Free Nevada Residential Lease Agreement

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A configurable Nevada residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to NRS chapter 118A as amended in 2025 — the three-month security cap that counts the last month’s rent, the 5% late-fee ceiling, and Nevada’s tenant-files-first summary eviction.

Nevada NRS 118A 3-Month Cap Free PDF 2026 Edition

A Nevada residential lease agreement is the written contract governed by the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act at NRS chapter 118A. Nevada’s version of the uniform act differs from its neighbours in four ways that catch out landlords using an imported template. The security cap is three months’ periodic rent — high by national standards — but it counts the security deposit, any surety bond and the last month’s rent together, so the headroom is smaller than it looks. Late fees are capped at 5% of periodic rent, may not be imposed until at least three calendar days after the due date, and may not compound. Since October 1, 2025 the rent must appear in every place as a single all-in figure including mandatory fees. And Nevada’s summary eviction is tenant-files-first: there is no landlord complaint served on the tenant to answer, so a tenant who waits to be sued is never sued and loses without a hearing.

Complete the fields below to generate a Nevada residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, including the utility allocations and each disclosure you check, and the generated lease cites the controlling Nevada section at each point. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening — the lease governs the relationship, screening decides whether you want it. Pair the signed lease with a Nevada move-in / move-out checklist so the itemized accounting you owe within thirty days rests on documented condition.

Nevada recognizes the standard range of residential arrangements. A fixed-term lease runs for a stated period and expires on its own terms. A periodic tenancy renews each period until one side gives notice. Nevada supplies the default where the agreement is silent: under NRS 118A.210(2), where no definite term is established the tenancy is week to week for a tenant who pays weekly rent and month to month in all other cases. A room or roommate agreement covers a tenant renting one room in an occupied dwelling; a sublease passes the tenant’s interest to a subtenant while leaving the original tenant liable; and a lease-to-own agreement adds a purchase option that sits outside the Act.

Several categories fall outside this form, and NRS 118A.180 lists them precisely. Chapter 118A does not apply to a mobile home lot governed by chapter 118B; to low-rent public housing programs; to residence in an institution incident to detention or to medical, geriatric, educational, counseling or religious service; to occupancy under a contract of sale where the occupant is the purchaser; to occupancy by a member of a fraternal or social organization in the organization’s own quarters; to occupancy in a hotel or motel for less than thirty consecutive days unless the occupant clearly manifests an intent to remain longer; to an employee whose right to occupy is conditional solely on employment; to a condominium owner or the holder of a cooperative proprietary lease; to premises used primarily for agricultural purposes; or to a seller’s post-sale occupancy not exceeding ninety days. A commercial lease is not a residential arrangement at all. Using a residential lease for any of these attaches the wrong body of law.

Two drafting notes. First, under NRS 111.210 every contract for the leasing of land for longer than one year is void unless the contract, or a note or memorandum of it expressing the consideration, is in writing and subscribed by the party by whom the lease is to be made. A Nevada lease of one year or less may therefore be oral. Second, an oral lease is a poor idea anyway, because NRS 118A.200(5) raises four disputable presumptions against the landlord where there is no written agreement: that there are no restrictions on occupancy by children or pets, that maintenance and waste removal are provided without charge, that no late, partial-payment or dishonored-check charges are payable, and that other than normal wear the premises will be returned in the same condition as at the start.

Fifteen subjects, and using an agreement that omits any of them is unlawful. NRS 118A.200(3) is one of the most prescriptive lease-content statutes in the country, and NRS 118A.200(9) supplies the sanction: it is unlawful for a landlord, or any person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on the landlord’s behalf, to use any written agreement which does not conform to the section, and any provision that contravenes the section is void.

The fifteen subjects are the duration of the agreement; the amount of rent, set out as the single figure required by subsection 6, and the manner and time of its payment; occupancy by children or pets; services included with the dwelling rental; fees which are required and the purposes for which they are required; deposits which are required and the conditions for their refund; charges which may be required for late or partial payment of rent or for return of a dishonored check; inspection rights of the landlord; a listing of the persons or numbers of persons who are to occupy the dwelling; the respective responsibilities of the parties as to utility charges; a signed record of the inventory and condition of the premises under the tenant’s exclusive custody and control; a summary of NRS 202.470, Nevada’s public nuisance statute; information on the procedure for reporting a nuisance or a building, safety or health code violation to the appropriate authorities; information on the tenant’s right to display the flag of the United States under NRS 118A.325; and information on the tenant’s right to display religious or cultural items under NRS 118A.327.

