Nevada HOA Political Signs

Section 1: Overview — How political signs are regulated in Nevada HOAs

Nevada law bars an association's executive board and governing documents from prohibiting an owner or occupant from exhibiting political signs within the physical portion of a common-interest community that the person has the right to occupy and use exclusively, subject to statutory conditions on size, number, and tenant consent.¹ The controlling provision is NRS 116.325, which reaches signs that express support for or opposition to a candidate, political party, or ballot question in any federal, state, or local election, and in any election of an association.¹ The two headline conditions are a size cap of 24 inches by 36 inches and a number rule allowing as many signs as desired but not more than one per candidate, political party, or ballot question.¹ The protection is statutory, not constitutional: a Nevada association is a private entity created by contract, so the federal First Amendment, which limits government action, doesn't apply to it. Nevada layers onto this statutory right a distinctive regulatory and dispute-resolution apparatus, including the Real Estate Division and the Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels,² and a mandatory alternative-dispute-resolution step under NRS 38.300 to 38.360 for many association disputes before a civil action may be filed.³ The sections ahead dissect the statute, the source of the protection, the interaction with governing documents, and the operational rules for boards and managers.

Section 2: The legal framework for political signs

2A. The statute that protects political signs

NRS 116.325(1) states that the executive board shall not, and the governing documents must not, prohibit a unit's owner or an occupant from exhibiting one or more political signs within the physical portion of the common-interest community that the owner or occupant has the right to occupy and use exclusively, subject to four conditions.¹ First, all political signs exhibited must not be larger than 24 inches by 36 inches. Second, if the unit is occupied by a tenant, the owner may not exhibit any political sign unless the tenant consents, in writing, to the exhibition. Third, all political signs remain subject to any applicable provisions of law governing the posting of political signs, which preserves the application of municipal and other governmental sign rules. Fourth, an owner or occupant may exhibit as many political signs as desired but may not exhibit more than one political sign for each candidate, political party, or ballot question.¹ NRS 116.325(2) frames these as minimum rights: the section doesn't preempt governing-document provisions that grant greater rights, and it doesn't require the association to impose any restrictions beyond those established by other law.¹ The definition in NRS 116.325(3) runs broad. A political sign means a sign that expresses support for or opposition to a candidate, political party, or ballot question in any federal, state, or local election, or any election of an association, so the protection reaches internal association board elections as well as public elections.¹ Two points on scope and timing matter here. The statute imposes conditions on size, number, and tenant consent, and it doesn't set a fixed display window tied to a number of days before or after an election. And because NRS Chapter 116 governs common-interest communities generally, the political-sign right applies across condominiums, planned communities, and cooperatives within the Act rather than to a single form of community.¹ Unlike the parallel flag statute, which expressly permits an association to adopt rules that reasonably restrict placement and manner, NRS 116.325 contains no comparable placement-and-manner authorization.⁴

2B. The First Amendment and the source of the protection

A common misconception holds that the First Amendment gives a homeowner the right to display political signs against an association. The First Amendment constrains government action, and its protections trigger only where state action exists. A community association is a private entity created by contract through recorded covenants, so it's generally not a state actor, and the federal First Amendment doesn't by itself supply a basis to challenge an association's sign rules. The operative protection in Nevada is therefore the statutory grant in NRS 116.325, not a constitutional guarantee.¹ It's also worth distinguishing government sign regulation from association regulation. The U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) and City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin (2022) concern the First Amendment limits on municipal sign codes — that is, government regulation of signs — and they don't constrain what a private association may do.⁵ They remain relevant to the owner only indirectly, because NRS 116.325(1)(c) keeps an owner's political signs subject to applicable government sign law, which is where those decisions operate.¹ The Nevada Constitution's free-speech clause, Article I, Section 9, likewise addresses restraint of speech by law and isn't the operative source of the association sign right.⁶

2C. How the statute interacts with governing documents, and Nevada's enforcement apparatus

