Buying new construction in Las Vegas, Nevada: the HOA rules, the 5 days to cancel, water and taxes (2026)

Why Las Vegas

According to the Census, the Las Vegas area, which is Clark County, had 2,407,226 residents in 2025: 21,480 more than a year earlier and about 140,000 more than in 2020. Almost three in four Nevadans live there.

It's also where the building is. In 2025, 9,422 single-family homes were permitted in Clark County, 8th in the country, and 14,466 homes in total.

Like Texas and Florida, Nevada has no personal income tax.

The HOA and the 5 days to cancel

If the home is in a community with a homeowners association (HOA), Nevada's common-interest community law protects you:

• The public offering statement. The builder must give you the community's current public offering statement no later than the date your purchase offer becomes binding.
• 5 days to cancel. If you haven't inspected the home in person, you can cancel the contract in writing until midnight of the 5th day after signing, with no penalty, and everything you paid is refunded. The contract must say so. When you buy pre-construction there's no home to see yet, so this right is yours; if you've already toured the finished home, it isn't.
• If you didn't get it, you can seek damages or rescind the purchase, unless you've already accepted the deed.

The deposit goes into escrow

In a community with an HOA, the law requires your deposit to be held in an escrow account, with a licensed title insurer, an independent bonded escrow company or an insured bank, until closing. Before then, the builder can only take out what the upgrades you order cost, such as different flooring or countertops, and that amount is credited toward the price. Instead of escrow, the builder can post a bond for the same amount. Ask where your money goes before you send it.

SIDs: what's billed on top of property tax

Some neighborhoods paid for their streets, sidewalks, streetlights or sewers through a special improvement district (SID). According to the Clark County Treasurer, the homes that benefit pay their share, the SID is a lien on the home until it's paid off, and it's billed separately from property tax. Ask whether the home has one, how much is left and for how many years.

Water and pools

• The Colorado River. According to AP, Southern Nevada gets about 90% of its water from it. It has faced cuts for years, and the rules for sharing it expire at the end of 2026.
• Grass. According to AP, by 2021 the valley already banned grass in front yards and limited it to half of the backyard, and the Southern Nevada Water Authority proposed banning it in all new developments.
• Pools. In July 2022, Clark County and the valley's water district capped new home pools at 600 square feet. The average in Southern Nevada was 475.

Ask what your neighborhood allows before you plan the yard or the pool.

Taxes

• Property tax. It's charged on 35% of the home's taxable value, and the combined rates can't exceed $3.64 per $100 of that value, with some exceptions. If it's your primary residence and you don't rent it out, the bill rises at most 3% a year. A new home's first year has no such cap, because it had no assessed value of its own the year before.
• Transfer tax. In Clark County it's $5.10 per $1,000 of value. The law makes the buyer and the seller jointly liable for it, so check the contract to see who pays.

If a defect shows up

Before suing, Nevada law requires you to notify the builder in writing, by certified mail with return receipt. It has 90 days to respond and say whether it will repair it. You have at most 10 years from completion to sue over construction defects, unless there's fraud. Hire your own inspector during construction, even if no one requires it.

Buying in Nevada with Instadigs

Digger AI Agent finds new construction in Las Vegas, Henderson or anywhere you name, checks who's building, what they've delivered and whether there are delays, and runs the numbers with yours. If you want, it represents you in a Move: our licensed Nevada broker, the Broker of Record, handles the purchase, and 100% of the Instadigs commission comes back to you as a credit at closing. Nevada wasn't among the nine states that banned that kind of rebate in 2021, and it goes in the contract and on the closing statement, in full view of everyone, including your lender if you have a mortgage (how it works and what the law says).