Illinois vs Nevada: Local Ordinance Comparison (2026)

Tiny Homes

Nevada law forces larger counties and cities to zone for tiny houses. NRS 278.253 requires every county over 100,000 and city over 150,000 to designate zoning districts allowing tiny houses as accessory dwelling units, single-family homes, and in tiny house parks.

Beekeeping

The Illinois Bees and Apiaries Act requires registration of all colonies with the Department of Agriculture and authorizes inspections to control diseases statewide.

Nevada law makes it unlawful to keep bees in anything other than movable-frame hives, so inspectors can open colonies to check for disease. The State Department of Agriculture enforces Chapter 552 and can condemn and destroy non-conforming hives.

Dog Leash Laws

Illinois law requires owners to keep dogs under restraint or control off their property and imposes strict liability for bites by unrestrained animals statewide.

Pet Limits

Illinois defines and criminalizes companion animal hoarding under the Humane Care for Animals Act, applying uniformly through state criminal code statewide.

Wildlife Feeding

Illinois Wildlife Code prohibits feeding deer and similar wildlife in many counties to prevent chronic wasting disease spread, with statewide enforcement authority.

Nevada Department of Wildlife prohibits feeding big game mammals like deer, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, antelope, and mountain lions. NAC 503.145 makes intentional feeding unlawful statewide to prevent habituation, disease spread, and human-wildlife conflicts.

Tobacco Retail License

Illinois requires retailers selling electronic cigarettes and e-liquids to obtain Department of Revenue licensing and follow age-verification, packaging, and tax rules statewide.

Nevada requires vapor and other tobacco product retailers to hold a Tobacco Retail Dealer's License from the Department of Taxation, verify buyers are 21, and remit the 30 percent other-tobacco-products wholesale tax on vapor products.

Juvenile Curfew

Illinois imposes a statewide juvenile curfew barring minors under 17 from public places late at night under Section 12C-60 of the Criminal Code, which replaced the repealed Child Curfew Act in 2013.

Commercial Drones

Commercial drone operators in Nevada must hold an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate and follow NRS 493. NRS 493.109 bars flying within 500 feet horizontally or 250 feet vertically of a critical facility, or within 5 miles of an airport, without consent.

Minimum Wage Preemption

Nevada sets minimum wage statewide through constitutional and statutory provisions, preempting local wage ordinances and standardizing employer obligations.

Coastal Development

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Program regulates Lake Michigan shoreline development, applying uniform permit requirements along the entire Illinois coast regardless of municipality.

Flood Zones

Illinois law requires state-issued permits for construction within regulatory floodways and mandates municipal participation in NFIP minimum standards across all designated flood hazard areas.

Nevada participates in the National Flood Insurance Program through the Division of Water Resources under NRS Chapter 540, requiring participating local governments to adopt floodplain management ordinances meeting FEMA minimum standards as a condition of flood insurance availability.

Stormwater Management

Nevada Division of Environmental Protection administers federal NPDES stormwater permits statewide under NRS 445A.300, requiring construction sites over one acre and industrial facilities to obtain coverage and implement pollution prevention measures.

Neighbor Fence Rules

Under the Illinois Fence Act (765 ILCS 130/3), adjoining landowners must each build and maintain a just proportion of the division fence between their properties. A legal fence stands at least four and one-half feet high, and cost disputes go to township fence viewers.

Fireworks

Illinois generally prohibits consumer fireworks statewide under the Pyrotechnic Use Act, allowing only novelty items like sparklers, smoke devices, and snakes for the public.

Nevada law authorizes counties and incorporated cities to regulate or prohibit consumer fireworks under NRS 244.367 and NRS 268.418, while prohibiting dangerous fireworks statewide and imposing strict licensing on display fireworks.

Outdoor Burning

Illinois EPA regulations restrict open burning statewide, prohibiting the burning of garbage, landscape waste in many urban areas, and any materials producing dense smoke or air pollution.

Propane Storage

Illinois regulates the storage, handling, and transport of liquefied petroleum gas statewide under the LPG Act, adopting NFPA 58 standards uniformly through the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Nevada regulates liquefied petroleum gas storage and handling statewide under NRS 590 and NAC 590, adopting NFPA 58 by reference and licensing dealers, installers, and bulk storage facilities through the Board for the Regulation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

Wildfire Zones

Nevada Division of Forestry administers wildland-urban interface fire safety under NRS 472 and NRS 527, requiring defensible space around structures in fire hazard zones and authorizing local enforcement of state-adopted WUI codes.

