Cal. RTC § 51 — California Code / Code rtc / Division 1 / Part 0.5 / Chapter 1 / Section 51
Section 51
Status: in_force

(a) For purposes of subdivision (b) of Section 2 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, for each lien date after the lien date in which the base year value is determined pursuant to Section 110.1, the taxable value of real property shall, except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b) or (c), be the lesser of:

(1) Its base year value, compounded annually since the base year by an inflation factor, which shall be determined as follows:

(A) For any assessment year commencing prior to January 1, 1985, the inflation factor shall be the percentage change in the cost of living, as defined in Section 2212.

(B) For any assessment year commencing after January 1, 1985, and prior to January 1, 1998, the inflation factor shall be the percentage change, rounded to the nearest one-thousandth of 1 percent, from December of the prior fiscal year to December of the current fiscal year in the California Consumer Price Index for all items, as determined by the California Department of Industrial Relations.

(C) For any assessment year commencing on or after January 1, 1998, the inflation factor shall be the percentage change, rounded to the nearest one-thousandth of 1 percent, from October of the prior fiscal year to October of the current fiscal year in the California Consumer Price Index for all items, as determined by the California Department of Industrial Relations.

(D) In no event shall the percentage increase for any assessment year determined pursuant to subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) exceed 2 percent of the prior year’s value.

(2) Its full cash value, as defined in Section 110, as of the lien date, taking into account reductions in value due to damage, destruction, depreciation, obsolescence, removal of property, or other factors causing a decline in value.

(b) If the real property was damaged or destroyed by disaster, misfortune, or calamity and the board of supervisors of the county in which the real property is located has not adopted an ordinance pursuant to Section 170, or any portion of the real property has been removed by voluntary action by the taxpayer, the taxable value of the property shall be the sum of the following:

(1) The lesser of its base year value of land determined under paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) or full cash value of land determined pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).

(2) The lesser of its base year value of improvements determined pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) or the full cash value of improvements determined pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).

In applying this subdivision, the base year value of the subject real property does not include that portion of the previous base year value of that property that was attributable to any portion of the property that has been destroyed or removed. The sum determined under this subdivision shall then become the base year value of the real property until that property is restored, repaired, or reconstructed or other provisions of law require establishment of a new base year value.

(c) If the real property was damaged or destroyed by disaster, misfortune or calamity and the board of supervisors in the county in which the real property is located has adopted an ordinance pursuant to Section 170, the taxable value of the real property shall be its assessed value as computed pursuant to Section 170.

(d) For purposes of this section, “real property” means that appraisal unit that persons in the marketplace commonly buy and sell as a unit, or that is normally valued separately.

(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the assessor to make an annual reappraisal of all assessable property. However, for each lien date after the first lien date for which the taxable value of property is reduced pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), the value of that property shall be annually reappraised at its full cash value as defined in Section 110 until that value exceeds the value determined pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a). In no event shall the assessor condition the implementation of the preceding sentence in any year upon the filing of an assessment appeal.