Rochester, MN Rental Property Rules: Rental Registration (2026)

Section 7-9-1(a) bars an owner from allowing occupancy, and bars anyone from renting or offering to rent, any dwelling, apartment or rooming unit without a registration certificate first, which the chapter also calls a rental license. The certificate issues in the owner's name, and for a multi-unit building it covers both the whole structure and each individual rental unit, so the city can suspend or revoke just one unit's standing without shutting down the building. Subsection (b) lets an owner advertise a unit for rent while an application is pending with the director, for up to 90 days without paying fees, but all fees are due before the city will schedule the required inspection.

Subsection (f) requires any owner who doesn't live in Minnesota or keep a corporate office in the state to appoint a resident agent, and any owner who doesn't live in Houston, Winona, Fillmore, Olmsted, Goodhue, Dodge, Mower or Wabasha County to appoint a local property manager, both of whom must sign the application. Owners who leave a home vacant only to prep it for sale can skip the certificate under subsections (g) and (h) by listing it on the MLS, contracting a licensed real estate company for property maintenance, and registering that exemption with community development every six months, limited to single-family homes, condo or townhouse units, and one exemption per owner.

Section 7-9-2 requires the application to be filed at least 30 days before a dwelling converts to a use that needs a certificate. Fees run $112 per building and $37 per unit under the section 7-3-6 fee schedule, with a $20 transfer fee when title changes hands.