Site Tools
Welcome to the State of California

2410-2416 Delinquent Payment Enforcement: Property Seizure and Sale – Eligible Property Types

2410. GENERAL INFORMATION
Taxes due on unsecured property may be collected by seizure and sale of any of the following property belonging to the assessee:

1) Personal property (includes money in bank accounts, rent, and trust deed payments due to delinquent taxpayers)

a. Leased equipment

b. Rental payments

c. Sheriff's levy (seizure of property by judicial process)

2) Improvements

3) Possessory interest (Rev. & Tax. Code §2951)

Revenue and Taxation Code section 2951 does not limit seizure to the property assessed.

Revenue and Taxation Code sections 107 and 2189.5 authorize the seizure of leasehold estates for the production of gas, petroleum, or other hydrocarbon substances from beneath the surface of the earth, and of personal property improvements.

Leasehold estates as defined in Revenue and Taxation Code section 107 become subject to seizure and sale upon the delinquency of any installment of taxes (Rev. & Tax. Code §107).

When assessed to a person other than the owner of the underlying land, taxes on water system improvements on the secured roll are subject to unsecured collection procedures after any installment of secured taxes becomes delinquent (Rev. & Tax. Code §2189.6).

The assessments on these improvements cannot be a lien on the land, and such fact must be noted on the secured roll.

NOTE: If the tax remains unpaid at the time set for tax-defaulting, such tax, together with the first-year secured penalty and costs accrued while on the secured roll, must be transferred to the unsecured roll.

2411. TIME LIMITATION
Property shall not be seized and sold for unsecured taxes after three years (Rev. & Tax. Code §2963).

EXCEPTIONS: The three-year statute relative to leasehold estates (M-2329) begins to run on the delinquency date (Rev. & Tax. Code §107). The limitation period shall be extended for any period during which collection actions are prohibited by bankruptcy laws or rules, or by court order.

2412. BANK ACCOUNTS
Bank accounts are personal property subject to seizure. Researching county records for a prior payment of taxes may be helpful in obtaining bank account numbers. Confirm that the named assessee is a signatory on the bank account.

2413. IMPROVEMENTS
Improvements can be buildings, structures, and fixtures erected or affixed to the land, together with all fruit, nut-bearing or ornamental trees and vines not of natural growth and not exempt from taxation (Rev. & Tax. Code §105).

2414. POSSESSORY INTEREST
Possessory interests can include any taxable improvement or tax-exempt land, together with any leasehold estates for the production of gas, petroleum and other hydrocarbon substances that constitute incorporeal hereditaments or profits a prendre (Rev. & Tax. Code §107).

2415. TRUST DEED PAYMENTS
This is useful for supplemental real property bills where the property was sold before the bill was issued. The next document after the deed of transfer may disclose evidence that the new owner is paying the former owner on a second or other deed of trust.

2416. THIRD-PARTY PAYMENTS
If there is a situation where an assessee with delinquent taxes has income-generating property such as leased equipment, it is possible to collect the lease payments. To do this, seize the property, make the lessee the keeper, and have him/her make the lease payment to the tax collector instead of the lessor.