Dive Brief:
- Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against SL Holdings, doing business as Suite Liv’n, alleging that the landlord illegally withheld money from tenants’ security deposits, according to a Nov. 4 press release from the AG’s office.
- The civil enforcement suit, filed in Kandiyohi County District Court, alleges that Suite Liv’n charged tenants for apartment turnover expenses that were the landlord’s responsibility, and collected substantial money from these fees, per the release.
- Suite Liv’n bills itself as a faith-based affordable, workforce housing provider. It owns and rents a large portfolio of multifamily and single-family homes across west-central Minnesota, according to the AG’s office, and operates through a set of 15 limited-liability companies that own the rental properties.
Dive Insight:
Per Minnesota law, landlords can only withhold from security deposits amounts reasonably necessary “to restore the premises to their condition at the commencement of the tenancy, ordinary wear and tear excepted.”
However, Ellison alleges that Suite Liv’n systematically charged tenants $45 an hour for cleaning labor — even when tenants cleaned their apartments meticulously — and frequently billed for carpet cleaning and “COVID sanitization.”
Ellison also alleges that Suite Liv’n misled their tenants by intentionally communicating “confusing, deceptive and wholly illegal assertions” about tenants’ responsibilities at the end of the lease, namely that they could be charged for any cleaning and that they had to return the apartment to the same or better condition as when they moved in.
“Tenants deserve safe, affordable housing, and part of that affordability requires landlords return security deposits to tenants as the law requires. And the law is clear: landlords cannot enrich themselves by charging tenants for expenses that the landlord is required to bear, or for expenses the landlord did not even incur,” Ellison said in the release.
Suite Liv’n is the City of Willmar, Minnesota’s largest landlord, the West Central Tribune reported. In November 2024, Suite Liv’n filed suit against the city over allegations that it arbitrarily enforced city code, failed to comply with Minnesota law and schemed to shut down the landlord’s business operations within Willmar, “resulting in a contentious relationship between Suite Liv’n and the city.”
Multifamily Dive reached out to Suite Liv’n for comment but did not get a response.