NRS 116.325 overrides a conflicting governing-document provision. A declaration, bylaw, or rule that purports to ban political signs in an owner's exclusive-use area is unenforceable to that extent, subject to the statutory size, number, and tenant-consent conditions; NRS 116.1206 provides that a governing-document provision that violates Chapter 116 is superseded by the chapter and deemed to conform by operation of law.⁷ What the board retains is the power to enforce those statutory conditions and to exercise its general rulemaking authority under NRS 116.31065, provided any rule is reasonably related to its purpose, consistent with the governing documents, and, critically, uniformly enforced. A rule that's not uniformly enforced under the same or similar circumstances may not be enforced against any owner.⁸ Nevada's enforcement path runs distinctive. For many disputes concerning the interpretation, application, or enforcement of covenants, conditions, restrictions, bylaws, or rules, NRS 38.310 requires the parties to submit the matter to mediation or a referral program under NRS 38.300 to 38.360 before filing a civil action, and a court must dismiss an action commenced in violation of that requirement, with a carve-out for injunctive relief where there's an immediate threat of irreparable harm.³ Separately, the Real Estate Division administers Chapter 116, the Ombudsman for Owners in Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels assists owners and processes ADR claims, and the Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels adopts regulations and conducts disciplinary hearings; an aggrieved owner may file an affidavit with the Division alleging a Chapter 116 violation.² The Division's role is oversight of compliance with Chapter 116 rather than adjudication of the political content of a sign. The operational takeaway: an association can't ban political signs in an owner's exclusive-use area, it may enforce the statutory size and number conditions and the written-tenant-consent requirement, and disputes commonly run through ADR or the regulatory apparatus before reaching court.

Section 3: Operational rules for Nevada associations

A. What an association may NOT do

An association may not prohibit an owner or occupant from exhibiting political signs in the physical portion of the community the person occupies and uses exclusively, and a governing-document ban is void to that extent under NRS 116.325(1).¹ It may not impose a size limit smaller than 24 inches by 36 inches or a number limit stricter than one sign per candidate, political party, or ballot question, because NRS 116.325(2) sets those as minimum rights that governing documents may exceed in the owner's favor but not curtail.¹ It may not enforce sign rules selectively or by viewpoint, because NRS 116.31065(5) provides that a rule not uniformly enforced may not be enforced against any owner.⁸ Each of these constraints applies to common-interest communities governed by Chapter 116.

B. What an association MAY regulate

An association may enforce the statutory conditions themselves: the 24-by-36-inch size cap, the one-sign-per-candidate/party/ballot-question limit, and, for a leased unit, the requirement that the tenant consent in writing before the owner exhibits a sign, all under NRS 116.325(1).¹ It may exercise general rulemaking authority under NRS 116.31065, but any such rule must be reasonably related to its purpose, consistent with the governing documents, and uniformly enforced, and it may not be used to prohibit political signs or to impose conditions stricter than NRS 116.325 permits.⁸ Because NRS 116.325 doesn't contain the express placement-and-manner rule authorization found in the flag statute, a board relying on general rulemaking power to regulate placement should make sure the rule doesn't effectively negate the statutory right.⁴

C. Enforcement and fining constraints

Before an association imposes a fine for a sign-rule violation, NRS 116.31031 requires that the governing documents authorize the fine and that the board provide written notice specifying the alleged violation and the proposed cure, a hearing, and, for a violation that doesn't pose an imminent threat to health, safety, or welfare, a fine that "must not exceed $100 for each violation or a total amount of $1,000 per hearing."⁹ A rule may be enforced through a fine only if the association complies with NRS 116.31031, per NRS 116.31065(6).⁸ Before many sign disputes reach civil court, the NRS 38.300 to 38.360 ADR requirement applies, and the Division, Ombudsman, and Commission provide an administrative channel for alleged Chapter 116 violations.³ These procedural limits also constrain self-help; an association enforces through the statutory notice, hearing, and fining process rather than through summary removal.

D. Rule adoption and disclosure

Under NRS 116.31065, a rule must be reasonably related to its purpose, sufficiently explicit to inform owners of what compliance requires, consistent with the governing documents, and uniformly enforced to be enforceable.⁸ A rule that prohibits political signs, or that imposes conditions stricter than NRS 116.325, conflicts with the statute and is unenforceable to that extent; NRS 116.1206 provides that a governing-document provision that violates Chapter 116 is superseded by the chapter and deemed to conform by operation of law.⁷ These requirements apply to common-interest communities under Chapter 116.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill enacted in the 2025 Nevada Legislature (83rd Regular Session) amended NRS 116.325 or otherwise changed association political-sign rules. The section retains its original enactment and single amendment, reflected in its source note, "Added to NRS by 2005, 2585; A 2009, 2896."¹⁰ A separate 2025 measure, Senate Bill 201, sponsored by Senator Julie Pazina, addressed the display of religious or cultural items affixed to a door or door frame (not exceeding 36 inches by 12 inches, or the size of the door) and was codified in NRS Chapter 116 as a distinct right; it isn't a political-sign measure and doesn't affect NRS 116.325.¹¹

