Community should give up the gate code

Q: I own a townhome in Aurora Canyon in Las Vegas. We have had the same code for our gate for the past four years since we have owned the home. We also have gate remotes to open the gate as well, and recently our homeowners association board decided to change the code for entry and not give it to any of the homeowners who are not on the board. My husband and I have been the only owners attending any board meetings in more than three years.

Is is legal for our board to change our code and not give the number to the owners? It doesn’t seem that would be legal. If we are home and we have a visitor, we are in the directory, and can press 9 to let someone in if they call us, but if we are out, and our transmitter went dead we have no other way to get in. There is no one to call and have someone buzz the gate.

We had to use our gate clicker and open the gate last week for UPS delivery man as well as the Republic Service trash men today. They have the old code in their books and our board and management company haven’t updated them.

We will ask again for the code at our next meeting.

A: I can understand why the association board wanted to restrict access to the community by withholding the gate code, as we all know, it is like “candy” to give out to every “Jane, Dick and Harry” and consequently negate any success for security of the residents.

Having made that statement, NRS 116.2111 subsection 2a states that an association may not unreasonably restrict, prohibit or otherwise impede the lawful rights of a unit’s owner to have reasonable access to his or her unit.” In this case, not having a gate code to access your community when your gate remote does not work would be in violation of the state statute.

Q: Seems to me there is coverage in NRS 116 giving power to the board of a common interest community to take action (like eviction) where the owner’s tenant disrupts the community and/or does not comply with the association rules, and the owner takes no action to remedy the problem.

But I can’t find it. Could you help me?

A: Sorry. The association has no authority to evict a tenant unless the association owns the rental home and has a rental agreement with a tenant. The owner is responsible for his or her tenants and their guests by law and by most governing documents.

You have to send a courtesy letter and then the hearing fine letter to the owner whose tenant is not abiding by the association’s regulations.

Q: Is there any set time that money must remain in a defect construction account?

Our HOA account was opened in 2008 and we would like to move all or some of the money into operating or reserve so it can be used.

It does not seem right that the defect construction account would go on forever. I cannot find anything that addresses this in NRS 116. Any thoughts on this and is there anything in writing that controls what can be done with a defect construction account?

A: Short answer no. There are no laws regulating construction defect awards. You would need to refer to the settlement agreement. Often the agreement will dictate how and when the funds are to be used. If you have no restrictions then place the funds in reserve but note for the record at a board meeting that this fund could be removed from the reserve account to repair or replace a latent construction defect problem.

Barbara Holland, certified property manager, broker and supervisory certified association manager, is president and owner of H&L Realty and Management Co. Questions may be sent to the Association Q&A, P.O. Box 7440, Las Vegas, NV 89125. Fax is 702-385-3759, email is support@hlrealty.com.