Two of those deserve emphasis because they are Nevada-only and easy to miss. The nuisance summary is a summary of an actual criminal statute: under NRS 202.470 a person who commits or maintains a public nuisance for which no special punishment is prescribed, who wilfully omits a legal duty relating to its removal, or who lets or permits a building or boat to be used for one knowing that use, is guilty of a misdemeanor. It is NRS 202.480, which governs any proceeding for a violation of NRS 202.470, that requires the court to order abatement beginning within three days of the order and a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars and not more than five thousand dollars. And the religious or cultural display requirement has existed only since July 1, 2025, when Senate Bill 201 of the 2025 session added NRS 118A.327. No lease template drafted before mid-2025 carries it, which means most of the templates currently downloadable for Nevada are non-conforming on their face.

There is a further requirement for a single-family residence, which NRS 118A.200(10) defines as a structure of not more than four units, excluding a manufactured home. Where such an agreement is not signed by an authorized agent holding a chapter 645 property-management permit, NRS 118A.200(4) requires a disclosure at the top of the first page, in a font at least twice the size of any other font in the agreement, about the rebuttable presumptions in NRS 205.0813 and NRS 205.0817 concerning lawful occupancy, and stating that the agreement is valid and enforceable either way. A typographic requirement is an odd thing to find in a landlord-tenant act, and it is routinely ignored.

No more than three months’ periodic rent — and the last month’s rent counts. NRS 118A.242(1) provides that the landlord may not demand or receive a security deposit or a surety bond, or a combination of them, including the last month’s rent, whose total amount or value exceeds three months’ periodic rent.

Three months is generous by national standards, and it is why Nevada is often described as a landlord-friendly deposit state. But the inclusion of the last month’s rent quietly removes a third of the headroom in the common arrangement. A landlord who collects the first month’s rent, the last month’s rent, and a deposit of two months has taken one month of ordinary rent plus three months of security in the statute’s terms — at the ceiling, with nothing left for a pet deposit. The form above keeps the deposit, the last month’s rent and any surety bond value in separate fields so the total is visible before anyone signs.

What counts as a security deposit is decided by purpose, not by label. NRS 118A.240 defines it as any payment, deposit, fee or charge to be used to remedy a default in the payment of rent, to repair damage to the premises other than normal wear caused by the tenant, or to clean the dwelling unit. Renaming it a move-in fee does not take it outside the cap. Two things are expressly excluded: a payment securing an option to purchase, and a premium paid to a qualified surety for a bond. The deeper treatment lives in our Nevada security deposit laws guide.

Yes, if the landlord consents — and the statute cuts both ways. NRS 118A.242(2) allows a tenant, in lieu of paying all or part of the security deposit, to purchase a surety bond securing the tenant’s obligations to remedy a default in the payment of rent, to repair damage other than normal wear and tear, and to clean the dwelling unit.

NRS 118A.242(3) then sets the boundaries in a single subsection that protects each side against the other. The landlord is not required to accept a surety bond purchased by the tenant in lieu of paying all or part of the deposit. And the landlord may not require a tenant to purchase a surety bond in lieu of paying all or part of the deposit. So a bond is a genuinely optional, mutually agreed alternative: a tenant cannot force one on a landlord, and a landlord cannot make one a condition of the tenancy.

One protection travels with the bond and is worth knowing. Under NRS 118A.242(5), where the tenant disputes an item in the landlord’s itemized written accounting by sending a written response to the surety within thirty days after receiving that accounting, the surety shall not report the landlord’s claim to a credit reporting agency unless it first obtains a judgment against the tenant. That matters because the ordinary consequence of a disputed bond claim is a credit-file entry that outlives the dispute. Not one of the ranking Nevada template pages checked for this build mentions the surety bond option at all, in either direction.

Thirty days, with an itemized written accounting. NRS 118A.242(4) requires the landlord, upon termination of the tenancy by either party for any reason, to provide the tenant with an itemized, written accounting of the disposition of the security deposit or surety bond and to return any remaining portion no later than 30 days after the termination of the tenancy.

Delivery is specified: by handing it to the tenant personally at the place where rent is paid, or by mailing it to the tenant’s present address or, if that address is unknown, to the tenant’s last known address. Unlike some states, Nevada does not make the tenant’s demand or forwarding address a condition of the duty — the clock runs from termination. A tenant should still supply a forwarding address, because “last known address” is where the accounting goes otherwise. The same subsection limits what may be claimed: only amounts reasonably necessary to remedy a default in the payment of rent, to repair damage caused by the tenant other than normal wear, and to pay the reasonable costs of cleaning.

