Las Vegas Fire Damage Rules

The Duty to Repair

Nevada adopted the Common-Interest Ownership Act as Chapter 116 of the Revised Statutes, and one section within it governs what happens after a fire.

NRS 116.31135 provides that any portion of the common-interest community for which insurance is required under NRS 116.3113, and which is damaged or destroyed, must be repaired or replaced promptly by the association. The word in the statute is must.

There are three exceptions and they are narrow. The community has been terminated, in which case the termination provisions apply instead. Repair or replacement would be illegal under a state or local statute or ordinance governing health or safety. Or eighty per cent of the unit owners, including every owner of a unit or assigned limited common element that will not be rebuilt, vote not to rebuild.

Does That Mean an Association Can Be Forced to Rebuild My Unit?

Who Pays the Shortfall

Subsection 2 is the part with the sharpest edges. The cost of repair or replacement in excess of insurance proceeds, deductibles and reserves is a common expense.

So where a loss exceeds what the policy pays and what the association holds, the difference is spread across the community as a common expense rather than falling on the owner of the damaged unit alone. Owners discover this in both directions: relief when it is their unit, and a special assessment when it is somebody else's.

The Vote Not to Rebuild

Where the owners do vote not to rebuild a unit, the consequences are automatic rather than negotiated.

That unit's allocated interests are reallocated on the vote, as if the unit had been condemned under NRS 116.1107, and the association must promptly prepare, execute and record an amendment to the declaration reflecting the reallocations.

Where the entire community is not repaired or replaced, insurance proceeds attributable to the damaged common elements must be used to restore the damaged area to a condition compatible with the remainder of the community.

Can My Association Simply Write These Rules out of Its Documents?

Where the Boundary of Your Unit Sits

Which is the question everything above turns on, and the statute does not answer it for you.

Under NRS 116.3107, the association has the duty to provide for maintenance, repair and replacement of the common elements, and each unit's owner has that duty for his or her own unit, except to the extent provided by the declaration and by NRS 116.31135. So the declaration draws the line.

In some Las Vegas communities the association insures and repairs the structures themselves. In others it covers common elements only and the house is entirely yours. Two properties a mile apart can sit on opposite sides of that line.

We publish no interpretations of individual declarations, master policies or association documents. Those are specific to your community, they are the documents that decide the question, and you are entitled to obtain them.

Which Government Has Your Address

The second thing that catches owners here, and it catches them constantly.

Most of the Las Vegas valley is not in the City of Las Vegas. Enterprise recorded a population of 221,831 at the 2020 census, up from 14,676 in 2000, and was formed as an unincorporated town on 17 December 1996. The area immediately west of the resort corridor recorded 215,597 and was formed in May 1981. The eastern one, created by the Clark County Commission in May 1957, recorded 205,618 across 33.71 square miles; were it incorporated it would be among the largest cities in Nevada.

None of them is a city. They are governed by the Clark County Commission with town advisory boards, and their ZIP codes are assigned the place name Las Vegas for mailing addresses, which is precisely why the confusion is universal. Winchester and Paradise sit in the same position at the centre of the valley.

Against that, the incorporated cities each run their own building departments: Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Mesquite. Summerlin straddles city and county land, and Aliante sits inside North Las Vegas. Which one holds your address is a matter of record rather than of impression.

How Do I Confirm Which Jurisdiction I Am In?

And the County Runs Well Past the Valley

Worth knowing if your property is outside the metropolitan area, because the same county administers a great deal of ground.

Beyond the valley, Clark County takes in Laughlin on the river, Searchlight and Goodsprings to the south, Indian Springs and Blue Diamond to the west, Mount Charleston above the valley floor, and Moapa Valley and Bunkerville to the northeast. Whitney sits against the eastern edge of the metropolitan area. All are unincorporated, and Mesquite and Boulder City are the incorporated exceptions at either end of the county.

Chapter 116 reaches every one of them, because it is state law rather than a valley ordinance. What differs is which office permits the work and how far away it is.

What the Conveyance Costs

Real property transfer tax is $1.95 for each $500 of value or fraction thereof where the value exceeds $100, with an additional $0.60 in Clark County, producing $2.55 per $500 here. It is calculated on the full purchase price or the estimated fair market value.

Both grantor and grantee are jointly and severally liable for it, a Declaration of Value prescribed by the Nevada Tax Commission accompanies the transfer, and certain transfers are exempt under NRS 375.090.

How Property Is Assessed

Nevada applies a statutory ratio: thirty-five per cent of taxable value becomes assessed value, for residential and commercial property alike. The consolidated rate then varies by tax district.

There is also an abatement cap, set at three per cent a year for an owner's primary residence and eight per cent otherwise. The lower cap depends on a primary residence affidavit being on file with the Assessor, and a property defaults to the higher one without it.

Your Options, Compared

Let the association repair. Where the duty falls on it, this is not so much an option as the default position, and the useful work is understanding what it covers and when.

Repair it yourself. Where the declaration puts the structure on your side of the line. Architectural approval will still apply to anything visible.

Rebuild. Subject to the jurisdiction's permitting and to the association's architectural requirements, which are separate approvals from separate bodies.

Sell. Transfers all of it to a buyer. What you receive depends heavily on whether the buyers bidding have read the declaration.

Across the Valley

Association density and building age vary considerably. The master-planned northwest is covered under Summerlin and the northwest, with the other incorporated cities under Henderson and Green Valley and North Las Vegas. The large unincorporated areas are dealt with under Spring Valley and Enterprise, Sunrise Manor and the east valley and Paradise, Winchester and the central valley.

The full index is on our service area index.

Rules Questions

Primary Sources

• Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116 — Common-Interest Ownership (Uniform Act)
• NRS 116.3107, 116.3113, 116.31133, 116.31135 and 116.31138
• NRS Chapter 375 and NRS 375.090 — real property transfer tax and exemptions
• Clark County Recorder — transfer tax calculation and Declaration of Value
• 2020 United States census — Enterprise, Spring Valley and Sunrise Manor populations