Property tax for pensioners?

[tracyhewit]

I understand pensioners do not pay property tax when they buy another house, for example our friends are selling their house to buy another and have been told they will not pay the 8% property tax when they buy the replacement house, they are resident, the husband has not yet reached pension age but the wife is getting her pension, can anyone help with this question please, they are loosing a small fortune on the house they are selling thus why it will help them if they do not have to pay the tax again.   The house they are selling cost about 250000 euro, they are selling it for only 135000 euro, but they have been told the tax office will bill them for the difference because this is something they are doing, their friends bought a flat for 50000 euro from one of the banks and they received an additional  bill from the tax office saying they had to pay on what they considered the true value of the flat, their bill was 8% of a much higher sum based on tax office valuation, can anyone help please