Alerts3.16.26
Indiana Restricts Real Property Investments by Foreign Adversaries
Highlights
- The Indiana General Assembly has passed Senate Enrolled Act 256 (SEA 256) to limit the ownership of real property for businesses and citizens from countries deemed adversarial by the United States of America.
- Indiana’s SEA 256 prohibits citizens and businesses of adversarial countries listed under 15 CFR 791.4 (China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela) from purchasing and renting residential or commercial real property within the state of Indiana, except for certain limited exemptions for purchase and rental of residential real property.
- Beginning July 1, 2026, the Indiana Attorney General (AG) will be given powers to identify and enforce the law against agents of adversarial countries in possession of Indiana property.
- Civil penalties may be imposed, and real property may be subject to forced divestiture, with proceeds from forced sales transferred to the Indiana general fund.
Growing concerns over adversarial country’s owning U.S. land near military installations in recent years has developed into many states passing various levels of restrictions on all categories of land purchasing. Indiana previously passed House Enrolled Act 1183 (HEA 1183) in 2024 to prevent citizens and businesses of foreign adversarial countries, or “prohibited persons,” from purchasing agricultural land. This year, SEA 256 expands state statute to limit prohibited persons from investing in residential or commercial real property beginning July 1, 2026. This legislation also creates the “agent of a foreign adversary” classification.
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