Firearms in Vehicles

Illinois law sets uniform rules for transporting firearms in vehicles under the FOID Card Act and Firearm Concealed Carry Act, preempting local handgun transport ordinances.

Food Truck Permits

Illinois requires mobile food vendors to obtain certified food protection manager status and meet uniform sanitation standards under the Food Service Sanitation Code statewide.

Nevada regulates mobile food establishments through NRS 446 and NAC 446. Food trucks must obtain health permits from county health districts, comply with FDA Food Code adopted statewide, and operate from licensed commissaries. Standards apply uniformly across Nevada.

Casino Zoning Districts

Illinois doesn't let cities zone in casinos on their own: the Illinois Gambling Act (230 ILCS 10/7) hands out a fixed number of state owners licenses, each tied by statute to one named municipality. Chicago got its own license under a 2019 law, capped at 4,000 gaming positions. Five more licenses went to Danville, Waukegan, Rockford, a Cook County township cluster, and unincorporated Williamson County.

Nevada law won't let the Gaming Commission license a full casino inside the Las Vegas Boulevard corridor or the rural Clark County gaming zone unless the site sits in a designated gaming enterprise district. Statewide, any county with 100,000+ residents also caps nonrestricted licenses to resort hotels, buildings with 200-300+ rooms, a 24/7 restaurant and a bar, under NRS 463.1605.

Charitable Bingo and Raffles

Illinois nonprofits need a Department of Revenue license before running charitable games, capped at 4 days a year, with single bets at house-banked games limited to $20 and cash payouts capped at $500 per event. Licenses cost $400 for two years. A companion law, the Bingo License and Tax Act, licenses bingo separately for $200 a year and taxes proceeds at 5% quarterly.

Nevada regulates charitable bingo, poker, blackjack and raffle-style lotteries entirely through NRS Chapter 462, administered by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Only a "qualified organization", a certified nonprofit or IRS-recognized charity, may hold one, and only after the Board's Chair registers it under NRS 462.150. Annual prize payouts are capped at $500,000, or $2 million for organizations affiliated with a major pro sports franchise playing in Nevada.

Sports Betting Law

Illinois legalized sports betting under the Sports Wagering Act, but only through an operator holding a Board-issued master sports wagering license. The Illinois Gaming Board licenses online operators, in-state sports facilities, and existing casino owners and organization licensees, each paying steep application and license fees. Bettors must be at least 21 and physically located in Illinois when they place a wager.

Nevada legalized sports wagering statewide long before other states, but you can only bet through a sports pool licensed under NRS 463.160. Operating a race book or sports pool without that license is a category B felony under NRS 463.360, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Mobile wagering runs through the same licensed operator's app.

Board Procedures

Illinois gives association members open meetings and a records right, but the deadlines and the cost rules differ depending on which Act governs your association. A condominium owner requesting records under 765 ILCS 605/19 gets a denial by operation of law if the board does not produce them within 10 business days, and recovers reasonable attorney's fees and costs simply by prevailing. A member of a common interest community association under 765 ILCS 160/1-30(i) waits 30 days for the same effect and recovers fees only if the court also finds the failure was due to the board's acts or omissions. Board meetings are open to owners in both, with 48 hours notice, six narrow closed-session grounds, and a requirement that any vote be taken in the open portion. A common interest community board must meet at least 4 times a year and must reserve part of each meeting for member comments.

A Nevada association's executive board must meet at least once every quarter and not less than once every 100 days, and at least twice a year at a time outside standard business hours, with notice to owners at least 10 days ahead unless the bylaws require longer. On written request an owner may review the association's books and records at its business office or a location within 60 miles of the community, and the board must hand over copies of the financial statement, the budgets and the reserve study within 21 days, free in electronic form or at 25 cents a page for the first 10 pages and 10 cents thereafter. Miss that deadline and the board must pay a penalty of $25 for every day it fails to produce. The board may not charge more than $25 an hour for a records review, and if it refuses outright the Ombudsman can review the records for the owner and ask the Commission to subpoena them.

