State law governs HOA elections

Q: Are there any rules regarding the time frame within which homeowners should be provided ballots and candidate information for election of board members?

A: According to Nevada Revised Statute 116.31034 (14a), the association shall send the secret ballot with a return envelope to the mailing address of each homeowner. Each unit owner must be provided with at least 15 days after the date that the secret written ballot is mailed to the owner to return their ballot to the association.

The only exception would be when the number of candidates was less than or equal to the number of available seats and where the association prior to the mailing of candidate applications had passed a resolution that under these circumstance the candidates would be “deemed duly elected” by law. This is a modification of the previous law whereby two sets of candidate applications had to be sent before the association could elect directors when there were less than or equal to the number of available seats by this “deemed duly elected” mechanism. The modification of the law became effective Oct. 1.

Q: I have a question. I have complained to our homeowners association for over a year now about the dead trees and landscaping. Also, that (some) people are running a boarding house, and still nothing has been done. What is my next move? They keep telling me that they are working on it.

A: The enforcement laws that an association can exercise have limitations or restrictions that have been legislated by state law, as well as by the association’s governing documents. In addition, associations cannot explicitly tell a homeowner what efforts the association has undertaken to obtain compliance from a homeowner.

In fact, the association could be fining that owner on a weekly basis with the end result that the owner still does not comply with the association’s governing documents. An association can place a lien for non-payment of fines but cannot take any other action unless the unpaid fines pertain to health, safety and welfare violations.

In addition, there are other state laws pertaining to evictions. This could even be a case whereby the owner of the home is attempting to evict the current tenants, which can become complicated and take much time. There are county and city codes to assist the association, but it is a slow process in obtaining assistance from their enforcement departments. In addition, the association needs documentation the home is a boarding house, and often the documentation that an association can provide is deficient according to county or city codes.

As to the landscaping issues, trimming and or removing trees is not inexpensive. I suggest that you either make an appointment to meet your community manager to discuss these concerns or present them directly to your board during the second homeowner forum at your next board meeting.

Barbara Holland is a certified property manager, broker and supervisory certified association manager.