The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) made headlines in 2024-2025 for its Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements for most domestic U.S. businesses. Adding to the acronyms, when it came to following through on the CTA requirements, BOI reports were DOA, as the final rule ultimately only applied to foreign companies doing business in the U.S. Now FinCEN has launched a new endeavor impacting the residential real estate industry. Starting March 1, 2026, FinCEN’s Residential Real Estate (RRE) Rule requires certain professionals involved in real estate closings and settlements to submit reports to FinCEN regarding certain non-financed transfers of residential real estate to legal entities or trusts. Learn more about FinCEN real estate reports to ensure compliance.
What transactions require a FinCEN Real Estate Report?
According to the FinCEN RRE Fact Sheet, the agency is targeting the following four criteria:
- the property is residential real property;
- the transfer is non-financed;
- the property is transferred to a legal entity or trust, and
- confirming that an exemption does not apply.
Let’s define these a bit further! Residential real estate includes, but is not limited to:
- single-family house (or 1-4 families structure)
- townhouses
- condominiums and cooperatives, including condominiums and cooperatives in large buildings containing many such units, as well as entire buildings designed for occupancy by one to four families.
- properties with a commercial element, a single-family residence that is located above a commercial enterprise, for example
- certain types of land on which a residence is not yet built are also included
FinCEN has also honed in on non-financed residential real estate transfers which have, historically, been utilized in money laundering schemes. Non-financed transfers are those that do not involve a traditional, institutionally secured loan, such as all-cash purchases, private financing, or seller-financed deals.
Additionally, one buyer/transferee must be a legal entity or non-natural person (corporation, LLC, partnership) or a trust. These also include “any transfer of an ownership interest in residential real property that is demonstrated through a deed or, for an interest in a cooperative housing corporation, through stock, shares, membership, a certificate, or other contractual agreement evidencing ownership…this definition includes purchases of residential real property for any amount, as well as transfers of ownership for which no consideration is exchanged, such as a gift.”
Commercial real estate transfers and transactions do not require a RRE report.
Transfers made directly to an individual are also not covered by this rule.
Who must file the FinCEN Real Estate Report? And what information must be reported?
Typically, settlement agents (including many members of our own Real Estate team, as FLB is an approved title insurer writing title insurance for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company “CLTIC”) must complete the FinCEN RRE report. In absence of a settlement agent, FinCEN provides a “reporting cascade” to identify the professional(s) responsible for filing the report, which may include title insurance agents, escrow agents, and attorneys. There is only one reporting person for any given reportable transfer.
The following information should be included in the FinCEN RRE report:
- The reporting person;
- The legal entity (transferee entity) or trust (transferee trust) receiving ownership of the property;
- The beneficial owners of the transferee entity or transferee trust;
- Certain individuals signing documents on behalf of the transferee entity or transferee trust during the reportable transfer;
- The transferor (e.g., the seller);
- The residential real property being transferred; and
- Total consideration and certain information about any payments made.
When and how must the FinCEN Real Estate Report be filed?
Reporting persons must submit their RRE reports within 30 calendar days after the date of closing or by the final day of the month following the month in which the reportable transfer occurred. They should also retain a copy of the transaction’s beneficial ownership information certifications for five years.
FinCEN has created a space on their E-filing system for RRE Reports in advance of the March 1 deadline. However, other online portals (such as SoftPro and AgentTRAX) will have capabilities to report RRE Reports directly to FinCEN.
Legal guidance for FinCEN RRE reports
Since October 2025, FinCEN already started rolling out Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) requiring Covered Businesses to collect and report information about certain residential real estate transactions in certain jurisdictions, including high profile areas of California, New York, New Jersey, and other areas with higher instances of using non-financed transactions to launder money. The March 1 deadline has already been delayed twice previously.
FLB is paying close attention to deadlines to ensure compliance as a reporting party. Failure to comply could include civil and criminal penalties, including up to $5,000 for each violation and imprisonment for up to 5 years.
Stay tuned for additional FinCEN RRE report updates from our Real Estate, Land Use & Development team.
Paralegal Kevin Gaeta helped assemble this blog.