CC&R Enforcement

Illinois HOAs enforce their declaration, bylaws, and rules under the Common Interest Community Association Act. Rule violations are pursued through the 765 ILCS 160/1-30(g) fine power, which requires notice and a hearing first. The Act has no separate architectural-review or pre-adoption rule-notice section like the Condominium Property Act.

Nevada law overrides HOA restrictions in several areas: NRS 278.0208 voids CC&Rs that prohibit or unreasonably restrict solar energy systems, NRS 116.320 protects display of the U.S. flag, NRS 116.325 protects political signs, and NRS 116.330 guarantees owners the right to install drought-tolerant landscaping (xeriscape).

EV Charger Rights

Since January 1, 2024 the Illinois Electric Vehicle Charging Act has voided any covenant, deed restriction or governing-document provision that prohibits or unreasonably restricts installing an electric vehicle charging system in a unit owner's unit or designated parking space, including a deeded space, an exclusive use common area space and a space specifically designated for a particular owner. The Act reaches condominium associations and common interest community associations together, because 765 ILCS 1085/15 borrows the definition of association from both the Condominium Property Act and the Common Interest Community Association Act, and it applies to existing buildings as well as new ones. An association that requires approval must decide in writing, and an application not denied in writing within 60 days is deemed approved. The owner pays for installation, electricity, maintenance and removal, must use a licensed and insured electrical contractor, and must keep liability coverage naming the association as an additional insured.

HOA Fines & Enforcement

Illinois puts no dollar limit on association fines. Both statutes say only that the board may levy reasonable fines, and neither sets a maximum, a daily cap or a cure period. What Illinois does require is process: under 765 ILCS 160/1-30(g) a common interest community association board may levy and collect reasonable fines only after notice and an opportunity to be heard, and 765 ILCS 605/18.4(l) imposes the identical condition on a condominium board. The board may discuss a violation in closed session, but the vote to impose the fine has to be taken in the open portion of a meeting. Since January 1, 2019 most Illinois associations have also had to maintain a written complaint policy under 765 ILCS 615/35 and issue a final determination in writing within 180 days, which is the gateway to an Ombudsperson request under 765 ILCS 615/40.

For a violation of the governing documents that does not pose an imminent threat of causing a substantial adverse effect on health, safety or welfare, NRS 116.31031 limits a Nevada association's fine to $100 for each violation and a total of $1,000 per hearing against each owner, tenant or invitee, and the amount must still be commensurate with the severity of the violation. The board may impose nothing at all unless the owner received written notice of the governing-document provision at least 30 days before the alleged violation, then a detailed violation notice with a photograph, the proposed cure, the fine amount and a hearing date, and a real chance to cure or contest. If the violation is not cured within 14 days it becomes a continuing violation and the board may add a fine of no more than the original amount for each 7-day period. Nevada also bars foreclosure over an ordinary fine and caps collection charges by regulation.

Lien & Foreclosure Limits

Unpaid assessments on an Illinois condominium unit become a statutory lien under 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1), and once the board of managers records notice of that lien it may foreclose it in the same manner as a mortgage. Most Illinois boards never do. Section 9.2(a) of the Condominium Property Act and paragraph (7) of 735 ILCS 5/9-102(a) let the association sue for possession of the unit instead, and 735 ILCS 5/9-111 directs the court to enter an eviction order once it finds the expenses due. The limits that matter to an owner are procedural: a written demand giving at least 30 days, a mandatory stay of enforcement of not less than 60 days, and an open-ended right to pay what the court found due and have the order vacated.

A Nevada association gets a lien the moment an assessment, fine or construction penalty falls due, and NRS 116.3116(3) puts part of that lien ahead of the first mortgage: nine months of common-expense assessments computed on the periodic budget without acceleration, any abatement charges under NRS 116.310312, and enforcement costs capped by subsection 5 at $165, $325, $90, $400 and $400 for the five listed steps, with no attorney fees. That super-priority slice is why an association foreclosure sale in Nevada can extinguish a first deed of trust outright, and NRS 116.31162 and NRS 116.31164 give the lender the escape hatch: pay the prior portion no later than 5 days before the sale and record the satisfaction no later than 2 days before, and the sale still happens but the security interest survives. Fines ride in the lien but never in the super-priority, and NRS 116.31162(6) bars foreclosing by sale on a fine at all unless the violation is an imminent threat to health, safety or welfare.

