Notice of intent to redeem
A notice of intent to redeem is the filing that puts a junior lienholder into the redemption queue after a Minnesota foreclosure.
Holding a junior lien is not enough. The right to redeem after the mortgagor's period expires belongs to creditors who filed, and only to them.
Why the mechanism exists#
When a senior mortgage forecloses, junior liens attached to the property are extinguished by the sale. A second mortgage, a judgment lien, a mechanic's lien — all wiped out.
The redemption right gives those creditors a way to protect themselves: redeem from the certificate holder, take the property subject to their own lien, and recover what they can.
But the certificate holder needs to know who might appear. So the statute requires creditors to declare themselves in advance, in the record, rather than turning up on the last day.
What has to be done#
Broadly, the creditor must record the notice of intent to redeem, and deliver documents to the sheriff — typically a recorded copy of the notice, a recorded copy of the lien itself, and recorded copies of any assignments in the chain.
Counties publish their specific requirements, and Hennepin County sets out its process on its foreclosure pages. There are fees.
The theme is documentary: the sheriff must be able to see, from recorded instruments, that this creditor holds what they claim to hold.
What it preserves#
A place in the queue, not an obligation.
After the mortgagor's redemption period expires, the most senior junior creditor who filed may redeem within 14 days under Minn. Stat. 580.24. Creditors below them follow in seven-day periods in order of priority.
A creditor who filed and then decides the property is not worth redeeming simply does not act, and the next one moves up.
Why a certificate holder watches for these#
Because they are the early warning that a redemption may be coming.
A certificate holder counting down a quiet six months, planning renovation and resale, needs to know whether any junior creditor has filed. A recorded notice of intent to redeem changes the expected outcome entirely.
They are public, recorded and dated, which makes them checkable — and checking is considerably cheaper than discovering it at the end.
For a homeowner#
A notice of intent to redeem filed by a junior creditor is not directed at the owner and does not affect the owner's own redemption period.
What it does mean is that if the owner does not redeem, the property is more likely to be redeemed by a creditor than to sit with the certificate holder — which changes who the owner is dealing with afterward, though not the deadline they face.