Owning real estate in limited liability companies is a legal and increasingly popular practice, but it also speaks to the growing role of LLCs in the nation’s housing market and some of their unintended consequences, according to a New York Times commentary. LLCs shield property owners from personal liability while obscuring their identities. But so much anonymity also enables money laundering, and it can mean that tenants struggle to hold landlords accountable, that cities fail to fix blight and that researchers can’t answer basic questions about the housing market. As much as people may want to keep their financial dealings private, the housing market has long been an unusually transparent place, according to the commentary. There is little good national data tracking the rise of LLCs. But in 2015, according to the Census Bureau’s Rental Housing Finance Survey, about 15 percent of all rental properties were owned by LLCs, limited liability partnerships or limited partnerships. That represented one-third of all rental units, and that can include single-family houses or apartment buildings.
*The views expressed in this commentary are from the author/publication cited, are meant for informative purposes only, and are not an official position of ABI.