Master vs. Sub-Association: Two-Tier HOAs in Nevada
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Two assessment statements arrive every month, from two different boards, for the same house. If you own in one of the large master-planned communities in Southern Nevada, that is normal, and it is not a billing error. A Nevada master association governs the community as a whole while a village association governs your street, and each one bills separately. The question that matters when something goes wrong is which of them actually has authority over the problem in front of you.
Key takeaways
- A Nevada master association is a defined statutory term (NRS 116.063) with its own section, NRS 116.212.
- All of NRS 116 applies to a Nevada master association, except as that section modifies it.
- It can generally exercise the budget and assessment power only to the extent your community’s declaration expressly delegated it.
- Some owner rights, including records, meetings, and voting, apply at the master level only to the people who elect the master board.
- Either layer can fine you, and either one must follow the same NRS 116 notice and hearing procedure.
Can you belong to two HOAs in Nevada?
In short: Yes, and it is common. Large Nevada communities are built in layers. A master association covers shared roads, major common areas, and community-wide standards. Inside it, individual neighborhoods or villages have their own sub-association with its own rules, its own board, and often its own gates and architectural controls. Buy in, and you become a member of both automatically.
Nevada does not treat this as an informal arrangement. A Nevada master association is a defined statutory term, and the whole of Nevada’s Common-Interest Ownership Act reaches it: under NRS 116.212(1), all provisions of the chapter that apply to unit-owners’ associations apply to a master association too, except as that section modifies them. So neither layer gets to skip the notice, hearing, records, or meeting requirements just because the other one exists. Both are governed by NRS Chapter 116.
The master association’s authority is narrower than it looks
In short: A Nevada master association does not hold power because it sits at the top of the org chart. It holds power because a declaration gave it power, and only as much as the declaration gave.
This is the part almost nobody explains. Under NRS 116.212(2), unless the master association is itself an association under NRS 116.3101, it may exercise the budget and assessment power described in NRS 116.3102(1)(b) only to the extent expressly permitted in the declarations of the communities that make it up, or expressly described in the delegations of power to it. Read that again with your statement in hand. A Nevada master association’s ability to adopt a budget and bill you traces back to a specific written grant in your community’s documents. If the grant is not there, or the action goes beyond it, the authority is questionable, and that is a document question rather than an argument about fairness.
One related detail. Where a declaration lets a village board delegate powers upward, NRS 116.212(3) says those village board members carry no liability for what the master association then does with them. Worth knowing before you aim a complaint at the wrong board.
Why you pay two assessments
In short: Two associations serve your home and each funds a different layer. The master assessment pays for community-wide operations. The village assessment pays for the closer-in common areas and services specific to your neighborhood.
Both amounts still have to be authorized by the right documents and adopted through a proper budget process, and neither board gets a pass because the structure is complicated. If an increase appeared without a ratified budget, or a Nevada master association is billing for something the declaration never delegated, you can challenge the assessment. Ask the association that issued it, not the other one, for an itemized explanation and the document provision it relies on.
Not sure which board you are actually fighting?
Two-tier disputes usually turn on a single question: what did the declaration delegate, and to whom. A read of the documents answers it faster than another round of emails.
Why you may not have a vote at the master level
In short: Under NRS 116.212(4), a cluster of owner rights covering meetings, records, quorum, and voting applies to a Nevada master association’s affairs only as to the people who elect its board. If your village board elects the master board rather than owners doing it directly, you may not hold those rights at that level personally.
This explains the most common two-tier frustration there is. A homeowner asks for records or tries to vote in the master election, gets told no, and assumes the board is stonewalling. Sometimes it is. Sometimes the statute genuinely places those rights with whoever elects that board. Either way the answer sits in how the board is elected, and NRS 116.212(5) allows four methods after declarant control ends: all owners of all communities elect the whole board, all village board members elect the whole board, owners of each community elect specified seats, or each village board elects specified seats.
Find out which method your community uses before you conclude anything, because it decides whether a records request at the master level is a right you hold or a courtesy you are asking for.
Where two-tier communities create friction
- Overlapping rules. When master and village documents both address parking, landscaping, or architecture, it is not always obvious which controls.
- Enforcement from either layer. A fine can come from the master, the village, or both, and each must still follow the same fine procedure under NRS 116.31031.
- Architectural approvals. A project may need sign-off from one layer, the other, or both, and approval from one is not approval from the other.
- Assessment increases. Two budgets, two adoption processes, and two places the process can go wrong.
What to do when you are caught between two boards
Pin down which association took the action, then get that association’s governing documents rather than the other’s. Homeowners lose weeks arguing with the wrong board out of the wrong rulebook. Check the action against those documents and the NRS 116 procedure that applies, and where a Nevada master association is involved, check whether the declaration actually delegated the power it is exercising.
If the problem is procedural rather than substantive, you can file a complaint with the Nevada Ombudsman at no cost. Where real money or a denied project is at stake, or where the two layers genuinely conflict, get the documents read properly. We work with owners in Summerlin, Las Vegas, Henderson, Reno, and Sparks.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In master-planned communities, owners commonly belong to a master association and a village sub-association at the same time. Both fall under NRS 116, each has its own governing documents and board, and each can generally levy its own assessment.
Because two associations serve your home. The master assessment funds community-wide operations and shared areas; the village assessment funds your neighborhood’s own common areas and services. Each must be authorized by that association’s documents and adopted through a proper budget process.
It depends on what the declaration assigns to each. Community-wide roads and standards usually sit with the Nevada master association, while neighborhood rules and amenities sit with the village association. Under NRS 116.212, a master association’s powers extend only as far as the declarations expressly delegate them.
Potentially, if each has authority over the conduct under its own documents. Either one that fines you must still follow NRS 116.31031, which requires advance written notice of the rule, a second notice with the fine amount and hearing details, and a hearing before the fine is imposed.
Ready to Protect Your Rights?
Whether you are a homeowner caught between two boards or a village association sorting out its relationship with the master, we are here to help. Schedule your free consultation today and speak directly with an experienced Nevada HOA attorney.
Conclusion
Two-tier communities feel confusing because they get described as a hierarchy, and a hierarchy implies the top has general authority. Nevada law does not work that way. A Nevada master association holds exactly the powers a declaration handed it and no more, and the statute says so directly. That one idea reframes most two-tier disputes: instead of asking whether the master board is being reasonable, ask what your declaration actually delegated and whether what the board just did falls inside it. Then check the action against what NRS 116 requires of your association, because both layers answer to the same statute.
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