Ventura County appeals board continues Jose G. Reveles ownership dispute to March 17 after evidence request

The Ventura County Assessment Appeals Board No. 2 on Feb. 3, 2025, continued a change-in-ownership appeal by Jose G. Reveles to March 17, 2025, after determining the board had not received the sworn declarations and supporting documentation it said were necessary to decide whether a documented transfer in 2005 should be treated as a change in ownership.

The board said the applicant — who seeks to overturn an assessment tied to a recorded transfer dated April 8, 2005 — must produce clear-and-convincing evidence that he retained equitable ownership of the property. County counsel and assessors cited the deed-presumption rules that place the burden on an applicant seeking to overcome names that appear on recorded deeds.

During the hearing, the assessor’s office, represented by Joe Phillips, said its files lacked a homeowner’s exemption for the parcel at issue and that the assessor could not treat the 2005 recorded transfer as non-transformative without documentary proof the legal title did not reflect the beneficial ownership. Phillips cited Property Tax Rule 462.200 when explaining the presumption that names on a deed indicate ownership. County counsel read from the assessor’s Assessment Appeals Manual to underline that the board must have “sufficient information to make a decision.”

Applicant Jose G. Reveles, who testified under oath, said he acquired and occupied the house beginning in the late 1980s, paid mortgage and insurance, and used the property as collateral to obtain loans that helped him build his business. Reveles’s attorney said rescission deeds recorded late in 2024 had been prepared to “clean up” the recorded title and that family members who previously appeared on the deed had executed deeds returning title to Reveles. Counsel told the board sworn declarations from family members and other documents exist and can be submitted.

Board members and county counsel stressed that the board could not rely on representations about evidence; the declarations, tax returns, canceled checks, homeowner-insurance policies and other documentary proof must be formally entered into the record. The board also noted that rescission deeds recorded on Oct. 1, 2024, would apply prospectively under the rules — meaning any effect on the county roll would begin Jan. 1, 2025 — and that the current appeal concerns prior lien dates connected to the contested 2005 transfer.

After deliberating briefly in closed session about whether the applicant had met the burden of production under the board’s rules, the board decided to continue the hearing. The board’s written instruction requested that the applicant provide sworn declarations accompanied by supporting documents (for example: tax returns showing claimed mortgage interest, canceled checks or bank records showing mortgage payments, homeowner insurance showing the applicant as the policyholder, and any written agreements) and submit them to the clerk and the assessor in advance. The applicant’s counsel said he could provide the requested materials and meet with staff about the number of copies and how to submit them.

The board set the continued hearing for March 17, 2025, asked the applicant to supply evidence in advance (and bring copies to the hearing), and said it would decide whether the applicant had made the required showing under Rule 462.200 and related guidance before hearing any further evidence from the assessor.

Background: The dispute concerns whether a recorded transfer dated April 8, 2005, should be treated as a change in ownership for property-tax purposes. The appellant asserts he held equitable ownership dating to an earlier acquisition (stated in his testimony as 1989) and that subsequent recorded conveyances were administrative or financing-related steps that did not transfer beneficial ownership. The assessor’s office maintains the record names create a rebuttable presumption of ownership that the applicant must overcome with clear and convincing evidence.

Next steps: The board will reconvene the matter on March 17, 2025. The applicant was instructed to provide the sworn declarations and documentary evidence described above in advance to the assessor and to bring copies for the board’s record. The assessor indicated agreement with the continuation and with the board’s evidentiary instructions.