The Board of Supervisors on March 11 voted to rescind the county's March 2024 tax sale of an assessor parcel identified as a common area for the Tiburon View subdivision.

County finance staff told the board the parcel had been sold after direct charges accumulated on a common area parcel (APN 034-182-13) because a lien had been applied in error. "Under California law, specifically Revenue and Taxation Code 2188.5, common areas and planned developments should not be taxed separately as their value is already incorporated into the assessment of individual properties," Assistant Director Sandra Cacharos told the board.

The Tiburon View Homeowners Association petitioned the tax collector to rescind the sale after the deed to the purchaser was recorded in May 2024; the Tax Collector's office subsequently issued a determination that the parcel should not have been sold. The board previously adopted a resolution in November 2024 that rescinded the sale contingent on purchaser consent; the purchaser did not consent, so the matter returned to the board for a formal rescission under Revenue and Taxation Code section 3731(b).

The purchaser, represented at the hearing by counsel, argued the tax lien and sale were lawful. The homeowners association’s attorney countered the parcel is a common area conveyed to the homeowners association and that owners have paid their portion of taxes as part of their lot ownership. After hearing from staff, the purchaser and the homeowners association, the supervisors voted to rescind the sale and directed the tax collector to prepare a conforming resolution and to record a rescission of the tax deed.

What the county found: Finance staff said the statutory scheme in Revenue and Taxation Code section 2188.5 treats the assessment and lien for planned developments as an interest in each separately owned lot plus its proportionate interest in the common area; a lien on the common area alone is invalid under that provision. Staff cited appellate and Board of Equalization rulings that apply the statute in similar circumstances.

Next steps: The board directed the tax collector and county finance to prepare a rescission resolution and to record the rescission of the tax deed without the purchaser's consent, as allowed under the relevant Revenue and Taxation Code section.