On May 12, 2026, Governor Walz signed the HOA Bill of Rights — the most significant rewrite of Minnesota's community association law since the Common Interest Ownership Act itself. Some provisions are already in force. The core of the enforcement overhaul lands on January 1, 2027, and it changes what Minnesota boards must have on paper before they can fine, collect, or foreclose.
Most of the coverage has focused on what associations lose: a $100 fine cap, a foreclosure floor, new hearing rights. What's gotten far less attention is the exception the legislature wrote into the cap — and it happens to be the one that matters most for rental compliance.
What changes on January 1, 2027
Fines are capped at $100 per violation unless a majority of the association's unit-owner votes approves a higher amount at a board meeting. New or amended rules require 21 days of owner notice and comment before adoption. Owners get 30 days to request a hearing on a fine, and the board owes a written resolution with an explanation within 30 days. Any association that fines at all must publish a fine schedule for common violations and get it to every owner.
The path to collections narrows. Late fees on assessments are capped at the greater of $20 or 5% of the amount owed, interest at 8%. Payments must be applied to assessments before fines. No foreclosure may begin until qualifying amounts are more than three months delinquent — and ordinary capped fines lose the foreclosure path entirely. Before referring any file to an attorney or collection agency, the association must have adopted a written collection policy, distributed it to all owners, and sent three separate delinquency notices, at least one by certified mail.
The paperwork extends to resales. Resale disclosure packages — already due within 10 days of request — must include the fine schedule and the collection policy.
And Minnesota now has a Common Interest Community Ombudsperson in the Department of Commerce, offering owners plain-language guidance and informal mediation. From January 1, fine notices must reference the ombudsperson's dispute-resolution services.
The exception the headlines missed
The $100 cap has carve-outs: repeat violations of the same conduct, violations that seriously and immediately affect health or safety, violations that physically damage another unit or the common elements — and violations that "involve using the property for financial enrichment, including renting or offering for rent a unit" in violation of the declaration, bylaws, or rules.
Read that again, because it does two things at once.
First, it's the Minnesota legislature's first express statutory acknowledgment that associations may prohibit rentals — short-term or long-term — by declaration, bylaw, or rule. Second, it places rental violations in the strictest enforcement tier the new law allows: fines for rental violations are uncapped, remain liens on the property, and keep the foreclosure path that ordinary fines lose.
In other words: on January 1, rental enforcement becomes the strongest tool a Minnesota board has left. But claiming that tier is a documentation exercise. A fine only escapes the cap if the record shows the violation was, in fact, a rental violation — which means the association has to be able to prove the property was rented, identify the provision it violated, and show the notice and hearing procedure was followed to the letter.
The board checklist
If your association enforces leasing rules — or plans to — here is what should be in place before January 1:
- Adopt a written collection policy and get it to every owner. This is now a precondition to sending any file to counsel or collections. Keep dated proof of distribution.
- Publish a fine schedule. If the board wants any fine above $100 outside the exception categories, that takes a majority vote of the membership — calendar it now, not in December.
- Update your fine-notice template. Minnesota fine notices already require seven statutory elements, down to the specific section of the governing documents violated; from January they must also reference the ombudsperson. A notice missing an element is a fine you may not collect.
- Build the hearing clock into your process. Thirty days for the owner to request a hearing, a written resolution within thirty days — missed deadlines are how enforceable violations become unenforceable ones.
- Classify rental violations as rental violations. The exception tier isn't automatic. Your violation records should identify the rental conduct and the specific leasing provision breached, so the file supports the uncapped fine and the lien if it's ever tested.
- Know your community's actual rental picture. Every step above assumes the association knows which homes are rented. If the rental registry is incomplete — and in a typical community, a large share of rentals are unregistered — the strongest enforcement tier in the new law sits unused.
Where the leasing rules themselves stand
The new law changes enforcement, not the underlying power to restrict leasing. Rental restrictions in Minnesota still come entirely from the governing documents: amendments take owners holding 67% of the votes, bind on recording, and face a two-year challenge window. No Minnesota statute grandfathers existing owners — any grandfathering is a choice the association drafts in. And after the Minnesota Supreme Court's Windcliff decision, ambiguous covenant language gets resolved with extrinsic evidence in front of a fact-finder — which is why associations serious about short-term rental limits put express language in the documents rather than relying on a "residential use" clause.
For the full statutory picture — including the MCIOA sections, effective dates, and what applies to pre-1994 communities — see our Minnesota HOA rental compliance guide.
The bottom line
Minnesota boards have four months to get their enforcement paperwork in order, and the associations that do will come out of January 1 stronger on rentals than they went in: uncapped fines, intact liens, and a statute that now expressly recognizes their leasing rules. The associations that don't will discover that under the new law, enforcement without documentation isn't just risky — much of it simply isn't available anymore.
Getting the rental picture current, verified, and documented is the foundation for all of it. That's what we do.
This article is general information for community associations, not legal advice. Chapter 82 compliance decisions should be reviewed with your association's attorney.