Category Archive : Rentals

LAS VEGAS, NV – Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued their initial eviction moratorium in September of 2020, landlords have been unfortunately caught in a tug-of-war between the federal government and their tenants that reside in their rental properties, all due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a national malady that seems to refuse to go away.

Many landlords are understanding of the financial issues that their tenants may have encountered as a result of the pandemic, but at this point the CDC’s eviction moratorium has been ongoing in one form or another for nearly a year. The latest ban on evicting tenants for failure to pay rent for reasons related to COVID-19 is slated to expire on October 3, but who’s to say it won’t be extended yet again?

In the meantime, a recent article has laid bare what landlords are going through in Las Vegas – many of them small mom-and-pop operations who rely on rent money for their livelihoods or retirement – and the feelings that they are expressing can be summed up in one word- “enough.”

In the article – a commentary by Susy Vasquez, executive director of the Nevada State Apartment Association – it is pointed out that the burden of the economic issues being faced by so many in this country today are unfairly – and solely – being placed on the backs of landlords.

“No other industry has been asked to give away its goods and services for free during this global pandemic,” she said. “No other industry has had a cap placed on its ability to charge a fair market price for its products or services. And no other industry facing this situation provides one of the basic human necessities: housing.”

“Rental housing providers in Nevada and nationwide have been forced by our federal government to house everyone for free, if needed, only to learn months later that not all renters would qualify for government-provided rent assistance,” she continued.

Vasquez points out that landlords had been previously assured that eviction bans would not be extended again… only to discover that was not true, as evidenced by the CDC’s new moratorium, issued on August 3. The author also notes that it is highly likely that the CDC’s current eviction ban is illegal and is already being challenged in the courts, but the trust between landlords and the federal government is already tarnished.

Vasquez states that the CDC eviction ban was more about buying time to distribute federal rental assistance funds than anything else – a process that has been slow to roll out at the state level – and points out that the longer this process goes on, the worse it will be for all parties involved.

“The CDC’s eviction order leaves renters facing insurmountable debt and jeopardizes the ability of rental housing providers to provide safe, sustainable and affordable housing,” she said. “The distribution of critical rental assistance has been painfully slow. Renters and rental housing providers desperately need these funds to catch up on their bills.”

If landlords are forced to shoulder this burden much longer, Vasquez says, many will soon be in the same situation that many of their tenants face… or worse.

“The bottom line is that eviction is always our last resort. The housing industry is in the business of housing people and trying to find another tenant means additional lost rent and more hassle for housing providers,” she said. “Enough is enough. Rent assistance needs to be made a top priority and be distributed to those in need at a much faster pace, making landlords and tenants whole.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new national eviction moratorium on Tuesday – after the previous one had expired over the weekend – with this one not taking the form of a “blanket” ban on evictions, but instead targeting counties in the United States with high infection rates of COVID-19.

And while the CDC’s announcement was initially met with waves of confusion over what areas in the country would be affected by it, the question for our readers was quite obviously “will the new eviction ban impact Nevada landlords – especially those in Clark County – yet again?” And, after a few days of waiting, we finally have our answer: yes, it will.

Nevada Health Response indicates that 12 of Nevada’s 17 counties qualify as “substantial” or “high” transmission rate areas, and as a result, those 12 counties are now under the mandate of the CDC’s moratorium not to evict tenants who are unable to make rent payments due to financial hardships brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Substantial” transmission is 50 to 100 cases per 100,000, or a positivity rate between 8 percent and 10 percent, and “high” transmission is 100 or more cases per 100,000 people or a positivity rate of 10 percent or higher.

The new eviction moratorium, slated to expire on October 3, currently affects the following counties in Nevada: Carson, Churchill, Clark, Douglas, Elko, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Storey, Washoe, and White Pine.

The CDC has stated that the purpose of the new moratorium is to give time to U.S. residents to access billions of dollars in federal rental assistance funds, funds that have been proven to be notoriously slow to distribute.

