Measure ULA
You’re Underwriting ULA As Permanent. The Candidates Disagree.
The mansion tax is now a campaign issue.
With the runoff field set, all three candidates have signaled some openness to revisiting it. Not with the same scope. Not with the same certainty.
The June primary sent Mayor Bass to a November runoff, with the second slot still being counted. As the field narrows, where each candidate lands on Measure ULA has moved from background noise to a live variable. Here’s the read:
Raman — The clearest reform plan
She has put forward the most concrete proposal of the three: a formal revision that would exempt newer multifamily from the tax to unblock housing production. The most legislatively shaped of the bunch.
Bass — Carveouts, not repeal
She continues to defend ULA’s core purpose while signaling openness to narrower fixes. Targeted relief, with the measure’s intent left intact.
Pratt — The hardest line
He has taken the most aggressive rollback posture, folding the tax into a broader anti–City Hall, pro–small business message.
So the direction of travel is the same — everyone is at least open to touching it — but the scope runs from a drafted exemption to a full rollback, and none of it is settled.
Reform is politically alive. It is not yet a number you can underwrite.
For deals in flight, the takeaway is simple: model the tax as it stands today, and treat any relief as upside rather than a base case. A drafted proposal is not an enacted one, and a runoff is not a result.
If you’re acquiring above the ULA thresholds right now, the question worth asking is whether the deal still works without reform — and how much it improves if reform lands.
We’ve Cleared This Exact Problem
ULA already taxes the sale. Don’t let a paperwork gap cost you the deal on top of it. Two recent closings where a compliance problem stood between a high-value home and the finish line:
The Missing C-of-O
Beverly Hills, 90210 • Engel & Völkers
A John Lautner landmark that had never received its Certificate of Occupancy — a gap that can stall or sink a $5M+ sale. We worked with the Department of Building and Safety to secure approval and clear the path to close, without compromising the home’s historic integrity.
Inspection Archives
Laurel Canyon, 90046 • Engel & Völkers
Permits expired more than 14 years earlier left this property short of legal standing. We dug through city archives, coordinated across departments to revive the permits and complete final inspections, and brought it into full compliance for a successful transaction.
However the runoff breaks, the play doesn’t change: underwrite the deal in front of you today, and treat any ULA relief as upside you didn’t bank on. We’ll keep watching where this lands and let you know when it moves.
In the meantime, if a transaction in your pipeline has a compliance question mark hanging over it — a missing C-of-O, expired permits, an entitlement gap — that’s exactly the kind of problem we clear before it ever reaches your closing table.
Talk soon, Jake & Team Whitestone