CIC Rental Restrictions Must Pre-date Owner’s Purchase
By Deanne M. Rymarowicz, Esq.
GLVAR Legal Counsel
Remember Senate Bill (SB) 253, the bill that caused a stir in early June by specifying a unit owner must pay for the CIC resale package? Well, that was just one component of a rather lengthy bill, the bulk of which goes into effect on October 1. Another important aspect of the bill involves the right to lease residential property within a CIC.
Existing law (in NRS 116.335) provides that except as otherwise provided a CIC’s declaration, an association may not require a unit’s owner to secure or obtain any approval from the association in order to rent or lease his unit. According to testimony during the legislative session, association boards and/or community managers were changing governing documents on a whim and frustrating many purchasers’ intentions to rent investment properties. In one example, an owner who had been renting to the same tenant for five years was told by the association manager that he would have to stop renting, because the rules had changed.
SB 253 makes significant strides to correct the situation: unless, at the time a unit’s owner purchased his unit, the declaration prohibited the unit’s owner from renting or leasing his unit or required the unit’s owner to secure or obtain any approval from the association in order to rent or lease his unit, the association may not: (1) prohibit the unit’s owner from renting or leasing his unit; or (2) require the unit’s owner to secure or obtain any approval from the association in order to rent or lease his unit.
The bill also added a section to NRS 116 to specify that if a declaration contains a provision establishing a maximum number or percentage of units in the common-interest community which may be rented or leased: (1) that provision of the declaration may not be amended on or after October 1, 2009, to decrease that maximum number or percentage of units which may be rented or leased; (2) a unit’s owner may request a waiver of such provision upon a showing of economic hardship under certain circumstances; and (3) any units owned by the declarant must not be counted or considered in determining the maximum number of units in the common-interest community that may be rented or leased.
Existing owners and new buyers who intend to rent their properties should take note of any rental requirements or restrictions in CIC governing documents at the time of purchase and keep a copy for future reference. When an association raises an issue over renting a property, the owner will have the documents and the provisions of SB 253 ready to go.
A copy of SB 253 is available at www.leg.state.nv.us. |