However, many experts have opined that the CDC’s new eviction moratorium is almost certainly illegal. This may be especially true in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling that the previous eviction ban could not continue beyond July without legislative action on the part of Congress, which failed to happen. In fact, the Biden Administration has already received a legal challenge to the CDC’s new ban, which a U.S. District Judge decreed must be responded to by August 6.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – After several controversial extensions since it was originally instituted in the fall by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prevent homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal eviction moratorium finally came to an end on July 31, and now thousands of households in Nevada are facing potential eviction for nonpayment of rent.

In order to help in the only way he currently has available to him, Governor Steve Sisolak is now urging Nevada residents who are behind on their rent and anticipate being evicted in the very near future to do their best to seek out rental assistance programs that are available to them.

“I want to be clear, if you are a renter you must apply for this assistance,” Sisolak said. “Filling out and submitting an application is the best thing you can do right now if you fear you may be evicted for nonpayment of rent.”

Sisolak, during a virtual news conference held this weekend, continuously urged residents to apply for rental assistance, since the recently-passed Assembly Bill 486 temporarily halts the eviction process for renters until the aid applicant is notified of the outcome. The bill also allows landlords to apply for aid on behalf of tenants who are behind on rent but for whatever reason have not applied for aid themselves.

“We have plenty of rental assistance money available through funds from the federal government,” Sisolak said. “There are dedicated people through all levels of government working to process those payments as quickly as possible.”

Applying for rental assistance from the CARES Housing Assistance Program – both by tenants and landlords – can be done by clicking here. Eligible applicants must be able to show how they have been financially impacted by the pandemic and meet income requirements.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – The eviction moratorium instituted and extended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is finally slated to come to an end on August 1, and while it will likely result in thousands of eviction cases for Nevada residents – as well as residents nationwide – what exactly will it mean for the landlords who have been chomping at the bit for over a year to finally get their properties back in their possession?

For landlords who are finally hoping for things to go back to pre-pandemic “normal,” they may find that they have a bit longer to wait due to actions by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak and the State Legislature.

According to the Nevada State Apartment Association, courts have already processed large amounts of eviction paperwork filed in anticipation of the end of the CDC eviction ban, but landlords should expect the process of getting their soon-to-be former tenants out of their rentals to take some time and potentially, serious effort.

Simply put, every eviction will require constables to proceed with locking out the former tenants, and the massive tidal wave of evictions that are anticipated to come in August will stretch both the resources of said constables – as well as their ability to communicate with landlords over what units need attention – very thin.

With that being the case, the actual process of evicting everyone that requires it will already take an extended period of time over and above the norm; however a new law signed by Governor Sisolak could make that process take even longer to carry out.

The law – Assembly Bill 486 – protects tenants from eviction who have submitted an application for federal rental assistance until their application has been approved or denied by Clark County’s CARES Housing Assistance Program, a process which could take months.

In addition, renters are under no obligation to inform landlords that they have applied for rental assistance – or the status of their application – unless they are in the process of being evicted.

And finally, Nevada Assemblyman Howard Watts’ new law – Assembly Bill 141 – seals all eviction records due to non-payment of rent caused by pandemic-related financial hardship, making it more difficult for landlords to properly vet prospective new tenants.

While landlords may finally be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the pandemic, they unfortunately may still have a ways yet to go before things get back to normal.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Low inventory and high demand of apartment units in the Las Vegas Valley are causing rents to skyrocket to near record-breaking levels, a sign of Nevada’s economic recovery as COVID-19 ebbs into its final days. However, the continuing increases in rent in Clark County has come with a downside as well; hardship for some vulnerable local area residents who may have already been having difficulty keeping up with their payments due to the pandemic.

Rents in Las Vegas, while still well below the national average – as of June 2021, the average rent in the Las Vegas Valley was $1,591, whereas the national average is $1,799 – are nonetheless currently increasing at a faster rate than any other large U.S. metro area. Out of the top 50 U.S. metro areas, the speed of Vegas’ rent increases was at the top of the list, with a jump of 3.6 percent from May to June, which equates to approximately $55. Year-over-year from February 2020 to February 2021, Las Vegas rents have surged almost 20 percent, or $260.