Rental Restriction Limits

Illinois runs the opposite way from states that protect owners who rent. There is no statutory cap on how much leasing an Illinois association may prohibit, no minimum lease term, no statewide grandfathering for an owner already renting, and no statutory member vote threshold for adopting a rental amendment. The single statutory exception is narrow and reaches only common interest community associations: under 765 ILCS 160/1-20(c), when an association that currently permits leasing amends to prohibit it, a unit owner incorporated under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) that is leasing at the time may keep doing so until it voluntarily sells, free of any special fine, fee, dues or penalty. The Condominium Property Act contains no equivalent, so a condominium owner in Illinois gets no grandfathering at all, and 765 ILCS 605/18(n) instead arms the association with an eviction remedy against a noncomplying tenant.

Nevada rewrote NRS 116.335 effective July 1, 2026, and the section now runs in the association's favor rather than the owner's. The version in force lets an association whose declaration already authorizes a leasing prohibition or restriction, or already sets a maximum number or percentage of rentable units, adopt rules and regulations restricting residential leasing to the extent the restriction is reasonably related to meeting the underwriting requirements of institutional first-mortgage lenders or of insurance companies that write policies for associations or units. The owner grandfathering that Nevada carried from 2005 to 2026, which barred an association from banning rentals or requiring rental approval unless the declaration already said so when the owner bought, expired on June 30, 2026 and is not in the current text. Two owner protections survive: an economic hardship waiver when a rental cap is full, and a rule that declarant-owned units are not counted when measuring the cap.

Cottage Food Operations

Illinois runs its cottage food program out of 410 ILCS 625/4, and the current text sets no ceiling at all on what a cottage food operation may sell. Paragraph (1) of subsection (b) is printed as "(Blank)", and the only dollar figure anywhere in the Section is the $50 maximum annual registration fee a local health department may charge. You register with the local health department for the unit of local government where your kitchen sits, not with the State, and you may then sell anywhere in Illinois. Subsection (h), added by Public Act 102-633 effective January 1, 2022, bars a home rule unit from regulating cottage food operations in a manner inconsistent with the State scheme.

Nevada moved its cottage food rule out of NRS chapter 446 in 2025. The section in force today is NRS 580.600, which keeps a home cottage food operation outside the definition of a food establishment so long as gross sales stay at or under $100,000 per calendar year, the goods come from a closed list of shelf-stable items, every package carries the words MADE IN A COTTAGE FOOD OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENT FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION, and every sale is an in-person transaction. Selling by telephone or over the Internet is what takes you out of the exemption, not the size of the batch. You must register with the food safety authority before your first sale, but there is no permit, no plan review and no routine inspection, and no Nevada city or county may adopt an ordinance prohibiting a person from preparing food in a cottage food operation.

Home Daycare

Nevada requires state licensing through the Division of Public and Behavioral Health for any home caring for more than four unrelated children, setting uniform background-check, capacity, and safety standards under NRS 432A that override most local prohibitions.

Home Kitchen Operations

Nevada never created a microenterprise home kitchen operation. The words microenterprise and home kitchen appear nowhere in NRS chapter 580 or NAC chapter 446. What Nevada does have is more unusual: a home kitchen may be permitted as an ordinary food establishment. NRS 580.050(2)(a) pulls a private home into the definition of a food establishment the moment food prepared there is sold, NRS 580.900(4) says home-prepared food may not be sold unless the preparer holds a valid permit for that purpose, and NAC 446.576 sets the four physical conditions: full compliance with the food establishment chapter, a dedicated exterior entrance, physical separation from the living or sleeping quarters by walls or self-closing doors, and no use of those areas as thoroughfares. Once the permit issues, that part of the house legally stops being a residence and becomes an inspected food establishment.

