Nebraska HOA Short-Term Rentals

Quick-Reference Table

Last verified: July 17, 2026

Section 1: Overview — Can an HOA restrict short-term rentals in Nebraska?

Yes. A Nebraska condominium association restricts short-term rentals through its recorded declaration operating within the Nebraska Condominium Act, and a planned community does so through its recorded covenants. The Nebraska Condominium Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-825 et seq.)¹ governs condominiums created after January 1, 1984, and supplies the amendment thresholds, enforcement powers, and owner protections that frame a condominium rental restriction; planned communities, by contrast, have no comprehensive statute and are governed primarily by their covenants, with the Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act supplying corporate formalities.²

The Condominium Act is condominium-only and is based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, not the broader common interest ownership framework; condominiums created before January 1, 1984 remain under the older Condominium Property Act (§ 76-801 et seq.), except where enumerated provisions of the newer Act reach back to events occurring after that date.³ On the local layer, Nebraska limits municipalities: a city or village may not prohibit short-term rental use, though Omaha and Lincoln regulate and tax such use for health and safety purposes.⁴ Contested disputes proceed through the Nebraska District Court, with appeal to the Nebraska Court of Appeals and then the Nebraska Supreme Court. The sections that follow set out the framework, the amendment and grandfathering mechanics, the tax and local layer, and the enforcement tools in detail.

Section 2: The legal framework for HOA short-term rental restrictions

2A. The Condominium Act and the CC&R-primary planned-community framework

Nebraska divides its residential community law by community type. The Nebraska Condominium Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-825 to § 76-894), enacted by Laws 1983, LB 433 and based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, governs condominiums created after January 1, 1984.¹ It is condominium-only; it is not a common interest ownership act and does not reach planned communities. Condominiums created before January 1, 1984 remain under the older Condominium Property Act (§ 76-801 to § 76-823), enacted in 1963, except that an enumerated list of newer-Act sections applies to pre-1984 condominiums for events and circumstances occurring after January 1, 1984.³ The two regimes are distinct and should not be conflated: the older Act uses a "master deed" and "board of administrators" structure, while the newer Act uses a "declaration" and "executive board."⁵

Planned communities, meaning non-condominium homeowners associations, have no comprehensive Nebraska statute. Their rental authority comes from the recorded covenants, conditions, and restrictions, supplemented by the Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act (§ 21-1901 to § 21-19,177) for corporate governance and by Nebraska common law.² That Act is a corporate-governance code addressing directors, meetings, and records; it supplies no rental rule.

In both settings the governing instrument is the source of rental authority. A key distinction runs through the analysis: authority over long-term leasing and authority over short-term or transient rentals are not always the same. A covenant permitting leasing generally may still be read to permit short-term rentals unless the instrument restricts term length or bars transient or commercial use, and a "residential use only" covenant may or may not reach short-term rentals depending on its wording. The precise language of the declaration or covenants therefore controls.

2B. Restricting rentals, amendments, and grandfathering

For condominiums, a rental restriction is normally adopted by amending the declaration. Under § 76-854(a), the declaration may be amended by owners holding at least 67 percent of the votes in the association, or any larger majority the declaration specifies up to 80 percent.⁶ That threshold, however, is not the end of the inquiry. Section 76-854(d) provides that no amendment may change "the uses to which any unit is restricted" in the absence of the unanimous consent of the unit owners, and further provides that no amendment may change the uses to which any unit is restricted without the consent of the owner of that unit.⁶ This is the Act's owner-protection provision on use restrictions. It is not the rental-specific provision found in the 2008 revision of the uniform common interest ownership act; it is the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act's unanimity rule, and it is arguably more protective. A condominium that adds a materially new limit on how units may be used, including a short-term rental restriction that changes a unit's permitted use, faces a strong argument that unanimous consent, not a 67 percent vote, is required.