Some Clark County tenants are reporting that they’re seeing their monthly rent jumping by as much as $200 or $300. For some – especially many seniors who are on fixed incomes – sudden increases this large can cause financial struggle and force people to cut difficult corners to get by.

Demand is seen as the main driving force behind the rent acceleration; with the pandemic dying down, businesses are hiring again, people are getting jobs, and new college graduates are entering the workforce heading out on their own for the first time. Rents are reportedly growing quickly throughout the country, but again, currently Vegas lays claim to the fastest rates of them all.

And experts are predicting this trend will continue as the country opens up and the economy recovers, but developers in Las Vegas who are hard at work on building several new apartment complexes are expected to help stabilize rents as more units are made available to satisfy demand.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – A huge apartment building slated to open just south of the famed Las Vegas Strip by the end of 2021, is expected to add more options to the cityscape for people looking for homes to rent near the very heart of Vegas.

Ariva – a 754-unit complex situated several miles off of the west side of Las Vegas Boulevard and just north of Starr Avenue – is currently in the midst of construction efforts, and the initial phase of its development is slated to be open by the end of the year, with the remaining portion of the building expected to be completed at some point in 2023, reports say.

In addition to rental units, Ariva is also planned to encompass approximately 75,000 square-feet of space for retail establishments, restaurants, and office space; this aspect of the complex is expected to be completed before the residential units, according to the developer.

Ariva is located in a less-developed area consisting mostly of tracts of desert, in contrast to the hustle and bustle of the Las Vegas Strip; however, this part of Vegas is seeing more and more investors snapping up land and developing housing projects to accommodate the huge demands of the local real estate industry.

Owned by Silicon Valley-based WTI Inc., Ariva will feature a number of amenities for its residents, including four pools, a yoga studio, basketball and volleyball courts, dog parks, and a sky deck that will offer views of the Las Vegas valley, the developer says.

Another nearby project in the works is Mosaic, a 797-unit townhouse complex off Las Vegas Boulevard at St. Rose Parkway, which offers units in the price range of $260,000 to the low $300,000-range. The developer reports they have already closed on 240 of the units available, with over 200 more currently on their waiting list.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, Clark County, Nevada is potentially facing more evictions than any other area in the United States when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium ends July 31, reports say.

The Eviction Lab at Princeton University, according to their website, “creates data, interactive tools, and research to help neighbors and policymakers understand the eviction crisis.” They analyzed data of the average number of eviction filings in Clark County between the years of 2016 and 2019 and compared them to ones filed between January 2020 and May 2021. This was done in order to see how the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the impending slew of evictions that are expected to hit once the CDC’s moratorium expires at the end of the month.

The findings were eye-opening, and indicated that between March 15, 2020, and May 27, 2021, landlords and property managers in Clark County had filed a whopping 22,400 eviction cases, which the Eviction Lab noted was the most out of any comparably-sized region they have examined in the country.

One place in the country that comes closer than others to Clark County’s numbers during the same period of time is Dallas County, Texas, which saw 18,600 eviction filings; meanwhile in Clark County, 4,559 evictions were filed in November alone, which the Eviction Lab said was twice the average number for Southern Nevada.

The emotional and financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused immeasurable hardship on renters who have been unable to make their monthly payments. However, it could be argued that an even greater one has been shouldered by the landlords and property owners who have been forced by repeated local and federal mandates to essentially provide free room and board for their tenants, even for those who may simply be taking advantage of the system.

One thing is for sure; when the CDC eviction moratorium ends July 31, there will be a massive eviction crisis across the United States.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to reports, a recently passed eviction bill aims to address the many issues being faced by landlords throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly when it comes to offering potential financial relief when it comes to tenants who may have access to federal rental assistance funds but for whatever reason have not applied for them.

