Nevada HOA Solar Rights

Section 1: Overview — Solar rights for HOAs in Nevada

Nevada protects an owner's solar energy system through two layers of statute: NRS 111.239,¹ in the conveyancing chapter, which makes void and unenforceable any covenant or restriction that prohibits or unreasonably restricts a system for obtaining solar energy, and, within the Common-Interest Ownership Act, NRS 116.333 and NRS 116.334,² which the Legislature added through Senate Bill 440 in 2025 to set a request-and-approval process and confine an association's rulemaking over solar installations.³ A common secondary source mistakenly cites NRS 116.2111 as the Act's solar provision; that section governs unit alterations, access, security shutters, and wind energy, and doesn't address solar.⁴ Nevada attaches specific numeric limits rather than a purely qualitative standard: a restriction that cuts a system's efficiency or performance by more than 10 percent, or that bans black solar glazing, counts as unreasonable under NRS 111.239, and an association's design rules cannot push compliance costs above 3 percent of installation cost under NRS 116.334.¹ Nevada also operates one of the most developed common-interest administrative regimes in the country, with the Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels, the Ombudsman, mandatory alternative dispute resolution before most civil actions, and required certification of community managers, all within the Nevada Real Estate Division.⁵ Nevada's contested net-metering history runs as a utility-customer matter under the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and stays separate from association authority over installations.⁶ These provisions place Nevada among the strong-protection states alongside California, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas. The sections below set out the statutory framework, the operational rules, and recent activity.

Section 2: The statutory framework

2A. The dual solar provisions: NRS 111.239 and the Common-Interest Ownership Act (NRS 116.333 and NRS 116.334)

Nevada's solar protection rests on two provisions that operate together. NRS 111.239, in the chapter on estates in property and conveyancing, stands as the general covenant-voiding rule. It provides that any covenant, restriction, or condition in a deed, contract, or other legal instrument that prohibits or unreasonably restricts, or has the effect of prohibiting or unreasonably restricting, an owner from using a system for obtaining solar energy is void and unenforceable.¹ The same section defines two unreasonable restrictions with precision: a requirement that decreases the efficiency or performance of the system by more than 10 percent of the amount originally specified, as determined by the Director of the Governor's Office of Energy, without allowing an alternative system at substantially comparable cost and performance; and any prohibition of a system that uses components painted with black solar glazing.¹ A parallel provision, NRS 278.0208, applies the same void-and-unenforceable rule to ordinances and actions of local governments.⁷

The second layer sits inside the Common-Interest Ownership Act. Senate Bill 440 of the 2025 session added NRS 116.333 and NRS 116.334, effective October 1, 2025.³ NRS 116.333 gives a unit owner in an association whose governing documents authorize architectural restrictions a statutory process to request installation of a distributed generation system in the portion of the community the owner occupies exclusively, and requires the association to act within fixed deadlines.⁸ NRS 116.334 authorizes the association to adopt rules governing installation and lists what those rules may and may not require.⁸ The two layers reinforce each other: NRS 111.239 voids any covenant that crosses the line into prohibition or unreasonable restriction, while NRS 116.333 and NRS 116.334 supply the community-specific procedure and the cost-and-efficiency limits on association rules. This dual structure parallels Colorado, which pairs a general renewable-energy provision with a common-interest-act provision. NRS 116.2111, sometimes cited in this context, addresses unit alterations, access, security shutters, and wind energy, and the wind-energy analysis it contains sits outside the scope of this page.⁴

2B. The Common-Interest Ownership Act and the administrative regime

The Nevada Common-Interest Ownership Act, NRS Chapter 116, stands as the governing statute for condominiums, planned communities, and cooperatives.⁹ It is based on the 1982 Uniform Common-Interest Ownership Act and has been amended heavily by the Legislature over four decades, so it functions as a state-specific adaptation rather than a clean enactment of any single uniform model year. A separate statute, NRS Chapter 116B, governs condominium hotels, a category distinctive to Nevada, and older communities may fall under the predecessor condominium law in NRS Chapter 117.¹⁰ Determining which statute governs a given community is the first step before applying the solar provisions.

