The mechanics have limits you need to plan around. Both the home you sell and the home you buy must be your primary residence, not a rental or a second home, and the replacement has to be purchased or newly constructed within a limited window tied to the sale of the original — so the timing of the two transactions is not something to improvise. If the replacement home costs more than the one you sold, you do not simply keep the old base: the difference in value is added to your transferred base year value, so you carry the low base plus the step up in price rather than being fully reassessed. If the replacement costs the same or less, the base transfers intact. You have to claim it, on a form filed with the assessor of the county where the replacement home is located, and there is a filing deadline, so this is a claim to handle at the time of the move rather than years later. Because the age, timing, value and filing conditions all have to line up, it is worth running the numbers before you list the old house, not after you have already closed on the new one.
Prop 19 & Inherited Property Tax · California
Can I transfer my low property tax base to a new home after age 55?
Yes. Prop 19 lets an eligible homeowner who is 55 or older transfer the factored base year value of their primary residence to a replacement primary residence anywhere in California, and you may use that benefit up to three times. This was a genuine expansion. Under the old rules the transfer was generally limited to the same county or to a handful of counties that agreed to accept incoming transfers, and most people got only one bite. Now a Santa Clara County homeowner can sell a long-held house, buy in Sonoma, Palm Desert or San Diego, and carry the low assessed value along. The same benefit is available to homeowners who are severely and permanently disabled, and to victims of wildfire or other declared disasters, whose transfers are treated more generously still.
This page is general information about California law, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Figures and deadlines change, and every family’s situation is different. Last reviewed August 2026.
Related Questions
The questions this one leads to.
Can I keep my parents' low property taxes when I inherit their house?
Only if you move in. California's Prop 19 parent-child exclusion now requires the home to become your own principal residence. What that takes, explained.
Read the answerHow much value is excluded from reassessment under Prop 19?
Your parent's factored base year value plus $1,044,586 for transfers from February 16, 2025 through February 15, 2027. A worked California example.
Read the answerDoes putting my house into a trust trigger a property tax reassessment?
No. Deeding your own California home into your own revocable living trust is not a change in ownership. Where the paperwork goes wrong, and what it costs.
Read the answerNext Step
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