New California Law Will Help Heirs to Fire-Damaged Properties Get Official Deeds

Senator Sasha Renée Pérez of Pasadena has proposed a change to California law. It would let Los Angeles County residents affected by January’s wildfires resolve missing deeds without a penalty. Missing documentation puts generational real estate assets at risk. It can also keep disaster aid off-limits to those who most need it.

S.B. 293 is titled the Generational Homeownership Protection Act. It would acknowledge the rights to homes informally passed down to children or to grandchildren. It would also keep property tax increases from suddenly hitting the owners.

The Challenge: Homes Passed Down Informally, Without Recorded Deed Transfers

Senator Pérez represents the district that includes Pasadena and Altadena. In Altadena, the Eaton Fire destroyed about 10,000 buildings in January 2025. It was just one of a string of wildfires that devastated large swathes of Southern California. The losses — of life, property, and natural resources — were unprecedented in the state’s history. This led to the Governor announcing a state of emergency.

UCLA research found that the Eaton Fire hit Black households especially hard. Black households make up 18% of the Altadena population. About half of those households suffered major losses or the complete ruin of their homes (as compared to 39% of households generally).

And among the lost and damaged properties, a significant number had been passed down within families informally, without official deed recordings. When ownership transfers don’t get recorded, unexpected tax burdens can pile up on residents who aren’t aware of these debts.

Altadena’s historic Black community faced the harsh impacts of these realities. Many of these households have passed property down through generations — often, without the customary legal documentation.

Pérez introduced Senate Bill 293 in February; It Was Revised in July

The bill has now gone through several amendments. It will apply to people with properties that have been reassessed for tax purposes following a “major misfortune or calamity” where the governor has announced a state of emergency.

The new law intends to support fire victims in the following ways:

• Amending the state’s tax code to enable intergenerational deed transfers in households damaged in the 2025 Eaton Fire, Palisades Fire, Hurst, Lidia, Sunset, or Woodley Fires.

• Extending property tax relief, allowing more time for homeowners and disabled veterans to file for tax exemptions.

• Making allowances for families who face problems sorting out deed documentation after a calamity strikes. Additional time can be essential in preserving intergenerational homes or farms while dealing with multiple pressures in disaster recovery.

• Letting property owners benefit from an intergenerational transfer even though they didn’t follow the requirement to submit a change in ownership statement with the county tax department when a parent or grandparent died.  

• Directing California to cover the bill’s costs to local agencies and school districts. This matters because the new law will allow affected residents to “grandfather in” tax values of the late owners who passed down the property.

In general, this is about easing the impact of unexpected financial hardships in the wake of disasters. Among the bill’s most important effects is the path it opens for conserving property in households. As Senator Pérez says, the updated law will help to “preserve the cultural and historical identity of the community.”

A Title Company Pitches In With Fee-Free Document Replacements

First American Financial Corp. created a website so that Los Angeles County residents could get free copies of their deeds, without the usual wait time. People impacted by the fires can retrieve their documents once they’ve created an account and passed through identity verification. (The website is here.)

“Stepping up in challenging times,” Ken DeGiorgio, CEO of First American, stated, “reflects our commitment to the communities we serve and call home.”

DeGiorgio noted that the company’s presence in the greater Los Angeles area goes back 135 years. So, DiGiorgio said, “We feel the responsibility to find ways we can help our neighbors, friends and families cope with this tragedy.”

The company made a $25K gift to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation. This donation supported the firefighters of the county. It also helped bring residents food and other necessities, and helped to support local support services.  

Climate change is relentlessly reshaping the American dream of homeownership, transforming extreme weather from a distant threat into a direct financial crisis for millions.

– Capital B News

A Federal Foreclosure Moratorium for Fire Victims Ended in July

Dozens of fire-ravaged Californians have received lenders’ warning notices that put them into pre-foreclosure status. They’re disproportionately Black.

A six-month federal hold against foreclosure isn’t the only relief that expired. A California initiative in which lenders agreed to give borrowers three months to delay payments has also come to an end.

This is part of a national story, as explained by Adam Mahoney, climate and environment reporter at Capital B News. Together with Florida and Louisiana, California is on track to have the most climate-related mortgage losses this year. By 2035, climate-related disasters could lead to nearly a third of total annual foreclosures. Many households will try to sell devastated land for whatever a corporate buyer will offer.

Investment companies have bought foreclosed real estate across the United States—sometimes to rent it back to the very people who lost it. Read more from Deeds.com on How Wall Street real estate firms see opportunities in ordinary homeowners’ struggles.

The Greatest Need: To Invest in People

Since the fires ripped through Los Angeles, about 150 of the affected properties have been sold. At least half of them were picked up by businesses. One corporation named Black Lion Properties LLC has snapped up at least a dozen, reports Capital B News.

Residents who stay must deal with the steep upward march of insurance premiums. When the charges become overwhelming, more households find themselves at the brink of default and foreclosure.

Housing advocate Andreanecia Morris directs a nonprofit called HousingNOLA. The group supports New Orleans residents with the ongoing work of disaster recovery. Capital B News quotesMorris as observing that state and federal agencies’ lack of capacity to deal with post-disaster housing is driving a rise in homelessness: “We’re not investing in the people who need it most.”