The TISH Report: The Minneapolis and Saint Paul Rule That Catches Sellers Off Guard

Most sellers plan for the buyer’s inspection. Fewer know that in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, there’s an inspection that happens before anyone can even look at the house — and that skipping it can stall your listing before it starts.

What a TISH actually is

TISH stands for Truth in Sale of Housing. Both Minneapolis and Saint Paul require the seller to hire a city-licensed evaluator, who walks the property and produces a disclosure report on its condition. That report becomes part of what buyers see.

It’s worth understanding what it is not. A TISH is not the buyer’s home inspection, and it doesn’t replace one. A buyer’s inspector is hunting for anything that might cost you money or change your mind. A TISH evaluator is looking at a narrower question: does this property meet the city’s basic safety and habitability standards? Different job, different report, different person paying for it.

Whose house needs one

In Minneapolis, the requirement covers single-family houses, duplexes, townhouses, and first-time condominium conversions. Saint Paul’s list is similar and includes condos and townhomes. Buildings with three or more units, commercial, and mixed-use properties fall outside it.

There are exemptions. A city-issued Certificate of Occupancy on new construction, or a Certificate of Code Compliance, can stand in place of a TISH under specific conditions — each with its own validity window. Saint Paul also exempts sales to immediate family, defined narrowly as a direct line: grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, siblings. Aunts, uncles, and cousins don’t count.

The timing trap

This is the part that catches people, so it gets its own section.

Evaluators are private contractors, not city employees, and they book up. If you decide on a Thursday that you want to be live on the MLS by the weekend, the TISH is what tells you no. Sellers who plan around it lose nothing; sellers who discover it lose a week of momentum — and in a market where the first ten days carry most of your negotiating leverage, that week is expensive.

The practical move is simple: schedule the evaluation as soon as selling becomes a real plan, well before photos, staging, or a list date.

Required repairs versus recommendations

Your report will separate items the city requires from items the evaluator merely suggests. Only the required ones carry weight.

And required doesn’t automatically mean you fix it. If repairs aren’t completed before closing, the buyer can sign an acknowledgement of responsibility and take them on, with a window after closing to finish the work. That flexibility is genuinely useful — it’s how an as-is sale stays possible in a TISH city — but it’s a negotiating point, not a formality. A buyer who inherits a repair list will price that into their offer.

Some required repairs need a permit, and some need a licensed trade. After the work is done, a reinspection confirms it. Saint Paul’s one universally required item in a single-family home is an operational hard-wired smoke alarm; if yours is missing or dead, expect a letter and a licensed electrician.

The energy disclosure, which is really a marketing document

Minneapolis evaluators also collect energy performance data — insulation, windows, heating — and the results land in an Energy Disclosure Report at the end of your TISH.

Most sellers treat this as one more box. I’d treat it as free copy. Twin Cities buyers think hard about February heating bills, and a home with solid attic insulation and a decent furnace has a real story to tell. If your report is strong, we say so in the listing. If it’s weak, we’d rather know before a buyer does.

How to walk in prepared

• Clear the access points. Evaluators need the basement and mechanicals, every bedroom and bath, the attic, the garage, and the exterior. A blocked electrical panel becomes a note on your report.
• Handle the cheap stuff first. Both cities publish lists of commonly required repairs. Loose railings, missing outlet covers, dead smoke alarms, a cracked window — fix them and they never appear.
• Compare evaluators. They set their own fees and the cities don’t recommend anyone. Prices vary.
• Keep the report handy during showings. A seller who hands over the report without being asked reads as confident. It changes the tone of the whole conversation.

One more thing about reuse

Don’t assume an old report carries forward. TISH reports have limited validity and are generally tied to a specific sale and a specific named seller. If a deal falls through and time passes, or if you bought a home that had required repairs outstanding, verify the status with the city rather than guessing. Minneapolis publishes TISH reports and related forms on its property information pages, which makes checking straightforward.

Requirements are set by each city and change. Verify current rules with the City of Minneapolis and the City of Saint Paul. Other metro cities including Bloomington, Saint Louis Park, and South Saint Paul have their own time-of-sale requirements.