Free Minnesota Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A Minnesota commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a storefront, an office, a warehouse, a workshop — to a tenant who will run a business there. Chapter 504B of the Minnesota Statutes covers landlord and tenant relations, mixing provisions that apply generally with a set of residential tenant actions grouped separately.

The general provisions are short and mechanical. Two of them turn on the rent interval, which makes that a more consequential term than it first appears.

Two sections do the work, and both key off how often rent is payable.

Ending a Tenancy at Will

Minn. Stat. § 504B.135 provides that a tenancy at will may be terminated by either party by giving notice in writing. The time of that notice must be at least as long as the interval between the times rent is due, or three months, whichever is less.

Read the last clause carefully. Three months is a ceiling, not a floor: where rent falls due monthly, a month’s notice satisfies the section, and only where the interval runs longer than three months does the three-month cap take over.

Section 504B.001 defines a tenancy at will as one in which the tenant holds possession by permission of the landlord but without a fixed ending date.

What a Holdover Becomes

Minn. Stat. § 504B.141 addresses urban real estate. Where a tenant of urban real estate, or any interest in it, holds over and retains possession after the lease expires without the landlord’s express agreement, no tenancy for any period other than the shortest interval between the times of payment of rent under the expired lease may be implied.

That caps the exposure on both sides. A tenant who overstays a five-year lease with monthly rent does not become a year-to-year tenant by accident.

The rent interval, unless that runs beyond three months. Under § 504B.135 the written notice must be at least as long as the gap between rent due dates, subject to that three-month cap.

The practical effect is that the payment schedule you agree at signing decides how quickly either side can walk away later. Monthly rent produces a month’s notice; quarterly rent produces three months; annual rent still produces three months, because of the cap.

Chapter 504B also puts an outer limit on the landlord’s side. Section 504B.311 removes the eviction action altogether where a tenant has held over for three years.

1. Agree the rent, the escalation basis, the term, and where taxes, insurance, and repair duties fall.
2. Set the rent interval knowing it doubles as the notice period under § 504B.135.
3. Give the lease a fixed ending date, since § 504B.135 applies to tenancies without one.
4. Write an express holdover clause rather than relying on what § 504B.141 would imply.
5. Execute the lease and keep the rent schedule and notice terms together on file.

Chapter 504B addresses notice and holdover rather than the bargain, so a Minnesota commercial lease agreement carries:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description locating the premises and any shared or common areas.
• Rent, the payment interval, and how and when it increases.
• A fixed ending date, plus renewal rights.
• An express holdover provision naming what the arrangement becomes.
• Which side carries the tax bill, the insurance, the utilities, and the repairs.
• The use permitted, the consent needed to transfer it, and the address notices go to.