New Nevada law requires Clark County to regulate, tax short-term rentals

A new Nevada state law will require Clark County and a few cities to regulate vacation rentals and make them subject to lodging taxes.

Currently, short-term rentals are banned in unincorporated areas of the county. The new legislation overrides that ban, forcing the county to create rules for vacation rental operations.

Assembly Bill 363 applies to counties with more than 700,000 residents (Clark County only) and cities with more then 25,000 residents within those counties (currently, Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas).

The Legislature passed the bill in its latest session and Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak signed it June 4. The law goes into effect July 1, 2022.

Under the law, these county and city governments must create regulations for short-term rentals that require operators to:

• Hold a state business license
• Apply for local authorization and pay an annual fee
• Designate a local representative for the rental
• Maintain liability coverage
• Collect lodging taxes from guests

Other rules spelled out by the state law include:

• Guests must stay a minimum of two nights in a non-owner-occupied property and one night in an owner-occupied property
• Short-term rental properties must be located at least 660 feet away from each other
• Vacation rental properties must be located at least 2,500 feet away from resort hotels
• Vacation rentals within a multifamily dwelling are limited to no more than 10% of units
• No more than 16 guests may stay in a short-term rental property
• Operators may hold no more than five local authorization permits per state business license
• Short-term rentals are prohibited in apartment buildings
• Governments must establish specific requirements for noise, trash, and security
• Short-term rentals are not allowed in communities with homeowners associations unless the association expressly allows them

Governments must also spell out processes and penalties for short-term rental operators that break the law. They’re also allowed to implement other rules, including requiring inspections and hearings for short-term rental applicants and requiring accommodations facilitators to share information on their listings with the city.

The counties and cities covered by the law must also hold “accommodations facilitators,” including short-term rental marketplaces such as Airbnb and Vrbo, responsible for collecting short-term rental taxes from guests and require these marketplaces to submit quarterly reports.

Currently, Airbnb and Vrbo do not collect lodging taxes on behalf of their hosts in Clark County, Las Vegas, Henderson, or North Las Vegas.

While unincorporated Clark County bans short-term rentals, the cities covered by the new law already have regulations covering vacation rentals.

Las Vegas passed a short-term rental law in 2018 that banned new permits for vacation rentals not occupied by their owners. Las Vegas hosts are also required to collect local lodging taxes from their guests.

In late 2020, Henderson approved stricter vacation rental rules following a 90-day moratorium on new short-term rental applications. Henderson vacation rental operators are also required to collect transient lodging taxes from guests.

North Las Vegas also approved new regulations on short-term rentals last year. That law requires hosts to get a license from the city, carry insurance, notify neighbors, and install noise-monitoring equipment. As in Las Vegas and Henderson, short-term rental operators must collect lodging taxes from guests and remit it to tax authorities.

Currently, since neither Airbnb nor Vrbo collect lodging taxes on behalf of its hosts in Clark County, Henderson, North Las Vegas, or Las Vegas, operators there are responsible for collecting taxes and filing lodging tax returns on their own. MyLodgeTax can help Las Vegas 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.