What Is a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report?

A Preliminary Change of Ownership Report, or PCOR, is a two-page questionnaire that California buyers file alongside the deed whenever real property changes hands. The form gives the county assessor the information needed to decide whether the property should be reassessed under Proposition 13 and, if so, at what value. Filing it is required by Revenue and Taxation Code Section 480.3, and turning in a deed without one triggers an immediate $20 surcharge on the recording fee, with the possibility of larger penalties later.¹

When You Need to File One

Any recorded document that transfers an ownership interest in California real property should include a PCOR. That covers ordinary sales, but it also covers gifts, inheritances, divorce transfers, foreclosures, and the simple addition or removal of a name on a deed.² The county recorder reviews every deed to decide whether reassessment is required, and the PCOR is the assessor’s primary source for the context behind the transaction.

A handful of document types are exempt. Easements, trustee’s deeds upon sale in foreclosure, deeds in lieu of foreclosure, and affidavits of death where the decedent is a beneficiary under a deed of trust do not require a PCOR.³

Long leases can count too. Creating a leasehold for 35 years or more, including any written renewal options, is treated as a change in ownership.² If a shorter lease is later extended to 35 years or beyond for the first time, that extension is the triggering event.⁴

Who Is Responsible for Filing

The buyer or transferee signs and files the PCOR. In a typical closing, the escrow officer puts the form in front of you with the rest of your signing package and submits it to the county recorder along with the deed. If there is no escrow, such as with a private sale or an interfamily transfer, filing falls on you. Sellers and agents sometimes help fill it out, but the legal duty sits with the new owner. The form states it must be “completed by the transferee (buyer) prior to a transfer of subject property.”⁵

After a Property Owner Dies

When an owner dies, the duty shifts depending on how the property was held. If the estate goes through probate, the executor or administrator files a Change in Ownership Statement (form BOE-502-D) with the assessor in every county where the decedent owned property, before or at the time the inventory and appraisal is filed with the court.⁶

If the property passes outside probate, such as through a living trust, the trustee or the person receiving the property must file within 150 days of the date of death.⁶ This deadline is one of the most commonly missed in estate administration. Missing it does not change the reassessment result itself, but it can trigger penalties and delays.

What the Form Asks For

The PCOR is short, but it covers a lot of ground.⁵

Buyer information: your name, mailing address, email, and phone, plus whether the property will be your principal residence and the date you moved in.
Transfer type (Part 1): a checklist of transfer categories that may qualify for an exclusion from reassessment, including transfers between spouses, between parents and children, into or out of a trust, name corrections, and financing-related recordings. This is the section that tells the assessor whether to reassess at all.
Other transfer details (Part 2): the date of transfer, the nature of the transfer (purchase, gift, inheritance, foreclosure, and so on), and whether only a partial interest changed hands.
Price and terms (Part 3): total price, down payment, loan amounts, interest rates, seller-paid closing costs, and any personal property included in the sale, such as furniture or appliances. Personal property is not subject to real property tax, so the assessor needs to know what portion of the price should be carved out.

The form also asks about subsidized low-income housing restrictions, active solar energy systems, and long leaseholds. If none of these apply, you simply leave the boxes unchecked.

Exclusions the Form Captures

Filing a PCOR does not automatically raise your property taxes. Part 1 exists to flag transfers that are excluded from reassessment, and checking the right box can save tens of thousands of dollars, because a reassessment resets the property’s taxable value to current market value and undoes years of Proposition 13 inflation caps.

Spouses and Registered Domestic Partners

Transfers between spouses are automatically excluded from reassessment. That includes adding a spouse to a deed, moving property into or out of a trust for a spouse’s benefit, transfers on a spouse’s death, and transfers under a divorce settlement or court order.² Registered domestic partners get the same treatment. You still file the PCOR, but checking the spousal transfer box tells the assessor not to reassess.

Parents and Children Under Proposition 19

Proposition 19, which took effect on February 16, 2021, narrowed the parent-child exclusion that had existed under Propositions 58 and 193. A parent-to-child or child-to-parent transfer now qualifies for exclusion only if the property was the transferor’s principal residence and the transferee makes it their principal residence within one year of the transfer.⁷ Family farms also qualify.

