Records you're entitled to - and how to ask

Nevada gives owners unusually specific records rights: a named list of documents, a hard deadline, a fee cap, and a daily penalty when the board misses it. Most owners never use them because the deadline and the penalty are not widely known.

The 21-day rule

NRS 116.31175(2). On written request from an owner, the board must provide a copy of:

• the financial statement of the association,
• the budgets required under NRS 116.31151, and
• the reserve study required under NRS 116.31152,

within 21 days. Not “a reasonable time.” Twenty-one days.

It must be free if sent electronically. The statute says these records must be provided in electronic format at no charge. Only if the association genuinely cannot produce them electronically may it charge, and then the fee is capped at 25 cents per page for the first 10 pages and 10 cents per page after that.

Missing the deadline has a price. NRS 116.31175(3): if the board fails to provide the records within 21 days, it must pay a penalty of $25 for each day it fails to do so.

The wider right to review

NRS 116.31175(1) goes further than the three financial documents. On written request the board must make the association’s books, records and papers available for review, at its office or a location within 60 miles, during regular working hours, including all contracts to which the association is a party and court filings in any case it is party to.

Note the difference, because it matters when you write your letter: the 21-day, free-electronic-copy rule covers the financial statement, the budgets and the reserve study. Contracts fall under the right to review. Ask for both, and ask for contract copies as a courtesy.

NRS 116.31175(8): the board may not charge more than $25 per hour for you to review records.

NRS 116.3118 separately requires the association’s financial records to be kept in enough detail to support resale disclosures, and made reasonably available for any owner or their authorised agent to inspect, examine, photocopy and audit.

Records must be kept for at least 10 years (NRS 116.31175(7)).

The violations record most owners never ask for

This one is worth its own heading. NRS 116.31175(5) requires the board to maintain a general record of every violation of the governing documents for which it imposed a fine, construction penalty or other sanction, excluding non-payment of assessments. That record must:

• describe the nature of the violation and the sanction imposed, and state the amount of any fine or construction penalty;
• not contain the name, address or anything else identifying the owner or the unit; and
• be kept in an organised, searchable filing or data system so owners can look through it.

In other words, the association is legally required to keep a searchable, anonymised log of every fine it has ever levied, and you are entitled to see it. That is the single best test of whether the rules are being applied uniformly, which NRS 116.31031 requires. If you think enforcement is selective, this is the document to ask for. See selective enforcement and the Schedule of Fines.

What the board may withhold

NRS 116.31175(4) is narrow and specific. The review right does not extend to:

• Personnel records of association employees, except records of hours worked and salaries and benefits, which you can see;
• Records relating to another owner, including architectural plans they submitted for approval;
• Documents still being developed for final consideration and not yet placed on an agenda for final approval, including draft minutes, a draft reserve study and a draft budget.

Separately, executive session discussions are limited and protected under NRS 116.31085 — chiefly legal advice, personnel matters, and an individual owner’s hearing. Note what is not on any of these lists: contracts, vendor agreements, and the budget itself. “That’s confidential” is not an answer for those.

You cannot be punished for asking

NRS 116.31183 prohibits the board, any board member, the community manager or any officer, employee or agent from taking retaliatory action against an owner who requested in good faith to review the association’s books and records, complained in good faith about a violation of NRS 116 or the governing documents, or recommended replacing an attorney, manager or vendor.

If they retaliate, you may bring a separate action for compensatory damages plus attorney’s fees and costs. Worth knowing before you send the letter.

Where to send it

The duty is the board’s, but day to day it runs through the association’s managing agent, Western Nevada Management. Address your request to the association care of the manager, and copy the board secretary if you have an address for them.

Send it two ways. Email gives you a timestamp and is the fastest route to an electronic copy. Certified mail, return receipt requested, to the Peckham Lane address gives you proof of the date it was received, which is what the 21-day clock actually runs from and what the Ombudsman will ask for. Doing both costs a few dollars and removes any argument about whether the request arrived.

If they miss the deadline or refuse

Do not argue back and forth. NRS 116.31175(6): if the board refuses to let you review the records, the Ombudsman may review them on your behalf on written request, and if the Ombudsman is refused, may ask the Commission to issue a subpoena to compel production.

Filing with the Nevada Real Estate Division is free. See the Ombudsman for how. Bring: your dated request, the certified mail receipt or email timestamp, any reply, and the date the 21 days expired.

Related

• A fiduciary does not get to withhold the books: what the board owes owners
• Reserve studies and budgets - what to look for once you have them
• Dues, assessments and the reserve study - the request that has been outstanding here

Read the statute

• NRS 116.31175 - records: the 21-day rule, fees, penalty, exceptions, violations record, Ombudsman enforcement
• NRS 116.3118 - inspect, examine, photocopy and audit
• NRS 116.31183 - retaliation prohibited

Request letter template

Copy this, fill in the bracketed parts, and send it. The statute citations are plain text so it pastes cleanly into an email.