This chapter may be cited as the
Uniform Environmental Covenants Act.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1362 )
As used in this chapter, unless the
context otherwise requires, the words and terms defined in NRS 445D.030
to 445D.110 , inclusive, have the meanings ascribed to
them in those sections.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1362 )
“Activity
and use limitations” means restrictions or obligations created under this
chapter with respect to real property.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1362 )
“Agency” means:
1. The State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources;
2. The Division of Environmental Protection of the State
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; or
3. The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1362 )
“Common-interest community” means a condominium, cooperative or other
real property with respect to which a person, by virtue of the person’s
ownership of a parcel of real property, is obligated to pay property
taxes or insurance premiums, or for maintenance or improvement of other
real property described in a recorded covenant that creates the
common-interest community.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1362 )
“Environmental
covenant” means a servitude arising under an environmental response
project that imposes activity and use limitations.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1362 )
“Environmental response project” means a plan or work performed for
environmental remediation of real property and conducted:
1. Under a federal or state program governing environmental
remediation of real property;
2. Incident to closure of a solid or hazardous waste management
unit, if the closure is conducted with approval of an agency; or
3. Under a state voluntary cleanup program authorized by the laws
of this State.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1362 )
“Holder” means the grantee of an
environmental covenant as specified in subsection 1 of NRS 445D.120
.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1362 )
“Person” means any natural person,
corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership,
limited-liability company, association, joint venture, public
corporation, government, governmental subdivision, agency or
instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1362 )
“Record,” used as a noun, means
information which is inscribed on a tangible medium or which is stored in
an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1363 )
“State” means the State of Nevada.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1363 )
ENVIRONMENTAL COVENANTS
1. Any person, including a person who owns an interest in the real
property, the agency or a municipality or other unit of local government,
may be a holder. An environmental covenant may identify more than one
holder. The interest of a holder is an interest in real property.
2. A right of an agency under this chapter or under an
environmental covenant, other than a right as a holder, is not an
interest in real property.
3. An agency is bound by any obligation it assumes in an
environmental covenant, but an agency does not assume obligations merely
by signing an environmental covenant. Any other person who signs an
environmental covenant is bound by the obligations the person assumes in
the covenant, but signing the covenant does not change obligations,
rights or protections granted or imposed under law other than this
chapter except as otherwise provided in the covenant.
4. The following rules apply to interests in real property in
existence at the time an environmental covenant is created or amended:
(a) An interest that has priority under any other law is not
affected by an environmental covenant unless the person who owns the
interest subordinates that interest to the covenant.
(b) This chapter does not require a person who owns a prior
interest to subordinate that interest to an environmental covenant or to
agree to be bound by the covenant.
(c) A subordination agreement may be contained in an environmental
covenant covering real property or in a separate record. If the
environmental covenant covers commonly owned property in a
common-interest community, the record may be signed by any person
authorized by the executive board of the unit-owners’ association.
(d) An agreement by a person to subordinate a prior interest to an
environmental covenant affects the priority of that person’s interest,
but does not by itself impose any affirmative obligation on the person
with respect to the environmental covenant.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1363 )
1. An environmental covenant must:
(a) State that the instrument is an environmental covenant executed
pursuant to this chapter;
(b) Contain a legally sufficient description of the real property
subject to the covenant;
(c) Describe the activity and use limitations on the real property;
(d) Identify every holder;
(e) Be signed by the agency, every holder and, unless waived by the
agency, every owner of the fee simple of the real property subject to the
covenant; and
(f) Identify the name and location of any administrative record for
the environmental response project reflected in the environmental
covenant.
2. In addition to the information required by subsection 1, an
environmental covenant may contain other information, restrictions and
requirements agreed to by the persons who signed it, including:
(a) Any requirements for notice following transfer of a specified
interest in, or concerning proposed changes in use of, applications for
building permits for, or proposals for any site work affecting the
contamination on, the property subject to the covenant;
(b) Any requirements for periodic reporting describing compliance
with the covenant;
(c) Any rights of access to the property granted in connection with
implementation or enforcement of the covenant;
(d) A brief narrative description of the contamination and remedy,
including the contaminants of concern, pathways of exposure, limits on
exposure, and location and extent of the contamination;
(e) Any limitation on amendment or termination of the covenant in
addition to those contained in NRS 445D.180 and 445D.190 ; and
(f) Any rights of the holder in addition to its right to enforce
the covenant pursuant to NRS 445D.200 .
3. In addition to other conditions for its approval of an
environmental covenant, the agency may require those persons specified by
the agency who have interests in the real property to sign the covenant.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1363 )
1. An environmental covenant that complies with this chapter runs
with the land.
2. An environmental covenant that is otherwise effective is valid
and enforceable even if:
(a) It is not appurtenant to an interest in real property;
(b) It can be or has been assigned to a person other than the
original holder;
(c) It is not of a character that has been recognized traditionally
at common law;
(d) It imposes a negative burden;
(e) It imposes an affirmative obligation on a person having an
interest in the real property or on the holder;
(f) The benefit or burden does not touch or concern real property;
(g) There is no privity of estate or contract;
(h) The holder dies, ceases to exist, resigns or is replaced; or
(i) The owner of an interest subject to the environmental covenant
and the holder are the same person.
