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 landlord’s duty — including, without limitation, any fee or charge to cover the costs of a deductible or copayment under a policy of insurance for home protection or a service contract. The practice of passing a home-warranty deductible to the tenant for a covered repair is now expressly unlawful. The single exception, in NRS 118A.290(5), is work made necessary by a condition caused by the deliberate or negligent act of the tenant, a household member, or someone on the premises with the tenant’s consent. See our Nevada habitability laws guide.

On the other side, NRS 118A.310(1) sets seven basic tenant obligations: comply with the agreement; keep the occupied part of the premises as clean and safe as its condition permits; dispose of ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste cleanly and safely; keep plumbing fixtures as clean as their condition permits; use all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances reasonably; not deliberately or negligently render the premises uninhabitable or destroy, deface, damage, impair or remove any part of it, or knowingly permit anyone else to; and behave, and require guests to behave, so as not to disturb a neighbour’s peaceful enjoyment.

Where the tenant’s failure can be cured by repair, replacement or cleaning, NRS 118A.440 lets the landlord act after fourteen days written notice specifying the breach, do the work in a workmanlike manner, and submit an itemized bill for the actual and reasonable cost or fair value. That bill is payable as rent on the next rent date, or, if the agreement has ended, may be billed for immediate payment or deducted from the deposit.

Nevada gives the tenant three distinct self-help routes with three different clocks, and choosing the wrong one costs the remedy.

Essential items and services — forty-eight hours. NRS 118A.380 covers heat, air-conditioning, running water, hot water, electricity, gas, a functioning door lock or another essential item or service that the lease or chapter 118A requires the landlord to supply. Where the landlord willfully or negligently fails to supply it and the premises become unfit for habitation, the tenant gives written notice; if the landlord does not remedy or use best efforts within 48 hours, excluding a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, four remedies open. The tenant may procure reasonable amounts of the item or service and deduct the actual and reasonable cost from rent; recover actual damages including loss of use or diminution of fair rental value; withhold rent falling due during the noncompliance without incurring late fees or notice charges; or procure comparable other housing, in which case rent on the original premises fully abates and the excess cost of the substitute housing is recoverable. Withholding under this section requires the tenant to be current in rent when the notice is given.

Small repairs — repair and deduct. NRS 118A.360 applies where the reasonable cost of compliance or repair is less than one hundred dollars or an amount equal to one month’s periodic rent, whichever is greater — a threshold that scales with the rent and is therefore worth more in Nevada’s expensive markets than the flat figure suggests. The tenant notifies the landlord in writing; if the landlord does not use best efforts to comply within fourteen days, or more promptly in an emergency, the tenant may have the work done in a workmanlike manner and, after submitting an itemized statement, deduct the actual and reasonable cost from rent. The landlord’s liability under the section is capped at the same amount within any twelve-month period, and the landlord may specify in the lease that the work be performed by a named qualified person or firm.

Material habitability failures — fourteen days, and the escrow trap. NRS 118A.355 lets the tenant serve written notice specifying each failure; if the landlord does not remedy a material failure or use best efforts within fourteen days, the tenant may terminate immediately, recover actual damages, apply to the court, or withhold rent without incurring late fees or other charges. The catch is subsection 5, and it appears on none of the ranking pages: justice courts must establish a mechanism for depositing withheld rent into a court-maintained or court-approved escrow account, and a tenant has no defence to an eviction based on withholding unless the withheld rent has actually been deposited into that escrow. A Nevada tenant who withholds rent and simply keeps it has a remedy on paper and no defence in court.

At least 24 hours, and only during normal business hours. NRS 118A.330(3) provides that the landlord shall not abuse the right of access or use it to harass the tenant, and that except in case of emergency the landlord shall give the tenant at least twenty-four hours’ notice of intent to enter and may enter only at reasonable times during normal business hours, unless the tenant expressly consents to shorter notice or to entry during nonbusiness hours with respect to the particular entry. A blanket advance consent in the lease is not what the subsection contemplates.