Even when the residence test is met, there is a value cap. The exclusion fully applies only if the property’s current market value does not exceed the factored base year value plus $1,044,586 (the adjusted figure for transfers between February 16, 2025, and February 15, 2027).⁷ If market value exceeds that cap, the excess is added to the base year value, producing a partial reassessment.

The transferee must also apply for a homeowners’ or disabled veterans’ exemption within one year of the transfer and continue living in the property to keep the exclusion. Move out, and the property is reassessed as of the next lien date.⁷ A separate exclusion claim must be filed within three years of the transfer or before the property is transferred to a third party, whichever comes first.⁸

Transfers Into a Revocable Trust

Moving property into your own revocable living trust is not a change in ownership and does not trigger reassessment, because you keep full control through your power to revoke. You still file a PCOR when you record the transfer deed, but you check the box indicating the transfer is to a revocable trust. The reassessment question resurfaces later, typically when the trust becomes irrevocable on the trustor’s death, unless the trustor was the sole present beneficiary or another exclusion applies.⁹

How and When to Submit

Submit the PCOR at the same time you record the deed with the county recorder. In most transactions the escrow company handles this as part of closing, sending the form in with the deed or other recorded instrument.⁵

If a deed is presented for recording without a PCOR, the county recorder may charge an additional $20 on top of the standard recording fee.¹ The recorder will not refuse to record over a missing PCOR, but that fee is automatic in most counties, and skipping the form kicks off a separate process: the assessor will mail you a Change in Ownership Statement (COS), which is a longer questionnaire you are required to complete and return.

If the transfer document is never recorded, or was recorded without a PCOR, Revenue and Taxation Code Section 480 requires the new owner to file a change in ownership statement with the assessor within 90 days of the ownership change. Many counties now accept electronic submissions, though the specific process varies.

What Happens If You Skip It

Consequences escalate with time. The first layer is that $20 recording surcharge.¹ Minor. The real risk comes if the assessor mails you a Change in Ownership Statement and you do not return it. Failing to respond within 90 days triggers a penalty that is either a flat dollar amount or a percentage of the taxes on the property’s new base year value, whichever is greater.

Beyond the fines, not filing creates a practical problem. Without the information from the PCOR, the assessor may reassess using whatever data is available, which often defaults to full market value and ignores any exclusion you might have claimed. If you were entitled to a spousal or parent-child exclusion, you end up paying taxes on a reassessed value that should never have been applied, and unwinding it takes time and paperwork. Gaps in ownership records can also create title complications if you later try to sell or refinance.

Is the PCOR Public Record?

No. A common misconception is that the PCOR becomes public once filed. Under Revenue and Taxation Code Sections 451 and 481, all information furnished in a PCOR or a Change in Ownership Statement is confidential and not open to public inspection.¹⁰ The deed itself is a public document, but the financial details you report on the PCOR, including purchase price, loan terms, and personal property values, stay within the assessor’s office and are used only for assessment purposes.²

Fixing a Mistake After Filing

If you realize after filing that you checked the wrong box or reported the wrong purchase price, do not wait for a tax bill to surface the problem. Contact the county assessor’s office and ask to submit a corrected Change in Ownership Statement. If the original PCOR was missing or incomplete, the assessor will typically mail a COS and give you the chance to provide accurate information.² Responding to that COS promptly is your window to fix the record before the assessor finalizes a new assessed value. Once a supplemental assessment is issued based on bad data, correcting it becomes significantly more involved and may require a formal assessment appeal.

1
California Legislative Information. California Revenue and Taxation Code 480.3
2
California State Board of Equalization. Change in Ownership – Frequently Asked Questions
3
San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder and Elections. Preliminary Change of Ownership Report PCOR
4
California State Board of Equalization. Property Tax Annotations 220.0357 – Leases Term Extension
5
California State Board of Equalization. Preliminary Change of Ownership Report BOE-502-A
6
Orange County Assessor. Change in Ownership Statement – Death of Real Property Owner
7
California State Board of Equalization. Proposition 19
8
California State Board of Equalization. Claim for Reassessment Exclusion for Transfer Between Parent and Child
9
California State Board of Equalization. Property Tax Rule 462.160 – Change in Ownership Trusts
10
California State Board of Equalization. Access to Assessors Records