What is a special assessment? A one-time charge an association levies on top of regular dues, for a cost the operating budget and the reserve fund cannot cover.
A special assessment is money an association collects from owners outside the regular dues, for something the budget and the reserves do not cover. The causes are large and few: a roof or a private street at the end of its life with reserves short, an insurance premium or deductible nobody budgeted for, damage above what the policy pays, or a lawsuit. It is divided among the units the way dues are, equally or by the allocation the declaration sets.
Approval depends on the size and on the declaration. A board can usually levy up to a stated ceiling on its own, and above that the declaration requires a vote of the owners. NRS 116.3115 requires notice to owners of the meeting at which an assessment for a capital improvement is to be considered, so one of any size arrives with a meeting first. Once levied it behaves like any other assessment: payable in a lump sum or on the installment schedule the board sets, and secured by the association's lien on the unit if it is not paid.
At a sale the seller owes an assessment levied before closing, though who actually pays it is negotiable and often becomes a credit in escrow. One approved but not yet levied is the harder case, which is why the resale package under NRS 116.4109 has to disclose pending assessments: a buyer who reads it learns the bill is coming while the five-day cancellation window is still open.
One other thing carries the same name. A special assessment district (an SID or LID) is a county financing arrangement for streets, sewers or streetlights in a defined area, and it shows as its own line on a Clark County tax bill rather than on an association statement. It is owed to the county, has nothing to do with an HOA, and normally runs on a fixed amortization for a set number of years.
A worked example
A 120-unit condo association faces $960,000 of roofing and holds $300,000 in reserves. The board levies a special assessment of $5,500 a unit, payable in full or in 24 installments of about $240 a month. A unit under contract when it is levied closes with the seller paying the balance, because the levy came before closing and the resale package disclosed it.
Questions people ask
How much can a special assessment be?
The statute sets no ceiling. It is the shortfall divided by the units, and public reporting on major repairs shows figures from a few hundred dollars to well over ten thousand dollars a unit. What the declaration caps is the amount a board may levy without a vote of the owners, not the total.
What happens if you do not pay a special assessment?
It is treated like unpaid dues: late fees and interest, then the association's lien on the unit, and in Nevada that lien can be foreclosed under NRS 116.31162 to 116.31168. The Nevada Real Estate Division's Ombudsman handles disputes with an association short of that.