Recording Police

Illinois writes the right to film police directly into its eavesdropping statute. 720 ILCS 5/14-2(e) says nothing in the eavesdropping article prohibits any individual who is not a law enforcement officer from recording an officer performing his or her duties in a public place, or anywhere the officer has no reasonable expectation of privacy. The same subsection lets the officer take reasonable action to maintain safety and control, secure crime scenes and accident sites, protect investigations, and protect public safety and order, so the right is to record, not to stand wherever you like. Illinois has no statute creating a minimum distance you must keep from a working officer.

Nevada does not leave the right to film police to case law. NRS 171.1233, added in the 2020 32nd Special Session, says a person who is not under arrest or in the custody of a peace officer "may record a law enforcement activity and maintain custody and control of that recording," and subsection 2 then lists five things a peace officer "shall not" do, including threatening you for recording, ordering you to stop when you were lawfully entitled to record, and stopping, seizing or searching you because you recorded. The section defines "law enforcement activity" as any activity by a peace officer acting under color of law, and defines "record" broadly enough to cover written notes and a live broadcast. The one boundary is written into subsection 1 itself: the right does not authorize you to interfere with or obstruct the activity you are filming.

Vehicle Search & Consent

Illinois has no statute that requires an officer to warn you that you may refuse a vehicle search, but it does require the officer to write the request down. 625 ILCS 5/11-212 makes every traffic stop generate a record of whether a consent search was requested of the vehicle, driver or passengers and whether consent was "given or denied," alongside whether a dog sniffed the car and whether anything was found. Illinois also bars one search outright: 725 ILCS 5/108-1(3) forbids searching a vehicle, its contents, the driver or a passenger solely because of a seat belt violation. Legal cannabis does not give Illinois drivers the search shield California and New York rely on.

Nevada decriminalized most traffic offenses in 2021, and in doing so the Legislature wrote down exactly what a peace officer may do after pulling a driver over. NRS 484A.7033(1) lets the officer halt and detain you only "as is reasonably necessary to investigate the alleged violation and issue a civil infraction citation," and then lists the three extra powers: detain under NRS 171.123 if circumstances warrant, search you for a weapon under NRS 171.1232, and arrest you under NRS 171.1231 if probable cause exists. Nothing in the list authorizes a search of the vehicle. A companion section, NRS 484A.7037(2), tells the officer who asks for electronic proof of insurance that he "may view only the evidence of insurance and shall not intentionally view any other content on the mobile electronic device."

Native Plants

NRS 527.260 through 527.300 establishes a statewide program to protect, conserve, and restore native flora threatened with extinction, requiring permits from the State Forester Firewarden before any listed species can be removed or destroyed.

Rainwater Harvesting

Illinois has never adopted a statewide plumbing standard for rainwater harvesting. The Department of Public Health proposed one in December 2018, but it never took effect, and the Illinois Plumbing Code still contains no harvested-water subpart.

Nevada law explicitly permits de minimis rainwater collection from single-family rooftops for nonpotable domestic use, including watering family gardens, under NRS 533.027 enacted by Assembly Bill 138 in 2017.

Weed Ordinances

Illinois law designates noxious weeds and requires landowners to control them on all property regardless of municipal weed ordinances.

NRS 555.150 requires every person who owns, controls, or occupies land in Nevada, along with railroads, canal and ditch companies, counties, and cities, to control weeds the State Quarantine Officer has designated as noxious. Enforcement runs through written notice, county-funded forced control if an owner ignores it, a lien for unpaid costs, and civil penalties reaching $1,000 per repeat violation.

Aircraft Noise

Aircraft noise in Illinois is governed exclusively by federal aviation law, leaving cities and the state without authority to regulate flight operations or in-flight sound.

Decibel Limits

Illinois sets uniform statewide decibel limits for stationary industrial and commercial noise sources through Pollution Control Board rules under the Environmental Protection Act.

EV Charging

Illinois law guarantees renters and condo owners the right to install EV charging stations, preempting local restrictions on residential charging access at multi-unit buildings.

