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Published July 15, 2026
LA County charges $1.10 per $1,000 everywhere. Redondo Beach adds a city tax of $2.20 per $1,000 on top.
Every property sale in Los Angeles County owes the county documentary transfer tax of $1.10 per $1,000 of sale price under Revenue and Taxation Code section 11911, whether the property sits in Torrance, El Segundo, Hawthorne, or Redondo Beach. Redondo Beach is the outlier: it also charges its own city transfer tax of $2.20 per $1,000 under Redondo Beach Municipal Code section 8-7.02, so a Redondo Beach seller pays $3.30 per $1,000 total, roughly three times what a seller in the other three cities pays.
California Revenue and Taxation Code section 11911 authorizes county boards of supervisors to impose a documentary transfer tax of 55 cents per $500, or a fractional part of $500, of the value conveyed once the property's consideration exceeds $100. Los Angeles County has adopted that rate, which works out to $1.10 for every $1,000 of sale price. This county-level tax applies to every qualifying deed recorded in Los Angeles County, regardless of which city the property sits in, per the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
What trips people up is that a handful of cities inside LA County layer their own city transfer tax on top of the county rate, and the South Bay is not exempt from that pattern even though most of it is.
Torrance has not adopted a separate city transfer tax. A Torrance seller pays only the county's $1.10 per $1,000.
El Segundo has also not adopted a city transfer tax. An El Segundo seller pays the same $1.10 per $1,000 county rate and nothing more.
Hawthorne likewise has no additional city transfer tax on record. Hawthorne sellers pay the $1.10 per $1,000 county rate.
Redondo Beach is the exception in our service area. Under RBMC section 8-7.02, the city imposes its own real property transfer tax of $2.20 per $1,000 of the sale price, on top of the county's $1.10 per $1,000. That brings the combined rate in Redondo Beach to $3.30 per $1,000, putting it on the short list of LA County cities that stack a city rate on top of the county rate. Pomona charges the same $2.20 per $1,000 city rate, while the City of Los Angeles ($4.50 per $1,000, plus the Measure ULA tax on sales above roughly $5 million), Santa Monica ($3.00 per $1,000 at typical price points, with much higher tiers above $8 million), and Culver City (tiered from 0.45 percent up to 4 percent) all charge more.
Say you sell a South Bay rental for $1,200,000.
In Torrance, El Segundo, or Hawthorne, the county transfer tax alone is 1,200 times $1.10, or $1,320.
In Redondo Beach, you owe the same $1,320 county tax, plus the city tax of 1,200 times $2.20, or $2,640. Total transfer tax due at closing: $3,960, which is $2,640 more than an identical sale just a few miles away in Torrance or El Segundo.
Transfer tax is customarily paid by the seller in Los Angeles County, though it is technically negotiable between buyer and seller in the purchase agreement, so this is a number worth confirming with your escrow officer before you sign, not after.
If you own rental property in Redondo Beach and are modeling a future sale, budget for the full $3.30 per $1,000, not just the county's $1.10. That difference on a $1.2 million property is nearly $2,700, which is real money that changes your net proceeds and your reinvestment math, including whether a 1031 exchange still pencils.
If you would rather not have to remember which cities stack their own transfer tax on top of the county's, that is exactly the kind of detail we track for owners across the South Bay.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm with a licensed professional before you act.
Last verified: July 2026.
Topics: taxes, transfer tax, south bay, redondo beach, torrance, el segundo, hawthorne
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Schofield Properties is a family run property management company at 323 Richmond St, El Segundo, CA 90245. We have managed the South Bay since 1972 and personally oversee about 186 doors today. Book a call to talk about your property.
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