Every tax has the effect of a judgment against the person.

Every tax, penalty, or interest, including redemption penalty or interest, on real property is a lien against the property assessed.

Every tax on improvements is a lien on the taxable land on which they are located, if they are assessed to the same person to whom the land is assessed.

Every tax on improvements assessed to a person other than the assessee of the land on which they are located may become a lien on the real property of the owner of such improvements or be assessed on the unsecured roll. In order for such tax on improvements to be a lien on any parcel of real property of the owner of such improvements, the fact of such lien must be indicated on the secured roll where any such parcel of real property is listed.

Whenever improvements are owned by a person other than the owner of the land on which they are located, the owner of the improvements or the owner of the land may file with the assessor a written statement before the lien date attesting to their separate ownership, in which event the land and improvements shall not be assessed to the same assessee.

Such written statement shall not be required annually following the year in which it has been filed but shall remain in effect until such time as either, or both, of said separate ownerships shall have been transferred or until such written statement of separate ownership shall have been canceled by either the owner of the land or the owner of the improvements.

Whenever real property has been divided into condominiums, as defined in Section 783 of the Civil Code, (a) each condominium owned in fee shall be separately assessed to the owner thereof, and the tax on each such condominium shall constitute a lien solely thereon; (b) each condominium not owned in fee shall be separately assessed, as if it were owned in fee, to the owner of the condominium or the owner of the fee or both (and the tax on each such condominium shall be a lien solely on the interest of the owner of the fee in the real property included in such condominium and on such condominium), if so agreed by the assessor in a writing of record; such an agreement shall be binding upon such assessor and his successors in office with respect to such project so long as it continues to be divided into condominiums in the same manner as that in effect when the agreement was made.

Whenever a portion of a parcel of land, other than that used for grazing or other agricultural purposes and property assessed by the State Board of Equalization, is subject to a lease which is recorded or for which a memorandum of lease is recorded and which provides for a term (including options to renew) of 15 years or more from the commencement date of the lease and which requires the lessee to pay, or to reimburse the lessor for, the property taxes (or any portion thereof) on the leased premises, the assessor shall separately assess the land and improvements subject to the lease and the land and improvements not subject to the lease upon application for such separate assessments by the lessor or lessee prior to the lien date; provided the boundaries of the leased area do not pass through any improvement except along a bearing partition; and provided that each parcel as described must have access frontage on a dedicated street. The assessor shall thereafter continue to make such separate assessments until the expiration date of the lease or at an earlier date should the lessor or lessee file a written request that the separate assessments be discontinued.

The assessor may, in his discretion, assess the leased premises to the lessor or the lessee; provided, that if the lessor is assessed, all notices of assessment and tax bills relating to the leased premises shall be mailed to the lessor in care of the lessee at the lessee’s latest address known to the assessor, or a copy of such notices and bills shall be mailed to the lessee at such address.

(A) The assessment attributable to the value of the separately owned lot, parcel, or area and the improvements thereon.

(B) The assessment attributable to the share in the common area reserved as an appurtenance of the separately owned lot, parcel, or area.

(C) The new base year value of the common area resulting from any change in ownership pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 60) or new construction pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 70) attributable to the share in the common area reserved as an appurtenance of the separately owned lot, parcel, or area.

defined in Section 4135 or 6546 of the Civil Code.

condominium projects for which a condominium plan is recorded after that date.

The entity owning the mobilehome park shall file an annual statement for each succeeding assessment year, on or before April 1, with the assessor, setting forth any changes to the required information known to the entity. The information provided pursuant to this section is not a public document and shall not be open to public inspection, except as provided in Section 408.

The assessor shall separately assess undivided interests in accordance with Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 2801) of Part 5.

Separately billed taxes on state-assessed personal property when delinquent may be collected through use of unsecured tax collection procedures. Any of those taxes, including penalties and cost charge, which remain unpaid after June 30, shall be transferred to the unsecured roll or abstract and shall become subject to additional penalties as provided in Section 2922.

