City guide
What Columbia Heights asks of a seller before a sale closes — and what it doesn’t. Every line below cites the city, county or state page it came from, so you can check it yourself.
All sources last checked between 2026-08-18 and 2026-10-15. Columbia Heights is in Anoka County, Minnesota.
This is a reference document, not legal advice, and city rules change. Confirm anything you are relying on with Columbia Heights before you act on it.
Required · Columbia Heights
Columbia Heights Time-of-Sale (TOS) Housing Inspection Program (Ordinance No. 1695) requires a city inspection prior to sale, gift, or transfer of all 1–3 unit residential dwellings, condos, townhouses, and mobile homes (4+ unit buildings exempt). $160 application fee covers initial and final inspection; re-inspections $65 each. Immediate hazard items (heating, electrical, plumbing, structural, smoke detectors, abandoned fuel tanks) must be corrected before a Certificate of Property Maintenance is issued, or buyer must assume obligations with city-approved written consent and cash escrow. The seller must also have the property's sewer line televised. The seller schedules that inspection, the city does not provide it, and the video and a copy of the Sewer Inspection Cover Letter must be submitted to both the building official and potential buyers.
Source: https://www.columbiaheightsmn.gov/housing/time_of_sale_program.php · checked 2026-10-15
Not required · Columbia Heights
The Columbia Heights Time of Sale page describes one program, the Time-of-Sale (TOS) Housing Inspection Program, whose requirements are a Time-of-Sale Housing Inspection by the city inspector, correction of the immediate hazards found or an approved buyer escrow, and a sewer line inspection the seller arranges, ending in a Certificate of Property Maintenance. The hazards found are listed in a Time-of-Sale Housing Evaluation Report; the page does not mention a separate Truth in Sale of Housing evaluation. The TOS program is covered in the point-of-sale inspection entry above.
Source: https://www.columbiaheightsmn.gov/housing/time_of_sale_program.php · checked 2026-10-15
Required in some cases · Columbia Heights
Columbia Heights does not issue a certificate called a certificate of occupancy for the resale of an existing home. The certificate it does require is the Certificate of Property Maintenance from the Time of Sale program described above. Ordinance No. 1695, passed April 22, 2024 and in effect May 22, 2024, added § 5A.501 to the city code, which bars the sale, gift or transfer of residential property without first obtaining that certificate. The city issues it only after the Time of Sale inspection, the correction of immediate hazards or an approved buyer escrow, and review of the sewer line inspection, and it is the certificate that allows the sale to proceed. The certificate is the final step of the Time of Sale process; the fees the page lists are a $160 application fee, which covers the initial and final inspections, and $65 for each later inspection of corrections. The requirement covers single, two and three family dwellings, condominiums, townhouses and mobile homes. Multifamily rental buildings with four or more units are not included.
Source: https://www.columbiaheightsmn.gov/housing/time_of_sale_program.php · checked 2026-10-15
Required in some cases · Columbia Heights
Applies to properties sold as, or converted to, rentals. Columbia Heights requires a rental license for every non-owner-occupied dwelling unit, including units occupied rent-free by relatives and short-stay rentals under 30 days, administered by the Fire Department inspection office. Rental licenses do NOT automatically transfer: a buyer of an existing rental must submit a transfer application, fee and documentation within 30 DAYS of the sale or the license automatically expires. A transfer also requires that the property be in compliance with city code; if it is not, the seller must give the buyer a copy of any open compliance orders or violation notices, and the buyer must submit a signed and notarized statement to the inspection office acknowledging receipt of those documents and accepting full responsibility for the required corrections or repairs. The City also enforces a rental density cap on single-family homes: a single-family license automatically expires if the property sits in an area over that limit, so a single-family rental may not be re-licensable by the buyer at all.
Source: https://www.columbiaheightsmn.gov/rental_licensing.php · checked 2026-10-15
Open question
No requirement identified for this city. That is not the same as confirming there is none — confirm with the city. Columbia Heights Public Works Department.
Required · Minnesota
Minnesota imposes a state deed tax on the deed that conveys the property. The rate is 0.0033 of the net consideration under Minn. Stat. 287.21, and the person who conveys the property is liable for it under Minn. Stat. 287.24. It is due when the deed is presented for recording, which for a Columbia Heights home is at Anoka County. Anoka County is at the state rate with no Environmental Response Fund tax; that additional 0.0001 applies only in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. Anoka County also collects a $5 conservation fee on the recording of a deed subject to the deed tax, which Minn. Stat. 40A.152 requires of every metropolitan county as defined in Minn. Stat. 473.121, subd. 4.
Source: https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/deed-tax-rate · checked 2026-10-14
Required · Minnesota
Minnesota Statutes section 144.496, the Minnesota Radon Awareness Act, requires a seller to disclose in writing, before signing an agreement to sell or transfer residential real property, any knowledge the seller has of radon concentrations in the dwelling. The disclosure must include whether a radon test has occurred, the most current records and reports on radon concentrations in the dwelling, a description of any radon concentrations, mitigation or remediation, information on any installed mitigation system, and the statutory Radon Warning Statement. The seller must also give the buyer the Minnesota Department of Health publication 'Radon in Real Estate Transactions'. The duty applies to the transfer of any interest in residential real property, whether by sale, exchange, deed, contract for deed, lease with an option to purchase or any other option, with thirteen exceptions listed in the statute, including gratuitous transfers, foreclosures, transfers to heirs and transfers to a spouse, parent, grandparent, child or grandchild. A seller who fails to disclose while aware of material facts about radon in the dwelling is liable to the buyer, and the buyer's action must be commenced within two years after closing.
Source: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/144.496 · checked 2026-10-15
Required · Minnesota
Well disclosure required statewide under Minn. Stat. 103I.235. Before signing an agreement to sell or transfer real property, the seller must disclose in writing the status and location of all known wells. At recording, the deed must either carry a statement that there are no wells or be accompanied by a well disclosure certificate — a county recorder may not record the deed without one.
Source: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/103I.235 · checked 2026-08-18
Required in some cases · Minnesota
Minn. Stat. 116.48 subd. 6 requires an owner to record an affidavit with the county recorder or registrar of titles of the county where the property is located before transferring ownership of property the owner knows contains an underground or aboveground storage tank, or knows once contained a tank that had a release for which no corrective action was taken, or when the agency requires the affidavit as a condition of a corrective action under chapter 115C. The affidavit states the legal description of the property, a description and location of the tank and any known release, any restrictions on use of the property resulting from a release, and the owner's name. Before transferring property the owner knows contains a tank, the owner must also deliver to the purchaser a copy of the affidavit and any additional information needed to make it accurate as of the date of transfer. Under subd. 5 a person who sells property the seller knows contains a storage tank must also inform the purchaser in writing of the owner's tank notification requirements under that section. Failure to record the affidavit does not affect or prevent the transfer.
Source: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/116.48 · checked 2026-10-15
Mailing city can differ from the municipal jurisdiction — confirm the property is actually within these city limits (check the county parcel record) before relying on this checklist.
What every Minnesota seller has to sort out, wherever the home is: what to sort out before you list, the seller’s inspection checklist and all selling guides.
← Michael Affeldt, Realtor