Remember the FinCen residential real estate reporting requirements? Beginning March 1, 2026, real estate professionals were required to report information related to non-financed acquisitions of residential real estate. On March 19, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an order vacating the rule. The Court decision is under appeal. Reporting requirements are currently suspended.
The reporting requirements, termed the Residential Real Estate (RRE) Rule, originated under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) codified at 12 U.S.C. §1829b, 12 U.S.C. §1951-1960, and 31 U.S.C. §5311-5314. These federal statutes are sometimes referred to as an “anti-money laundering” (AML) law or jointly as “BSA/AML.” The statutes authorizes the Department of the Treasury to impose reporting and other requirements on financial institutions and other businesses to help detect and prevent money laundering. “FinCen” is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the United States Treasury Department. Since as far back as 2016, FinCen has required certain real estate professionals to report information in certain geographic areas of Florida under Residential Real Estate Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs). The Rule expanded reporting requirements nationwide.
The Rule itself requires real estate professionals to report information about certain residential real estate transactions. Only non-financed purchases of residential property transferred to a certain type of entity or trust trigger the reporting requirement. “Non-financed” is broader than it sounds: it includes seller financing, and loans from non-institutional lenders. Reports must include information about the property transferred, the buyer, and the seller. Reports are due the latter of 30 days after closing, or the last day of the month following the month of closing.
While the Rule remains in legal limbo, the Rule’s reporting requirements are not dead. Title insurers, Realtors, and attorneys are monitoring the appeal and will provide guidance once a decision is final. In the meantime, additional information about the Rule is available at https://www.fincen.gov/rre.
As of now, no reporting is required. There is no current federal penalty for failing to report while the appeal is pending. In the meantime, FinCen can still use GTOs, and use existing investigative tools to review specific transactions. Going forward, real estate professionals may still collect information regarding parties to real estate transactions and should be prepared to comply with the Rule should the Rule be reinstated.
Michael C. Caborn is a shareholder at Winderweedle, Haines, Ward & Woodman. For most of his career, he practiced in the areas of business litigation involving contract disputes, bankruptcy, creditors rights and collections, foreclosure litigation, real property and receiverships. Michael has a great deal of experience litigating disputes across Florida on behalf of financial institutions, servicers, businesses and individuals. He also handles bankruptcy disputes and appeals statewide. More recently, Michael began handling real estate transactions and loan workouts on behalf of institutional lenders and borrowers.