Everything You Need to Know About Proposition 19

What is Proposition 19? 

Proposition 19 is The Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families, and Victims of Wildfire or Natural Disasters Act that gives exemptions to older homeowners, the disabled and wildfire victims, and also strips breaks from people who inherit homes, but don't live in them. 

Several changes in the rules on eligible homeowners, specifically for those who inherited the property from their parents or grandparents. Changes in rules were also made for inherited properties. 

These are some of the most important ones that you need to know: 

CHANGES IN THE RULES FOR ELIGIBLE HOMEOWNERS

We'll be defining "eligible homeowners" as those who are principal owners of the home, as well as the owners who inherited their homes from their parents and/or grandparents.

• When it comes to moving to anywhere in a state, eligible homeowners are allowed to keep their lower property tax even though the home that they've moved to indicates otherwise. 
• Eligible homeowners are also allowed to purchase a more expensive home and because of the special rules, their property tax will still go up but not as much as it would be for other homeowners. 
• These special rules are also allowed to be used thrice by those homeowners who are over 55 years old, or severely disabled. 

CHANGES IN THE RULES FOR INHERITED PROPERTIES

There are also a few changes in the rules for inherited properties. 

• Inherited properties should now be used only as a home or a farm by the child or grandchild in order for the special rules to apply. If not, an increase in property tax is applicable. 
• Inherited properties' property tax bill would go up if the price the property could be sold for exceeds the property’s taxable value by more than $1 million (adjusted for inflation every two years). In this case, the tax bill would go up but not as much as it would if the property were sold to someone else. 
• Homes affected by wildfire will be given funds, however due to the pandemic, legislative analysts believe that the wildfire funding will only start to flow by 2025. 

There are definitely a lot more changes and implications in this act.

If you're interested in reading the complete bill, here's the complete copy.

If you're more of an auditory or visual learner, here's a video on the discussion of Proposition 19. 

Use this to calculate your property taxes under Proposition 19! 

And if you're looking for a realtor to explain this to you further, especially if you're directly affected by these changes, we'd be glad to help you out. Call 925-415-0835 today! 

Other resources: 

https://www.boe.ca.gov/prop19/#Introduction

https://www.acassessor.org/proposition-19/