What you need to know about the GTO

     

FinCEN is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, operated by the US Department of the Treasury

GTO is a Geographic Targeting Order

 

This GTO establishes a pilot program scheduled to run six months, from March to August 2016.

The scope of the program is residential properties in New York County (Manhattan) and Miami-Dade County in Florida, when there is cash transaction of $3,000,000 (three million dollars) or greater.

 

NYSLTA is working in concert with ALTA, who is playing a major role:

·         ALTA is in contact with FinCEN to clarify terms and definitions in the GTO

·         ALTA will host a call for agents in New York;  FinCEN and the underwriters who received the GTOs will be leading the calls along with ALTA.

·         ALTA is working with the four underwriters on a common notice and fact sheet, which will be the basis of each underwriter’s instructions to their agents.

·         A notice and fact sheet will be developed for the general real estate community and will be co-branded by NAR, ALTA and NYSLTA to help ease concerns in the marketplace as we head into the Spring and Summer buying seasons.

 

Information collected by the agents as required by the GTO will be reported up to the underwriters, who will submit reports to FinCEN.

 

Many agents are already collecting purchaser identity information required by NYC Department of Finance (DoF) for the NYC-RPT, so this may be viewed as an incremental requirement.

 

FinCEN will back-check the GTO reports with data from the NYC DoF to ensure all transactions are reported and the data is both consistent and complete.

 

FinCEN will publish a FAQ document with additional guidance for the underwriters, which will resolve additional questions and concerns as they arise.

 

The pilot program has not yet launched and some changes in the reporting protocol may evolve. Stay in touch with your underwriter and check with NYSLTA for further updates.

 

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You can view the GTO here:

 https://www.fincen.gov/news_room/nr/files/Real_Estate_GTO-NYC.pdf

The best explanation to date of the GTO has been prepared and published by our friends at the Florida Land Title Association. We re-print key segments of their report, with permission:

 

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued orders on Wednesday, January 13, 2016, that will temporarily require certain U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind companies used to pay “all cash” for high-end residential real estate in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, and Miami-Dade County, Florida.

The stated reason underlying these orders is to gather information regarding all-cash purposes of high-end homes by individuals, through the use of companies designed to hide their identities, for the purpose of hiding assets and other money laundering purposes. These orders issued by FinCEN will require title insurance companies, their subsidiaries and agents to identify and report the true “beneficial owner” behind a legal entity involved in these targeted high-end residential real estate transactions in Manhattan and Miami-Dade County. 

The title insurance company, or its subsidiary or agent involved in the transaction, must obtain and record a copy of the driver’s license, passport, or other similar identifying document of this individual and of the “Beneficial Owner,” who is defined as each individual who, directly or indirectly, owns 25% or more of the equity interests of the Purchaser. The form will also report information about the identity of the Purchaser, including the Beneficial Owner of the Purchaser. This form will also report the date of closing, the amount transferred in the form of a monetary instrument and the total purchase price of the residential real property involved. If the Purchaser is a limited liability company, then the form must also include the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of all its members.

The American Land Title Association (“ALTA”) has sent FinCen a letter requesting that the agency define the term “representing the purchaser”… ALTA’s letter proposes that the agency adopt the definition of the term “residential” as it is used under RESPA for purposes of determining whether a “Covered Transaction” has occurred. This letter also recommends that the FinCEN’s Order should not cover transactions when only a de minimis amount of the transaction price (suggested threshold is $10,000.00) is paid via a Monetary Instrument. ALTA’s letter to FinCEN recommends the term “agent” be limited only to people or entities with a contractual relationship with the covered title insurer.

 

Earlier today, we sent an email blast with the Orange County Clerk's announcement of a 10-document limit for recordings.  The memo is attached to this blog post.

  

Land Records Committee Member Sarah LaBar obtained further clarification:

"... It applied to "walk ons" only and doesn't affect documents dropped off in the receiving box. And the clerk clarified that it is per COMPANY, not per person."

  

 

The information in this blog post was bulk-emailed on Dec 18, 2015. 

