Utah · Utah Code §§63L-13-101–63L-13-204Utah foreign land acquisition restrictions: restricted foreign entities, straw buyers and the military-service disclosure

Utah's Restrictions on Foreign Acquisitions of Land Act covers all real property in the state except federal land – private, public and agricultural land, waters and subsurface land (Utah Code §63L-13-101(4)). A restricted foreign entity is a company the U.S. Secretary of Defense must identify as a military company under section 1260H of the FY2021 defense authorization act, an entity owned or directly controlled by the government of China, Iran, North Korea or Russia, their affiliates, subsidiaries and holding companies, a country whose commercial or defense industrial base includes such an entity and its subdivisions and agencies, and any entity in which one of them holds at least 25% (§63L-13-101(7)). A restricted foreign entity may not acquire an interest in land in Utah (§63L-13-201(2)). The Department of Public Safety keeps a public list of restricted foreign entities, county recorders may report a conveyance they suspect is prohibited, and a suspected entity has 30 days after the department's letter to rebut a presumption, or faces a $500 daily fine for not responding (§63L-13-201(4)–(8)). A restricted foreign entity that acquires an interest must alienate it within one year, or the Division of Facilities Construction and Management sells it at public auction (§63L-13-202). A person may not knowingly buy or lease an interest in land on behalf of a restricted foreign entity, with its funds or under its direction; and an individual buying an interest in land must disclose to the county recorder, on the recorder's form, if the individual served in the military of a restricted foreign entity – each violation is a third-degree felony (§63L-13-204). A county recorder isn't liable for a conveyance to a restricted foreign entity (§63L-13-201(7)).