This article does not apply to the following:

(a) Sales or transfers that are required to be preceded by the furnishing to a prospective buyer of a copy of a public report pursuant to Section 11018.1 of the Business and Professions Code and transfers that can be made without a public report pursuant to Section 11010.4 of the Business and Professions Code.

(b) Sales or transfers pursuant to court order, including, but not limited to, sales ordered by a probate court in the administration of an estate, sales pursuant to a writ of execution, sales by any foreclosure sale, transfers by a trustee in bankruptcy, sales by eminent domain, and sales resulting from a decree for specific performance.

(c) Sales or transfers to a mortgagee by a mortgagor or successor in interest who is in default, sales to a beneficiary of a deed of trust by a trustor or successor in interest who is in default, any foreclosure sale after default, any foreclosure sale after default in an obligation secured by a mortgage, a sale under a power of sale or any foreclosure sale under a decree of foreclosure after default in an obligation secured by a deed of trust or secured by any other instrument containing a power of sale, sales by a mortgagee or a beneficiary under a deed of trust who has acquired the real property at a sale conducted pursuant to a power of sale under a mortgage or deed of trust or a sale pursuant to a decree of foreclosure or has acquired the real property by a deed in lieu of foreclosure, sales to the legal owner or lienholder of a manufactured home or mobilehome by a registered owner or successor in interest who is in default, or sales by reason of any foreclosure of a security interest in a manufactured home or mobilehome.

(d) Sales or transfers by a fiduciary in the course of the administration of a trust, guardianship, conservatorship, or decedent’s estate. This exemption shall not apply to a sale if the trustee is a natural person who is a trustee of a revocable trust and is a former owner of the property or was an occupant in possession of the property within the preceding year.

(e) Sales or transfers from one coowner to one or more other coowners.

(f) Sales or transfers made to a spouse, or to a person or persons in the lineal line of consanguinity of one or more of the transferors.

(g) Sales or transfers between spouses resulting from a judgment of dissolution of marriage or of legal separation or from a property settlement agreement incidental to that judgment.

(h) Sales or transfers by the Controller in the course of administering Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 1500) of Title 10 of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(i) Sales or transfers under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 3691) or Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 3771) of Part 6 of Division 1 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.

(j) Sales or transfers or exchanges to or from any governmental entity.

(k) Sales or transfers of any portion of a property not constituting single-family residential property.

(l) The sale, creation, or transfer of any lease of any duration with the exception of a lease with an option to purchase or a ground lease coupled with improvements.

(m) Notwithstanding the definition of sale in Section 10018.10 of the Business and Professions Code and Section 2079.13, the terms “sale” and “transfer,” as they are used in this section, shall have their commonly understood meanings. The changes made to this section by Assembly Bill 1289 of the 2017–18 Legislative Session shall not be interpreted to change the application of the law as it read prior to January 1, 2019.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 310, Sec. 4. (AB 892) Effective January 1, 2020.)