Free Nevada 7-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit

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The 7-day notice to pay rent or quit is the notice a Nevada landlord must serve before filing a summary eviction for nonpayment of rent. NRS § 40.253(1)(a) gives the tenant seven judicial days, excluding the day of service, weekends, and legal holidays, to pay in full or surrender the premises. Service must follow NRS § 40.280. Generate a compliant notice below.

7-Day Notice NRS § 40.253(1)(a) Judicial-Day Count Free PDF

A Nevada 7-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit is the statutorily-required written notice a landlord must serve before filing a summary eviction for nonpayment of rent. It is governed by NRS § 40.253(1)(a), with the service rules at NRS § 40.280 and the summary-eviction procedure at NRS §§ 40.253 to 40.254. The notice gives the tenant seven judicial days — days the courts are open, so the day of service, weekends, and Nevada legal holidays are all excluded — to pay the rent in full or surrender the premises. The form below produces a compliant notice; our Nevada eviction notice laws guide covers the full summary-eviction process, and the Nevada landlord-tenant laws hub covers the surrounding rules.

The 7-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit is the statutorily-required written notice a Nevada landlord must serve on a tenant who has failed to pay rent when due. It is the procedural prerequisite to filing a summary eviction under NRS § 40.253. Without a properly-drafted, properly-served 7-day notice, a Nevada Justice Court will not grant an order for summary eviction for nonpayment of rent.

The notice does three things in one document. First, it demands the past-due rent. The amount should be stated precisely and limited to rent. Where the lease authorizes late fees or other charges, keep them separate from the rent figure so the demand is unambiguous; a demand that folds non-rent charges into the rent amount gives the tenant a basis to contest the notice by affidavit.

Second, it states the pay-or-surrender alternative and the seven-judicial-day deadline. The tenant has seven judicial days after the day of service to either pay the full amount demanded or surrender possession of the premises. Judicial days exclude the day of service, Saturdays, Sundays, and Nevada legal holidays. If the tenant pays in full within the period, the default is cured and the tenancy continues unless the lease provides otherwise.

Third, it states the consequence of doing neither. The notice must inform the tenant that if the rent is not paid and the premises are not surrendered by the close of business on the seventh judicial day, the landlord may file for summary eviction in the Justice Court for the township where the property is located, seeking an order for removal and a writ of restitution. The form on this page states the demand, computes the deadline, and includes the pay-or-surrender and consequence language correctly.

The 7-day pay-or-quit notice is governed by a compact but exacting statutory framework. The core statute is NRS § 40.253(1)(a), which authorizes a landlord to serve a notice requiring, in the alternative, the payment of the rent or the surrender of the premises before the close of business on the seventh judicial day following the day of service.

The short-term alternative in the same subsection is elective, not automatic. NRS § 40.253(1)(b) applies only if the landlord chooses not to proceed in the manner set forth in paragraph (a), and the rent is reserved by a period of one week or less, and the tenancy has not continued for more than 45 days. All three conditions must hold together. For those, and only for those, the deadline is at or before noon of the fourth full day following the day of service — not the close of business. Most residential month-to-month and fixed-term tenancies cannot qualify at all, and even a qualifying weekly tenancy may be given the seven-judicial-day notice, because paragraph (b) is the landlord’s option and never a displacement of paragraph (a). This page is the seven-judicial-day form.

Service rules are at NRS § 40.280, which requires that the notice be served by the sheriff, a constable, a person licensed as a process server under NRS chapter 648, or the agent of an attorney licensed to practice in Nevada. The statute authorizes three manners of service: personal delivery to the tenant; substituted service on a person of suitable age and discretion at the tenant’s residence or place of business, plus a mailed copy; and post-and-mail if neither the tenant nor a suitable person can be reached.

The summary-eviction procedure runs through NRS §§ 40.253 to 40.254. Nevada nonpayment eviction is largely tenant-initiated at the hearing stage: after the notice period expires, the tenant may file an affidavit with the Justice Court contesting the notice, which triggers a hearing; if the tenant does not respond, the landlord may obtain an order for summary eviction. The order directs the sheriff or constable to remove the tenant, and a writ of restitution restores possession to the landlord.

Federal overlays can extend the notice period. Properties with a federally backed mortgage or that participate in a federal housing program may require a 30-day notice under the CARES Act before a nonpayment eviction, and the federal Fair Housing Act prohibits eviction decisions based on protected characteristics. One operational rule binds the framework together: the notice and its service must match the statute. A miscounted judicial-day period, service by someone not authorized under NRS § 40.280, or an ambiguous demand each give the tenant a defense and can restart the clock.

The seven-day period under NRS § 40.253(1)(a) is measured in judicial days, not calendar days. A judicial day is a day the Nevada courts are open for business. Excluded from the count are the day of service itself, every Saturday and Sunday, and every Nevada legal holiday. The period runs from the first judicial day after service through the seventh judicial day, and the tenant has until the close of business on that seventh judicial day to pay or surrender.

