LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — An 84-year-old woman won her legal battle against Clark County over her fight for a short-term rental license, after attorneys argued her constitutional rights were violated.
FOX5 continues to cover the ongoing legal battles across Clark County over short-term rentals, from neighbor complaints over problem properties and code enforcement crackdowns, to homeowners’ criticisms over the sluggish process to review and approve licenses.
On August 6, a judge in District Court ruled in 84-year-old Leslie Doyle’s favor after she took the County to court over a denial of an application. Attorneys for the Greater Las Short-Term Rental Association filed the petition for judicial review on behalf of Doyle and another homeowner who both use septic tanks for their homes.
Doyle, a retiree and homeowner, wanted to use her home as a short-term rental for extra income and to help pay medical bills.
MORE: Airbnb joining federal lawsuit against Clark County on short-term rentals
Her home relies on a septic tank; according to Clark County code, homes with septic tanks are not eligible for a license to operate a short-term rental.
“I knew we had a long battle ahead of us,” Doyle tells FOX5, agreeing to pursue a legal fight. After her application was denied, Doyle appealed; in 2024, the county upheld the denial in a hearing.
“Clark County has arbitrarily denied Petitioners’ applications to use their homes as licensed short-term rentals simply because their homes use ‘lawful’ alternative wastewater systems,” attorneys for Doyle wrote in court records. “This case is about Clark County’s violation of Petitioners’ constitutional rights under the ‘Equal Protection Clause,’” attorneys said.
A judge agreed.
“The ‘equal protection’ clause of both the United States Constitution and the Nevada Constitution have been violated with the fact that this law, this ordinance… appears to be randomly, capriciously and arbitrarily applied to only a certain group of similarly set homeowners or property owners which are that are not connected to the city sewer and the city water system with no other rational basis that has been presented to the court,” Judge Crystal Eller said in the Aug. 6 ruling.
Judge Eller said that the County had not presented its reasonings for excluding all homes with septic tanks from the licensing process.
“This county had an opportunity to submit whatever it wanted to with regard to if there was a rational basis for the differential treatment,” Judge Eller said.
Attorneys for the County argued that the court should exclude constitutionality from any ruling.
“A petition for judicial review is an improper vehicle for raising an Equal Protection challenge,” according to documents submitted by County attorneys.
County attorneys also stated that, in addition to septic tank restrictions, Doyle lacked proper general liability insurance, among other issues, leading to a denial of her application for a short-term rental license even after an appeal.
The GLVSTRA has criticized Clark County’s STR requirements as overly restrictive.
“The different requirements and restrictions that they have put in place are designed to prevent people from getting licensed, and many of those restrictions are just violating property rights and constitutional protections for property owners,” said Jackie Flores of the GLVSTRA.
FOX5 received this statement from Clark County’s Chief Communications and Strategy Officer Jennifer Cooper:
Copyright 2025 KVVU. All rights reserved.