The penalty is the part rankers omit, and it is roughly double. Under NRS 118A.242(6), a landlord who fails or refuses to return the remainder within 30 days is liable to the tenant for damages in an amount equal to the entire security deposit, and for a further sum fixed by the court of not more than the entire security deposit again. NRS 118A.242(7) directs the court, in fixing that second sum, to consider whether the landlord acted in good faith, the course of conduct between the parties, and the degree of harm to the tenant. So a landlord holding two months’ rent who misses the deadline is exposed to up to four months’ rent, and the discretionary half of that turns on conduct. Build the accounting with our Nevada security deposit itemization form and close it out with a Nevada security deposit return letter.

Two further protections sit alongside. NRS 118A.242(9) gives the tenant’s claim to a deposit precedence over the claim of any creditor of the landlord. And NRS 118A.250 requires the landlord, on the tenant’s request, to deliver a signed written receipt for the deposit, surety bond, rent and any other payment or fee — adding that the tenant may refuse to make rent payments until the landlord tenders the requested receipt. That is an unusually direct piece of self-help and it appears on none of the ranking pages.

Only one: a reasonable cleaning charge. NRS 118A.242(8) provides that except for an agreement which provides for a nonrefundable charge for cleaning, in a reasonable amount, no rental agreement may contain any provision characterizing any security deposit under that section as nonrefundable, or any provision waiving or modifying a tenant’s rights under it. Any such provision is void as contrary to public policy.

This is close to the opposite of how the ranking template pages present it. Several list “non-refundable fees” among the optional disclosures a Nevada landlord may simply write into the lease if the tenant agrees to them. Under NRS 118A.242(8) the tenant’s agreement is irrelevant, because the provision is void whatever the tenant signed — and the section pre-empts the workaround by voiding waivers of the tenant’s rights in the same breath.

The practical drafting consequence is narrow and worth stating plainly. A move-in fee, an administrative fee, a redecoration fee or a pet fee that functions to cover rent default, damage beyond normal wear or cleaning is a security deposit under NRS 118A.240 whatever it is called, counts toward the three-month cap under NRS 118A.242(1), and cannot be made nonrefundable. Only the cleaning charge escapes, and only if the amount is reasonable. That is why the form above asks for the nonrefundable cleaning charge specifically rather than offering a general nonrefundable-fee field.

Not more than 5% of the periodic rent — and three further limits apply. NRS 118A.210(4) permits a landlord to charge a reasonable late fee for the late payment of rent as set forth in the rental agreement, and then constrains it three ways.

First, in a tenancy that is longer than week to week, no late fee may be charged or imposed until at least three calendar days after the date that rent is due. Note the wording: this is not a grace period the landlord graciously grants, it is a statutory floor on when a fee may exist at all, and it counts calendar days. Second, the late fee must not exceed 5% of the amount of the periodic rent. Third — and this is the limb no ranker carries — the maximum amount of the late fee must not be increased based upon a late fee that was previously imposed. Late fees in Nevada do not compound, and an escalating-fee clause is unenforceable.

The percentage bites against the periodic rent, which since October 1, 2025 is the single all-in figure required by NRS 118A.200(6). That interaction is new and slightly favourable to landlords: where mandatory fees are correctly folded into the rent figure, the 5% is calculated on the larger number. Our Nevada late fee laws guide works through the arithmetic, and a Nevada late rent notice is the right first step before any pay-or-quit notice is served.

On dishonored checks, NRS 118A.200(3)(g) requires the written agreement to state the charge for the return of any dishonored check, and a charge that is not stated is not collectible under the lease. Template sites commonly cite NRS 597.960‘s twenty-five dollar ceiling as the Nevada limit. Read literally, that section lets “a seller, or his or her agent” collect not more than twenty-five dollars for a check accepted as payment for goods or services; it does not name residential rent, and we do not assert that it caps a landlord’s charge. What is certain is that the charge must appear in the agreement.

Yes, since October 1, 2025. Assembly Bill 121 of the 2025 session added NRS 118A.200(6), which requires that in each place where a landlord lists the amount of rent due under a rental agreement, and in any reference in a written rental agreement to the amount of rent due, the rent must be set forth as a single figure representing the maximum total amount of periodic rent that includes the amount of any mandatory fees to be charged to the tenant in addition to the base rent. NRS 118A.200(7) then bars the landlord from charging periodic rent exceeding that figure.

The target is the practice of advertising a low base rent and adding compulsory monthly charges — trash, pest control, a technology package, an amenity fee — that the tenant discovers only at signing or afterwards. If a charge is mandatory and recurring, it belongs inside the number.