Because § 76-854(d) requires the affected owner's consent to change the uses to which a unit is restricted, an existing owner in a condominium enjoys meaningful statutory protection against a use restriction imposed over objection. Where an amendment is characterized instead as a reasonable regulation of leasing rather than a change to permitted use, the analysis turns on the declaration's own terms and on Nebraska common law. Nebraska courts treat recorded restrictions as enforceable contracts, construed to give effect to the parties' intent, and enforce them according to their plain language when unambiguous.⁷

For planned communities, an amendment adding a rental restriction proceeds under the covenants' own amendment clause; there is no statutory vote threshold and no statutory grandfather shield. Whether such an amendment binds an owner who bought before it was adopted is governed by the covenants and by Nebraska common law on the reasonableness of covenant amendments. Nebraska does not otherwise limit association rental authority by statute. Unlike California (Civil Code § 4741) and Arizona (A.R.S. § 33-1806.01), no Nebraska statute caps an association's power to restrict rentals or requires a specific accommodation for existing rentals, and no Florida-style statutory grandfathering shield exists. The result is a framework driven by the governing documents and, for condominiums, by the § 76-854(d) unanimity rule.⁶

2C. State law, tax, and the local layer

Nebraska addresses short-term rentals at the state level, but the statute constrains local governments, not associations. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 18-1758, enacted by Laws 2019, LB57, provides that a municipality may not adopt or enforce an ordinance that expressly or effectively prohibits the use of a property as a short-term rental, which the statute defines as "a residential property, including a single-family dwelling or a unit in a condominium, cooperative, or time-share, that is rented wholly or partly for a fee for a period not longer than thirty consecutive days."⁴ A municipality may still regulate for public health and safety, may impose sales and occupation taxes, and must apply land-use rules to short-term rentals as it does to comparable properties. Critically, § 18-1758(7) states that the section "shall not be construed to affect regulations of a private entity, including a homeowners association organized under the Condominium Property Act or the Nebraska Condominium Act."⁴ The state preemption of local bans therefore leaves association authority fully intact.

Short-term lodging is taxable. Nebraska imposes its 5.5 percent state sales tax, plus a 1 percent state lodging tax that, in the Department of Revenue's words, "is in addition to County Lodging Tax," and counties may impose a county lodging tax of up to 4 percent, all on stays of fewer than 30 continuous days; accommodations supplied to the same tenant for 30 continuous days or more are exempt.⁸ Operators, including short-term rental hosts, must obtain a Nebraska lodging tax permit and file returns with the Nebraska Department of Revenue.⁹ Omaha and Lincoln add local requirements: Omaha regulates short-term rentals in its municipal code, and Lincoln requires a short-term rental license under Lincoln Municipal Code Chapter 5.39.¹⁰¹¹

The essential point for compliance is that these three layers are distinct. Local regulation and the lodging tax govern the owner-to-government relationship; they neither grant nor remove association authority. An owner who obtains a Lincoln license, satisfies Omaha's health and safety rules, and remits every tax due may still violate the declaration or covenants and be enjoined by the association. Conversely, an owner in full compliance with the governing documents must still register and pay lodging tax. Satisfying one layer says nothing about the others.

Section 3: Operational mechanics and enforcement

A. Adopting a valid restriction (the tools)

The most common mechanism is a minimum-lease-term restriction, for example a covenant or declaration provision barring leases shorter than 30 days, which directly reaches transient rentals without prohibiting long-term leasing. In a condominium, adopting or strengthening such a restriction by amendment triggers § 76-854: a 67 percent vote under subsection (a), but unanimous consent under subsection (d) if the amendment changes the uses to which any unit is restricted.⁶ In a planned community, the covenants' amendment clause controls, with no statutory threshold.

Rental caps, meaning limits on the number or percentage of units that may be rented at one time, are not addressed by the Condominium Act and are therefore a creature of the governing documents; a cap that alters permitted use in a condominium is subject to the same § 76-854(d) constraint. Associations may also impose internal administrative requirements without a formal amendment where the declaration or bylaws authorize rules: registration of rental units, collection of tenant contact information, and filing of leases with the board are typical. In a condominium these flow from the association's power to adopt and amend rules and regulations under § 76-860(a)(1).¹²

B. Enforcement

Before imposing a fine, a condominium association must provide notice and an opportunity to be heard; § 76-860(a)(11) authorizes the association to "[i]mpose charges for late payment of assessments and, after notice and opportunity to be heard, levy reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations for the association."¹² Planned communities have no parallel statute, so the covenants and bylaws supply the required process. The available remedies in a condominium are fines where authorized, injunctive relief to stop a prohibited rental, and an assessment lien; under § 76-874 the association's lien for unpaid assessments, which can include unpaid fines and charges where the declaration so provides, is foreclosable in the same manner as a mortgage, and the prevailing party is entitled to costs and reasonable attorney's fees.¹³ Notably, while the Act's general power to institute litigation "on matters affecting the condominium" requires an 80 percent vote under § 76-860(a)(4), litigation to enforce the covenants, bylaws, or rules against a unit owner is expressly excluded from that supermajority requirement.¹² Planned communities rely on common-law injunctive relief and damages, and on the homeowners association lien statute (§ 52-2001) for assessments where it applies.¹⁴

