Nevada HOA Laws Explained: What Homeowners Need to Know in 2026
Nevada runs subdivision HOAs, condominiums and cooperatives through one statute: NRS Chapter 116, the state’s Uniform Common-Interest Ownership Act. If dues go unpaid, the association’s lien outranks an earlier first mortgage for up to nine months of budgeted assessments, and the association can sell the home under NRS 116.31162.
NRS 116 reaches almost every Nevada community, old or new
NRS 116.1201(1) applies the chapter “to all common-interest communities created within this State,” and subsection 4 says the older chapters 117 and 278A “do not apply to common-interest communities.”
Subsection 2 leaves out four groups: limited-purpose associations that only maintain landscaping, flood-control facilities or a rural agricultural community and, except the rural agricultural ones, have no power under their documents to enforce use restrictions (still bound by the list in paragraph (a), which includes the lien and foreclosure sections); communities outside Nevada (though some disclosure sections reach sales contracts signed here); pre-1992 communities in a county under 55,000 people with under half the units residential, unless a majority of owners elect in writing to come in; and chapter 119A time shares, except where Chapter 116 says otherwise. All-nonresidential condos and planned communities are out unless the declaration opts in (NRS 116.12075, 116.12077). Condominium hotels have their own act, NRS Chapter 116B; it covers condo hotels created on or after January 1, 2008 (older ones only if the declaration opts in), and chapter 116 does not apply to them except as 116B provides (NRS 116B.290). A planned community of 12 or fewer units with no developmental rights is bound only by NRS 116.1106 and 116.1107 unless its declaration makes the whole chapter apply, but once it is residential with more than 6 units, NRS 116.12065 and the governance article, NRS 116.3101 to 116.350, reach it anyway, minus four sections (NRS 116.1203).
A pre-1992 community is still covered. NRS 116.1201(3) relaxes only separate voting classes, NRS 116.2101 to 116.2124, assessments imposed on or before October 1, 1999, and delegate voting (subject to NRS 116.31105(8), and never for electing or removing directors).
The nine-month priority and the road to a sale
The lien covers assessments, fines and construction penalties from the day each comes due; recording the declaration perfects it. Against a first mortgage recorded before the assessment went delinquent, it wins only for NRS 116.310312 charges (exterior upkeep, nuisance or leak work on the unit), budgeted assessments for the 9 months before the notice of default is recorded, and collection costs capped at $165 for a demand letter, $325 for the notice of delinquent assessment, $90 for the intent-to-record letter, $400 for the notice of default and $400 for a trustee’s sale guaranty, with no attorney’s fees (NRS 116.3116(3), (5)). If Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac rules require a shorter period, theirs governs, but never under 6 months. The lien is extinguished unless a notice of default is recorded or a suit filed within 3 years after the assessments come due.
NRS 116.31162 sets the order. At least 60 days after a payment is past due, the association mails a fee schedule, a proposed repayment plan and notice of your right to a board hearing, then waits 30 days. Next comes a notice of delinquent assessment, a recorded notice of default at least 30 days later, and 90 more days to pay. No sale may rest on a fine unless the violation is an imminent threat to health, safety or welfare or the penalty is for a missed construction schedule. Sales also stop while a servicemember is on active duty or deployment and for a year after (NRS 116.311625), for federal, tribal and state workers from a shutdown’s start until 90 days after its end (NRS 116.311627), each unless a court finds the ability to pay unaffected, and while the lender’s foreclosure is in state mediation under NRS 107.086, unless the trustee has recorded the certificate or new assessments go unpaid.
Fines: $100 per violation, after a hearing
The governing documents must authorize fines, and outside imminent health-and-safety threats each fine is capped at $100 per violation and $1,000 per hearing (NRS 116.31031). You need written notice of the rule at least 30 days before the violation, then a notice giving the violation, cure, amount and hearing date (with a photo for physical conditions), a chance to cure or contest, and a hearing unless you pay, waive or skip it. A violation still uncured after 14 days can draw a repeat fine, no larger than the first, every 7 days without a new hearing and outside the $1,000 cap. Overdue fines bear no interest.
