Pahrump community has questions about new development

Q: I am a property owner in an 81-unit homeowners association in Pahrump. After a newspaper article (was published) about Phase 2 development of our homeowners association, a petition was signed and presented to the management company. The board is to hold a special meeting to hear the property owners’ questions and have discussions regarding the additional development. Note, that Phase 1 was completed more than 20 years ago. The developer then turned the association over to the property owners and no longer owns any property within the association. Our covenants, conditions and restrictions are not clear as to whether this Phase 2 annexation can take place without any membership vote or if we would have an opportunity to vote. We have asked the board to seek legal guidance to present at this special meeting. The board and management company has now responded that this meeting will be (held) by Zoom and the board is not going to get legal guidance at this time. The association is located where some property owners do not have Wi-Fi/internet and there are many elderly homeowners that do not have a computer. My question: The petition requested in-person meeting and the petition requested discussions on several agendas relating to annexation such as legal response regarding CC&Rs pros and cons, financial impacts, etc. Can a management company/HOA board refuse to address these issues and hold a Zoom meeting instead.

Thank you for your time. Your articles are extremely helpful.

A: You did not send me a copy of the petition that was sent to the board and management company; consequently, I am unaware of the specifics as to having a meeting.

Under Nevada Revised Statutes 116.3108 (2), an association shall hold a special meeting of the unit owners to address any matter affecting the community if at least 10 percent or any lower percentage specified in the bylaws of the total number of votes in the association request that the secretary call such a meeting.

To call a special meeting, the unit owners must submit a written petition which is signed by the required percentage of the total number of voting members and which is mailed, return-receipt requested or served by a process server to the board or the community manager for the association.

If the petition calls for a special meeting, the board shall set the date for the special meeting so that the special meeting is held not less than 15 days or more than 60 days after the date on which the petition is received.

Finally, the law states that the association shall not adopt any rule or regulation that prevents or unreasonably interferes with the collection of the required percentages of the signatures for the petition.

You will need to review the petition and how it was served. If the unit owners did not follow the procedures, they have an opportunity to resubmit a petition based upon NRS 116.3108.

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Barbara Holland, CPM, CMCA, is an author, educator and expert witness on real estate issues pertaining to management and brokerage. Questions may be sent to holland744o@gmail.com.