The permitted purposes, under NRS 118A.330(1), are inspection; necessary or agreed repairs, decorating, alterations or improvements; supplying necessary or agreed services; and exhibiting the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workers, contractors or others with a bona fide interest. The tenant must not unreasonably withhold consent to those. Emergency entry needs no notice at all under subsection 2.

Subsection 4 is the part that templates drop. NRS 118A.330(4) states that the landlord has no other right of access except pursuant to court order, where the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the premises, or where entry is permitted under NRS 118A.440 for remedial work. That is a closed list. A lease clause creating a further entry right — periodic inspections on demand, entry to show the unit at any time, entry to verify occupancy — is a waiver of a right afforded by chapter 118A and therefore prohibited by NRS 118A.220(1)(a).

Both sides have remedies under NRS 118A.500. If the tenant refuses lawful access, the landlord may obtain injunctive relief to compel access or terminate the lease, and may recover actual damages. If the landlord makes an unlawful entry, a lawful entry in an unreasonable manner, or repeated demands for entry that unreasonably harass the tenant, the tenant may obtain injunctive relief or terminate, and may recover actual damages. Serve entry notices properly with our Nevada notice to enter, and see Nevada landlord entry laws.

Nevada runs several tracks, and the day counts are not what the template sites publish.

Unpaid rent — seven judicial days. NRS 40.253(1)(a) lets the landlord serve a notice requiring in the alternative the payment of rent or the surrender of the premises before the close of business on the seventh judicial day following the day of service. Judicial days are court days: weekends and court holidays do not count, so seven judicial days is commonly nine to eleven calendar days. The alternative in NRS 40.253(1)(b) — noon of the fourth full day after service — is available only where the landlord chooses not to use the seven-judicial-day route and the rent is reserved by a period of one week or less and the tenancy has not continued for more than 45 days. The deepest ranking page inverts that last condition exactly, presenting the four-day notice as available on any lease longer than forty-five days. Use our Nevada seven-day notice to pay rent or quit.

Breach of the lease — five days, with a cure right that runs wide. NRS 118A.430 lets the landlord deliver written notice specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach; if the breach is remediable and the tenant does not remedy or use best efforts within five days after receipt, or the breach cannot be remedied, the landlord may terminate. The parallel unlawful-detainer provision, NRS 40.2516, adds two points no ranker carries: within those five days the tenant, any subtenant in actual occupation, any mortgagee of the term, or any other person interested in the continuance of the lease may perform the condition and thereby save the lease from forfeiture; and where the violated covenant cannot afterwards be performed, no notice need be given at all. Our Nevada notice to cure or quit covers the first track and the unconditional quit notice the second.

No-cause termination — thirty days, plus an advisory the notice must carry. Under NRS 40.251(1)(b), for a dwelling unit subject to chapter 118A the tenant is guilty of an unlawful detainer after expiration of a notice of at least seven days for a week-to-week tenancy, or at least thirty days for all other periodic tenancies, or a notice of at least five days where the tenant has failed to perform basic or contractual obligations. But NRS 40.251(2) lets a tenant who is sixty years of age or older, or who has a physical or mental disability, request an additional thirty days of possession on written proof; NRS 40.251(5) requires the notice itself to include a statement advising the tenant of that right; and NRS 40.251(6) lets the tenant petition the court where the landlord refuses, with at least five calendar days to leave even if the petition is denied. A Nevada thirty-day notice that omits the advisory is defective on its face. See Nevada eviction notice laws and our Nevada notice of non-renewal.

Because Nevada summary eviction has no landlord complaint served on the tenant. This is the single most consequential difference between Nevada and every neighbouring state, and it is invisible on all eight ranking pages checked for this build.