There is one narrow exception, in NRS 118A.200(8). A landlord may charge a separate monthly fee equal to the cost of electric, natural gas or water service supplied to the individual unit, outside the single figure, in two situations only: where the applicable public utility cannot contract directly with the tenant for that service, or, for water alone, where the unit is subject to a master-metered water system. Even then the exception is conditional on typography: the single figure must carry an asterisk or other reference symbol of not less than one-half the font size of the single figure, corresponding to a statement on the same page identifying the utility by name and telephone number where applicable and telling the tenant that the bill will be charged as a separate monthly fee equal to that cost.

The remedy arrived with the rule. NRS 118A.405 lets a tenant aggrieved by a violation of subsection 6 or 7 bring a civil action, and requires a court to award a prevailing tenant the damages it deems appropriate, any equitable relief it deems appropriate, the tenant’s costs and reasonable attorney’s fees, and statutory damages of two hundred fifty dollars for each violation which involved deception. Because subsection 6 applies to each place the rent is listed, a single non-conforming lease can generate more than one violation.

Assembly Bill 121 was a four-part act, and the other three parts matter to this form. NRS 118A.303 requires the landlord to provide at least one method of paying rent or any other fee that requires neither a fee for using it nor disclosure of the tenant’s bank account information, and where an online portal is offered, bars the landlord from charging more than the portal operator charges and requires any such fee to be separately identified in the written agreement. NRS 118A.306 requires a landlord to refund an application, credit-report or background-check fee where the landlord rents the unit to a different applicant and did not conduct the activity the fee was collected for, and bars collecting any such fee for a minor household member. NRS 118A.235 requires the landlord, on request, to give a prospective tenant a copy of the written rental agreement they would be subject to. All four took effect on October 1, 2025, and none of the ranking pages checked for this build carries any of them.

No — and this is the most likely way a Nevada lease drafted in 2026 goes wrong. Assembly Bill 280 of the 2025 session would have required every written rental agreement to contain a separate appendix giving a clear and concise explanation of each fee that may be charged and its purpose, stating for each variable fee that the tenant pays the actual cost incurred and for each fixed or third-party fee the current amount; a second separate appendix explaining the tenant’s rights under federal and state laws and local ordinances; and would have made it unlawful to charge any fee not set out in the first appendix. A separate section would have capped rent increases at 5%, between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2026, for existing tenants aged sixty-two or older or relying on Social Security Act payments.

It was vetoed. None of it is law. The difficulty is that the enrolled text is published on the legislature’s own site, amends NRS 118A.200 on its face, reads exactly like an act in force, and was written up widely during 2025 as though it would be. A lease drafted to satisfy a vetoed bill is drafted to satisfy nothing, and the appendices it adds are not required by NRS 118A.200(3) — which, as set out above, lists fifteen subjects and no appendix.

The check that resolves it is worth borrowing. Every codified NRS section carries a history line recording the session-law page of each amendment. NRS 118A.200’s line records two 2025 amendments while three 2025 bills amended the section on their face; the missing one is the vetoed bill. If the count of amendments in the history line does not match the number of bills you have found, one of those bills did not become law.

NRS 118A.290(1) requires the landlord to maintain the dwelling unit in a habitable condition at all times. A unit is not habitable if it violates housing or health codes concerning health, safety, sanitation or fitness for habitation, or if it substantially lacks any of nine listed items: effective waterproofing and weather protection of the roof and exterior walls including windows and doors; conforming plumbing maintained in good working order; an approved water supply capable of producing hot and cold running water, furnished to appropriate fixtures and connected to an approved sewage disposal system; adequate heating facilities; conforming electrical lighting, outlets, wiring and equipment; an adequate number of appropriate garbage receptacles in clean condition and good repair at the start of the tenancy, with the landlord arranging removal unless the parties agree otherwise in writing; building, grounds and appurtenances clean, sanitary and reasonably free from debris, filth, rubbish, garbage, rodents, insects and vermin; floors, walls, ceilings, stairways and railings in good repair; and ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, in good repair where supplied or required to be supplied.

Duty-shifting is permitted but tightly policed. Under NRS 118A.290(2) the parties may agree that the tenant performs specified repairs, maintenance tasks and minor remodeling only where the agreement is entered into in good faith and does not diminish the landlord’s obligations to other tenants. NRS 118A.290(3) then supplies a definition of bad faith aimed squarely at the obvious abuse: an agreement is not entered into in good faith where the landlord has a duty to perform the work and the tenant enters into the agreement because the landlord has refused to perform it.

The 2023 amendment added the sharpest limb. Under NRS 118A.290(4) the landlord shall not require a tenant to pay any fee or other charge for the performance of any repairs, maintenance tasks or other work that is the l