Landlords and other property owners may wish to transfer ownership of their rental properties from themselves to a Limited Liability Company. They do so to transfer potential liability from themselves to the limited liability company. Outlined below are the basic steps to transfer real property from an individual to a Limited Liability Company. Your situation may differ and may require additional steps not outlined below. As always, if you have any doubts or questions, you should consult with an attorney familiar with such transfers.
1. You will need to draft a new deed reflecting the transfer from the individual owner to the Limited Liability Company. Property owners often employ an attorney to perform this step. The deed will need to be signed by the transferring party and his/her signature will need to be notarized. The deed will indicate that a small amount of consideration was paid for the property (generally $10). Make sure to consult your county recorder’s website for specific document formatting requirements. If you fail to format your deed correctly, you may incur additional filing fees. As an example, I have linked to the Franklin County Recorder’s Document Standardization page.
2. You will then need to obtain a “Statement for Reason for Exemption From Real Property Conveyance Fee” from the county auditor. The Franklin County Auditor transfer room is located at 373 S. High St., Columbus, Ohio 43215, Floor 19. The actual form is in triplicate, and I do not know if they will accept a facsimile of that form. They may update their form from time to time. You can obtain the most recent form at the address above. For transfers from an individual to a Limited Liability Company, you generally check box m on the form.
3. You will also notice on the form that an Affidavit of Facts Relating to Title must be filed. See the example that I have linked above. The auditor also accepts estate planning and lender requirement reasons in lieu of capital contribution as stated in the affidavit.
4. The Auditor generally charges a small fee ($0.50 in Franklin County) for this transaction. Check with your county auditor for rates.
5. From there, the Auditor or the property owner will take the deed to the County Recorder for recording. You will need to provide an address to the recorder where it may send the recorded deed. I am linking to the Franklin County Recorder’s website for a listing of fees. You may also need to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the Recorder.