Clark County commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday, Nov. 3, to overhaul the short-term rental licensing process, scrapping a lottery system that created a years-long backlog and replacing it with rolling in-person appointments.

The new rules apply to unincorporated Clark County, not to Henderson, which runs its own separate short-term rental permit program. But Henderson-area property owners who rent homes in unincorporated parts of the county will need to follow the new process.

Applicants can start scheduling intake appointments Dec. 15, with the first appointments beginning Jan. 5, 2027, according to the Las Vegas Sun. Revised application forms will be available Dec. 1.

What changed

The ordinance eliminates the annual lottery and opens a year-round rolling application window. Under the new rules, the county must decide on applications within 45 business days, with some exceptions, the Las Vegas Sun reported. Fees will not be due until an application is approved.

The county also replaced per-area license caps with a single countywide cap equal to 1% of all housing units in unincorporated Clark County, News 3 Las Vegas reported.

The licensing standards themselves did not change. Short-term rentals must still be at least 1,000 feet apart, and inspections and enforcement rules remain the same.

Jeff Rogan, deputy district attorney with Clark County, told commissioners the changes respond to federal court rulings in an ongoing lawsuit, the Nevada Current reported.

Why the old system stalled

The county adopted its first short-term rental ordinance in 2022 after state lawmakers required municipalities to develop regulations. Applications flooded in. Regulated business license applications nearly tripled, from 430 in 2022 to 1,140 in 2023, according to business license office data cited by the Las Vegas Sun.

A 1,000-foot separation requirement meant overlapping applications in the same area had to be decided in a set order. The county used a random number generator to sort them. Overlapping clusters, applicant responses and appeals added weeks.

Of 830 complete applications filed three years ago, 242 licenses have been approved and 47 remain pending, according to Fox 5 Las Vegas.

The Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association and Airbnb sued Clark County in June 2025, alleging the rules violated property owners' due process rights. U.S. District Judge Miranda Du granted a preliminary injunction in December 2025, placing a moratorium on fines, penalties and liens against short-term rental owners.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit largely upheld the injunction in October but called its scope "unnecessarily broad," ordering the lower court to narrow it. The appeals court wrote that the plaintiffs "have demonstrated that Clark County has interfered with a protected property interest without providing constitutionally sufficient procedures," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Jackie Flores, president and founder of the Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association, called the changes "superficial" in a statement reported by News 3 Las Vegas. Flores said the coalition would continue its legal challenge.

Henderson's own rules

Henderson residents in the city limits follow a separate program. The city requires an annual registration for each short-term rental under its municipal code, and city code bars short-term rentals in any homeowners association community unless the governing documents expressly allow transient lodging, according to a Nevada Real Estate Group summary of Henderson's rules.

The 47 pending Clark County applications will be judged under existing standards but will follow the new timelines once they take effect at the end of November, Rogan said, according to the Las Vegas Sun.