An action may be brought to determine adverse interests in, liens or clouds upon title to real property arising out of any public improvement assessment or any bond issued to represent such assessment where the lien of such assessment or bond is presumed to have been extinguished under the provisions of Section 2911 of the Civil Code, or to determine adverse interests in, liens or clouds upon title to real property by reason of any certificate issued on sale made to satisfy any public improvement assessment or bond where such sale was made more than four years prior to the commencement of the action and no deed pursuant thereto has been issued prior to the commencement of the action or prior to January 1, 1951, whichever is the later.
§ 801.1.Action to Determine Adverse Interests Upon Title Arising Out of Assessment Or Bond
Title 10. Actions In Particular Cases · Chapter 4.6. Actions Concerning Real Property Titles Affected by Public Improvement Assessments · Enacted 1949 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 801.1 authorizes an action to determine adverse interests, liens, or clouds on title arising from a public improvement assessment or bond presumed extinguished under Civil Code § 2911, or from a certificate of sale issued on a delinquent assessment sale made more than four years earlier with no deed yet recorded.
Full Text of § 801.1
Plain-English Summary
Cities and counties once financed street paving, sewers, and other public improvements by levying special assessments against nearby property and issuing bonds backed by those assessments. When an owner didn't pay, the assessment could be sold and a certificate of sale issued — with a deed to follow later if the owner never redeemed. Decades on, some of these liens and certificates never got resolved one way or the other, leaving old assessment paperwork sitting as a cloud on modern title.
Section 801.1 gives property owners a way to clear that specific kind of cloud. It authorizes an action in two situations: where Civil Code § 2911 presumes the lien of an assessment or bond extinguished by the passage of time, or where a certificate of sale was issued on an assessment sale that happened more than four years before the action, with no deed pursuant to that sale recorded by the later of the action's filing or January 1, 1951.
This chapter is narrower than the general quiet title chapter — it doesn't reach ordinary boundary disputes or competing ownership claims. It targets one recurring problem: stale municipal assessment liens and unredeemed certificates of sale that linger in the public record long after anyone still intends to enforce them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kinds of title problems does § 801.1 address?
Adverse interests, liens, or clouds on title created by a public improvement assessment or bond whose lien is presumed extinguished under Civil Code § 2911, or by a certificate of sale issued on a delinquent assessment sale where more than four years passed with no deed recorded.
Is this the same as an ordinary quiet title action?
No. It's a narrower action aimed specifically at stale public improvement assessment liens, bonds, and certificates of sale, rather than general competing ownership claims.
What is the four-year rule about?
If a certificate of sale issued on an assessment sale more than four years before the action, and no deed pursuant to that sale has been issued, that certificate can be targeted by this action.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1949, Ch. 1108.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: clear title assessment lien californiastale assessment bond title california