The Nevada Legislature meets once every two years (unless a special session is called by the governor) and has 120 days to pass legislation. This year’s session was quite productive (as measured in laws passed), as both houses and the governor are of the same party.
Below are new laws I feel you should be aware of. I’ve left out actions that involve small groups (payday lenders, railroad workers). Also, this list is for information only; I’m not expressing any opinions about whether I think the new law is good or bad, just that you should be aware of it.
- The minimum age to work for a gaming-equipment company has been lowered from 21 to 18.
- The state’s minimum wage will rise from $8.25 to $12 over the next five years.
- You can register and vote on the same day. Anyone released from prison is eligible to vote as well.
- The minimum age for marriage in Nevada is 17.
- If you were convicted of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana (before the law changed), you can have the record sealed.
- Anyone arrested for a minor traffic offense (that doesn’t include DUI) can be released on their own recognizance.
- The Homestead Exception, the amount of equity in your primary residence that cannot be taken away in a civil action, has been increased to $605,000.
- It’s now easier to obtain and serve a temporary protective order. Penalties for protective-order violations have been increased.
- It will be easier for people with cancer, in hospice or under palliative care, to receive opioids. However, after January 1, 2021, controlled-substance prescriptions must be sent to the pharmacies electronically directly from your doctor.
- Abortion laws have been simplified and streamlined.
- To deal with rising dental costs and the shortage of dentists, the state has established a practice of dental therapy — a level between a hygienist and a dentist.
- A tenant-rights bill extends the time frame for evictions and limits late fees for unpaid rent.
- Homeowner associations can no longer prohibit an owner from keeping at least one pet.
- Companies that employ 50 or more workers must offer at least 40 hours of paid sick leave a year. Employers cannot make you come into work to report that you are sick or injured.
- After January 1, 2020, you cannot be refused employment because you tested positive for marijuana, except for firefighters, doctors, and professional drivers.
- New license-plate options include “Vegas Strong” and “Women’s Suffrage Centenary.”
- All municipal elections will now be held in even-numbered years.
- Bump stocks are banned, plus guns must be safely stored away from minors. The permissible alcohol level for possessing a weapon has been dropped to .08. Beginning in January 2020, background checks are required for private gun sales.
- The five-year residency requirement for those over 65 to receive free state-park permits have been eliminated.
- The state can revoke a hunting or fishing license for those who fall behind on child-support payments. Also, hunters cannot bring home an out-of-state carcass or parts of any animal susceptible to chronic wasting disease (deer, moose).
- Proof of vehicle registration may be kept electronically on your phone or other device.
- The Nevada System of Higher Education must waive tuition for Purple Heart recipients.
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A tenant-rights bill extends the time frame for evictions and limits late fees for unpaid rent.– This law is just wrong. Try being the owner of a rental property – stupid, liberal law.
Tenants need this because there are property management companies that are ruthless.
For instance, say a senior, who has always paid their rent on time for years, has a medical emergency late in the month, and is physically unable to pay the rent on time, due to being in the hospital.
The property management companies don’t care that you’ve always paid on time, or that you will, when you come out, and will slap your door with a “5 Day pay or evict” notice AND tack on ridiculous late fees even if you show them proof you were in the hospital. They don’t care.
This law is needed to protect renters from cold-hearted companies like that.
But if we don’t protect landlords they won’t rent homes to anyone! lol stop crying and enjoy your rent checks
Set up stricter policies, with incentives for those who follow them… 8 months rent on time? Give them a deduction for the month on rent.
I wish I had enough money to own a rental property!
David, tenant protection laws are based on the fact that when a tenant violates some part of a rental agreement, it’s at most a mild inconvenience to the landlord–maybe a temporary blip in the ol’ cash flow. But when a landlord violates an agreement, or in general, treats a tenant unfairly, the consequences for the tenant can be major–affecting a very fundamental aspect of the tenant’s life: his domicile.
The tenant-landlord relationship is one of unequal power. The tenant can be grievously hurt by the landlord’s actions. The landlord can be temporarily inconvenienced by the tenant’s actions. And yes, we’ve all heard the horror stories that landlords tell about irresponsible scumbag tenants. At least an equal number of such stories exists about abusive, unethical landlords.
The reason for “liberal laws” is to address societal power imbalances. You, the landlord, have far more power to disrupt my life than I, the tenant, have to disrupt yours. You also have more money than I do, and thus, greater access to legal remedies. Those with money and power hate liberalism because it attempts to loosen the iron grip that they have on society.
@David Miller
Imagine you are a tenant at a disgustingly overpriced apartment building, little to no amenities.