A tax on personal property belonging to an owner of real property on the secured roll located in the same county as the personal property, where the personal property is not located upon the real property on the lien date, is, on and after the lien date, a lien on the real property, having the force, effect and priority of a judgment lien from and after the lien date, if, on or before the lien date:

Any tax which becomes a lien on the real property in accordance with this section shall be subject to the provisions of this division relating to the rate and date of payment of taxes on the secured roll for the current year; and in the event of any delinquency in the payment of such tax, the personal property on which it has been levied shall be subject to seizure and sale in accordance with Sections 2951 to 2963, inclusive, of this code.

This section does not apply to any tax which became a lien on the first Monday in March of 1958, and shall first be operative with respect to taxes levied for the fiscal year 1959–60.

Every tax on personal property and improvements, located upon or appurtenant to a leasehold estate for the production of gas, petroleum or other hydrocarbon substances from beneath the surface of the earth, and belonging to the owner of the leasehold estate, may be secured by the leasehold estate, when, in the opinion of the assessor, the leasehold estate is of sufficient value to constitute security for the payment of all taxes upon that personal property or improvements and upon that leasehold estate. In the event of delinquency in the payment of that tax, the personal property, improvements, and leasehold estate shall be subject to seizure and sale in the same manner as provided for the seizure and sale of unsecured personal property, in Sections 2951 to 2962, inclusive, at any time within three years after the delinquency. Suit may be brought against an assessee of those taxes in the event of delinquency in the payment thereof.

If the tax thereon remains unpaid at the time set for the declaration of default for delinquent taxes, the tax together with any penalty and costs as may have accrued thereon while on the secured roll shall be transferred to the unsecured roll.

Those taxes that are delinquent at the time the amendment to this section, enacted at the 1973–74 Regular Session, goes into effect may also be transferred to the current unsecured roll.

Improvements that constitute component parts of a water distribution system located in whole or in part on property assessed to a person other than the assessee of the land on which they are located shall be assessed as improvements on the secured roll. However, those assessments shall not be a lien on the land on which those improvements are located and that fact shall be noted on the secured roll.

If the tax thereon is unpaid when any installment of secured taxes becomes delinquent, the tax collector may use the same collection procedures available for the collection of taxes on the unsecured roll.

If the tax thereon remains unpaid at the time set for the declaration of default for delinquent taxes, the tax together with any penalty and costs that may have accrued thereon while on the secured roll shall be transferred to the unsecured roll.

Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (a), (b), or (c), the assessment of any floating home made pursuant to Section 229 shall be entered on the secured roll and shall be subject to all provisions of law applicable to taxes on the secured roll.

Upon application, the county tax collector may issue tax clearance certificates. Those certificates shall be used to permit registration of used floating homes, as defined in Section 18075.6 of the Health and Safety Code, and for any other purposes as may be prescribed by the Controller. The certificates may indicate that the county tax collector finds that no local property tax is due or is likely to become due, or that any applicable local property taxes have been paid or are to be paid in a manner not requiring the withholding of registration or the transfer of registration. The certificates shall be in any form which the Controller may prescribe, and shall be executed, issued, and accepted for clearance of registration or permit issuance on any conditions which the Controller may prescribe.

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the assessment of any possessory interest in tax-exempt real estate to which the exemption authorized by Section 218 has been applied shall be entered on the secured roll. However, the assessment shall not be a lien on the tax-exempt real estate and that fact shall be noted on the secured roll.

If the tax thereon is unpaid when any installment of taxes on the secured roll becomes delinquent, the tax collector may use the procedures which are applicable to the collection of taxes on the unsecured roll.

If the tax thereon remains unpaid at the time set for the declaration of default for delinquent taxes, the tax applicable to the possessory interest together with any penalties and costs which may have accrued thereon while on the secured roll shall be transferred to the unsecured roll.

