Do You Need a TISH Inspection to Sell Your Minneapolis Home?

Yes — if you’re selling a single-family home, duplex, townhouse, or first-time condo conversion in Minneapolis, the city requires a Truth-in-Sale of Housing (TISH) evaluation within three days of putting your home on the market and before any buyers can tour. The evaluation runs roughly $200 to $400, takes about an hour, and flags items the city considers safety or code issues. Required repairs must be completed within 90 days of closing — but they don’t have to be done by you. The buyer can sign an Acknowledgment of Responsibility at closing and take them on themselves.

By Brandyn Negri | April 27, 2026

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Three days. That’s the window Minneapolis gives you.

Once your home is officially “on the market” — the moment a sign goes up, the listing goes live, or you start showings — you have 72 hours to schedule a TISH evaluation with a city-licensed evaluator. No buyer can step inside until that evaluation is complete and the report is on display.

I bring this up on the first call with every Minneapolis seller. It catches more people off guard than almost any other piece of the local selling process, and once you’ve missed the window, you’re trying to play catch-up with a listing that’s already live.

Here’s what TISH actually is, what it costs, what gets flagged, and how the repair list works in practice.

What TISH is — and what it isn’t

TISH stands for Truth-in-Sale of Housing. It’s a Minneapolis city ordinance that requires a disclosure-style evaluation of certain residential properties before they’re sold. St. Paul has its own version, and a handful of other Minnesota cities have similar programs, but most of the metro doesn’t have anything like it.

TISH is **not** a traditional home inspection. The evaluator isn’t writing you a 60-page report on HVAC efficiency or recommending preventive maintenance on the deck. The TISH report is narrower:

– Health and safety items

– City code compliance

– Disclosure of known defects

If a buyer’s inspector later finds a hairline crack in your driveway, that’s a different conversation between you and the buyer. The TISH report focuses on items the city considers actual hazards or violations.

Properties that need a TISH:

– Single-family homes

– Duplexes

– Townhouses

– First-time condo conversions

Previously-owned condos don’t need one. Properties with current rental licenses follow a different set of rules.

What it costs and how long it takes

The City of Minneapolis doesn’t set evaluator pricing — each licensed evaluator sets their own. Most run between $200 and $400, depending on home size and complexity.

The visit itself usually takes about an hour. The report typically lands in your hands within a day or two. Once it’s filed, it’s good for **two years or one sale**, whichever comes first. If you list, pull the home, and re-list within that window, you generally don’t need a new TISH unless something has materially changed.

Worth knowing: you have to hire someone licensed by the City of Minneapolis. Your buyer’s inspector — or a private inspector you’ve used in the past — can’t substitute. The city maintains a list of licensed evaluators, and most are also private home inspectors who do TISH work as a separate service.

What gets flagged

Common required-repair items include:

– Missing or expired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

– Improper or missing GFCI outlets in kitchens, bathrooms, and exterior locations

– Loose or missing handrails on stairs

– Bedroom egress windows that don’t meet current code (a real one in older South Minneapolis stock)

– Knob-and-tube wiring still in active use

– Improper venting on water heaters or furnaces

– Plumbing leaks

– Damaged or missing exterior siding allowing water intrusion

– Auxiliary heat sources in living spaces without proper clearance

This isn’t an exhaustive list. The city publishes a full evaluator checklist, but the spirit is consistent: anything the city considers a meaningful risk to an occupant.

For older homes — and that’s a lot of the housing stock in Linden Hills, Kenwood, Lake of the Isles, Lake Harriet, and other neighborhoods built before WWII — handrails, electrical, and egress windows are the most common surprises.

Required vs. recommended — the part that confuses sellers most

Items on the report fall into two categories:

**Required repairs** — items that must be addressed before the city will issue a Certificate of Approval (COA)
**Recommended items** — items the evaluator notes for the buyer’s awareness but that don’t block the sale

Here’s the part most sellers don’t realize: **you’re not required to fix anything before listing.** You can list a Minneapolis home with required repairs outstanding, show it, accept an offer, and close — without ever picking up a tool.

The mechanism is the **Acknowledgment of Responsibility**. At closing, the buyer signs a form taking on the required repairs themselves. The form gets filed with the city within one day of closing, and the buyer has 90 days from the closing date to complete the work.

