SB 144 dies in committee; other bills could affect HOAs

Great news: Your emails and calls helped to kill Senate Bill 144, the bill that would have eliminated non-judicial foreclosure, required state approval of assessment increases and mandated a homeowners association-maintained website. It did not pass out of committee by the April 9 deadline. Please take the time to thank the Senate Judiciary Committee on SB 144 for listening to our concerns.

As of April 12, here is a brief status update on other HOAs bills:

■ Senate Bill 186 restricts debt collectors that are affiliated with management companies from collecting delinquent assessments for HOAs managed by the affiliated management company. This bill also requires the debt collector to file an annual report on HOA collection activity by zip code. Amended bill passed out of committee.

■ Assembly Bill 313 provides for electronic voting in HOA elections. Amended bill passed out of committee. If passed, this will be an interesting regulation and potentially a difficult regulation as associations will need to protect the integrity of the voting.

■ Assembly Bill 237 imposes limits on what can be charged and collected for providing a resale packet. Amended bill passed out of committee. Every year, there is some bill pertaining to the demand letter or the resale packet as to what is to be included as well as to the cost.

■ Assembly Bill 249 prohibits a community association from imposing construction hours that differ from city or county construction hours. Amended bill passed out of committee. This is one bill that we will have to monitor. Many associations have reasonable restrictions as to construction hours.

■ Senate Bill 72 provides that the commission shall adopt regulations for use in determining what constitutes a health, safety or welfare violation and the appropriate fine for such violation. This bill proposes other amendments supported by Nevada Real Estate Division. Amended bill passed out of committee. This is an important bill, as too many associations have misinterpreted what constitutes an HOA violation. This will be closely monitored and, if passed, there will be more discussion at the commission level.

■ Assembly Bill 295, on the availability of records, died.

■ Senate Bill 257, which would have eliminated the requirement that the association maintain property insurance for certain condos/town homes, died. Many condominiums and town houses were caught by surprise when a law was passed a number of years ago requiring associations to maintain property insurance for certain condominiums and town houses. When the law passed, many associations had to deal with the substantial increase in insurance and had to pass on these costs to their homeowners.

■ Senate Bill 339, allowing an HOA to lease abandoned properties, died. This was probably a good idea to kill this bill. Which association wants more legal issues as to the rights of what appears to be an abandoned property.

This column will try to keep you all current as to the legislative action concerning associations.

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.