In addition to paying power, gas, trash, water, sewer, food, gas, phone, internet, health insurance, car insurance, among other utilities you happen to accrue, you have to pay $1,200 per month, which typically leaves you flat broke, after tax of course, with wages from both of your $8.25 per hour jobs. Then you lose one of those jobs, maybe they cut your hours in half.
You’re struggling, but getting through it…then BAM! Someone steals your wallet. Maybe, your debit card gets emptied by some expense you completely forgot about, what have you. Your rent is due the next day, you’re missing half of it. After making a useless phone call, you find out that you must pay or get out.
The following day, your SOB landlord tapes an eviction notice on your front door at the crack of dawn.
You have FOUR days to remove all of your belongings, unless you pay the entirety of the rent, plus hundreds of dollars in late fees, and rent for every month remaining in your lease. That’s not including ruined credit, and an eviction on your record, which leaves you unable to find a place to live for seven years. Your life subsequently falls apart.
Stupid liberal law?
The profanity in this post has been edited out. If the poster wishes the entire post to be deleted, say so and we’ll take it down.
Try being gouged for a late fee, $125, when property management closes early on a holiday, and does not inform tenants of early closure.
Renter’s rights is a MUST in Nevada. We are so far behind. Thank you, Senator Nicole Cannizzaro, and the Nevada State Legislature!! It’s a welcome, long overdue, start!!
Hey Benito, you knew that the rent was due at the first of the month and you knew about the holiday and the date it fell on. Pay your rent a day or two early – then no late fee and no reason for you to cry.
I got a 5 day notice to pay or quit because I accidentally paid $1 too little on the rent. What a joke. Landlords have to accept some responsibility for these new laws because of their unfair treatment of renters. It’s called backlash
How can people raise their children and give them a good life when it takes everything they can possibly earn to pay for rent and power? And if your a single parent its heartbreaking. Crime rate is going to be off the hook !! And the homeless will be everywhere far worse than it is now and it is really bad now. I’m scared really scared and dont forget older people and the disabled with limited income…some are already wondering the streets with no one to help them and no where to go…God bless America !!
My wife and I are landlords of a few homes, and we also are tenants, as we have been renting the primary home we live in ourselves for the past 5 years. My wife grew up in a financially unstable household and was evicted several times growing up, and had to move at least once per year for several years.
As landlords, we have had the unfortunate experience of having to evict a few residents over the years and do everything possible to avoid it. Eviction is no fun for anyone. It’s obviously unpleasant for the resident and costly and unpleasant for the landlord as well. One of our residents had to be evicted because she was stealing electricity from our other tenant, her neighbor in a duplex, and harassing her as well. Several of our residents that had to leave either by eviction or by mutual agreement left damage to the property that cost us up to 10 times the amount of the security deposit. It’s never worth trying to recover it from them, as they are moving because they have no money.
When one of our residents is unable to pay the rent, we do what we can and work with them to transition them out to a place they can more easily afford or other temporary housing as quickly and painlessly as possible. We need to collect rent because we have a mortgage, and if we do not collect rent we will default on our mortgage, which will wipe out our life savings, ruin our credit, and also lose possession of the property, which will almost certainly also cause the resident to have to move out under duress.
We have learned from experience to vet our applicants very carefully to ensure that they can actually afford to live in the homes they rent from us. We check credit and go through the application and the credit report carefully. If anything doesn’t make sense, we will ask about it. If the prospective resident has a good explanation, that is usually sufficient. An example of a red flag that would be a reason we might decline an application is income less than 2.5x the rent, or a lot of credit card debt, and/or the applicant having new credit cards when old ones still carry a lot of debt. (This is on the credit report) We are also very proactive in addressing problems as quickly as possible to keep our residents safe and renting from us for the long term. We recognize that property rental is a competitive business with many options for consumers, so we treat our residents as the clients that they are.
A lot of non-landlords may not realize that owning rental property is unglamorous, a grind, and usually only profitable in the very long term. When we first buy a property, we usually lose money for a few years. This is due to the initial repairs necessary to prepare a home for rent, and the fact that the market price when you buy it is such that the mortgage will usually just be covered by the rent. . We usually finally start covering our expenses after a few years, because inflation causes rents to rise a few percent per year while our mortgage is fixed. A vacant unit is a unit that costs us money. Just one month of vacancy can usually make the difference between a profitable year and a losing year, because we are not bringing in rent, and we usually have to paint, etc to make the home attractive to potential residents. For this reason, our desire is to keep good residents in our properties for the very long term. We will usually keep the rent a little bit below the market because it gives us a much bigger pool of applicants to select from, and we want our residents to feel like they are getting a good deal, so they will stay.