  

Some Members have difficulty getting our email-blasts, so I am posting it here. - RGT

 

 

Westchester County offers training on YouTube

County Clerk Timothy Idoni issued the following announcement.

WHITE PLAINS, NY: Westchester County Clerk Tim Idoni is pleased to announce the launch of the County Clerk's YouTube channel, currently featuring tutorial videos on how to use the Clerk's PREP System to record land records.  The following videos are currently available:


Basics of Using PREP for Recording Land Records in Westchester County

Entering a Deed and creation of Transfer Tax Forms in PREP

Entering a Mortgage in PREP

Entering a Satisfaction of Mortgage in PREP

These videos help customers who need to submit land records, such as deeds or satisfactions of mortgage, for recording in the Office of the County Clerk.

More videos will be added in the coming months to help users navigate services offered by the County Clerk's Office. 

To access the videos, visit YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/TheWestchesterClerk

For more information visit www.westchesterclerk.com.

 

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Orange County announces web site subscription fees

Effective January 1, 2016 there will be a subscription fee to access the Orange County Land Records website.

Fees are as follows:

    Unlimited access {view only) $150.00 per quarter in State subscribers.
    Unlimited access {view only) $600.00 per quarter out of State subscribers.
    Copies are an additional per page fee of .65 cents payable by credit card.
    Non subscriber timed access $15.00 for fifteen minutes.

Initial account must be established by check, renewals can be payable by credit card. Cancellation can be done anytime by notifying IQS, however any unused portion is nonrefundable. Service will commence once payment is received.

For more information, contact Kelly Eskew, Deputy County Clerk  (845) 291-2697.

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Nassau County Fee increases

On Monday December 21, the Nassau County Legislature is in public session starting at 1 PM. (Click for details)

We are planning to present public comment at that session to address the recent fee increases which took effect on December 7th.

A Title Action Network Alert will be issued next week asking Nassau County Members to contact their County Legislator. The TAN Alert allows you to add personal comments to the legislator email.

If you are a TAN Member, make sure your account is active or if you want to join the Title Action Network, go to: http://www.titleactionnetwork.com/

  

 

The recent disruption in Mineola notwithstanding, the NYSLTA has enjoyed a long and fruitful working relationship with the County Clerks of NY State.  The title insurance industry is among the greatest users of the land records system, by volume, and title people play a key role in the ongoing "perfection" of the records.

  

I am pleased to report that the Office of the Nassau County Clerk has committed to regular meetings with NYSLTA's Land Records Committee. We are confident this will allow us to better inform the Members on the optimal use of the Clerk's facility and enable us to resolve issues as they arise.

  

If you click this link to the Land Records Update  you will see an announcement from the Suffolk County Clerk about upcoming fee changes.

  

Last week we re-distributed an announcement from the Albany County Clerk on their land records system conversion.  Rockland County's Clerk sends us announcements regularly, which we share with the Membership via email blasts, this news blog and committee updates.

  

It takes such small effort to achieve great results.

  

 Have you hugged a county clerk today? 

 

  

 

 

A delegation of the NYSLTA Title Insurance Section met with Nassau County Clerk O'Connell and her senior deputies on Monday October 26 at the County Office Building in Mineola, NY. A group of Xerox team members joined via phone conference.

  

The conversation was informative and businesslike.

 

As of this date, the Xerox team is projecting completion of implementation and internet access to the system by mid-November.  Anyone who is familiar with complex systems such as this must acknowledge the potential for unforeseen delays.  It is only reasonable to allow some flexibility to this target date.

  

The ACS system is currently in use in other NY counties and these can be found via uslandrecords.com and nylandrecords.com. 

  

When the new system is fully launched, the Clerk intends to offer informational presentations and training sessions for her staff as well as public users of the system.  The title industry must anticipate slightly longer task completion times while people become accustomed to the new system and different ways of searching and examining land records.

  

The cost for accessing the system and using different features have not yet been announced.

 

Clerk O'Connell has committed to ongoing meetings with the NYSLTA Land Records Committee on a quarterly basis.