A contested enforcement action is filed in the Nebraska District Court, the trial court of general jurisdiction, with appeal to the Nebraska Court of Appeals and then to the Nebraska Supreme Court, which may also take certain appeals directly. Association enforcement runs independently of local-government enforcement: a city may cite an owner for operating without a required license while the association separately pursues a covenant violation, and neither action resolves the other.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill enacted in the past 24 months amended the Nebraska Condominium Act's rental, amendment, or enforcement provisions, changed § 18-1758, or altered association rental authority. The most recent relevant proposal was LB208 of the 108th Legislature.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published opinion of the Nebraska Court of Appeals or the Nebraska Supreme Court in the past 36 months addresses short-term rental restrictions specifically. The closest recent authority on covenant enforcement and association authority is Hillsborough Homeowners Assn. v. Karnish.

For context, the leading recent Nebraska Supreme Court covenant decision, Pine Tree Neighborhood Assn. v. Moses, 314 Neb. 445 (decided June 9, 2023, just outside the 36-month window), reaffirmed that recorded covenants are enforced according to their plain language and that the right to enforce is lost only through waiver shown by substantial and general noncompliance.⁷

C. Active legislative or local debates

The 109th Legislature's 2025 and 2026 sessions produced no enacted change to condominium or association rental authority, and community association legislation that session (for example a political-sign bill) died without passage. Omaha and Lincoln continue to administer and periodically adjust their short-term rental permitting and licensing programs, but those local actions govern owners and do not alter association authority.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Nebraska sits in the middle of the national range. It has a Uniform-Condominium-Act-based condominium statute but no comprehensive planned-community statute, leaving planned-community rental authority to the covenants and common law. It preempts local short-term rental bans through § 18-1758, placing it alongside states that protect owners from municipal prohibition, yet it does so without touching association authority, which the statute expressly preserves. And it does not limit association rental authority directly the way California (Civil Code § 4741) and Arizona (A.R.S. § 33-1806.01) do; instead, its principal owner protection is the § 76-854(d) unanimity rule for condominium use-restriction amendments. Local regulation and the lodging tax restrain local governments and owners, not associations. For a multi-state operator entering Nebraska, the practical implication is a condominium-only statute with an older-versus-newer condominium split, a strong unanimity rule on condominium use restrictions, and a CC&R-primary planned-community regime in which the governing documents do almost all of the work.

HOA Weekly's Nebraska Short-Term Rentals coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature, the Nebraska Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, and local governments act. Federal frameworks, including the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the FCC's OTARD rule, also apply to Nebraska associations regardless of the state framework.

Footnotes

1. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-825, Nebraska Condominium Act, how cited ↩
2. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-826, Sections, applicability ↩
3. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-801, Condominium Property Act, how cited ↩
4. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 18-1758, Short-term rentals; municipality; ordinance or other regulation; powers (Laws 2019, LB57) ↩
5. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-854, Amendment to declaration; procedure ↩
6. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-860, Unit owners association; powers ↩
7. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-874, Lien for assessments ↩
8. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 21-1901, Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act, how cited ↩
9. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-2001, Homeowners association lien ↩
10. Nebraska Department of Revenue, Nebraska and County Lodging Tax ↩
11. Nebraska Department of Revenue, Chapter 68 — Lodging Tax regulations ↩
12. Omaha Municipal Code, Ch. 43, Art. XI, Short-Term Rentals ↩
13. City of Lincoln, Short-Term Rentals (Lincoln Municipal Code Ch. 5.39) ↩
14. Pine Tree Neighborhood Assn. v. Moses, 314 Neb. 445 (June 9, 2023) ↩
15. Hillsborough Homeowners Assn. v. Karnish, 33 Neb. App. 228 (2024) ↩
16. Nebraska Legislature, LB208 (2023-2024, 108th Leg.), Prohibit counties from prohibiting the use of residential property as short-term rentals ↩