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GlossaryRedemptionMinnesota law

Five-week redemption period

2 min read
Short answer
A five-week redemption period applies where a Minnesota property is found abandoned under Minn. Stat. 582.032, or where the owner postponed the sale under 580.07. The abandonment route requires the property to be ten acres or less, improved with a residential dwelling of fewer than five units that is not a model home or under construction, and not in agricultural use.

Five weeks is Minnesota's shortened redemption period. It arrives by two completely different routes, and confusing them causes real damage.

Route one: abandonment#

Under Minn. Stat. 582.032, the redemption period can be reduced to five weeks where the property is found abandoned.

The criteria are specific. The property must be:

  • ten acres or less in size
  • improved with a residential dwelling of fewer than five units, which is neither a model home nor a dwelling under construction
  • not used in agricultural production

A lender cannot simply assert abandonment. The reduction requires a determination, and the property must actually meet the statutory description.

Route two: postponement#

The owner's own choice, under Minn. Stat. 580.07.

An owner-occupant of a homestead with no more than four dwelling units can postpone the sale — five months where the redemption period was six, eleven where it was twelve — by recording a sworn affidavit at least 15 days before the scheduled sale.

The price of that delay is accepting a five-week redemption period afterward.

Why the two routes feel so different#

Abandonment is imposed. The property is empty, the owner has left, and the shortened period reflects that nobody is going to redeem.

Postponement is chosen. The owner traded redemption time for occupancy time, deliberately, having weighed the two.

The same five weeks means completely different things depending on which route produced it — which is why the sheriff's certificate must state the actual redemption period rather than leaving it to be inferred.

The deficiency position is unchanged#

Worth noting because the shortened period looks punitive.

Minn. Stat. 582.30 subdivision 2 bars a deficiency judgment where a mortgage is foreclosed by advertisement with a six-month period under 580.23 subd. 1 or a five-week period under 582.032.

So the abandonment route does not expose the borrower to a deficiency. The debt still ends at the sale.

Five weeks is not much#

Practically, it is enough time to complete a redemption where the money already exists and almost nothing else.

A sale of the property during the period is generally not achievable in five weeks. A refinance is not. Raising a lump sum from family might be, if the conversation started before the sale.

That is the honest position, and it is why the postponement trade needs thinking about carefully. Five extra months in the house is real value. So is the difference between six months and five weeks to arrange money — and only one of those can be had.

Watch the certificate#

Because the period varies so much, the sheriff's certificate is the authoritative statement of which one applies to a specific property. Anyone tracking a deadline should read it there rather than assuming the default.

Common questions

What makes a property abandoned for this purpose?
Minn. Stat. 582.032 sets criteria: ten acres or less, improved with a residential dwelling of fewer than five units which is neither a model home nor under construction, and not used in agricultural production. A court determination is required — a lender cannot simply declare a property abandoned.
Why would an owner accept a five-week period?
In exchange for postponing the sale by five or eleven months under Minn. Stat. 580.07. The owner gains months of occupancy and gives up most of the redemption window, which is a rational trade only where redeeming was never realistic.
Does the deficiency bar still apply?
Yes. Minn. Stat. 582.30 subd. 2 covers five-week periods under 582.032 as well as six-month periods, so a foreclosure by advertisement in that category still carries no deficiency judgment.
Keep reading
Redemption period
The window after a Minnesota sheriff's sale in which the former owner can reclaim the property by paying the sale price plus interest and costs.
Postponement of sheriff's sale
Delaying a Minnesota foreclosure sale — by the lender, or by an owner-occupant trading months of delay for a five-week redemption period.
Reduced redemption period
A Minnesota redemption window shortened below the statutory default, by an abandonment finding, an owner's postponement, or a voluntary foreclosure.