Towing & Impound Rights

Illinois runs two layers of private-property towing law, and which one you are under depends on the county. Statewide, 625 ILCS 5/4-203(f) governs every nonconsensual tow from private property: if you reach your car before it is actually removed the tow truck must disconnect and let you go on payment of no more than one-half the posted rate, with a receipt; the tower must notify police within 30 minutes; the lot must carry signs in 2-inch light-reflective letters posted for at least 24 hours beforehand; and the vehicle must be released within one-half hour of your request during business hours. On top of that, Chapter 18a of the Vehicle Code, enforced by the Illinois Commerce Commission, applies only in counties of 1,000,000 or more, which means Cook County, and in smaller counties whose county board votes to opt in, minus any municipality that has filed a resolution opting out. In Chapter 18a territory an ordinary car cannot be charged a drop fee at all, there is no storage charge for the first 24 hours, and the tow distance is capped at 10 or 15 air miles.

In Nevada a vehicle may be towed from private property without the owner's consent only if the property owner or an authorized agent signs a specific request, the area is properly posted, and the police or sheriff are notified, and a law enforcement officer can order the tow stopped. Apartment, condominium and townhome complexes must put a sticker on the vehicle at least 48 hours before towing for a parking violation or lack of registration, and no vehicle in Nevada may be towed solely because its registration has expired. The tow operator may not start charging storage until at least 48 hours after the vehicle arrives and is logged in at the storage yard, must include a specific drop-fee reduction in its filed tariff if you reach the scene before the truck leaves, and must accept cash, money orders, credit cards, debit cards and electronic transfers. If you think the tow was unlawful, you can file for expedited relief in justice court within 21 calendar days and get a hearing within 7 days.

Snow & Sidewalk Clearing

The Illinois Snow and Ice Removal Act shields residential property owners from liability for natural accumulations cleared in good faith, applying uniformly statewide.

Eviction Notice & Process

Illinois requires a 5-day written notice for nonpayment of rent (735 ILCS 5/9-209), a 10-day notice to quit for lease violations (735 ILCS 5/9-210), and a 30-day termination notice for ending a month-to-month tenancy without cause (735 ILCS 5/9-207). Only a court may order eviction.

For nonpayment, NRS 40.253 requires a 7-judicial-day pay-or-quit notice before summary eviction. Nevada uses a unique 'tenant-initiated' process: the tenant must file an affidavit (answer) with the justice court to contest the eviction, and a court order issues if no affidavit is filed in time.

Just Cause Eviction

Nevada eviction procedures are exclusively set by state law under NRS 40.251 through 40.254, allowing summary eviction for nonpayment, lease violation, or no-cause termination after lease expiration, with no general just-cause requirement.

Landlord Entry & Notice

NRS 118A.330 requires a Nevada landlord to give the tenant at least 24 hours' notice before entering and to enter only at reasonable times during normal business hours, except in an emergency. The landlord may not abuse the right of access or use it to harass the tenant.

Late Fees & Grace Periods

NRS 118A.210 caps a Nevada late fee at 5 percent of the periodic rent and requires it to be set out in the rental agreement. For tenancies longer than week-to-week, no late fee may be charged until at least 3 calendar days after rent is due, and fees may not be compounded.

Lease Termination & Notice to Vacate

Under 735 ILCS 5/9-207, ending a month-to-month or other tenancy under one year requires 30 days' written notice; a week-to-week tenancy requires 7 days. The statute lets the landlord 'terminate the tenancy by 30 days' notice, in writing,' and then bring an eviction action. Fixed-term leases end on their stated date.

Under NRS 40.251, either party may end a month-to-month tenancy with 30 days' written notice (7 days for week-to-week). Tenants who are 60 or older or have a disability may request an additional 30 days. Fixed-term leases end on their stated date; military servicemembers may terminate under the federal SCRA.

Rent Control

Illinois has no statewide rent control and no cap on rent increases. The Rent Control Preemption Act, 50 ILCS 825, bars every unit of local government, including home rule cities, from enacting, maintaining, or enforcing any ordinance that controls the rent charged for private residential or commercial property. No Illinois municipality has enforceable rent control.

Repairs & Habitability

Illinois recognizes an implied warranty of habitability in every residential lease through case law, not a single statute. The Illinois Supreme Court established it in Jack Spring, Inc. v. Little (1972), holding that all residential leases include the warranty, fulfilled by substantial compliance with applicable building codes. Chicago's RLTO adds detailed statutory standards.

NRS 118A.290 requires Nevada landlords to keep rentals habitable: sound structure, weatherproofing, working plumbing, heating, electrical, and a safe water supply. NRS 118A.360 lets tenants repair-and-deduct after written notice, and NRS 118A.380 lets tenants act when essential services such as heat, water, or electricity fail.

