Short answer: if you own your practice’s building, it’s common — and often wise — to hold it in a separate entity (typically an LLC) that leases the space to your practice at fair-market rent. This separates the real estate’s risks and value from the operating business, clarifies the tax picture, and gives you flexibility to keep the building when you eventually sell the practice. As always, the right structure is state- and fact-specific.
Why separate the building from the practice?
When the same entity owns both the operating practice and the real estate, a problem with one can put the other at risk, and the two get tangled together at sale. Holding the building in its own LLC keeps the property’s value and liabilities distinct from the day-to-day business — a cleaner, more protected, and more flexible arrangement that mirrors how many owners already think about the two assets.
How does the structure work?
Typically, a separate LLC owns the building and signs a lease with your practice entity at a fair-market rent. The practice pays rent (a deductible business expense) to the LLC, which owns the property, holds the mortgage, and collects the income. It’s the same money moving within your control — but now organized so the real estate stands on its own.
What are the benefits?
- Liability separation — the operating business and the property aren’t exposed to each other’s risks.
- Transition flexibility — you can sell the practice and keep the building and its rent as retirement income.
- Tax clarity — a documented, fair-market lease keeps the arrangement clean for your CPA.
- Estate planning — real estate in its own entity can be simpler to transfer or divide among heirs.
- Financing — lenders and buyers often prefer the property and practice cleanly separated.
Does this help at sale or transition?
Significantly. With the building already in its own entity, you have clean options at transition: sell the practice and keep the building as an income stream, sell both separately, or lease to the buyer. It removes a common point of friction in practice sales and lets you optimize the real estate independently of the business.
What are the downsides to weigh?
A separate entity adds a little administrative overhead — another return, another set of books, and the discipline to keep it clean. For most building-owners that cost is small relative to the benefits, but it’s a real consideration, and whether it’s worthwhile depends on your situation and state law.
Frequently asked questions
Many owners do. Holding the building in its own LLC that leases to the practice separates the real estate’s risks and value from the operating business, keeps the tax picture clean, and preserves flexibility to keep the building when you sell the practice. The right approach is state-specific, so confirm it with a tax attorney and CPA.
A fair-market lease between your separate real-estate LLC and your practice documents the arrangement, keeps the entities distinct for liability purposes, and produces clean, deductible rent for the practice and rental income for the LLC. Proper documentation and market-rate rent are essential to hold up.
Yes. With the property already in its own entity, you can sell the practice while keeping the building as retirement income, sell them separately, or lease to the buyer — removing a common source of friction in practice transitions.
Sources
Founder & Financial Planner · Investment Adviser Representative · Series 63 & 65
Ian McGinnis is the founder of Dental Wealth Partners and a fee-only financial planner dedicated to dentists. As an investment adviser representative (Series 63 and 65), he built the firm to give dentists coordinated, fiduciary advice across their practice, taxes, investments, retirement plans, and long-term goals — the whole picture in one strategy. A graduate of Belhaven University, Ian previously worked at Davis Private Wealth, MML Investors Services, and Northwestern Mutual, and is based in the Jackson, Mississippi area. He is the author of The Wealthy Dentist and hosts the Smiles & Cents podcast.
Keep reading
- Should a dentist own the building their practice is in?Owning your practice’s building can be a powerful wealth-builder — your practice pays rent to you — but it isn’t always right. Here’s how to decide.
- How should a dentist structure their practice entity?Most dentists operate through a professional entity (PC or PLLC), often with an S-corp tax election. How entity choice affects liability and taxes.
- Asset protection strategies for dentistsDentists face real liability exposure. A layered approach — insurance, entities, retirement accounts, and titling — helps protect personal and practice assets.