Tenant allows homeless people to live in storage shed

Q: (We have a homeowner who has) leased the property to a tenant. The tenant in turn permitted a group of homeless people to reside in the storage shed on the property. The homeowners association regards the homeless as trespassers (signs are prominently displayed.) Appeals to both the owner and tenant have fallen on deaf ears.

When we called (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department) to remove trespassers, Metro said the homeless people are invitees of the tenant and cannot be removed. We pointed out the storage shed has no bathroom facilities, but that did not sway Metro. The question is, how to get rid of the homeless people living in tenant’s shed with tenant’s permission?

A: You need to send a violation letter to the owner of the unit. You may have to go the distance to the point of weekly fines for noncompliance. This kind of violation involves health issues, and the nonpayment of health, welfare and safety violations can result in your association foreclosing on this unit.

You also can try the Southern Nevada Health District and the Clark County Code Enforcement Division to assist you, as the trespassers living in a facility without a bathroom is also a health violation.

Finally, you may have to contact an attorney to assist your association.

Q: Thank you for your weekly column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. We have a problem that we need assistance on. Our HOA has been led by a specific individual for a number of years. Our standards and guidelines have been relaxed to benefit him, as he owns a number of rentals in the community that are not declared as rentals, and at least one of which is in violation of community standards. He has ignored one specific (rule in our) covenants, conditions and restrictions. Our questions are:

■ Because we are a legal nonprofit organization, is there a percentage limit of rentals applicable in the Nevada Revised Statute that the association may not exceed? We are aware of the 80 percent factor of resident ages above 55 and older for our senior community.

■ The individual (mentioned) above has coerced the entire board via threats and actual (lawsuit of) defamation of his character (none have been successful to date) to ignore a specific directive of our CC&Rs that call for the board to conduct annual elections of neighborhood (defined sub-groups in our development) representatives. (That would) install a puppet chairperson of this dedicated group of neighborhood representatives, with the intent to disband it entirely. What is our avenue to formally protest these actions? The entire board is intimidated and will not even reply to direct questions about this issue.

A: As to the first question, the answer is no. There are no state statutes that limit the number of rentals. See NRS 116.335 for more information about renting or leasing a home within an association.

As to your second concern, you need to contact the Nevada Real Estate Division and file a complaint to deny the annual elections is in violation of NRS 116.3108, which requires an annual meeting at least once a year.

The Real Estate Division and the Ombudsman Office takes this kind of offence very seriously.

In addition, NRS 116.31184 pertains to threats and harassment. It is against state law for a person to threaten, harass or otherwise engage in a course of conduct against another person — in this matter, your board — that causes harm or serious emotional distress or creates a hostile environment.

Barbara Holland is a certified property manager and holds the supervisory community manager certificate with the state of Nevada. She is an author and educator on real estate management. Questions may be sent to holland744o@gmail.com.