Owner Had Right To Rent Unit As Short-term Vacation Rental

This case involves a dispute between an association member / unit owner (“Owner”) and its homeowners’ association (“Association”) over Owners right to use its unit for short-term or long-term vacation rentals.

The district court granted Association an injunction that prohibited the rentals based on a provision in Association’s Bylaws that restricted use of the units in the common interest community to “single family residential purposes only” and a prohibition on operating properties for profit.

Owner appealed the lower court decision arguing that the court’s ruling conflicted with a state statute (NRS 116.340(1)), which allows individuals in planned communities to engage in short-term rental activities absent an explicit prohibition of such activity in the association’s governing documents. On appeal, Owner contended that: (i) because Association’s Bylaws do not include an explicit provision that precludes owners from renting their units, the trial court erroneously concluded that Association had a likelihood of prevailing on the merits of their claims; and (ii):