If the tax on an assessment of a possessory interest in real estate of the Veterans Welfare Board is not paid before delinquency, the amount of the tax, penalties and costs shall be paid by said board and added to the amount due under the contract for the property.

Every tax on an assessment of a possessory interest or a tax on an assessment of improvements made pursuant to the provisions of Section 2188.2 shall become a lien on such possessory interest or such improvements, provided that in those instances where the real property that is the subject of such possessory interest or upon which such improvements are located is not tax-exempt land, the fact of such lien shall be indicated on the secured roll where the real property that is the subject of such possessory interest or upon which such improvements are located is listed.

From the time of filing the certificate for record pursuant to Section 2191.3, the amount required to be paid together with interest and penalty constitutes a lien upon all personal and real property in the county owned by and then assessed to and in the same name as the assessee named in the certificate or acquired by him or her in that name before the lien expires, except that the lien upon unsecured property shall not be valid against a purchaser for value or encumbrancer without actual knowledge of the lien when he or she acquires his or her interest in the property. The lien has the force, effect, and priority of a judgment lien and continues for 10 years from the time of the recording of the certificate unless sooner released or otherwise discharged.

Within 10 years from the date of the recording of the certificate or within 10 years from the date of the last extension of the lien, the lien may be extended by filing for record a new certificate in the office of any county recorder and from the time of the filing the lien as obtained under the original certificate shall be extended to all personal and real property in the county owned by the assessee for 10 years unless sooner released or otherwise discharged. Execution shall issue upon the lien upon request of the tax collector or the official collecting taxes on the unsecured roll in the same manner as execution may issue upon other judgments, and sales shall be held under that execution as prescribed in the Code of Civil Procedure.

Section 2191.4 does not give the county a preference over any other lien which attached prior to the date when the certificate of delinquency of unsecured property tax, tax on possessory interest, tax on goods in transit or such tax on improvements respectively, was recorded, and the lien set forth in Section 2191.4 is subordinate to the preferences given to claims for personal services by Sections 1204 and 1206 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Except as otherwise provided in Section 2191.4, the lien resulting from the recording of the certificate pursuant to Section 2191.3 shall be removed and discharged either:

Notwithstanding any other law, the board of supervisors of a county may adopt an ordinance or resolution to provide that a tax on real or personal property is not a lien against the property assessed or the assessee and shall not be recorded by the tax collector if the amount of the tax assessed against the property or the assessee is less than an amount set by that ordinance or resolution, up to two hundred dollars ($200), excluding any interest, penalties, or other fees. This section does not authorize a county to exempt any property from taxation, and does not

relieve the taxpayer from the obligation to pay any tax.

Except as otherwise specifically provided, all tax liens attach annually as of 12:01 a.m. on the first day of January preceding the fiscal year for which the taxes are levied.

Every tax declared in this chapter to be a lien on real property, and every public improvement assessment declared by law to be a lien on real property, have priority over all other liens on the property, regardless of the time of their creation. Any tax or assessment described in the preceding sentence shall be given priority over matters including, but not limited to, any recognizance, deed, judgment, debt, obligation, or responsibility with respect to which the subject real property may become charged or liable.

Upon the sale, other than a tax sale under this division or a sale pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 2920) of Chapter 2 of Title 14 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, conducted under judicial process or otherwise by any sheriff, trustee, receiver, or other ministerial officer, of any real property upon which ad valorem property taxes or assessments are due and unpaid at the time of sale, the proceeds from that sale shall, after the payment of necessary and incidental sale expenses, be first applied to the amount of those ad valorem property taxes and assessments and be transmitted by the conducting officer to the officer responsible for the collection of those taxes and assessments.

Every lien created by this division has the effect of an execution duly levied against the property subject to the lien.

Thirty years after any tax becomes a lien, if the lien has not been otherwise removed, the lien ceases to exist and the tax is conclusively presumed to be paid. The official having charge of the records of the tax shall mark it “Conclusively presumed paid.” Property for which a power to sell has been recorded for nonpayment of taxes is not subject to the provisions of this section.