Nevada HOA records requests: what the law actually requires

What the law says

Nevada's common-interest-community statute, NRS 116.31175, gives a unit's owner two related rights. First, upon a written request, the executive board must make the association's financial statement, budgets, reserve study, contracts, and any court-filed records from a civil or criminal action involving the association available for review at the association's business office (or a location no more than 60 miles from the community). Second, for the financial statement, budget, and reserve study specifically, the owner can require an actual copy - and the board has a hard deadline to produce it.

Separately, if an owner is reviewing records in person rather than requesting copies, the board can't charge more than $25 per hour for that review (NRS 116.31175(8)). Contracts and court-filed records covered by subsection 1 must be made available for review, but the statute doesn't attach the same 21-day copy deadline to those two categories specifically - it's written into the statute for the financial statement, budget, and reserve study.

What counts as a record - and what doesn't

Covered records include the association's financial statement; its annual budget (required under NRS 116.31151); its reserve study (required under NRS 116.31152); all contracts to which the association is a party; and records filed with a court in any civil or criminal action involving the association. Associations must keep these books, records, and papers for at least 10 years.

The statute carves out three things an owner generally can't get through this process: the personnel records of association employees (though hours worked, salaries, and benefits are still disclosable); records relating to another owner - for example, architectural plans a neighbor submitted for approval; and any document, like draft board minutes, a draft reserve study, or a draft budget, that's still being developed and hasn't yet been placed on an agenda for the board's final approval. Boards must also keep a general (de-identified) record of violations and fines they've imposed, which owners can search - but that record can't include the name, address, or unit of the person who was fined.

What happens if the board misses the deadline - Nevada's regulator with teeth

Nevada is unusual: missing a records deadline isn't just a matter for a private lawsuit. If the executive board fails to provide a copy of the financial statement, budget, or reserve study within the 21-day window, the board owes an automatic $25-per-day statutory penalty (NRS 116.31175(3)). And if a board outright refuses to let an owner review records at all, the state's Common-Interest Communities Ombudsman can step in directly - reviewing the records on the owner's behalf, and if the board denies the Ombudsman too, asking the Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels to issue a subpoena to compel it (NRS 116.31175(6)).

Beyond that, Nevada gives owners a real regulatory complaint path that most states don't have. An aggrieved owner first has to send the board written notice of the alleged violation by certified mail and give it a reasonable chance to fix the problem (NRS 116.760(2)). If that doesn't resolve it, the owner can file a written affidavit with the Nevada Real Estate Division (on the Division's prescribed form, within one year of discovering the violation). The Division refers the affidavit to the Ombudsman, who tries to help the parties resolve it informally (NRS 116.765). If that fails, the Division investigates, and if it finds good cause, the Real Estate Administrator files a formal complaint with the Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels, which must hold a hearing within 90 days (NRS 116.770) and issue a decision within 20 days after the final hearing (NRS 116.780).

If the Commission (or a hearing panel) finds a violation, it can order the board to cease and correct the violation, and impose an administrative fine of up to $1,000 per violation - rising to up to $5,000 per violation as of July 1, 2026 under a 2025 amendment to NRS 116.785. A board member who knowingly and willfully violated the law can be removed from the board, and the Commission can order the board to pay the Division's investigation costs and attorney's fees. This administrative path runs alongside, not instead of, a private lawsuit: NRS 116.4117 lets an owner who suffered actual damages sue the association directly, and that civil remedy is explicitly "in addition to, and not exclusive of, any other available remedy or penalty." Willful, material violations proven by clear and convincing evidence can even draw punitive damages (though not against the association or board members acting in their official capacity), and a court may award attorney's fees to whichever side wins.

A simple template for the request itself

A written request starts the 21-day clock and creates the paper trail you'd need if the matter ever went to the Ombudsman or the Real Estate Division. Copy, fill in the brackets, and send it (by whatever method the association's governing documents specify, or certified mail if you want a delivery record):