Real Estate · Nevada
Nevada HOAs have broad power to restrict ATVs, and online payment portals need $5 million in cyber coverage
A Review-Journal HOA column says no Nevada law stops associations from banning or limiting ATVs, and explains when state law requires websites and $5 million in cybersecurity insurance.
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What the column covered
A recent homeowners association advice column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal took on two reader questions: whether an HOA can allow all-terrain vehicles on community streets, and who must carry cybersecurity insurance when association websites take payments. The column is written by Barbara Holland, CPM, CMCA, AMS, who the Review-Journal describes as an author, educator and expert witness on real estate management and brokerage issues.
Her answers point to specific sections of Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116. For residents following local real estate coverage, the column lays out what those sections say about association rules, websites and insurance.
ATVs and HOA authority
What state law says
A reader asked why an HOA would not have to follow state rules that keep ATVs off paved roads, noting that manufacturers warn the vehicles are unsafe on public or private roads. Holland wrote that no Nevada state law prevents an HOA from banning or restricting ATVs in its community, and that state statutes and vehicle laws generally give associations broad authority over them.
She cited NRS 116.3102, which lets an association adopt and amend bylaws, rules and regulations, subject to Chapter 116 and its own governing documents. She also noted that a subsection of that law ties association towing to NRS 487.038. According to Holland, ATVs are restricted on paved highways and standard public streets, but an association's governing documents can override local zoning rules inside the community.
What the reader can do
Holland advised the reader to attend the next board meeting and raise ATV safety concerns during the second homeowner forum. In other words, the remedy she pointed to runs through the board, not state vehicle law.
HOA websites and cyber insurance
Which associations need a website
Another reader asked whether a management company running websites for 29 HOAs needs $5 million in cyber liability coverage, or whether each HOA does. Holland first pointed to NRS 116.31069, which requires associations with 150 or more units to set up and maintain a secure website or electronic portal that any unit owner can access.
Those sites must include the governing documents, annual and proposed budgets, and notices and agendas for upcoming meetings. Associations with fewer than 150 units may set up such a site and are encouraged to do so, Holland wrote.
When $5 million in coverage applies
The insurance requirement comes from a separate law, NRS 116.310695, which covers websites or portals that let homeowners pay what they owe the association. Under that law, as Holland described it, the association, or a payment processor it contracts with, must maintain a cybersecurity insurance policy with a minimum aggregate of $5 million.
That coverage must address losses tied to unauthorized access to personal information submitted to process payments, including identity theft. Holland added that attorneys at law seminars she has attended have been recommending that both management companies and associations carry cybersecurity insurance.
Other HOA questions Holland answered
The Review-Journal page also summarized answers from other Holland columns. She wrote that associations have no legal relationship or lease with renters, so only a landlord can start an eviction. She also said developers generally set the initial speed limits in an association, and suggested a reader contact the community manager about a 10 mph limit.
On records, Holland wrote that state law requires board minutes to list the substance of all matters proposed, discussed or decided, plus each member's vote. She also cited NRS 116.31175 (5) as giving Nevada homeowners the right to request and review general records of association violation documents.
What to watch next
- Holland advised the reader worried about ATVs to raise safety concerns at the next board meeting during the second homeowner forum.
- Attorneys at law seminars have been recommending that both management companies and HOAs carry cybersecurity insurance, according to Holland.
- Associations with fewer than 150 units are encouraged, but not required, to set up a secure website or portal under NRS 116.31069.