3. An instrument that creates restrictions or obligations with
respect to real property that would qualify as activity and use
limitations, except for the fact that the instrument was recorded before
October 1, 2005, is not invalid or unenforceable because of any of the
limitations on enforcement of interests described in subsection 2 or
because it was identified as an easement, servitude, deed restriction or
other interest. This chapter does not apply in any other respect to such
an instrument.
4. This chapter does not invalidate or render unenforceable any
interest, whether designated as an environmental covenant or other
interest, that is otherwise enforceable under the laws of this State.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1364 )
This chapter
does not authorize a use of real property that is otherwise prohibited by
zoning, by law other than this chapter regulating use of real property or
by a recorded instrument that has priority over the environmental
covenant. An environmental covenant may prohibit or restrict uses of real
property which are authorized by zoning or by law other than this chapter.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1364 )
1. A copy of an environmental covenant must be provided by the
persons and in the manner required by the agency to:
(a) Each person who signed the covenant;
(b) Each person holding a recorded interest in the real property
subject to the covenant;
(c) Each person in possession of the real property subject to the
covenant;
(d) Each municipality or other unit of local government in which
real property subject to the covenant is located and any local planning
commission whose territorial jurisdiction includes or is immediately
adjacent to the real property subject to the covenant; and
(e) Any other person the agency requires.
2. The validity of a covenant is not affected by failure to
provide a copy of the covenant as required under this section.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1365 )
1. An environmental covenant and any amendment or termination of
the covenant must be recorded in every county in which any portion of the
real property subject to the covenant is located. For purposes of
indexing, a holder must be treated as a grantee.
2. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3 of NRS 445D.180
, an environmental covenant is subject
to the laws of this State governing recording and priority of interests
in real property.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1365 )
1. An environmental covenant is perpetual unless it is:
(a) By its terms limited to a specific duration or terminated by
the occurrence of a specific event;
(b) Terminated by consent pursuant to NRS 445D.190 ;
(c) Terminated pursuant to subsection 2;
(d) Terminated by foreclosure of an interest that has priority over
the environmental covenant; or
(e) Terminated or modified in an eminent domain proceeding, but
only if:
(1) The agency that signed the covenant is a party to the
proceeding;
(2) All persons identified in subsections 1 and 2 of NRS
445D.190 are given notice of the
pendency of the proceeding; and
(3) The court determines, after hearing, that the
termination or modification will not adversely affect human health or the
environment.
2. If the agency that signed an environmental covenant has
determined that the intended benefits of the covenant can no longer be
realized, a court, under the doctrine of changed circumstances, in an
action in which all persons identified in subsections 1 and 2 of NRS
445D.190 have been given notice, may
terminate the covenant or reduce its burden on the real property subject
to the covenant. The agency’s determination or its failure to make a
determination upon request is subject to judicial review pursuant to NRS
233B.130 .
3. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 1 and 2, an
environmental covenant may not be extinguished, limited or impaired
through issuance of a tax deed, foreclosure of a tax lien or application
of the doctrine of adverse possession, prescription, abandonment, waiver,
lack of enforcement or acquiescence, or a similar doctrine.
4. An environmental covenant may not be extinguished, limited or
impaired by application of any laws of this State relating to marketable
title or dormant mineral interests.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1365 )
1. An environmental covenant may be amended or terminated by
consent only if the amendment or termination is signed by:
(a) The agency;
(b) Unless waived by the agency, the current owner of the fee
simple of the real property subject to the covenant;
(c) Each person who originally signed the covenant, unless the
person waived in a signed record the right to consent or a court finds
that the person no longer exists or cannot be located or identified with
the exercise of reasonable diligence; and
(d) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of subsection 4,
the holder.
2. If an interest in real property is subject to an environmental
covenant, the interest is not affected by an amendment of the covenant
unless the current owner of the interest consents to the amendment or has
waived in a signed record the right to consent to amendments.
3. Except for an assignment undertaken pursuant to a governmental
reorganization, the assignment of an environmental covenant to a new
holder is an amendment.
4. Except as otherwise provided in an environmental covenant:
(a) A holder may not assign its interest without the consent of the
other parties; and
(b) A holder may be removed and replaced by agreement of the other
parties specified in subsection 1.
5. A court of competent jurisdiction may fill a vacancy in the
position of holder.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1366 )
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
1. A civil action for injunctive or other equitable relief for the
violation of an environmental covenant may be maintained by:
(a) A party to the covenant;
(b) The agency or, if it is not the agency, the State Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources or the Division of Environmental
Protection of that Department;
(c) Any person to whom the covenant expressly grants power to
enforce;
(d) A person whose interest in the real property or whose
collateral or liability may be affected by the alleged violation of the
covenant; or
(e) A municipality or other unit of local government in which the
real property subject to the covenant is located.
2. This chapter does not limit the regulatory authority of the
agency, or the State Environmental Commission, the State Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources or the Division of Environmental
Protection of that Department, under law other than this chapter with
respect to an environmental response project.
3. A person is not responsible for or subject to liability for
environmental remediation solely because it has the right to enforce an
environmental covenant.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1366 )
In
applying and construing this chapter, consideration must be given to the
need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter
among states that enact it.
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1366 )
This chapter modifies, limits or supersedes the
federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15
U.S.C. §§ 7001 et seq., but does not modify, limit or supersede section
101 of that Act, 15 U.S.C. § 7001(a), or authorize electronic delivery of
any of the notices described in section 103 of that Act, 15 U.S.C. §
7003(b).
(Added to NRS by 2005, 1366 )
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