118.165 - Disclosure of portion of rent which represents property taxes; reduction of rent; penalty for failure to reduce rent; enforcement.
118.165 Disclosure of portion of rent which represents property taxes; reduction of rent; penalty for failure to reduce rent; enforcement.
1. Unless exempted by subsection 3, every landlord of real property leased or otherwise rented to a tenant, including every landlord of a mobile home park, shall deliver to the tenant in July of each year, and whenever the periodic rent changes, a statement which shows separately for each periodic payment of rent:
(a) The amount which represents property taxes paid by the landlord; and
(b) The remainder of that payment.
2. If the property rented is one of several upon which the landlord pays taxes together, the amount which represents property taxes must be calculated by:
(a) Apportioning the total property tax paid for the year upon the entire property among the individual properties rented according to their respective areas.
(b) Reducing the amount so apportioned to each particular property for the year by the appropriate fraction to correspond to the period for which rent on it is paid.
3. This section does not apply to:
(a) Any property covered by a written agreement which requires the tenant to pay the property tax or otherwise provides for calculation and notice to the tenant of its amount.
(b) Any lodging unless it contains its own cooking and toilet facilities, separate from other living quarters.
(c) Any room in a hotel or motel.
(d) Any concession within a larger commercial enterprise, or any other property not customarily used separately from adjacent units.
(e) Any property for which the rent is a share of sales or profit.
4. The statements required in July 1981 by subsection 1 must show, in addition to the information required as of the date the statement is prepared, the comparable information as of July 1980. Each landlord of property which is subject to this section shall reduce the periodic rent otherwise payable by an amount equal to 90 percent of any reduction from 1980 to 1981 of the amount which represents property taxes as shown in the statements required by that subsection.
5. This section does not purport to regulate the total amount of rent payable.
6. A landlord who fails to reduce the periodic rent in accordance with subsection 4 is liable to each tenant whose rent was not properly reduced for an amount equal to three times the amount which was overpaid by the tenant, unless the landlord shows good cause for the failure. If the tenant made written demand upon his or her landlord at least 20 days before bringing his or her action under this subsection, a judgment for the tenant must include costs and a reasonable attorney’s fee.
7. The Department of Taxation is responsible for enforcing the provisions of this section.
(Added to NRS by 1979, 1235; A 1981, 298; 1987, 976)