Nevada layers a detailed administrative regime on top of the Act, all within the Nevada Real Estate Division of the Department of Business and Industry. The Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels stands as a seven-member body appointed by the Governor, comprising one unit owner who has served on an executive board, two other unit owners, one common-interest community developer, one certificate-holding community manager, one certified public accountant, and one attorney, with at least four members required to be residents of a county whose population is 700,000 or more; it adopts regulations and conducts disciplinary hearings.¹¹ The Ombudsman for Owners in Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels assists owners and boards, maintains the registration of associations, and helps process claims submitted to alternative dispute resolution.⁵ Nevada also requires certification of community managers: a person may not act as a community manager without holding a certificate issued by the Division under NRS Chapter 116A.¹²

NRS Chapter 116 permits associations to review architectural changes, and the solar provisions confine that authority. An association whose governing documents authorize architectural restrictions may adopt rules for distributed generation systems, but those rules must stay within the limits of NRS 116.334, and any covenant that prohibits or unreasonably restricts solar is void under NRS 111.239. On order of precedence, NRS 116.1104 provides that the Act's provisions may not be varied by agreement or waived, so the statutory solar rules override conflicting declaration provisions.¹³

2C. The reasonable-restriction boundary, mandatory ADR, and governing documents

An association's authority runs to reasonable, not prohibitory, conditions. Under NRS 116.334, an association that has adopted valid rules may require solar panels to be placed so they don't face a street, but only if doing so doesn't cut production by more than 10 percent as measured by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's PVWatts calculator; may require conduits painted to match the exterior, batteries stored in a garage, and inverters kept out of view; and may require a maintenance agreement where the system sits on a roof the association maintains.⁸ The same section bars the association from imposing any design requirement whose compliance cost exceeds 3 percent of the cash cost of installation.⁸ What an association may not do is prohibit the system outright or impose restrictions that make it unreasonable under NRS 111.239.

Most disputes over these rules run through mandatory alternative dispute resolution before a civil action. NRS 38.310 bars a civil action over the interpretation, application, or enforcement of covenants, conditions, restrictions, bylaws, or rules of an association unless the claim has first been submitted to mediation or a referee program under NRS 38.300 to 38.360, and a court must dismiss any action filed in violation of that requirement.¹⁴ The Ombudsman assists in processing those claims.⁵

Nevada's net metering, administered by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada on the utility side, sets the credit a customer receives for exported electricity and doesn't bear on an association's authority over the physical installation.⁶ Architectural review retains a residual role: an association may apply duly adopted rules to placement and appearance, but only within the statutory ceilings.

Section 3: What a Nevada association can and cannot do regarding solar

A. What an association cannot do

An association may not prohibit or unreasonably restrict a system for obtaining solar energy; any covenant or rule that does so is void and unenforceable under NRS 111.239, a mandatory rule.¹ It may not impose a restriction that decreases the system's efficiency or performance by more than 10 percent of the amount originally specified without allowing a comparable alternative, and may not ban components painted with black solar glazing, both deemed unreasonable restrictions under NRS 111.239.¹ Where it has adopted solar rules, it may not impose a design requirement whose compliance cost exceeds 3 percent of the cash cost of installation under NRS 116.334.⁸ If the association hasn't adopted valid solar rules, it may not deny a compliant request or impose conditions at all under NRS 116.333.⁸

B. What an association may do

An association whose governing documents authorize architectural restrictions may adopt rules governing installation of a distributed generation system under NRS 116.334.⁸ Within that authority it may require street-facing avoidance that doesn't cut production by more than 10 percent, conduit color matching, battery storage in a garage, inverter screening, and a recorded maintenance and indemnity agreement for association-maintained roofs, each specified in NRS 116.334.⁸ It may apply the procedural requirements in its governing documents to a request submitted under NRS 116.333.

C. The cost-and-efficiency standard, approval process, and the Ombudsman

The standard runs specific rather than qualitative: efficiency loss above 10 percent or a black-solar-glazing ban is unreasonable under NRS 111.239, and design-compliance cost above 3 percent of installation cost is prohibited under NRS 116.334.¹ Under NRS 116.333, an association with adopted rules must approve or deny a request within 35 days, with a written reasoned denial, and must act on a corrected resubmission within 15 days; an association without adopted rules must approve within 15 days, and failure to act within these windows results in deemed approval.⁸ The Director of the Governor's Office of Energy can issue a formal determination of whether a restriction is unreasonable under NRS 111.239, and by statute must make that determination within 30 days of a complete request, using the NREL PVWatts calculator or HelioScope software.¹⁵ The Ombudsman and the Commission handle complaints and enforcement within the Real Estate Division.⁵

