Buying Property With an LLC? The New FinCEN Rule Is Now in Effect (March 2026)

If you’re buying investment property with an LLC or a trust, there’s a new federal reporting requirement that just went into effect. As of March 1, 2026, your closing attorney or title company is now required to report detailed information about you and your entity to the federal government on certain residential real estate transactions — particularly cash deals.

This isn’t a proposal or a future rule. It’s live right now, and it affects closings happening today. In the video below, Tiffany Webber explains exactly what changed, whether it applies to your transaction, what information gets reported, and what you need to do to make sure your closing doesn’t get delayed.

Watch the Full Video

Here’s what you need to know, or watch the full video for Tiffany’s complete breakdown including common scenarios and what to do if you don’t want to provide the information.

What Is the New Rule?

FinCEN — the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — issued a new regulation called the Residential Real Estate Rule. It requires certain real estate professionals (closing attorneys, title companies, settlement agents) to file what’s called a Real Estate Report for specific types of transactions.

You as the buyer don’t file the report yourself. Your closing attorney handles that. But you do need to provide them with information to complete it. And if you don’t provide that information, your closing could be delayed — or the attorney may refuse to close the transaction entirely.

When Does This Rule Apply?

The rule kicks in when all four of these conditions are met.

1. It’s residential real property. That includes houses, townhouses, condos, co-ops, or vacant land where you intend to build a home designed for one to four families. Single family, duplex, triplex, fourplex — all covered. If you’re buying a large apartment building designed for more than four families or commercial property, the rule doesn’t apply.

2. The buyer is a legal entity or trust. This is the trigger. If you’re buying in your personal name as an individual, the rule doesn’t apply. But if you’re buying through an LLC, corporation, partnership, or certain types of trust, it does. Most standard investor LLCs are subject to this rule. Publicly traded companies, banks, and credit unions are exempt.

3. It’s a non-financed transfer. This means you’re paying cash or getting financing from a source that doesn’t have anti-money laundering obligations — like seller financing, a private lender, or a hard money lender. If you’re getting a traditional mortgage from a bank or credit union, the rule doesn’t apply. Banks already report suspicious activity, so FinCEN isn’t requiring additional reporting for those transactions.

4. No exemption applies. Certain transfers are exempt: divorce-related transfers, transfers because someone died, court-supervised transfers, and transfers to a qualified intermediary for a 1031 exchange. However, when the property comes out of a 1031 exchange and goes to your LLC, that transfer may be reportable.

If all four conditions are met, your closing professional has to file the report.

What Information Gets Reported?

If your transaction is reportable, your closing attorney has to send FinCEN the following.

About the property: the street address and legal description, including lot, block, and section.

About your LLC or trust: the full legal name, principal place of business address, tax ID number, and total purchase price.

About the beneficial owners: this is the part that surprises people. The government wants to know who actually owns and controls your entity. For an LLC, that means every individual who owns 25% or more of the LLC or exercises substantial control over it. For each beneficial owner, the report includes their full legal name, date of birth, current residential address, and a unique identifying number — usually a Social Security number.

About signing individuals: anyone who signed documents on behalf of the LLC at closing gets reported as well.

About payment: how you paid for the property. If you wired funds from a bank account, the bank name and account number are reported. If you paid with a cashier’s check, that information is reported. If the money came from an escrow account or trust account held for the benefit of your LLC, the underlying source doesn’t have to be reported. But direct wires from your personal account or your LLC’s operating account do get reported.

Who Files the Report?

Your closing professional does — not you. In North Carolina, that’s typically the closing attorney or title company. There’s a specific reporting cascade that determines responsibility: the settlement agent listed on the settlement statement files first. If there’s no settlement agent, it falls to whoever prepared the statement, then to whoever filed the deed, and so on. The report has to be filed within 30 to 60 days after closing.

What You Need to Do as a Buyer

Expect to provide more information than you used to. Your closing attorney is going to ask for names, dates of birth, and addresses of everyone who owns 25% or more of your LLC, Social Security or passport numbers for those individuals, and details about how you’re paying. This is not optional. If you don’t provide it, the attorney can’t close the deal — they face penalties for filing an incomplete report or not filing at all.

Be prepared to certify the information. Your attorney will ask you to sign a written certification that the information you’ve provided is accurate. They’re allowed to rely on what you tell them as long as you certify it.

Understand this is confidential. The information reported to FinCEN is not public. It’s stored in a secure database accessible only to law enforcement and certain government agencies. It’s not like a deed that anyone can look up at the register of deeds.

What If You Don’t Want to Provide the Information?

You have a few options, but none of them make the requirement go away.

You can buy the property in your personal name instead of an LLC — in which case the rule doesn’t apply. You lose the liability protection of the LLC, but that’s a tradeoff you can evaluate. You can get traditional financing from a bank or credit union, which also exempts the transaction from the reporting requirement. Or you can decline to close — but if you refuse to provide the information and the attorney can’t file a complete report, they’re almost certainly not going to proceed.

If you’re a legitimate investor, the information required is similar to what you’d provide when opening a bank account for your LLC. It’s a compliance step, not a deal-changer.

Common Questions

Does this apply to properties I already own? No. The rule only applies to transactions closing on or after March 1, 2026. There’s no retroactive reporting requirement.

What if my LLC is owned by another LLC? The rule requires reporting the individual beneficial owners. You have to trace ownership up to the actual human beings who own and control the parent entity.

What if I’m using a trust? The reporting requirements for trusts are slightly different. Your attorney will need to report the trustee, certain beneficiaries, and the grantor if the trust is revocable. Talk to your attorney about what specific information they’ll need.

What if I’m buying multiple properties? If they’re in one transaction, the attorney files one report listing all properties. If they’re separate transactions, separate reports are filed.

Watch the full video for Tiffany’s full explanation of every scenario, including the exemptions and what happens if your LLC is part of a 1031 exchange.

Buying Property With an LLC in North Carolina? We Can Walk You Through This.

At Thomas & Webber, we’re already handling closings under the new FinCEN rule. If you’re buying residential property with an LLC or trust in the Lake Norman area and want to make sure your closing goes smoothly, we’ll walk you through exactly what information you need to provide and handle the reporting on our end.

Our offices in Mooresville, Huntersville, and Denver serve investors and buyers throughout the Lake Norman area, including Davidson, Cornelius, Sherrills Ford, Troutman, and Statesville.

Email your contract to [email protected] or call us: (704) 663-1600