It doesn't matter if its so called student housing or not as long as it is not U of M owned housing SO your LL like it or not cannot just force you to pay for a whole year of rent they would have to prove to a court they were harmed by you not paying and considering the proximity to the U of M they would not have a problem finding a new customer even though MN doesn't force a LL to mitigate a loss if they sat on a empty unit for almost a whole year they are going to look real bad in a court. So far they didn't deliver to you what they promised and as long as you have a copy of your original lease keep it safe and plan on using it , do you have pictures to show exactly how this new place is laid out ? you may want to take them and then go argue with them telling them `considering how tenant friendly the courts are to tenants in this state you will take your chances if they don't find a replacement tenant for the space your in now because your going to move out. ( this early they should have no problem finding a tenant since it doesn't have to be a student) Also it wouldn't hurt you to call or go to the Minneapolis housing Service office room 11 city hall in down town (612-673 3003 ) OR the Minnesota tenants union 1513 Franklin Ave East ( 612-871-7485 ) I think that's right near Franklin and Bloomington Ave So. check for any other advice they may have. ( btw , Homeline is a popular service but if I recall correctly they only serve suburban Hennepin county) Last management is wrong about not needing a new lease because if you re check me on this even back when I had my four plex larger landlords were required by city ordinance to make sure tenants had a copy of the lease and since they didn't deliver to you what your original lease promised as long as you still have that copy you really can argue you are month to month and do not have to give more than a rental period of notice ( meaning to be if your going to vacate then you must give written notice that you will be moved out by the last day of October , yes October because our state requires a whole rental period of notice for month to month tenants who do not have a written lease which you don't have for the unit you are in. ( send it via certified mail keep a copy for your records stapled to your postal certified receipt ) no text message , no verbal notice get it on paper and sent at least via certified mail to create your paper trail, your going to need it!