In the ordinary American eviction, the landlord files a complaint, the tenant is served, and the tenant answers. Under NRS 40.253 the sequence is reversed. The landlord serves a notice, not a complaint. NRS 40.253(3) requires that notice to identify the court that has jurisdiction and to advise the tenant of the right to contest the matter by filing, within the time specified in the notice, an affidavit with that court stating that the tenant has tendered payment or is not in default — and to advise the tenant that the court may issue a summary order for removal, with the sheriff or constable posting it within twenty-four hours and removing the tenant not earlier than twenty-four and not later than thirty-six hours after posting.

What follows depends entirely on the tenant. If the tenant files the affidavit at or before the time stated, NRS 40.253(4) bars the landlord from locking the tenant out, and NRS 40.253(6) requires the court to hold a hearing to determine the truthfulness and sufficiency of the affidavits — and if the court finds a legal defence, it refuses both parties relief and pushes the matter into an ordinary action. If the tenant does not file, NRS 40.253(5) lets the landlord apply by affidavit of complaint and the court may issue the removal order without the tenant ever having been heard.

For grounds other than nonpayment, NRS 40.254 applies the same machinery with a shorter fuse: the notice must advise the tenant of the right to contest by filing an affidavit before the close of business on the fifth judicial day after the day of service, stating the reasons the tenant is not guilty of an unlawful detainer, or to request that the court stay execution of the removal order for a period not exceeding ten days under NRS 70.010(2).

Two protections sit inside the procedure. NRS 40.253(11) bars the landlord from refusing rent tendered after the notice on the ground that the tenant has not also paid collection fees, attorney’s fees, other non-rent costs, a late charge or a security deposit — so a landlord cannot manufacture a default by insisting on extras. And NRS 118A.490 lets the tenant counterclaim in a nonpayment action, though a tenant who fails to deposit the court-ordered amount within twenty-four hours after the original hearing relinquishes the right to a hearing and the court grants judgment for eviction without one.

Beyond the notice periods above, Nevada gives tenants several statutory exits. NRS 118A.340 lets a tenant who is sixty years of age or older, or who has a physical or mental disability, terminate on thirty days’ written notice given within sixty days after relocating where a physical or mental condition requires care or treatment that cannot be provided in the dwelling, and lets such a tenant terminate on sixty days’ written notice within three months after the death of a spouse or cotenant. NRS 118A.345 lets a tenant, cotenant or household member who is a victim of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking terminate, using the statutory affidavit form prescribed in NRS 118A.347. Our Nevada breaking-lease laws guide and Nevada lease termination laws cover the tenant’s side, and a Nevada tenant notice to vacate papers it.

Holdover in Nevada carries no multiplier. NRS 118A.470 provides that where a tenant remains in possession without the landlord’s consent after expiration or termination, the landlord may bring an action for possession and for rent and may also recover actual damages. Nevada does not double or triple the exposure the way several neighbouring states do. Where the landlord consents to continued occupancy, the tenancy becomes week to week for a weekly-rent tenant and month to month in all other cases, otherwise on the same terms as the expired lease unless specifically agreed otherwise — so accepting rent after expiry creates a periodic tenancy on the old terms rather than a new bargain.

Self-help is closed off. NRS 118A.480 provides that the landlord shall not recover or take possession by action or otherwise, including by willfully diminishing or interrupting any essential item or service, except through a possession action or summary proceeding, on surrender, or on abandonment. NRS 118A.390 then prices the breach: for an unlawful removal or exclusion, or the wilful interruption of an essential item or service, the tenant may terminate and recover actual damages plus an amount up to two thousand five hundred dollars fixed by the court, and may recover possession by filing a verified complaint for expedited relief within five judicial days of the unlawful act, with a hearing within three judicial days and all costs and official fees deferred. NRS 118A.520 adds that any lien or security interest in the tenant’s household goods created to secure rent is unenforceable unless created by attachment or garnishment, and that distraint for rent is abolished in Nevada.