That said — and this is something I always walk my clients through — there’s a strategic question separate from the regulatory one. Required repairs visible on a TISH report can spook buyers, especially first-timers and out-of-state buyers who aren’t familiar with how the program works. A few hundred dollars of pre-list electrical work can save you a price-reduction conversation later. Other times, transferring repairs to the buyer is the right call. The decision depends on your timeline, your budget, your price range, and the buyer pool you’re likely to attract.

How TISH fits with everything else you have to disclose

Minneapolis sellers carry a stack of disclosure obligations. TISH is one piece. The others include:

– Real Property Disclosure Statement (RPDS) — required by Minnesota statute for most residential sales. This is where you disclose every known material fact about the property: water intrusion history, foundation issues, prior repairs, anything that could affect a buyer’s decision.

– Radon disclosure — required under Minnesota’s Radon Awareness Act, including any prior test results and any installed mitigation systems.

– Lead paint disclosure — required for homes built before 1978.

– Well Disclosure Certificate — if your property has a well (rare inside city Minneapolis, more common in the surrounding metro).

– Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS) disclosure — if applicable.

The TISH report doesn’t replace any of these. It’s an additional, Minneapolis-specific layer that lives alongside state disclosure law.

If you’ve also done a pre-listing inspection — that’s the comprehensive 60-page report from a private inspector you hired voluntarily — that’s separate too. Pre-listing inspections aren’t required, and they don’t replace either TISH or the RPDS. They can be useful for catching things before a buyer’s inspector finds them and uses them as a renegotiation lever, but they’re an entirely optional add-on.

What happens if you skip it

Don’t.

Showing a Minneapolis home before completing a TISH evaluation violates the city ordinance. You expose yourself to fines, you create disclosure issues if a buyer later argues they weren’t given the report, and you hand your buyer a clean reason to back out without losing earnest money.

In practice, your title company and your listing agent will both stop the transaction before it gets that far — but I’ve watched FSBO sellers and sellers working with out-of-state agents stumble into exactly this mess. It’s avoidable, and it’s expensive when it happens.

How I usually walk sellers through this

A few weeks before list date, TISH comes up at the prep meeting. We schedule the evaluator early — often before final staging — so the report is in hand when the listing goes live.

If required repairs come back, we triage them: what’s a quick fix you can knock out before photos, what’s worth handing to a licensed contractor, and what’s reasonable to leave for the buyer’s Acknowledgment of Responsibility. We make that call together, grounded in your timeline, your budget, and what’s typical for buyers in your specific price range and neighborhood.

The goal isn’t to minimize the report. It’s to put you in a position where the TISH never becomes a surprise — to you or to your buyer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a TISH evaluation cost in Minneapolis?

Most licensed evaluators charge between $200 and $400, depending on home size and complexity. The City of Minneapolis doesn’t set rates — each evaluator prices independently — so it’s worth getting two or three quotes before you book.

How long is a Minneapolis TISH report valid?

A TISH report is good for two years or one sale, whichever comes first. If you list, pull the home, and re-list within that window, you generally don’t need a new evaluation unless something material has changed about the property.

Do I have to make all the required repairs before closing?

No. Required repairs can be completed by either the seller before closing or the buyer after closing. If the buyer takes them on, they sign an Acknowledgment of Responsibility at the closing table, and the city gives them 90 days from the closing date to complete the work.

Does a pre-listing inspection replace a TISH?

No. They’re two different things. A pre-listing inspection is a voluntary, comprehensive inspection you hire privately to spot-check the home before buyers see it. TISH is a city-mandated disclosure evaluation focused specifically on safety and code items. You can do both, but the TISH is the only one Minneapolis requires.

What kinds of properties need a TISH inspection?

Single-family homes, duplexes, townhouses, and first-time condo conversions in Minneapolis all require a TISH evaluation before sale. Previously-owned condos and certain rental-licensed properties operate under different rules. If you’re not sure where your property falls, your agent or the city’s TISH office can confirm before you list.

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The 3-day window, the $200–$400 fee, and the required-repair list aren’t the most exciting parts of selling your Minneapolis home — but getting them right early is what keeps your listing on track once you’re live. If you’re planning a Minneapolis sale this spring or summer and want to walk through the timeline together, I’m happy to talk it through. Reach out anytime.

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About Brandyn Negri

Relationship-first connector with a do-the-right-thing work ethic. I’ve served clients and led agents since 1997, blending high-end marketing, calm coaching, and strong negotiation to help people buy and sell with confidence. Today, I serve the neighborhoods of Lake of the Isles, Kenwood, Linden Hills, and Lake Harriet with my partner, Josh Zuehlke.