Security Deposit Rules

Illinois sets no statewide cap on residential security deposits. Under the Security Deposit Return Act, 765 ILCS 710, a landlord of a building with 5 or more units who keeps any of a deposit for damage must furnish an itemized statement within 30 days of move-out, or return the deposit in full within 45 days, or owe double the deposit plus attorney's fees.

Nevada caps a residential security deposit, including any surety bond and last month's rent, at three months' periodic rent. After the tenancy ends, the landlord has 30 days to return the remaining deposit with an itemized written accounting. Wrongful retention can expose the landlord to the entire deposit plus an equal court-set sum.

Squatter's Rights & Adverse Possession

Adverse possession in Illinois generally requires 20 years of possession (735 ILCS 5/13-101). The period drops to 7 years when the occupant holds under claim and color of title 'made in good faith' and pays all taxes assessed (735 ILCS 5/13-109), or holds connected record title with 7 years of actual residence (735 ILCS 5/13-107).

Nevada requires 5 years of continuous, adverse occupancy plus payment of all state, county, and municipal taxes for that period before a claim of adverse possession can succeed (NRS 11.150; NRS 40.090). Separately, unlawful occupancy of a vacant dwelling is a criminal gross misdemeanor under NRS 205.0817.

Agricultural Zoning Protection

Illinois protects agricultural land through the Agricultural Areas Conservation and Protection Act and limits county zoning over farms outside municipal boundaries.

Taxes & Fees

Illinois imposes a 6% state Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax on short-term rentals of fewer than 30 consecutive days, including platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo, applied uniformly statewide.

Nevada imposes statewide transient lodging taxes on short-term rentals, including combined state and local rates that platforms or hosts must collect and remit on stays under 30 days, regardless of municipality.

HOA Restrictions

Illinois voids any association bylaw, board action, deed restriction or covenant that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting a solar energy system, under 765 ILCS 165/15 and 765 ILCS 165/20(a). The Homeowners' Energy Policy Statement Act applies with the same force to a homeowners' association, a common interest community association and a condominium unit owners' association, so unlike Illinois fine and records law it does not split between the Condominium Property Act and the Common Interest Community Association Act. An association may set the configuration of panels on a given roof face, but it may not bar panels from any roof face and its configuration decision may not cut the system's estimated annual electrical production by more than 10%. Applications must be processed in 30 days, or 120 days if the association has not yet adopted a written energy policy statement, and a willful violation exposes the association to actual and consequential damages under 765 ILCS 165/35.

Nevada rebuilt its HOA solar law in 2025. Under NRS 116.333 an association that has adopted solar rules must approve or deny a request to install a residential solar system within 35 days, and the request is deemed approved if it does not answer; a resubmission that addresses the stated reasons for a denial gets a 15-day clock with the same automatic approval. An association that never adopted solar rules must approve the request within 15 days and may not deny it or attach any conditions at all. Where rules do exist, NRS 116.334 caps what they can demand: they cannot conflict with the National Electric Code, local ordinances or state law, an owner is excused from a street-facing or conduit-painting requirement whose compliance cost exceeds 3 percent of the cash cost of installation, and a rule keeping panels off the street side fails if it cuts production by more than 10 percent as measured on the federal PVWatts Calculator. Separately, NRS 111.239 makes any covenant that prohibits or unreasonably restricts a solar energy system void and unenforceable.

Panel Permits

Illinois protects residential solar energy installations through the Homeowners Energy Policy Statement Act and limits unreasonable association or municipal restrictions.

Nevada protects residential solar but has no statewide SolarAPP+ or one-day permit mandate. NRS 278.0208 bars prohibiting or unreasonably restricting solar systems, and NRS 278.580 requires local building codes to permit solar; permitting is handled locally.

Solicitor Permits

Nevada requires charitable organizations and professional fundraisers soliciting donations to register with the Secretary of State under NRS 82A, in addition to any local door-to-door solicitor permits, with disclosure rules applying statewide.

Fencing & Safety Requirements

Illinois requires public and semi-public pools to be enclosed by barriers at least 4 feet high under the state Swimming Facility Code, while residential pool fencing is enforced through locally adopted building codes.

