LLC by use
An LLC for Your Rental Property
Most landlords who form an LLC do it for one reason: they want the rental, and the claims that can come with it, held by a company rather than in their own name. The LLC owns the property (or holds the lease), signs the lease with the tenant, collects the rent and pays the expenses. If a tenant or a visitor sues over something that happens at the property, the claim is against the company.
Forming the LLC is the easy part. It is a short state filing that names the company, a registered agent and the people organizing it. The parts that take thought come before and after: which state, whether each property gets its own company, how the deed and the mortgage are handled, and how the rent gets paid into a company account from day one.
Form the LLC, filed for you
Pick the state, answer a few questions, and we prepare and submit the filing. Every cost is shown before you pay.
Start My LLCWhy an LLC for This
Separates the property from your personal assets
An LLC is a separate legal person. Kept properly (its own bank account, leases in its name, no mixing of money), it is the party a tenant's lawsuit is brought against, not you personally. That separation is the whole point, and it only holds up if the company is actually run as a company.
Keeps the books clean
Rent in, repairs out, all through one account in the company's name. At tax time the property's numbers are already separated from your household's. A single-member LLC is ignored for federal income tax by default, so the rental still reports on your own return; the bookkeeping just gets simpler.
Makes partners and sales simpler
Bringing in a co-investor, or selling your interest later, means transferring membership in a company instead of re-deeding real estate. The operating agreement sets out who owns what share and who decides.
What the Application Asks You to Decide
- Which state
- Usually the state where the property sits. An LLC formed elsewhere generally has to register in the property's state as a foreign company anyway, which means two filings and two sets of yearly reports. Wyoming or Delaware holding companies make sense for some portfolios, but a single rental in Ohio is almost always an Ohio LLC.
- One LLC or one per property
- Owners with several properties often keep each in its own LLC so that a claim at one building cannot reach the others. Each company is its own filing and its own annual report, so the cost scales with the count. One property, one LLC is the common starting point.
- Who manages it
- The application asks whether members or managers run the company. A landlord who owns and runs the rental alone is a member-managed single-member LLC. Co-investors who want one person handling tenants pick manager-managed.
- The registered agent
- Every state requires a registered agent with a street address in that state, available in business hours to receive legal papers. You can serve yourself if you live in the state. Out-of-state owners name a registered agent service.
After the State Approves It
- Open a bank account in the company's name and route rent and expenses through it from the first month.
- Decide, with your lender and a professional, how the property gets into the company: transferring a mortgaged property can trigger the loan's due-on-sale clause, and the deed transfer itself is a county filing with its own fee and possible transfer tax.
- Put the lease in the company's name at the next renewal, and update the landlord's insurance so the LLC is the named insured.
- Calendar the state's annual report. The fee and due date are on your state's page and in the to-do list we send with the approved filing.
General information about how LLCs are commonly used, not legal, tax or investment advice. Whether an LLC, and which structure, fits your situation is a question for an attorney or accountant who knows your facts.
File in the States Owners Pick Most
- FloridaFile in Florida
- TexasFile in Texas
- OhioFile in Ohio
- GeorgiaFile in Georgia
- North CarolinaFile in North Carolina
- ArizonaFile in Arizona
Every state and DC is available in the application. Each state page shows that state's fee, filing portal and typical processing.
Questions
Can I move a property I already own into a new LLC?+
Often, but it is a deed transfer, and if there is a mortgage the lender's consent usually matters. This is the step to run past a real estate attorney or your lender before you file anything with the county. Forming the LLC first costs nothing extra; the deed comes after.
Does an LLC lower the taxes on my rental?+
By itself, no. A single-member LLC is disregarded for federal income tax and the rental reports the same way it did before. The company changes who is liable, not how the income is taxed. Some states charge LLCs an annual tax or fee, which is a cost, not a saving.
Do I need a separate LLC for each rental?+
It is a judgment call about risk and cost. Separate companies keep a claim at one property away from the others, at the price of a filing fee and annual report for each. Many owners start with one company and split later as the portfolio grows.
What does the application ask for?+
The company name, the formation state, your mailing address, the owners (and managers if you choose manager-managed) and the registered agent. The property address is not part of the state filing. It takes about ten minutes.
How fast is the filing submitted?+
On a standard order your filing goes to the state within 3 business days. Choose same-day submission and an order placed before 2 PM Eastern on a business day goes in that day. The state's own review time comes after that and varies by state.
Ready to form the company?
One short application. State filing & processing itemized before you pay.
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America LLC Filing is a private filing service, not affiliated with any government agency.