Lienholder Responsibility Guidelines

Responsibility of the Lienholder General Guidelines

The following are important requirements that must be met in order to have a successful sale:

• Individual or business bringing forth the action. In order for you to act as lienholder over property, you must have met the statutory requirements set forth in the subdivisions of Minnesota State Statutes 514.18 or 514.19.
• 90 days must have lapsed after the bill becomes due to the lienholder.
• Notice to secured creditors on the certificate of title. If the property is a motor vehicle and there are secured creditors on the certificate of title, the lienholder must provide written notice to the secured creditors by certified mail at least 45 days prior to the sale date:
  • The notice must state the name, address, and telephone number of the lienholder, the amount of money owed, and the rate of storage charges if they are accruing
  • Costs for certified mail and other reasonable costs related to complying with this notice provision constitute “lawful charges.”
  • Failure to comply with the notice provision in this section renders any lien created by this chapter ineffective against any secured party listed on to the certificate of title of the motor vehicle involved. (The notice to secured creditors may or may not be the same as the notice of sale. Each notice requires specific statutory language be included so draft the notice accordingly.)
• The sale herein provided for shall be made at public auction between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. in the county where the property or some part thereof is situated. Lienholders should contact the Sheriff’s Office where the property is situated for the days and dates that work best. The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office requests that sale dates be set Tuesday through Thursday. Please call the Civil Division in advance to schedule your sale date and time. Please allow enough time to complete the required notifications. Sales cannot be scheduled on Sundays and holidays. The sale should begin on the hour and not on the half-hour since the sale must take place within the stated hour.
• The notice of sale must state the date, time, and location of the sale; the amount that will be due on the date of the sale exclusive of the expenses of advertising and sale; the grounds of the lien (for what reason) and give a general description of the property to be sold.
  • The notice shall be served upon the owner of the property if he/she lives Sherburne County. If the owner does not live in Sherburne County, the notice should be mailed to their last known address at least three weeks prior to the sale date if the place of residence or post office address of owner is known by, or with due diligence can be learned by, the person claiming such lien.
  • The notice of sale shall be published once each week for three successive weeks in a newspaper printed and published in the county where the property, or some part thereof, is situated, the last publication of such notice to be at least one week prior to the date of sale. If there is no newspaper printed and published in the county, then the notice of sale shall be posted in three of the most public places in the county at least three weeks before the time of sale. In Sherburne County you must publish in one of the three official county newspapers: Becker Citizen, Elk River Star News or the Big Lake West Sherburne Tribune.
  • In case neither the place of residence nor the post office address of such owner is known to the person claiming such lien and cannot with reasonable diligence be learned, the publication or posting of notice, as herein provided, shall be sufficient to authorize such sale. The notice of sale to be served should read the same as the notice that is published in the newspaper. The same statutory information is required.
• General Description. If the property is a motor vehicle, the notice of sale should include the make, model, year, and vehicle identification number (VIN). Verification should be made by getting a copy of a vehicle printout from the State of Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services (DVS) and confirm it with the VIN on the vehicle. While this is not a statutory requirement, you need to check to see if there are secured creditors listed on the certificate of title and using the VIN is the easier way to do that. The DVS will release information on the vehicle to businesses bringing forth the sale upon request and receipt of the accompanying fee but will not release information to private individuals who are lienholders who bring forth the sale.
• Vehicle Printouts may be requested from:
  Driver and Vehicle Services
  445 Minnesota Street, Suite 190 Town Square Building
  St. Paul, MN 55101-5190
  Driver Services Phone: 651-297-3298 (TTY: 651-282-6555)
  Vehicle Services Phone: 651-297-2126
  Office Hours: M-F 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
  
  Email Motor Vehicle Services
  Download the Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) form (PDF).