Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, BANK SECRECY ACT—FinCEN delays residential real estate transfer reporting, (Oct 1, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
The Exemptive Relief Order postpones the reporting requirements established under the August 2024 Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers Rule, until March 1, 2026.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has postponed the reporting requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers Rule (RRE Rule). The rule requires certain persons involved in real estate closings and settlements to submit reports and keep records on certain non-financed transfers of residential real property to specified legal entities and trusts on a nationwide basis. The order exempts persons covered by the RRE Rule from all requirements of the rule until March 1, 2026. The Exemptive Relief Order is effective as of Sept. 30, 2025.
The final rule was published in August 2024 to combat and deter money laundering by increasing transparency in the U.S. residential real estate sector, and was intended to take effect Dec. 1, 2025. The rule is designed to combat and deter money laundering by increasing transparency in the U.S. residential real estate sector (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Aug. 29, 2024). The final rule imposes a streamlined suspicious activity report (SAR) filing requirement, under which reporting persons must file a report on certain non-financed transfers of residential real property to legal entities and trusts. The reporting person must identify herself, the legal entity or trust to which the residential real property is transferred, the beneficial owner(s) of that transferee entity or transferee trust, the person(s) transferring the residential real property, and the property being transferred, as well as certain transactional details about the transfer.
According to FinCEN, the reporting requirement is being delayed to give the industry with more time to comply consistent with the Administration’s agenda to reduce compliance burden, while still adequately protecting the U.S. financial system from money laundering, terrorist financing, and other serious illicit finance threats.
Real Estate Reporting Form. FinCEN has also published the Real Estate Report information collection form, which will be used to collect information about certain residential real estate transfers under the RRE Rule.
The rule was implemented because Illicit actors often favor non-financed transfers, including all-cash sales, of residential real estate to avoid scrutiny from financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Transfers that are both non-financed and involve a transferee that is a legal entity or trust are of higher risk for money laundering and make the proceeds of crime, as well as their owners, more difficult to track and identify.
At the time, FinCEN acknowledged that it has historically exempted from comprehensive regulation under the BSA persons involved in real estate closings and settlement.
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