The Washington Report

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently announced that it will not issue any fines, penalties, or enforcement actions against reporting companies and owners for failure to file any Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reports by March 21, 2025. The Treasury Department also recently announced the suspension of enforcement at this time.  as well. The Bureau announced that it will be issuing an interim final rule extending the BOI deadlines, and the rule also may further limit the scope of the rule to foreign owned companies and owners only. 

For more information about the FinCEN update, please see here.  For more information about the Treasury Announcement, please see here. 

NAR will continue to provide you with updates and information related to the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), and the Beneficial Ownership Information reporting rule. 

fincen.gov

home.treasury.gov

Today, NAR sent a letter to Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren of the Senate Banking Committee supporting the nomination of Jonathan McKernan to be the new Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Mr. McKernan has a wealth of regulatory experience in Washington, D.C. having previously served on the FDIC Board of Directors. He has also held positions at the Treasury Department, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and has worked on banking issues on Capitol Hill.

The letter highlights Mr. McKernan's experience and also highlights many of the vital roles the CFPB plays in protecting consumers and enforcing financial services regulations, such as those overseeing the mortgage markets and rules prohibiting discrimination.

A confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday, February 27th.

Read NAR's letter to the Senate Banking Committee.

On February 24, as part of a coalition of housing-provider and real estate industry groups, NAR sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), asking the regulators to delay implementation of several national policies and standards for rental housing providers.  These policy changes, proposed by the Biden Administration, were intended to go into effect on February 28 on multifamily rental properties financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  They are: 1) a mandatory 30-day written notice of a rent increase; 2) a 30-day written notice of a lease expiration; and 3) a 5-day grace period for late fees due to nonpayment of rent.  On February 27, the coalition received word from the FHFA that they will be delaying implementation of these changes until May 31, 2025 so they can review them and determine if they fit within the new Administration’s agenda. 

Rental housing policy is the purview of the states, and this includes regulations for evictions, rent increases, and grace periods – some of which are longer than the FHFA’s proposed standards.  Housing providers create their leases based on their localities’ requirements and in many cases must navigate a patchwork of regulations across jurisdictions.  On top of creating an additional layer of confusion to those regulatory regimes, the FHFA directive would require millions of existing leases to be updated, and would be an unacceptable intrusion by the federal government into a policy area controlled by the states.  NAR continues to prioritize and advocate for national policies that will increase the amount of housing in the country and thus reduce strains on the rental housing market. 

Read the coalition letter to the FHFA. 

Read the FHFA response delaying implementation.