Assembly Bill 486 will allow landlords suffering hardship due to non-payment of rent during the pandemic to apply for rental assistance on behalf of their tenant; many Nevada property owners have noted that renters not bothering to apply for rental assistance – be it out of ignorance, apathy, or outright malice – have been an ongoing thorn in their side for the past year.

However, Bill 486 also introduces some additional protections for tenants as well, including pausing eviction proceedings once they have applied for rental assistance until their application has been processed.

The bill will not be enforced until the end of the federal eviction moratorium – due to expire on July 31 – but despite finally giving landlords access to possible financial relief, many have nonetheless criticized the bill as actually doing more harm than good by drawing out the eviction process even longer due to the grace period it affords renters applying for assistance that they may or may not be approved for.

The typical eviction process in Nevada would see tenants behind on their rent receiving a notice from their landlord giving them seven days to quit or pay; the tenant would then have to file a response with the court, followed by a landlord filing an eviction. The two parties would then meet before a judge, who would present a final ruling on the matter.

However, legal experts have noted that AB486 alters that process by requiring all eviction hearings to be put on hold for a maximum of 30 days, after which it would go into mediation. The bill also protects tenants who have submitted an application for assistance from eviction until their application has been approved or denied by Clark County’s CARES Housing Assistance Program, a process which could take months.

As for the landlord, if they do receive rental assistance on behalf of a tenant, the eviction will be automatically dismissed and the landlord will not be able to file another case against the tenant for a minimum of 90 days.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – As of July 1, 2022, reports say, Clark County’s ban on short-term rentals comes to an end, as mandated by legislation passed by state lawmakers; from that point, all short-term rentals must be legalized and regulated, posing a difficult task for county officials. After all, despite the ban that is currently in-place, reports indicate that over 6,000 properties have been illegally renting regardless.

Assembly Bill 363 mandates that Clark County regulate its short-term rental industry, and with the end of the ban in sight, the possibility that these short-term rentals could start providing significant tax revenue is set to become very real. Rentals are incredibly popular in the Southern Nevada region, given that it is home to the famed Las Vegas Strip.

Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen, who sponsored Bill 363, noted that regulations need to be devised that will take into account the needs and concerns of both the residents who are renting their homes out for extra income, their neighbors who have often issued complaints regarding excessive noise and partying, as well as labor groups and local law enforcement.

One of the main reasons Nguyen said that she sponsored the bill – signed into law by Governor Steve Sisolak in early June – was because simply banning short-term rentals was not working at all, and lauded the potential tax revenue they could generate with proper oversight.

“I don’t think they work,” she said. “I think we are missing out on the potential revenue and it makes it difficult for our counties and cities to enforce what is being perpetrated in our communities with these investment properties.”

However, not everyone believes that the bill is perfect; neighbors of rentals who are furious with the noise have claimed that the bill is not strict enough in that regard, and on the opposite side, renters have complained that the new regulations limit them far too much. But the bill is not an end-all, be-all in terms of regulating the industry; it is meant to merely set the overall framework into which local municipalities can develop and implement their own regulations, which Clark County officials currently in the process of working out while maintaining the guidelines already set forth by the state.

Clark County officials have also expressed skepticism regarding their ability to enforce whatever mandates the bill establishes, given their own inability to enforce the county’s soon-to-end ban on short-term rentals. But the degree of flexibility that counties are afforded to create and enforce their own regulations may make that process easier for Clark officials, but at the same time may cause them to incur additional expenses setting up the infrastructure to do so.

Currently, the bill only applies to Clark County, Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas; all other counties and cities in Nevada are exempt.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – In the wake of the fourth – and allegedly final – extension of the federal eviction moratorium by the Biden Administration in an attempt to assist millions of tenants who have fallen behind on their rent gain access to last-minute monetary assistance, landlords have announced their displeasure, with the Nevada State Apartment Association (NSAA) issuing a statement decrying the move.