Nevada legal holidays for the count (NRS 236.015) include New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Nevada Day (the last Friday in October), Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Family Day holiday (the Friday after Thanksgiving), and Christmas Day. When a holiday falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday is observed; when it falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed, and that observed date is the day excluded from the judicial-day count.

Worked example. A 7-day notice served by personal delivery on a Monday of a normal week (no holiday) starts the judicial-day count on Tuesday. Skipping the intervening Saturday and Sunday, the seventh judicial day falls on the Wednesday of the following week. The tenant has until the close of business that Wednesday to pay or surrender — roughly nine calendar days after service.

Worked example with a holiday. A 7-day notice served the week of Thanksgiving is stretched further: both Thanksgiving Thursday and the Family Day Friday after it are legal holidays and are skipped, on top of the weekends. A notice served the Monday of Thanksgiving week can push the seventh judicial day nearly two calendar weeks out. Because the Nevada Day, Thanksgiving, and year-end holiday clusters each add excluded days, the generator on this page carries the current and following year’s Nevada legal holidays so the computed deadline always reflects the real judicial-day count.

Why the count matters so much. A notice that treats the seven days as calendar days is short, and a short notice cannot support a summary eviction — the tenant can raise the miscount by affidavit and defeat the case. The safe practice is the reverse error: giving the tenant a day or two more than the strict count never creates a defect, because the extra time works in the tenant’s favor. If you serve near a holiday cluster, recount the deadline by hand against the current Nevada legal-holiday list before you file.

A correctly counted deadline is not enough. NRS § 40.253(3) prescribes content the notice itself must carry, and a notice that omits it is defective on the face of the statute. The notice must identify the court that has jurisdiction over the matter, and it must advise the tenant of three further things.

• The right to contest, on the same clock (NRS § 40.253(3)(b)(1)). The tenant may file an affidavit with that court stating that the tenant has tendered payment or is not in default in the payment of the rent. The statute fixes the deadline as “within the time specified in subsection 1 for the payment of the rent or surrender of the premises.” In a residential nonpayment case that is the same seven judicial days — not five, and not a separate later window.
• What follows a finding of unlawful detainer (NRS § 40.253(3)(b)(2)). The court may issue a summary order for removal or an order providing for nonadmittance, directing the sheriff or constable to post the order in a conspicuous place on the premises not later than 24 hours after the order is received. The officer must then remove the tenant not earlier than 24 hours but not later than 36 hours after that posting.
• The tenant’s remedy against self-help (NRS § 40.253(3)(b)(3)). The notice must advise that, under NRS § 118A.390, a tenant may seek relief if the landlord unlawfully removes the tenant, excludes the tenant by blocking or attempting to block entry, or willfully interrupts or permits the interruption of an essential service required by the rental agreement or chapter 118A.

Two neighbouring provisions belong in the same file. NRS § 40.253(4): if the tenant files the affidavit at or before the time stated in the notice and the landlord receives a file-stamped copy, the landlord may not provide for the tenant’s nonadmittance by locking or otherwise. NRS § 40.253(11): a landlord shall not refuse rent tendered after the notice was served on the ground that the tenant has not also paid collection fees, attorney’s fees or other non-rent costs, a reasonable charge for late payment or a dishonoured check, or a security deposit. The generator below prints every NRS § 40.253(3) advisory into the PDF, because a notice that counts the days correctly but omits the advisories is still short of the statute.

Complete the form below to generate a compliant Nevada 7-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit. The form computes the seventh-judicial-day deadline, excluding the day of service, weekends, and Nevada legal holidays, and includes the pay-or-surrender and consequence language. Serve in accordance with NRS § 40.280 and retain the required proof of service.

NRS § 40.280(1) names the persons who may serve a notice to surrender — the sheriff, a constable, a person licensed as a process server under NRS chapter 648, or the agent of an attorney licensed to practice in Nevada — but that subsection opens with the words “Except as otherwise provided in NRS 40.253 and 40.2542.” The nonpayment notice on this page is a NRS § 40.253 notice. Pulling one way, NRS § 40.253(1) defines the “day of service” as the day the landlord or the landlord’s agent personally delivers the notice to the tenant, and NRS § 40.253(2) sets out a post-and-overnight-mail route the landlord performs. Pulling the other way, NRS § 40.253(5)(a)(7) requires the landlord’s affidavit of complaint to state that the written notice was served in accordance with NRS 40.280. Those two provisions are in genuine tension on the face of the statute, and this page does not resolve it: confirm what the Justice Court for your township requires before you serve, and use an authorized officer or licensed process server whenever the matter may be contested. Email, text message, and social media are not statutory methods under either reading.

