HOAs have no authority to enforce rules for vehicle plates

Nevada law does not give homeowners associations the power to require residents to display Nevada license plates, according to a legal analysis published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. While state statute requires new residents to register vehicles and obtain Nevada plates within 30 days of establishing residency, that law is enforced exclusively by the Department of Motor Vehicles and law enforcement, not by private associations.

The question came from a resident in a 270-unit condominium community where 65 percent of units are leased. The resident described frequent turnover, absentee board members who also act as landlords, and widespread parking violations including vehicles with out-of-state plates, expired plates, missing plates, and unrepaired accident damage.

Under Nevada Revised Statute 116.3102, an association may enforce its own parking and vehicle rules if those rules are written in the covenants, conditions and restrictions or bylaws and are applied consistently. However, an HOA cannot create or enforce rules that attempt to enforce the state motor vehicle code.

The resident asked whether the board and management company are complicit or liable for failing to enforce state registration laws. The answer clarifies that associations have no legal authority to enforce those statutes, though they remain responsible for enforcing their own properly adopted community rules.

The Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels recently adopted proposed health, safety and welfare violation regulations. State law also gives associations broad authority to restrict or ban all-terrain vehicles within their communities.

Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal