Section 43008 Of Article 1. General From California Government Code >> Division 4. >> Title 4. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 1.
43008
. (a) A lien on real property that results from the
delinquency in payment of rates or charges, or the collection of
future rates or charges, whether or not added to the tax assessment
rolls, for water or other utility services supplied to the owners or
occupants of real property by a utility owned or operated by a city,
as defined in Section 53368, or a city and county, except a lien to
discharge bonded indebtedness, shall be subordinate to any prior
recorded lien on the property.
(b) A city or city and county may provide that upon the transfer
of fee title as evidenced by recordation of a grant deed, trustee's
deed of sale, or other similar instrument, or upon transfer of the
utility service of a property containing a master-metered,
multifamily residential building of over four units, which building
is provided water or power, or both, by a municipal utility owned or
operated by a city or city and county, the transferee shall be
required to notify the municipal utility of the change in title or
service within 30 days of the transfer.
The municipal utility may require such a transferee to deposit
with the utility, as security, up to six months of estimated
reasonable utility charges with the utility, which deposit may be
held by the utility for a period not to exceed two years. The utility
may extend the requirement for the security deposit for an
additional two years if the owner has been more than 30 days
delinquent two or more times within the deposit period. The utility
may also waive the security deposit requirement, at its discretion.
In the event a deposit is required of the transferee and the
deposit is not paid, or the transferee fails to notify the utility
within the time period provided, the utility shall have the right to
record a lien against the property for the amount of the required
deposit. The lien shall take effect only upon proper recordation in
the county recorder's office in which the property is located, and
shall be subordinate to all prior recorded liens on the property.
The failure of the transferee to provide notice to the utility of
the transfer or to provide the security deposit shall not affect the
validity of the transfer of title to the transferee or the priority
of liens on the property existing prior to recordation of the utility'
s lien.
To the extent not inconsistent herewith, the existing rights of a
city-owned or county-owned utility regarding imposition of a security
deposit are preserved.
This subdivision shall not apply to transfers of title or service
to court-appointed receivers.
(c) This section shall not be construed as evidence that an
ordinance providing for priority liens which was enacted prior to
January 1, 1996, was invalid or valid from the time of its enactment
until January 1, 1996, and nothing in this section shall require a
refund of any moneys collected pursuant to such an ordinance.