(a) Change in ownership shall not include the following:

(1) Any transfer, on or after January 1, 1985, of a mobilehome park to a nonprofit corporation, stock cooperative corporation, limited equity stock cooperative, or other entity formed by the tenants of a mobilehome park, for the purpose of purchasing the mobilehome park, provided that, with respect to any transfer of a mobilehome park on or after January 1, 1989, subject to this paragraph, the individual tenants who were renting at least 51 percent of the spaces in the mobilehome park prior to the transfer participate in the transaction through the ownership of an aggregate of at least 51 percent of the voting stock of, or other ownership or membership interests in, the entity which acquires the park. If, on or after January 1, 1998, a park is acquired by an entity that did not attain an initial tenant participation level of at least 51 percent on the date of the transfer, the entity shall have up to one year after the date of the transfer to attain a tenant participation level of at least 51 percent. If an individual tenant notifies the county assessor of the intention to comply with the conditions set forth in the preceding sentence, the mobilehome park may not be reappraised by the assessor during that period. However, if a tenant participation level of at least 51 percent is not attained within the one-year period, the county assessor shall thereafter levy escape assessments for the mobilehome park transfer.

(2) Any transfer or transfers on or after January 1, 1985, of rental spaces in a mobilehome park to the individual tenants of the rental spaces, provided that (1) at least 51 percent of the rental spaces are purchased by individual tenants renting their spaces prior to purchase, and (2) the individual tenants of these spaces form, within one year after the first purchase of a rental space by an individual tenant, a resident organization as described in subdivision (l) of Section 50781 of the Health and Safety Code, to operate and maintain the park. If, on or after January 1, 1985, an individual tenant or tenants notify the county assessor of the intention to comply with the conditions set forth in the preceding sentence, any mobilehome park rental space that is purchased by an individual tenant in that mobilehome park during that period shall not be reappraised by the assessor. However, if all of the conditions set forth in the first sentence of this paragraph are not satisfied, the county assessor shall thereafter levy escape assessments for the spaces so transferred. This paragraph shall apply only to those rental mobilehome parks that have been in operation for five years or more.

(b) (1) If the transfer of a mobilehome park has been excluded from a change in ownership pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) and the park has not been converted to condominium, stock cooperative ownership, or limited equity cooperative ownership, any transfer on or after January 1, 1989, of shares of the voting stock of, or other ownership or membership interests in, the entity that acquired the park in accordance with paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall be a change in ownership of a pro rata portion of the real property of the park unless the transfer is for the purpose of converting the park to condominium, stock cooperative ownership, or limited equity cooperative ownership or is excluded from change in ownership by Section 62, 63, or 63.1.

(2) For the purposes of this subdivision, “pro rata portion of the real property” means the total real property of the mobilehome park multiplied by a fraction consisting of the number of shares of voting stock, or other ownership or membership interests, transferred divided by the total number of outstanding issued or unissued shares of voting stock of, or other ownership or membership interests in, the entity that acquired the park in accordance with paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).

(3) Any pro rata portion or portions of real property that changed ownership pursuant to this subdivision may be separately assessed as provided in Section 2188.10.

(4) (A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after an exclusion under subdivision (a), the assessor may not levy any escape or supplemental assessment with respect to any change in ownership of a pro rata portion of the real property of the mobilehome park that occurred between January 1, 1989, and January 1, 2002, and for which the assessor did not, prior to January 1, 2000, levy any assessments. However, commencing with the January 1, 2002, lien date, the assessor shall correct the base year value of the pro rata portion of the real property of the park to properly reflect these changes in ownership. A mobilehome park shall provide information requested by the assessor that is necessary to correct the base year value of the property for purposes of this paragraph.

(B) When an assessor corrects the base year value of the real property of the park pursuant to subparagraph (A), the assessor shall notify parks that residents may be eligible for property tax assistance programs offered by either the Controller or the Franchise Tax Board for senior citizens, or blind or disabled persons.

(C) Any outstanding taxes that were levied between January 1, 2000, and January 1, 2002, as a result of a pro rata change in ownership as described in subparagraph (A) shall be canceled. However, there shall be no refund of taxes, as so levied, that were paid prior to January 1, 2002.

(5) A mobilehome park that does not utilize recorded deeds to transfer ownership interest in the spaces or lots shall file, by February 1 of each year, a report with the county assessor’s office containing all of the following information:

(A) The full name and mailing address of each owner, stockholder, or holder of an ownership interest in the mobilehome park.

(B) The situs address, including space number, of each unit.

(C) The date that the ownership interest was acquired.

(D) If the unit is a manufactured home, the Department of Housing and Community Development decal number or serial number, or both, and whether the manufactured home is subject to the vehicle license fee or the local property tax.

(6) Within 30 days of a change in ownership, the new resident owner or other purchaser or transferee of a manufactured home within a mobilehome park that does not utilize recorded deeds to transfer ownership interest in the spaces or lots shall file a change in ownership statement described in either Section 480 or 480.2.

(7) Failure to comply with the reporting requirement described in paragraph (5) shall result in a penalty pursuant to Section 482.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in order to facilitate affordable conversions of mobilehome parks to tenant ownership, paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) apply to all bona fide transfers of rental mobilehome parks to tenant ownership, including, but not limited to, those parks converted to tenant ownership as a nonprofit corporation made on or after January 1, 1985.

(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 775, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003.)