D. Dispute resolution and remedies

A dispute over an association's application of its solar rules is generally subject to mandatory mediation or a referee program under NRS 38.300 to 38.360 before any civil action, and a court must dismiss an action filed without exhausting that step under NRS 38.310, a mandatory requirement.¹⁴ If the matter proceeds, it gets filed in a Nevada District Court, with appeals taken to the Nevada Supreme Court, which may assign the case to the Nevada Court of Appeals under the state's push-down model created in 2014.¹⁶ The consequence of an unlawful prohibition is that the offending covenant or rule is void and unenforceable under NRS 111.239, and deemed approval attaches when an association misses the NRS 116.333 deadlines.⁸

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Senate Bill 440 (2025), "AN ACT relating to electricity," 83rd Session, created Nevada's first Chapter 116 solar-specific provisions.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published Nevada Supreme Court or Nevada Court of Appeals opinion decided between July 2023 and July 2026 interprets the solar provisions or an association's authority over solar or distributed generation systems. NRS 116.333 and NRS 116.334 took effect only on October 1, 2025, and NRS 111.239 carries no annotated appellate interpretation, so no qualifying case exists to report.

C. Active legislative debates

The Nevada Legislature meets in regular session in odd-numbered years, so the 2025 session that produced SB 440 stands as the most recent regular session, and the next is in 2027.³ No pending proposal to amend the solar provisions or the administrative regime is identified in the current interim.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Nevada sits firmly in the first of three broad solar-rights categories: strong-protection states whose statutes void or limit association solar restrictions, including Nevada — NRS 111.239, plus NRS 116.333 and NRS 116.334 — California, Civ. Code § 714; Florida, Fla. Stat. § 163.04; Arizona, A.R.S. § 33-1816 and § 33-1268; Colorado, C.R.S. § 38-30-168; and Texas, Prop. Code § 202.010. The second category is solar-easement-only states, which enable voluntary easements but don't override associations; the third is no-protection states, where the declaration controls. Nevada's distinctive features are its dual solar provisions, a specific numeric standard rather than a purely qualitative one, and a developed administrative regime with mandatory alternative dispute resolution and an Ombudsman. For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is that a Nevada association cannot prohibit solar, must keep any restrictions within the 10 percent efficiency and 3 percent cost limits, and stays subject to the administrative and ADR framework before litigation.

HOA Weekly updates its Nevada Solar Rights coverage quarterly as the Legislature and the Nevada courts act. No federal rule comparable to the FCC's OTARD rule extends to rooftop solar, so Nevada's state statutes control here.

Footnotes

1. Nevada Revised Statutes § 111.239, Prohibition or restriction on use of system for obtaining solar energy on property (Nevada Legislature) ↩
2. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116, Common-Interest Ownership (Uniform Act), §§ 116.333–116.334 (Nevada Legislature) ↩
3. Senate Bill 440, 83rd (2025) Session, Chapter 262, Statutes of Nevada 2025 (Nevada Legislature NELIS) ↩
4. Nevada Revised Statutes § 116.2111, Alterations of units; access to units (Nevada Legislature) ↩
5. About the Ombudsman's Office, Nevada Real Estate Division (red.nv.gov) ↩
6. Renewable Energy Statutes & Regulations, Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (puc.nv.gov) ↩
7. Nevada Revised Statutes § 278.0208, Prohibition against prohibiting or unreasonably restricting use of system for obtaining solar energy (Nevada Legislature) ↩
8. Senate Bill 440 (Enrolled), 83rd (2025) Session, secs. 13.3 and 13.7 (codified as NRS 116.333 and 116.334) (Nevada Legislature) ↩
9. Nevada Revised Statutes § 116.1201, Applicability; § 116.001, Short title (Nevada Legislature) ↩
10. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116B, Common-Interest Ownership (Condominium Hotels) (Nevada Legislature) ↩
11. Nevada Revised Statutes § 116.600, Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels: Creation (Nevada Legislature) ↩
12. Nevada Revised Statutes § 116A.400, Person prohibited from acting as community manager without certificate (Nevada Legislature) ↩
13. Nevada Revised Statutes § 116.1104, Provisions of chapter may not be varied by agreement, waived or evaded; exceptions (Nevada Legislature) ↩
14. Nevada Revised Statutes § 38.310, Limitations on commencement of certain civil actions; §§ 38.300–38.360 (Nevada Legislature) ↩
15. Renewable Energy System Determinations (NRS 701.180(6); NRS 111.239), Nevada Governor's Office of Energy (energy.nv.gov) ↩
16. About the Court of Appeals, Nevada Appellate Courts (nvcourts.gov) ↩
17. Senate Bill 440, Roll Calls and History, 83rd (2025) Session (Nevada Legislature NELIS) ↩