New laws deal with squatters, housing issues

LIKE any industry, Las Vegas’ housing market is no stranger to government intervention. In 2011, with the economy in the trash heap and banks foreclosing on practically everyone, Nevada lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 284, better known as the “robo-signing” law.

The bill required more paperwork from lenders when they were seizing properties, and repos slowed.

During the recently concluded 2017 legislative session, state politicians again passed some housing-related measures that Gov. Brian Sandoval signed into law. In a news release, the Nevada Association of Realtors said homeowners “fared well” in the session and outlined a handful of new laws, though it seems none will have the kind of sweeping impact that AB284 had.

Here’s a look at some of them. — Senate Bill 33, which took effect May 29, protects military members from losing their home to foreclosure while on active duty or for a year after their active duty ends.

— Senate Bill 490, which took effect Monday, makes permanent the state’s Foreclosure Mediation Program, which was scheduled to expire on June 30. The Nevada Supreme Court had been required to administer the program, which now will be run by Home Means Nevada Inc., a nonprofit launched by the state.

— Assembly Bill 161, which takes effect July 1, targets squatters. It requires rental contracts to have a disclosure creating “rebuttable presumptions” that tenants don’t have the right to live there if they can’t furnish a notarized or management-signed lease.

For those, like me, unfamiliar with this legalese, a rebuttable presumption is something that can be “inferred from the existence of a given set of facts,” according to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute.

Squatters in Las Vegas routinely have fake leases, and AB161 initially sought to require that rental contracts for single-family homes be notarized. But real estate pros and others pushed back.

SEGALL

room to its location at Forum Shops at Caesars, which, like Crystals, is owned by Simon Property Group. Tiffany & Co. added a private room a couple of years ago.

At Blackstone Group-owned Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, men’s clothing store Stitched has had its VIP fitting room since it opened in 2010, Stitched senior buyer Sam Glaser said.

The Stitched room offers the opposite atmosphere of a VIP room inside Louis Vuitton, for example, at Crystals, Glaser said. The Stitched room aims for a warm, old-fashioned feel, created with an old British haberdashery in mind.

“We wanted people to walk into the space and think, ‘How did they build The Cosmopolitan around this?’” Glaser said.

Beating the online retailers

Creating an experience when shopping in a brick-and-mortar store is how to overcome competition from online retailers, he said.

The Stitched VIP room acts more as a lounge for repeat shoppers, who might have their own lockers, rather than a display for the products.

“Our locker owners have become our champions and brand ambassadors,” Glaser said. “People like to bring friends and show the space off. That’s such a special thing and, indeed, by design.”

Back at the Ricci store in Crystals, VIP room shoppers are surrounded with furniture out of the Ricci home collection. Some shoppers have inquired about the line, starting a conversation that might lead to a purchase, Wiseman said.

Those home goods include the crocodile chairs, plus malachite plates on display. The highest shelves in the room feature green

apples regularly changed out by the staff, each capable of measuring shoppers for suits and speaking several languages.

Wiseman, who has been with the brand for about seven years and was brought from the Beverly Hills store to manage the Crystals one when it opened in March 2016, taught himself Mandarin.

Growing the name

The VIP room experience, with a location inside Crystals, is expected to help the Ricci name grow in popularity in the U.S. and abroad, he said. The Ricci company started in Florence in 1972 and has grown to 50-plus stores worldwide.

The Ricci VIP room is a centerpiece for the store, but Wiseman and the other three staffers found in the store can easily shut the doors off to the outside world.

“It’s nobody’s business what someone buys,” Wiseman said.