Roommate is considered a month-to-month tenant

Q I am a homeowner and have a roommate to help with expenses. I do not provide a tenant lease or consider my house rental property. The individual lives in the third level, but shares the rest of the house for showers/bath, kitchen, laundry and parking, etc. This is purely a financial roommate arrangement.

Are there any legal considerations I should keep in mind in not having a tenant/landlord contract? Do roommates have a set of legal rights without a written contract?

A If you're the homeowner, any roommate you have living with you is considered a month-to-month tenant, even without a written lease.

These tenants do have rights and must be given a 30-day written notice if you decide to terminate the person's tenancy.

The tenant can also give you a 30-day written notice if he or she decides to move out. You also need to provide a Certificate of Rent Paid form (also known as a CRP) to your renter.

The Minnesota Attorney General's Office has published a handbook titled "Landlords and Tenants: Rights and Responsibilities," which is free of charge if requested and can be found online at www.ag.state.mn.us/Consumer/housing/lt/default.asp. It has a lot of useful information in it for landlords and tenants.

Landlord can show property Q I am a landlord and I am attempting to sell my condo, but my tenant is doing everything he can to prevent me from showing the property.

A Under Minnesota Statute 504B.211, subd. 2, a landlord may enter the premises rented by a tenant for a "reasonable business purpose" such as selling the condo, and by giving reasonable notice.

Many courts find reasonable notice to be one hour. However, I would give this guy 24-hour notice because it's plenty of time for him to get the unit presentable and there should be no complaint about a 24-hour notice.

Under Minnesota Statute 504B.211, subd. 3, (2) it states what the "reasonable business purposes" might be, and showing the unit to a prospective buyer is specifically mentioned.

I would present him with a written 24-hour notice and tell him if he continues to prevent you from showing the unit it's a direct violation of his lease and you will pursue an eviction action based on it.

He doesn't have the right to keep you from showing the unit to prospective buyers.