Truth in Sale of Housing
Truth in Sale of Housing is Minneapolis's point-of-sale inspection requirement. Before a house can be shown to buyers, a licensed evaluator must assess it and produce a report.
Several Minnesota cities operate similar programmes under various names — time-of-sale, point-of-sale, property maintenance inspection — with different rules. Minneapolis's is the one most people encounter.
What it covers#
Single-family houses, duplexes, townhouses, and first-time condominium conversions being sold in Minneapolis.
The evaluation must be completed within three days of offering the property for sale — by listing, advertising, or putting a sign up — and before it can be shown to prospective buyers.
A full report has to exist before showings begin. That deadline catches sellers who list first and arrange the evaluation afterwards.
Who does it#
A licensed evaluator, not a city employee. They set their own prices, typically a few hundred dollars, so it is worth comparing.
The report is a disclosure document listing required repairs and voluntary recommendations. Since 2020 the evaluation also collects home energy data.
A Minneapolis TISH report is good for two years or one sale.
Required repairs, and who does them#
The seller can complete them before closing.
Or they can pass to the buyer, who signs an acknowledgement of responsibility and must complete the repairs within 90 days of closing.
The buyer, the buyer's agent and the closer are jointly required to file that acknowledgement and a copy of the report with the city within one day after closing. Where a current Certificate of Approval is presented at closing, the acknowledgement is not needed.
After repairs, reinspection is required — by a city inspector where a permit was involved, by an evaluator where it was not. The city then issues a Certificate of Completion.
The exemptions#
Two certificates remove the requirement.
A Certificate of Code Compliance, issued after a property is brought out of condemnation, good for up to one year.
A Certificate of Occupancy, issued for newly built properties.
Not a home inspection#
The distinction matters and buyers get it wrong.
TISH is a city requirement, arranged and paid for by the seller, focused on code compliance and specified repairs.
A home inspection is commissioned by the buyer, far broader, and assesses overall condition and remaining service life — the furnace, the roof, the sewer line.
A rental licence inspection does not resolve TISH items either. They are separate programmes with separate requirements.
Buyers should read the TISH report and still get their own inspection. The first tells you what the city requires fixing. The second tells you what you are actually buying.