Flavored Tobacco Bans

Nevada has no statewide ban on flavored tobacco or vapor products, leaving flavor regulation primarily to federal FDA authority and limited local action.

Lane Splitting & Filtering

Lane splitting is not lawful in Illinois. The Vehicle Code never uses the phrase, but 625 ILCS 5/11-703(c) makes the maneuver itself unlawful: a two-wheeled vehicle passing on the left of one vehicle may not at the same time pass on the right of another vehicle going the same way unless an unobstructed lane of traffic is available to complete the pass safely. Threading between two occupied lines of stopped traffic on the Kennedy or the Eisenhower is exactly what that sentence forbids. A separate section, 625 ILCS 5/11-704(b), adds a hard measurement for passing on the right: a two-wheeled vehicle needs at least 8 feet of unobstructed pavement to the right of the vehicle it is passing.

Nevada prohibits lane splitting outright. NRS 486.351(1) says a person other than an on-duty police officer "shall not drive a motorcycle or moped between moving or stationary vehicles occupying adjacent traffic lanes," which bans both splitting through moving traffic and filtering to the front of a stopped queue. A second rule in subsection 2 stops a motorcycle, moped or trimobile from riding abreast of or passing another vehicle inside the same lane. The single lane-sharing allowance Nevada does grant is two motorcycles or mopeds riding two abreast in one lane, and only with the consent of both riders. Since 2023 the offense is a civil infraction rather than a misdemeanor, carrying a civil penalty of up to $500.

Radar Detector Rules

A radar detector is legal in an ordinary Illinois passenger car. The only detector ban in the Illinois Vehicle Code, 625 ILCS 5/12-714, reaches a driver who operates or is in actual physical control of a commercial motor vehicle as defined in 625 ILCS 5/6-500(6), which means roughly 26,001 pounds or more, 16 or more passengers including the driver, or any size vehicle hauling placarded hazardous materials. Radar and laser jammers are a separate matter and are banned in every motor vehicle by 625 ILCS 5/12-613. Both sections carry the same unusual protection: an officer may not stop or search a vehicle solely because a detector or jammer is suspected.

Nevada traffic law says nothing whatever about radar detectors. The word does not appear in NRS chapters 484A through 484E, which together are the whole of the state traffic code, nor in NAC chapter 484D, the vehicle-equipment regulation, so mounting and using a detector in a private car is not an offence anywhere in Nevada. The only Nevada rule that reaches detectors is regulatory and applies to trucks: NAC 706.2471 has the Department of Motor Vehicles adopt 49 C.F.R. Parts 390 to 393 as those regulations existed on May 30, 2012, which carries the federal prohibition at 49 C.F.R. section 392.71 into Nevada law for commercial motor vehicles. Nevada rewrites the size threshold for that ban at 10,001 pounds in interstate commerce and 26,001 pounds intrastate.

Window Tint Limits

Illinois bans tinted film on the front windshield except a nonreflective strip running no more than 6 inches down from the top, and bars any window treatment on the windows immediately adjacent to each side of the driver unless the car meets one of the exceptions in 625 ILCS 5/12-503(a-5). Those exceptions are conditional on the back of the car: front side windows may run at 50% light transmittance if no window behind the driver's seat is below 30%, or at 35% if no window behind the driver's seat is below 35%, each with a 5% variance the officer's meter must allow. The Vehicle Code sets no darkness floor at all for windows behind the driver's seat. Because Illinois runs no periodic safety inspection for ordinary passenger cars, tint is checked at the roadside with a meter rather than at an annual test.

Nevada allows aftermarket film on the two windows beside the driver only if the glass and film together pass at least 35 percent of the light striking them, with a statutory tolerance of 7 percent, and only if the film is nonreflective. Behind the driver, NRS 484D.440 sets no light-transmission figure at all: the rear side windows and the rear window may be tinted to any darkness provided the vehicle carries an outside mirror on each side giving the driver a 200-foot view to the rear. The windshield may carry film only across its topmost strip, whose bottom edge must sit at least 29 inches above the undepressed seat, and that strip may not be red or amber. Nevada runs no annual safety inspection, so the rule is enforced at the roadside as a civil infraction that carries no demerit points.