NRS 118A.450 supplies the presumption. In the absence of notice of the fact of abandonment, a tenant is presumed to have abandoned the dwelling unit where the tenant is absent from the premises for a period equal to one-half the time for periodic rental payments — fifteen days on an ordinary monthly tenancy — unless the rent is current, or the tenant has notified the landlord in writing of an intended absence. That second exception is the tenant’s whole protection, and it costs nothing to exercise.

The disposal procedure runs in two stages, and the ranking pages describe only the first. Under NRS 118A.460(1)(a) the landlord must reasonably provide for the safe storage of property abandoned or left after eviction for thirty days after the abandonment, eviction or end of the rental period, and may charge the reasonable and actual costs of inventory, moving and storage before releasing it to the tenant within that period. The landlord is liable only for negligent or wrongful acts in storing it.

Only after that period may the landlord dispose of the property, and NRS 118A.460(1)(b) imposes three further conditions: the landlord must have made reasonable efforts to locate the tenant, must have notified the tenant in writing of the intention to dispose of the property, and fourteen days must have elapsed since that notice, which must be mailed to the tenant’s present or last known address. The practical minimum is therefore forty-four days, not thirty. Vehicles go through the chapter 487 abandoned-vehicle procedure instead.

A separate duty applies immediately after a lockout. NRS 118A.460(3) requires the landlord, during the five days following an eviction or lockout, to provide the former tenant a reasonable opportunity to retrieve essential personal effects, including without limitation medication, baby formula, basic clothing and personal care items. Disputes about the landlord’s storage costs are resolved under NRS 40.253(7) and disputes about the reasonableness of the landlord’s conduct under NRS 40.253(9).

NRS 118A.220(1) lists five. A rental agreement shall not provide that the tenant:

• Agrees to waive or forego rights or remedies afforded by chapter 118A.
• Authorizes any person to confess judgment on any claim arising out of the rental agreement.
• Agrees to pay the landlord’s attorney’s fees — except that the agreement may provide that reasonable attorney’s fees may be awarded to the prevailing party in the event of court action.
• Agrees to the exculpation or limitation of the landlord’s liability arising under law, or to indemnify the landlord for that liability or connected costs, where the liability is based on an act or omission of the landlord or the landlord’s agent or employee.
• Agrees to give the landlord a different notice of termination than the landlord is required to give the tenant.

The fifth is the one imported templates break. A Nevada lease may not require the tenant to give a longer or different termination notice than the landlord owes. The familiar clause demanding sixty days’ written notice from a tenant whose landlord owes the statutory thirty under NRS 40.251(1)(b) is void, and it appears in a large share of the templates currently downloadable for Nevada, usually because it was drafted for a state with a symmetrical rule or none at all.

The attorney-fee rule is narrower than a ban. Nevada has not banned fee clauses outright, as Alabama and Alaska have, and it has not made fees automatic and non-waivable, as Florida has. NRS 118A.220(1)(c) bans the one-sided clause under which the tenant pays the landlord’s fees regardless of outcome, while expressly permitting a reciprocal clause running to whichever party prevails in the event of court action. The optional fee clause in the form above generates only the permitted reciprocal version. One narrow statutory award sits outside the lease altogether: under NRS 40.254(3), where a tenant is found guilty of unlawful detainer as a result of violating the controlled-substance provisions of NRS 453.011 to 453.552, except NRS 453.336, the landlord is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees incurred because of a contested hearing.

The consequence is stated in NRS 118A.220(2): any prohibited provision is void as contrary to public policy, and the tenant may recover any actual damages incurred through its inclusion. That runs alongside NRS 118A.200(9), which makes it unlawful to use a non-conforming written agreement at all. And NRS 118A.230 gives the court a further tool: where it finds as a matter of law that the agreement or any provision was unconscionable when made, it may refuse to enforce the agreement, enforce the remainder without the offending provision, or limit that provision’s application to avoid an unconscionable result.