B. Recent rulings

No published opinion from the Nevada Supreme Court or the Nevada Court of Appeals within the past 36 months interprets or applies NRS 116.325 or addresses enforcement of political-sign rules by a common-interest community association. Nevada trial-level disputes proceed through the District Courts. Nevada has a Court of Appeals, created by a constitutional amendment (Question 1) approved by voters on November 4, 2014 and operational since January 2015, that functions on a deflection model: appeals get filed with the Nevada Supreme Court, which assigns roughly one-third of its matters, about 700 cases per year, to the three-judge Court of Appeals.¹²

C. Active legislative debates

No active proposal specific to Nevada's political-sign rules exists; the Legislature meets in odd-numbered years, so the next regular opportunity for statutory change falls in the 2027 session.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Nevada sits among the owner-protective states that bar associations from banning political or noncommercial signs on an owner's own property, alongside California and states such as Arizona (A.R.S. § 33-1808),¹³ Colorado (C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5),¹⁴ Maryland (Real Property § 11B-111.2),¹⁵ and Montana (Mont. Code Ann. § 70-1-522).¹⁶ What distinguishes Nevada is the pairing of a detailed statutory right with an active state regulator and a mandatory ADR step, rather than a bare prohibition. Nevada's statute also carries specific numeric conditions — a 24-by-36-inch size cap and a one-sign-per-candidate/party/ballot-question limit — and a definition broad enough to reach association elections as well as public elections, while notably omitting the fixed display window that some peer states use; Arizona, for example, lets an association bar political signs earlier than 71 days before a primary election and later than 15 days after the general election, a timing restriction with no counterpart in NRS 116.325.¹³ For multi-state operators, the practical implication is direct: a governing-document ban on political signs is unenforceable in Nevada, and an owner's remedy commonly runs through ADR or the Real Estate Division apparatus before a civil action.

HOA Weekly's Nevada Political Signs coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and Nevada courts act. Other federal frameworks — the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD — apply to Nevada associations regardless of the state framework, while the federal First Amendment doesn't supply a basis to challenge an association's sign rules.

Footnotes

1. Nevada Legislature, NRS 116.325, Right of units' owners to exhibit political signs in certain areas; conditions and limitations on exercise of right ↩
2. Nevada Legislature, NRS 116.615 (administration by Real Estate Division), NRS 116.625 (Ombudsman), NRS 116.600 (Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels), and NRS 116.760 (affidavit of aggrieved person) ↩
3. Nevada Legislature, NRS Chapter 38, Mediation and Arbitration (NRS 38.300 to 38.360; NRS 38.310, limitations on commencement of certain civil actions) ↩
4. Nevada Legislature, NRS 116.320, Right of units' owners to display flag of the United States or of the State of Nevada (subsection 2(b), reasonable placement-and-manner rules) ↩
5. City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC, 596 U.S. 61 (2022), slip opinion (reaffirming and applying Reed v. Town of Gilbert, 576 U.S. 155 (2015), on First Amendment review of municipal sign codes) ↩
6. Constitution of the State of Nevada, Article I, Section 9, Liberty of speech and the press ↩
7. Nevada Legislature, NRS 116.1206, Provisions of governing documents in violation of chapter deemed to conform with chapter by operation of law ↩
8. Nevada Legislature, NRS 116.31065, Rules (Chapter 116, Common-Interest Ownership (Uniform Act)) ↩
9. Nevada Legislature, NRS 116.31031, Power of executive board to impose fines and other sanctions for violations of governing documents; procedural requirements; limitations ↩
10. Nevada Legislature, NRS 116.325 source note (Added to NRS by 2005, 2585; A 2009, 2896) ↩
11. Nevada Legislature, Senate Bill 201 (2025, 83rd Session), religious and cultural items, NELIS bill overview ↩
12. Nevada Appellate Courts, About the Court of Appeals (deflective model; created by Nov. 4, 2014 constitutional amendment; approximately 700 cases assigned annually) ↩
13. Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 33-1808, Flag display; political signs; caution signs; for sale, rent or lease signs; political and community activities; definitions ↩
14. Colorado Division of Real Estate, Political Signs and HOAs (C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5, Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act) ↩
15. Maryland General Assembly, Real Property Article § 11B-111.2, Candidate or proposition sign (Maryland Homeowners Association Act) ↩
16. Montana Legislature, Mont. Code Ann. § 70-1-522, Certain restrictions on political free speech contrary to public policy — enforcement prohibited — definitions ↩