You own your house and live in it. Can you share one or two spare rooms with people who are not family, for a month or longer? This page answers that question for Nevada, from its state laws and a sample of its cities and counties. We call it a typical home share.

Nevadaat a glance

Nevada law

Should you worryabout zoning?

Answer four quick questions. We will show you what the rules we found say for a home like yours, and what to ask your city or county. It works for homeowners and for the family members helping them.

Check your situation

Cities and countiesin Nevada

Cities and counties

Details for each location

This page is here to help you learn and to give you context. It does not interpret any zoning code and is not legal advice. Rules vary and change, and only your city or county planning office can say what applies to your home.

What the law asksof a home share

Where a state's landlord and tenant law covers home sharing, it gives you and your home sharer a few ground rules. Knowing them up front makes for a better agreement and fewer surprises.

Ground rules in Nevada

Sharing, boarding, renting, rooming:what the words mean

The laws and codes rarely say "home sharing." They use older words, and each city or county can define them differently. Here is what each word means in everyday terms, and how Nevada and the locations in our sample use it.

For local leaders

For the national picture, the history of these rules, and more resources, see The Rules Behind the Spare Room.

This page is here to help you learn and to give you context. It does not interpret any zoning code and is not legal advice. Rules vary and change, and only your city or county planning office can say what applies to your home.

Citations, Definitions & SourcesOpen the fine printClose the fine printEvery rule on this page is quoted from a law, a code, or a court opinion, with the date we checked it. The sources for Nevada are available by clicking Open the Fine Print.

Definitions

A typical home share. You own your house and live in it, and you share one or two spare rooms with people who are not family, for a month or longer.

The six answers. Yes: the rules we found allow a typical home share with no extra step. Yes, with limits: they allow it but set a limit, such as a number of people or rooms. Yes, after a permit or sign-up: they allow it once a step is done. Not clear: the rules do not answer it either way, or we could not read them. No county zoning found: the county and state sources we read show no county zoning code, though none says so in words. No: the rules do not allow it.

State policy and zoning toward home sharing. The map groups states by what their laws and plans do for home sharing today. A state is Leading when two things are true. First, its law stops cities and counties from limiting who lives together based on family ties, in all cases or in some. Second, the state has committed to home sharing: it names home sharing in its State Plan on Aging, an aging strategy, or an affordable housing plan, funds an ongoing home sharing program, or has a law that allows such funding. A one-time pilot is a welcome first step, but it does not count as a statewide commitment. A state is Supportive when one of the two is true, Open when neither is but its landlord and tenant law clearly covers home sharing, and Getting started when none of these is true yet. A state is marked as an opportunity, in a lighter shade on the map, when it has committed to home sharing but its laws do not yet protect home sharing statewide or do not yet say clearly which ground rules apply. Every check traces to a cited source on the state's page. The groups describe state law and policy, not how welcoming any community is, and not what any particular home may do.

Single housekeeping unit. Many zoning codes say a family or household must live as a "single housekeeping unit." The phrase describes people who live together as one household, sharing the home, rather than as separate tenants under one roof. Most codes use it without saying more, and each city or county decides what it means. The codes in our sample that spell it out point to the same kinds of things: sharing the kitchen and living areas, sharing chores and expenses, and, as signs of separate households, locks on bedroom doors or separate leases. Where a city or county on this page defines the phrase, its entry quotes the definition under Read the code. If your city or county's code uses the phrase, ask the planning office how it applies to a home share, such as one where the person sharing your home pays rent and has their own room.

Checked. The date we last read the source itself. Codes change. Your planning office has the current version.

Sources for Nevada

SourceWhere it is used
NRS 118A.080, 118A.170, 118A.180 [118A.180 last amended 2023, 620] (page revised 15 April 2026, 2025 edition)Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NRS chapter 40 (searched for lodger, roomer, boarder: none found)Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1 (1974)Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494 (1977)Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Statutes of Nevada 2025, chapter 365 (AB 396)Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
AB 396 (2025), enrolled bill (not opened)Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NRS 118.060, 118.100Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
42 U.S.C. 3603(b)(2)Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
42 U.S.C. 1982Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968): section 1982 "contains none of the exemptions" in the Fair Housing ActNevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Fair Housing Council v. Roommate.com, LLC, 666 F.3d 1216 (9th Cir. 2012): "we interpret the FHA and FEHA as not applying to the sharing of living units"Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Nevada State Plan for Aging 2025-2029, ADSDNevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
ADSD Reports pageNevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
2025-2029 Nevada Consolidated PlanNevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Nevada 2026 QAPNevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
LVMC 19.18.020, Words and Terms Defined (Family, Dwelling Unit, Community Residence, Short-Term Residential Rental), enCodePlusLas Vegas, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-09. Open the source.
LVMC 19.12, Permissible Uses (Table 2 and use descriptions), enCodePlusLas Vegas, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-09. Open the source.
LVMC 6.75.010 and 6.75.020, Short-Term Residential RentalsLas Vegas, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
LVMC 6.09.010 and 6.09.020, Apartment HousesLas Vegas, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
LVMC Title 19 note on Municode pointing to the separately published Unified Development CodeLas Vegas, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
CCMC 18.01.213, "Dwelling, single-family" definedCarson City, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
CCMC chapter 18.01, General Provisions (list of defined terms; no Family or Boarding house entry)Carson City, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
CCMC 18.04.187, Table of permitted usesCarson City, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
CCMC 18.01.610, "Transient occupancy" definedCarson City, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
CCMC 4.04.005, Business license definitionsCarson City, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
CCMC 4.08.070, Rental business and room definedCarson City, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
CCMC 4.08.120, Display of noticeCarson City, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
MCC 17.04.020, Definitions (Family, Dwelling, Boarding house, rooming house, bed and breakfast)Mineral County, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
MCC 17.12.010, R-1 Single-Family District, Permitted UsesMineral County, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
MCC 17.02.050, ApplicabilityMineral County, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
MCC chapter 5.16, Room Tax (5.16.010, 5.16.030)Mineral County, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
MCC 5.16.060, Exemptions from license or taxMineral County, Nevada. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.

Cite This Paper

HomeShare Oregon. (2026). The Rules Behind the Spare Room: Nevada. https://homeshareoregon.org/research/rules-behind-the-spare-room/nevada/

About HomeShare Oregon

HomeShare Oregon publishes this paper as students of aging, housing, and community infrastructure. We operate one of many possible interventions in the missing middle. We believe the most useful contribution we can make to the larger field is to add a frame and a research agenda, rather than to argue for our particular role within it.

If you are working on related questions, we would like to hear from you. Email the executive director at executivedirector@homeshareoregon.org.