Yes, but without a presumption — and that distinction is worth stating because several secondary sources get it wrong. NRS 118A.510 forbids the landlord, in retaliation, from terminating a tenancy, refusing to renew a tenancy, increasing rent, decreasing essential items or services required by the agreement or the chapter, or bringing or threatening to bring an action for possession. But unlike a number of neighbouring states, Nevada creates no presumption of retaliation from the timing of the landlord’s act and shifts no burden onto the landlord. A Nevada tenant must prove the retaliatory motive.

What Nevada does instead is enumerate generously. Nine protected acts are listed: a good-faith complaint of a code violation affecting health or safety to the enforcement agency; a good-faith complaint to the landlord or law enforcement of a violation of chapter 118A or of a statute imposing a criminal penalty; organizing or joining a tenants’ union or similar organization; a citation issued as a result of such a complaint; instituting or defending a proceeding raising habitability compliance; refusing written consent to a landlord regulation adopted after the tenant signed; a good-faith fair-housing complaint under NRS 118.010 to 118.120 or the federal Fair Housing Act; the tenant, a cotenant or a household member being a victim of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking, or terminating under NRS 118A.345; and being a shutdown-affected federal, tribal or state worker who pays rent in the protected window.

The remedies are those in NRS 118A.390, together with a defence in any retaliatory action by the landlord for possession. Four exceptions in NRS 118A.510(3) preserve legitimate landlord action: where the complained-of violation was caused primarily by the tenant’s own lack of reasonable care; where the tenancy is terminated with cause; where a citation requires alteration, remodeling or demolition that cannot be done with the unit occupied; and where the rent increase applies in a uniform manner to all tenants. That last exception is the practical answer to most retaliation allegations arising from a rent increase, and it is why Nevada rent increase decisions should be documented as building-wide. Serve them with our Nevada rent increase notice.

A separate and stronger protection sits in NRS 118A.515. A landlord shall not take any adverse action — evicting, imposing a fine, or any other punitive action — based solely on the tenant or another person in the dwelling requesting emergency assistance, where there was a reasonable belief that an emergency response was necessary or that criminal activity may have occurred, regardless of any previous requests. A local government may not deem such a request a nuisance, and any conflicting local charter, code, ordinance or regulation is void and unenforceable. That section exists because nuisance ordinances penalising repeat emergency calls fell hardest on domestic violence victims.

Seven under state law, plus one federal. Several are lease-content requirements under NRS 118A.200(3) rather than hazard warnings, which is why they are so often missing from templates written elsewhere.

Manager, owner, service agent and emergency number — NRS 118A.260. Four items in writing at or before the commencement of the tenancy: the persons authorized to manage the premises; a person within Nevada authorized to act for the landlord for service of process and receiving notices and demands; the principal or corporate owner; and a telephone number at which a responsible person who resides in the county or within sixty miles may be called in an emergency. It must be kept current and binds any successor. A person who signs on the landlord’s behalf and fails to comply becomes the landlord’s agent for service and for performing the landlord’s obligations. NRS 118A.410 gives the tenant, after demand, actual damages or twenty-five dollars, whichever is greater.

Foreclosure proceedings — NRS 118A.275. The landlord must disclose in writing to a prospective tenant if the property is the subject of any foreclosure proceedings, and a willful violation is a deceptive trade practice. The timing is what templates get wrong: this is owed before the tenancy, not buried in the signed lease.

Public nuisance summary and reporting procedure — NRS 118A.200(3)(l), (m). A summary of NRS 202.470, and information on how the tenant may report a nuisance or a building, safety or health code violation to the appropriate authorities.

Flag display — NRS 118A.325, via NRS 118A.200(3)(n). Information about the tenant’s right to display the flag of the United States.

Religious or cultural display — NRS 118A.327, via NRS 118A.200(3)(o). Required since July 1, 2025. The underlying right is detailed: the display may not exceed thirty-six by twelve square inches or the size of the door, threaten public health, safety or welfare, hinder a door, break any law, promote discriminatory behavior, or be obscene. Where the landlord works on the door, the landlord must give at least seven days’ written notice before temporarily removing a display except in an emergency, store the items with respect and in accordance with the appropriate practice, and return the display within seventy-two hours after the work is completed.

