HART Act

The Housing Acquisitions Review and Transparency Act (HART Act) would overhaul how the premerger notification requirements under the federal Clayton Act (the Hart-Scott-Rodino framework) apply to residential property. The core change is to treat all acquisitions of residential property by a single buyer within one calendar year as a single transaction for purposes of HSR filing, and to require filing whenever the annualized, aggregated acquisitions cross the relevant reporting thresholds. In addition, the Act narrows the existing exemptions: transactions that include residential property or investment rental property not solely for an individual’s personal use (including real estate investment trusts) would not be exempt from filing. The FTC and DOJ would be charged with updating regulations and issuing rules to implement these changes, including the form and documentary material needed for reporting. In short, the bill aims to increase scrutiny of someone’s yearly residential-property activity and tighten exemptions, expanding which deals must be filed and reviewed for potential antitrust concerns.