Who is behind an LLC that owns land?
A good share of the tracts worth buying are held in a company name. Why, and how little the public record in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia says about who is behind it.
Why land is so often held in an LLC
Families, investors and developers put land in limited liability companies to limit liability, to hold it with partners and to pass it to the next generation without re-deeding it. For a buyer, that means the owner on the county record is a company name and a mailing address, often a lawyer’s or an accountant’s office. The person who decides is one or two steps further on.
What the county record shows
The county property record and tax bill show the owner name, here a company, and the address the tax bill goes to. That address is often an attorney’s or accountant’s office rather than the owner’s.
What the state business registries show
Every LLC registers with a state, usually the one where the land is. The registries differ a great deal in what they show:
| State | What its business registry usually shows |
|---|---|
| South Carolina | The registered agent and the filing history. South Carolina LLCs generally file no annual report, and the Secretary of State says it does not hold officers’ names, so the person may not appear at all. |
| North Carolina | The registered agent, the principal office and annual reports, which must list the company officials by name, title and business address (N.C. Gen. Stat. 57D-2-24). |
| Georgia | The registered agent, the principal office mailing address and the annual registrations. The law does not require an LLC to name its members or managers, so many do not. |
The original formation filing (articles of organization) names an organizer, which is often the lawyer who formed the company but sometimes the owner. It is worth opening.
What a registered agent is
Every LLC must name a registered agent: a person or company that accepts legal papers for it. In a small family company the agent is sometimes an owner. Often it is a lawyer or a national agent service whose only job is to forward documents, so the agent is not necessarily someone who can talk about selling land.
What about the federal ownership reports?
The federal Corporate Transparency Act once required most small companies to report their owners to FinCEN. FinCEN has since exempted companies created in the United States, and its beneficial ownership records were never public in any case: only government agencies and, with the company’s consent, banks can see them (FinCEN). They are not a way to find a land owner.
Keep it respectful and lawful
Use public records for what they are for. Before you call, check the do-not-call and telemarketing rules that apply to you, and honor any request to stop. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
For more on approaching owners, see off-market land.
How Land Shark helps
Getting from a company name on a tax bill to a person you can call takes hours of searching across counties and states. Land Shark does it from the parcel.
- For a company owner, Land Shark points your rep to the person to contact, right from the parcel.
- Every owner becomes a contact in your pipeline, with every call and letter logged.
- Once your team has looked up a company, the next parcel it owns is one click.