Court grants preliminary injunction against short-term rental law in Clark County, Nevada

A new short-term rental (STR) law in Clark County, Nevada, has been put on hold in response to a lawsuit against the ordinance. The Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association (GLVSTRA) sued to overturn the law in August, and the Eighth Judicial District Court granted the group a preliminary injunction against Clark County and the State of Nevada in December.

"It's a great win for us because it validates what we have been saying that the short-term rental regulations passed by the county and the state violated people's constitutional protections. The judge agreed that there were several constitutional issues with the law, and she ordered that the county work with us to try to fix the regulations," said Jackie Flores, GLVSTRA president.

Clark County’s short-term rental law, which was approved this summer, requires hosts to register with the city, collect lodging taxes from guests, and follow other rules. The county measure was prompted by state legislation, passed last year, that required Clark County, along with the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas, to regulate vacation rentals. The state law went into effect July 1, 2022.

Previously, short-term rentals were banned in unincorporated areas of Clark County. Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas already had vacation rental rules in place, so they did not have to pass new regulations to comply with the state law.

Under the Clark County measure, operators must apply for a local short-term rental license, which costs $750 for three or fewer bedrooms and $1,500 for more than three bedrooms, plus $150 for a required safety inspection. Vacation rental licenses are limited to 1% of housing stock and operators may hold no more than one license per person.

Hosts must also designate a local representative who is available 24 hours a day/seven days a week and can respond to any issues within 30 minutes. Hosts must also install noise-monitoring devices, follow guest occupancy limits, and require guests to stay a minimum of two nights for every reservation.

Licensed short-term rental operators who violate the law may be fined up to $1,000, while unlicensed vacation rentals may be subject to a fine of up to $10,000.

Other county rules include:

• Short-term rental properties must be located at least 1,000 feet away from each other and at least 2,500 feet from a resort casino
• Vacation rentals within a multifamily dwelling are limited to no more than 10% of units, but are prohibited in apartment buildings
• Short-term rentals are not allowed in communities with homeowners associations unless the association expressly allows them
• Short-term rentals are prohibited in Mount Charleston, Bunkerville, Mesquite, Moapa, and Moapa Valley townships

Prospective Clark County STR hosts may apply to be included in a short-term rental license lottery until March 1, 2023. Those chosen by the lottery may go on to apply for a county short-term rental license, although the county does not have a fixed date of when the licenses will be issued.

The county also requires “accommodations facilitators,” including marketplaces such as Airbnb and Vrbo, to verify short-term rental property licenses before listing and to remove properties if requested by the county.

According to the law, short-term rental operators are required to collect transient lodging taxes from guests and file transient lodging tax returns with the county. Short-term rental marketplaces are responsible for collecting short-term rental taxes on behalf of their hosts. Currently, however, neither Airbnb nor Vrbo collect lodging taxes for their listings in Clark County.

MyLodgeTax can help short-term rental hosts automate lodging tax to streamline and simplify their lodging tax compliance. For more information on short-term rental taxes, see our Nevada Vacation Rental Tax Guide. If you have tax questions related to vacation rental properties, drop us a line and we’ll get back to you with answers.