Signed record of inventory and condition — NRS 118A.200(3)(k). A required lease content, and the baseline for the itemized accounting owed under NRS 118A.242(4).

Maximum total periodic rent as a single figure — NRS 118A.200(6), (7). Required since October 1, 2025, with the NRS 118A.405 remedy.

Lead-based paint — federal, 42 U.S.C. 4852d. Any dwelling built before 1978 requires the federal disclosure, the EPA pamphlet, and any known records or reports. Our Nevada lead-based paint disclosure form handles it.

Nevada does not require a radon, flood-risk, bed bug, mold, asbestos, methamphetamine, military ordnance, shared-utility-metering, demolition or sex-offender registry disclosure in a residential lease. Each comes from another state’s statute book, and several appear on the ranking Nevada pages under the heading “optional disclosures” without that being said.

• Forgetting that the last month’s rent counts toward the deposit cap. NRS 118A.242(1) counts the deposit, any surety bond and the last month’s rent together against three months’ periodic rent.
• Writing a nonrefundable move-in or administrative fee. NRS 118A.242(8) permits only a reasonable nonrefundable cleaning charge and voids any waiver of the tenant’s rights.
• Serving a thirty-day rent-increase notice. NRS 118A.300 requires sixty days unless the periodic tenancy is of less than one month.
• Advertising a base rent and adding mandatory monthly fees. Since October 1, 2025, NRS 118A.200(6) requires one all-in figure, and NRS 118A.405 prices the breach.
• Charging a late fee on day two. NRS 118A.210(4) bars any late fee until at least three calendar days after the due date in a tenancy longer than week to week.
• Escalating late fees month over month. The same subsection forbids increasing the maximum based on a fee previously imposed.
• Treating the pay-or-quit period as seven calendar days. NRS 40.253(1)(a) runs to the close of business on the seventh judicial day.
• Using the four-day notice on a long tenancy. NRS 40.253(1)(b) requires rent reserved weekly or less and a tenancy of no more than forty-five days.
• Omitting the older-tenant advisory from a no-cause notice. NRS 40.251(5) requires the notice to state the right to an additional thirty days.
• Requiring the tenant to give sixty days’ notice. NRS 118A.220(1)(e) voids a clause demanding a different notice from the tenant than the landlord owes.
• Copying a one-sided attorney-fee clause. NRS 118A.220(1)(c) permits only a prevailing-party award.
• Passing a home-warranty deductible to the tenant. NRS 118A.290(4) has expressly prohibited that since 2023.
• Writing a general right of entry into the lease. NRS 118A.330(4) closes the list, and a wider clause waives a chapter 118A right.
• Disposing of left-behind property after thirty days. NRS 118A.460(1)(b) adds written notice plus a further fourteen days.
• Locking a tenant out after a notice expires. NRS 40.253(4) bars it once the tenant files, and NRS 118A.390 prices an unlawful lockout.
• Drafting fee and tenant-rights appendices. Assembly Bill 280 of 2025 was vetoed; NRS 118A.200(3) requires no appendix.
• Omitting the religious and cultural display information. NRS 118A.327 has been required since July 1, 2025, and no older template carries it.

A well-drafted lease decides who wins a dispute; screening decides whether there is one. Nevada puts real money on the outcome in both directions: a late deposit accounting exposes a landlord to roughly double the deposit under NRS 118A.242(6), a non-conforming rent figure carries statutory damages under NRS 118A.405, and an unlawful lockout is priced at up to two thousand five hundred dollars plus actual damages under NRS 118A.390. Verifiable income, a clean payment history, and no prior eviction filings remain the strongest predictors of a quiet tenancy. Our tenant screening report covers credit, eviction filings, criminal background, and employment verification. Screen first, then paper the tenancy with this lease.

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