I was on Nevada Public Radio the other day with the state ombudsperson, an HOA lawyer, and an owner advocate. It was a good conversation. But there was something that kept going through my mind that I never got a chance to say, so here it is.

Nevada is one of the few states that has any state-level oversight of HOAs and condos. They have the ombudsperson and a state commission, and they have a pretty comprehensive statutory scheme that was the result of also having a legislator, state Senator Mike Schneider, who knows a lot about this issue area and cares about it. Compared with the almost-total absence of oversight that is the norm in nearly all other states, Nevada is at the forefront of regulation of CIDs. I mean, in nearly every other state, if you report something like this, there is nowhere to turn except the courts. Every state and local government official will just tell you to go file a civil suit, which few people can afford to do. And if somebody does that, after 7 years of litigation and $100,000 in legal fees they will have…what? Maybe a declaratory judgment? Maybe small damages, and an appeal by the association? Maybe a big fat goose egg? It is unpredictable. And everybody in the neighborhood will hate you for making them pay the association’s attorney fees. Private litigation may be necessary and can be effective in some cases, but clearly it can’t be the only answer. Read more:
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