Certificate of redemption
A certificate of redemption is the document evidencing that a Minnesota foreclosure has been redeemed. It is what stops the sheriff's certificate becoming title.
Who issues it#
The person or officer from whom the redemption is made.
Where the mortgagor redeems from the sheriff or the certificate holder, that party executes it. Where a junior creditor redeems from a creditor who redeemed before them, that earlier creditor executes it.
It is executed and acknowledged in the same manner as a conveyance, because that is functionally what it is.
What it contains#
The statute prescribes the contents, which broadly identify the property, the foreclosure sale being redeemed from, the redeeming party, the amount paid, and the basis on which the redemption was made.
For a creditor redemption it also shows the lien relied on, which is what allows the next creditor in priority to calculate what they must pay.
Record it#
The certificate needs to reach the record promptly.
Until it does, the public record shows a sheriff's certificate and a redemption period, and anyone searching sees a foreclosure that appears to be running to completion. A redemption that happened but was never recorded is invisible to everyone except the parties.
That matters for title, for financing, and for anyone relying on the record — including, for that matter, anyone tracking outcomes from public data.
The sheriff's copy#
A requirement people miss.
A person recording documents produced for a redemption must, on the same day, deliver copies of those documents to the sheriff for public inspection. The sheriff notes the date of delivery and maintains the documents for six months after the end of the mortgagor's redemption period.
There is a fee for the documents delivered.
That same-day requirement exists so that competing creditors, whose own redemption windows are measured in days, can see what has happened without waiting for the recording to appear in the index.
Why it matters as an outcome record#
For anyone measuring what actually happens after Minnesota foreclosure sales, this is the document that distinguishes the two possible endings.
A recorded certificate of redemption means the property was reclaimed. Its absence at the end of the period means the sheriff's certificate ripened into title, silently and with no further filing.
One outcome produces a document. The other produces nothing at all — which is precisely why measuring redemption requires tracking the absence of an event rather than the occurrence of one, and why so few people have reliable figures for it.