The eviction ban, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has been extended from June 30 to July 31 in order to buy more time to distribute federal rental assistance funding that so far has been trickling out to those who need it. Currently, the Nevada Housing Division is offering federal rental assistance funds to people in need via the CARES Housing Assistance Program.

According to reports, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, 6.4 million households have said that they are unable to pay their rent; in Nevada, the number of families facing eviction in the face of financial insolvency number at 81,000.

However, landlords and property owners have been hit just as hard by the pandemic, as both federal and local eviction moratoriums have essentially mandated they provide free room and board to tenants who claim to have been financially impacted by the pandemic. In the process, many landlords have encountered severe financial problems themselves.

The Nevada State Apartment Association has voiced the collective displeasure of landlords throughout the state who have been forced to shoulder the burden of their tenants’ finical woes, criticizing the Biden Administration for drawing out the difficult process even further, especially in light of the recovery of Nevada’s economy as of late.

“We are extremely disappointed that the federal moratorium yet again has been extended,” the NSAA said. “It is essential that the eviction moratorium sunsets to mitigate any additional damage to both renters and their housing providers and is appropriate given the trajectory of both the COVID-19 health crisis and Nevada’s economic recovery. The expiration will also allow housing providers to discuss and execute flexible payment plans, making payment plans, not eviction plans.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – With only days remaining before it was slated to come to an end, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), under the direction of the Biden Administration, announced Thursday that they would be extending the national eviction memorandum for one more month – from June 30 to July 31 – to assist millions of tenants facing eviction due to nonpayment of rent during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that “this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium.”

The CDC first issued the eviction ban in September 2020 under former President Donald Trump, and it was originally supposed to last until the end of 2020. However, it has been extended three times; once in December 2020 by Congress, and twice more – in January and March 2021 – by the Biden Administration.

The remaining month, according to the Biden Administration, will be used to massively step up the distribution of nearly $47 billion in available emergency rental assistance funding; a process that, up until now, has been going far too slowly, reports say.

Currently, 6.4 million U.S. residents report being behind on their rent, and 3.2 million are facing eviction, many due to financial hardships incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

However, the move to extend the moratorium at the last-minute was decried by landlords and property managers across the nation. Landlords – many being small mom-and-pop operations with limited means –  have been monetarily devastated for the last year by federal mandates that have compelled them to provide free room and board for their tenants, some of whom are financially viable but are actually taking advantage of the eviction ban and simply refusing to pay rent.

Some landlords have challenged the authority of the CDC eviction moratorium in court. Currently, there are at least six major lawsuits that are ongoing, with three judges ruling in favor of the eviction ban and three ruling against it; all six cases are currently in the appeals process.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to reports, the prices in the Las Vegas rental home marketplace continue to climb amid the recovering local post-COVID economy, and are now ranking among the fastest increasing in the United States.

May saw rental home prices soar as demand remains very high and supply still very low; those factors, combined with the rapidly-recovering Nevada economy, means that there’s people out there with money who want to rent properties, and prices are always set by demand.

The average rent of a Las Vegas home increased year-over-year in May a whopping 17.3 percent, with April showing an 11.3 rate gain over the year before as well, illustrating consistent month-to-month growth.

Las Vegas is now tied with Riverside, California for the second-fastest rising home rents, behind only Phoenix, Arizona, which experienced a rental rate increase of 17.7 percent in May.

Competition for what rental properties there are is fierce, and often realtors are noting that people are filling out multiple rental applications and are nonetheless having a difficult time actually closing a deal with landlords.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the rental market in Las Vegas initially suffered, but as vaccine distribution has stepped up and more and more of the country has been inoculated, the recovering economy has fueled increased demand for rental housing. However, landlords are also seeing increased competition from the home-buying market due to lower-than-average mortgage rates available driving sales to a higher level than usual.

But this home-buying frenzy has also helped the rental market as well, since many new homeowners may still need a place to live until their home is ready, and would turn to short-term rentals to satisfy that need.

Other factors driving the Las Vegas rental market are people who moved to the Southern Nevada region for its cheaper cost of living to work remotely during the pandemic.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.