ADU Pass
Nye County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Nye County, Nevada navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. We cover 8 cities and 11 ZIP codes in this county.
Map
County ADU details
County ADU ordinance
Nye County permits accessory/secondary dwelling units as accessory uses in most residential zoning districts (RE, RR, RMH, MFR) under Title 17. A 'guest house' or 'second residence' is generally allowed by right on parcels meeting minimum acreage (typically 1 acre or larger in RR and RE; 0.5 acre with sewer hookup in some Pahrump RMH areas) subject to the standard accessory-structure setbacks. Owner-occupancy is not required. Short-term rental is regulated separately and is generally prohibited in residential zones absent a specific Conditional Use Permit. The Pahrump Regional Planning District (PRPD) operates under its own Master Plan with somewhat tighter controls in the urbanized core but otherwise mirrors county code.
County assessor
Assessment policy: Nevada assesses real property under NRS Chapter 361 at 35% of taxable value. New ADU/secondary-dwelling construction is added to the parcel's improvements value at the next annual assessment roll (lien date July 1) using the assessor's cost-approach valuation, depreciated by an obsolescence factor based on the structure's effective age. NRS 361.4722-361.4728 abates annual property-tax-bill increases on owner-occupied primary residences at 3% per year (and the greater of 8% or twice CPI for non-owner-occupied / commercial), so the dollar tax bill for a parcel with a new ADU rises in capped increments rather than jumping to full taxable value in year one.
County overlays (4)
- wui-fire-zone — Pahrump Valley Fire & Rescue offers free defensible-space inspections on request. Insurance carriers (notably non-admitted surplus-lines) may require photographic evidence of defensible-space compliance before binding a new ADU policy.
- flood-zone — Pahrump's alluvial-fan flooding is unusual: Zone AO (sheet-flow) rather than the more common Zone AE (riverine). Lowest-floor elevation requirements use the depth listed on the FIRM rather than a Base Flood Elevation in feet above mean sea level.
- airport-noise-zone — Federal restrictions on construction near the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS, formerly Nevada Test Site) and the Tonopah Test Range are administered by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Air Force, not by Nye County. ADU construction is not feasible within those federal withdrawals because the land is not in private ownership.
- other — The Pahrump Regional Planning District Master Plan should be consulted for any ADU project in or near Pahrump; the PRPD adds review steps (and occasionally tighter density / setback rules) on top of the base county code.
Known county issues (3)
- staffing-shortage — Nye County's geography (third-largest US county by area) makes inspector travel a real constraint. North-county sites (Tonopah, Round Mountain, Gabbs, Manhattan) are served from Tonopah; south-county sites (Pahrump, Beatty, Amargosa Valley) from Pahrump. Cross-county routing for a single inspection is rare; schedule expectations should match the relevant office.
- policy-review — The Pahrump Regional Planning District periodically revisits its Master Plan (most recently substantively in the late 2010s, with smaller amendments since); ADU-relevant density and use rules in Pahrump can shift between revisions. Confirm the current PRPD Master Plan before committing to a Pahrump project.
- other — The slug 'ely' appears under nye-county in the upstream city-highlights data, but the actual community of Ely, Nevada is in White Pine County. Treat the entry as an upstream data attribution that does not reflect Nye County jurisdiction. Any ADU inquiry for Ely should be routed to White Pine County.
Nevada state — ADU law and programs
State financing programs
Nevada Housing Division (NHD), under the Department of Business and Industry, does not operate an ADU-specific loan or grant product as of 2026-04-26. NHD's primary homeowner-facing program is Home Is Possible, providing first-time and qualifying homebuyers in Clark and Washoe counties up to 4% of the loan amount as a non-repayable grant for down payment and closing costs, paired with a 30-year fixed-rate first mortgage. The Home Is Possible For Heroes overlay serves teachers, military, first responders, and healthcare workers. NHD also issued $283.3 million of 2024 tax-exempt bonding authority for affordable-housing development (multi-family); separately, the Nevada Affordable Housing Assistance Corporation (NAHAC) administers federal Hardest Hit Fund and Homeowner Assistance Fund programs for delinquency relief. None of these is ADU-specific; ADU construction can be financed only as part of a qualifying primary-residence purchase or refinance.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.