What are Pahrump’s regulations for Air BnB style establishments?

Anyone in the Pahrump Valley who operates what is commonly termed an “air b-n-b” will want to take notice: as of August 4, the days of no regulations on these businesses will be over.

Nye County commissioners, sitting as the governing board of the town of Pahrump, adopted Pahrump Bill No. 2025-02 to enact codes that short-term vacation rental operators must now follow. First and foremost, all will be required to register, secure a business license and begin paying room tax on their establishments, something that is paid by similar businesses such as hotels, motels and RV parks.

“One of the things that we have been aware of – and it’s becoming much more apparent – is that we have several short-term rentals in our town that do compete with hotels, that haven’t been paying any kind of lodging room tax,” Nye County Manager Brett Waggoner explained during the commission’s July 15 meeting.

He noted that a few of these operations had already been paying room tax “out of the graciousness of their heart” but the rest were not. Furthermore, neighbors residing near some of the short-term rentals in the valley have expressed their frustration with the situation.

“We get a lot of complaints on these and we’ve had no regulations on them to do anything about it,” Waggoner asserted, also stating, “We’ve identified somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 to 170 [short-term rentals] in town… And there has been no requirement for any kind of registration for them or any requirement for them to pay room tax; there have been no rules put in place for them as far as having quiet hours in the middle of the night and stuff like that. Several of these are on septic systems and wells, so that is also another concern.”

With the assistance of the Nye County District Attorney’s Office, Waggoner put together a draft of the new codes in Pahrump Bill No. 2025-02, which adds regulations specific to short-term vacation rentals to Pahrump Town Ordinance Chapter 8. The document was reworked from its original draft to address minor terminology details and then amended once more, eliminating the requirement for a letter of approval from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection indicating the maximum number of people the rental’s septic system could handle. Instead, the ordinance requires an engineer to provide that certification with the short-term rental’s application for registration.

Nye County Commissioner Debra Strickland made the motion to adopt the bill, with a second from commissioner John Koenig. The motion passed with all in favor.

As defined by the new code, a short-term vacation rental is, “A permanent residential dwelling unit or any portion of such dwelling unit, rented for occupancy for a period of less than 30 consecutive days or, in February, less than 28 consecutive calendar days, counting portions of a day as full days, regardless of whether a permanent resident is also present during the period of occupancy.”

Short-term vacation rental owners must register with the town and obtain both a Nevada and Pahrump business license. Owners of these establishments are limited to five separate registrations.

Short-term rentals are only to be used for overnight occupancy and not for weddings, bachelor or bachelorette parties or any gathering exceeding the capacity of the rental, defined as a limit of four for the first bedroom and two per each additional bedroom, for a maximum of 16 persons.

The ordinance, which covers 16 pages, goes on to stipulate setback distances from other short-term rentals and hotels, limitations for multi-dwelling structures, security requirements and more. Quiet hours are listed as 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. on weekends and 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weekdays.

Under the “Fines and Fees” section, it states that any operation of a short-term vacation rental without registration will result in a fine of $500 per day for each day the violation continues. Fines go up with multiple infractions.

“Any person that violates any of the provisions of this ordinance is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by both fine and imprisonment for each violation,” the ordinance states.

Nye County Code Compliance will be responsible for enforcement, unless a situation requires escalation to the Nye County Sheriff’s Office. To file a complaint regarding a short-term vacation rental call code compliance at 775-751-4249 or file online at NyeCountyNV.gov/317/Code-Compliance

The new short-term rental regulations go into effect on Monday, Aug. 4.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com