Homeowner associations face scrutiny

Wednesday, June 7, 2006 | 8:55 a.m.

By Cy Ryan

CARSON CITY - Complaints are piling up in a state agency about the conduct of homeowner associations in Clark County, and some legislators are increasingly unhappy over lengthy delays in reaching solutions.

"We're concerned about this backlog and people having to be in limbo," said Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas. "If there isn't any improvement, there will be legislation." State Real Estate Administrator Gail J. Anderson told Buckley and other members of the Legislative Commission last week that she had a plan to get the issues resolved more quickly.

Consumers, she said, should be able to get answers in a few weeks rather than waiting months in disputes between homeowners and the board of directors of their homeowner associations.

A report to the Legislative Commission showed that there were 100 open cases in Clark County as of Feb. 28. Of that number, 76 had been pending for 120 days or more. In Northern Nevada, there were 36 open cases.

An office in the Real Estate Division handles the complaints, which cover a wide range of issues such as an association's board of directors failing to maintain the grounds or buildings and homeowners' objections to rules or fines imposed on them.

Association rules governing homes' exterior color and appearance sometimes are extremely stringent, typified by one owner in Reno who complained that he was not allowed to fly the American flag.

"This backlog is unacceptable," said Buckley, chairwoman of the Legislative Commission. Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, agreed that the complaints should not be allowed to linger.

Anderson told the commission that she planned to hire a lawyer to act as an administrative law judge - or perhaps a panel of judges - to settle complaints involving disputes over interpretation of homeowners association rules.

The state has an ombudsman's position to deal with homeowner association issues, but it has been vacant since Eldon Hardy's retirement in April. Anderson said she hoped to have the job filled by month's end.

"The ombudsman can't take sides," Anderson said. "He has to be neutral, but that doesn't mean the ombudsman can't say, 'The law says you have to do it this way.'"

Nevada has more than 2,600 homeowner associations, representing 367,609 residences, according to figures from the Real Estate Commission.

The state agency is continuing to accept complaints and start investigations, Anderson said, but the lack of enforcement authority is causing more complicated cases to pile up.

But the backlog has been reduced, she said. From last July through March 1, 38 cases in Clark County and eight in Northern Nevada were completed. Anderson also intends to ask the 2007 Legislature for more staff to handle the growing workload.