.
+The Fund sits at the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency; adjudication sits at an independent body; licensed-insurer administration is contracted out.
Open drafting decision — proposed answer to the agency-home question.
+Administrative appeal, then district court. Standard of review is an open drafting question.
+Five-year sunset with a mandatory year-3 report to the housing committees — if it does not work, it ends, and the bill carries its own verdict.
+Credit-advance mechanics are drafted as machinery for the fund, inside this Act — not as separate tax policy.
+Three drafting decisions remain open — I-9, IV-2, IV-4 — shown where they stand so every reader sees exactly what is undecided.