Buying a resale home: the package, then five days to walk away
The seller pays for a resale package (NRS 116.4109): the declaration, bylaws, rules and state information statement; the monthly assessment and everything the seller owes; the budget and year-to-date financials with the reserve summary; unsatisfied judgments and pending suits; resale-related fees; all current and expected per-unit charges; and, from July 1, 2026 under Assembly Bill 396, proof of the association’s required insurance.
The association must deliver its certificate within 10 calendar days or the buyer isn’t liable for the delinquent assessment. Its fee is actual cost, up to $185 plus up to $100 for delivery sooner than 3 business days, amounts the statute lets grow yearly with the CPI but by no more than 3 percent. No package is owed on developer sales with a public offering statement, gifts, court-ordered or government transfers, foreclosures and deeds in lieu, sales to a dealer, sales cancellable at will without penalty, nonresidential units, or units in the small planned communities described in NRS 116.4101(2)(g).
Budgets, a five-year reserve study and 21 days for records
Budgets go out 30 to 60 days before the fiscal year; a ratification meeting follows 14 to 30 days after the summary is mailed, and the budget stands unless a majority of all owners (or a larger vote the declaration sets) rejects it (NRS 116.31151). A reserve study is due at least every 5 years (NRS 116.31152). Ask in writing for the financial statement, budgets or reserve study and copies are due within 21 days, free in electronic form, or the board pays $25 a day (NRS 116.31175). The board may keep back only personnel files (not hours, pay or benefits), records about another owner such as that owner’s architectural plans (but not the anonymous log of sanctioned violations the board must keep), and drafts not yet on an agenda for final approval.
Flags, signs, desert yards, solar and rentals
Chapter 116 protects the U.S. and Nevada flags, subject to reasonable placement rules (NRS 116.320); political signs up to 24 by 36 inches, one per candidate, party or ballot question, with a tenant’s written consent if the unit is rented (NRS 116.325); and drought-tolerant landscaping after architectural review (NRS 116.330). Senate Bill 201 added religious and cultural displays, within the limits of NRS 116.323(2), from July 1, 2025. Since October 1, 2025 (Senate Bill 440), where documents allow architectural control, a solar or other distributed generation request is deemed approved if an association with NRS 116.334 rules doesn’t decide it in 35 days; an association without such rules must approve within 15 days (NRS 116.333).
Assembly Bill 396 rewrote rentals on July 1, 2026. It struck the rule that barred a leasing ban unless the declaration had one when you bought. If the declaration authorizes limits or a rental cap, rules may now restrict leasing as far as lender or insurer underwriting reasonably requires; an owner blocked by a full cap may seek a hardship waiver, and declarant-owned units don’t count (NRS 116.335).
Mediation first, through the Real Estate Division
A suit over reading or enforcing covenants or rules, or over how assessments were raised, is dismissed unless it went to mediation or, if both sides agreed, a Division program first and, for a planned community under chapter 116, the association’s own administrative procedures were exhausted (NRS 38.310); emergency injunctions and title actions are exempt. Each side pays a $50 filing fee (NRS 38.320). The Division’s Ombudsman helps owners understand the chapter and, when appropriate, investigates disputes (NRS 116.625).
Nevada owners and buyers often ask
Can a fine for trash cans cost me the house?
No sale can rest on it. NRS 116.31162(6) allows a sale on a fine only for an imminent health, safety or welfare threat or a missed construction schedule, even though the fine is part of the lien.
Can I back out after reading the resale package?
Yes, by written notice until midnight of the fifth calendar day after you receive it, with payments refunded, as long as you haven’t taken the deed.
Where do I go when the board won’t answer?
Write to the board, then the Ombudsman, then mediation. See also the Nevada down payment assistance guide and Las Vegas vs. Reno; neighbors’ rules are on the California, Arizona and Utah pages.