Proof of service

NRS § 40.280(4) requires proof of service to be filed with the court before an order for removal issues under NRS §§ 40.253 or 40.254. Under NRS § 40.280(5), where the notice was served under subsection 1 the proof must be a written statement endorsed by the person who served it, stating the date and manner of service, and it must include the number of the badge or licence of that server. That badge-or-licence requirement is the detail most often missed, and a proof of service without it can stall the order for removal after every other step was done correctly. Retain the original signed notice together with the proof; both become exhibits if the summary eviction is filed.

Documentation retention

Retain the signed original notice, the proof of service, and any photographs of a posting. If the summary eviction is filed, the notice and proof are submitted to the Justice Court. If the tenant pays before the deadline, the documentation supports the cure record and protects against a later dispute over whether the notice was properly served.

Nevada nonpayment eviction runs as a summary proceeding under NRS § 40.253, and the 7-day pay-or-quit notice is the first step. Understanding where this notice sits in the sequence prevents the two most common ordering errors: filing before the judicial-day period has run, and importing into a nonpayment case the five-judicial-day notice to surrender that NRS § 40.254 reserves for other grounds.

Step one: the 7-day pay-or-quit notice. The landlord serves the notice on this page. The tenant has seven judicial days to pay the rent in full or surrender the premises. If the tenant pays, the default is cured; if the tenant surrenders, the landlord recovers possession without a court filing.

Step two: the tenant’s affidavit or the landlord’s filing. If the tenant neither pays nor surrenders, Nevada’s summary process is largely tenant-initiated at this stage. The tenant may file an affidavit with the Justice Court contesting the notice or asserting a defense, which triggers a hearing. If the tenant files no affidavit, the landlord files a complaint or affidavit for summary eviction after the seventh judicial day.

Step three: there is no second notice. Nevada nonpayment is a one-notice procedure. Once the seventh judicial day passes with no payment, no surrender, and no tenant affidavit, the landlord applies by affidavit of complaint under NRS § 40.253(5)(a) — nothing further is served on the tenant first. The five-judicial-day notice to surrender comes from a different statute, NRS § 40.254, which by its own words applies “when the tenant … is guilty of an unlawful detainer pursuant to NRS 40.250, 40.251, 40.2514 or 40.2516” — holdover, no-cause termination, nuisance, waste, unlawful business, subletting, controlled substances, and failure to perform a lease condition. NRS 40.2512, the nonpayment ground, is deliberately absent from that list. Serving a five-day notice after a 7-day pay-or-quit adds delay and a defect, not protection.

Step four: the order and writ. If the court grants the eviction, it issues an order for removal, and a writ of restitution directs the sheriff or constable to restore possession to the landlord. Self-help eviction — changing locks, removing belongings, or shutting off utilities — is unlawful in Nevada regardless of how far behind the tenant is; only the court-ordered writ authorizes removal.

• Miscounting the seven judicial days. Treating the seven days as calendar days serves the notice short. The count excludes the day of service, Saturdays, Sundays, and Nevada legal holidays — a short notice cannot support the summary eviction.
• Guessing at the server question. NRS § 40.280(1) lists the sheriff, a constable, a licensed process server, or an attorney’s agent — but it applies “except as otherwise provided in NRS 40.253,” and NRS § 40.253(1)-(2) describe delivery by the landlord or the landlord’s agent, while NRS § 40.253(5)(a)(7) cross-refers back to NRS 40.280. Confirm your township’s practice rather than assuming either rule, and do not omit the server’s badge or licence number from the proof.
• Overstating or muddying the demand. Folding late fees, utilities, or other charges into the rent figure makes the demand ambiguous and gives the tenant a basis to contest the notice by affidavit. State the rent figure cleanly.
• Filing before the seventh judicial day passes. Filing the summary eviction before the period fully expires defeats the action. Wait until after the close of business on the seventh judicial day.
• Importing a five-day notice into a nonpayment case. NRS § 40.254’s five-judicial-day notice to surrender applies to unlawful detainer under NRS 40.250, 40.251, 40.2514 or 40.2516. Nonpayment runs under NRS 40.2512 and NRS 40.253, which are not on that list and use one notice only.
• Accepting partial payment after service. Accepting any portion of the demanded rent can waive or undercut the notice and force a fresh 7-day notice for the balance.

Nevada tenants served with a 7-day pay-or-quit notice have meaningful statutory rights. Understanding them helps landlords appreciate why procedural precision matters.

Right to cure by paying in full. If the tenant pays the full amount demanded within the seven judicial days, the default is cured and the tenancy continues; the landlord cannot refuse a timely full payment and proceed anyway. Right to contest by affidavit. Nevada summary eviction is tenant-initiated at the hearing stage: the tenant may file an affidavit with the Justice Court contesting the notice, which triggers a hearing at which the tenant can raise defenses.

Right to challenge a defective notice or service. A tenant may defend on the ground that the judicial-day period was miscounted, that the demand was overstated, or that service did not comply with NRS § 40.280. Each is a recognized basis to defeat the summary eviction. Right to raise habitability. Nevada habitability law gives a tenant defenses where the landlord has failed to maintain the premises, and a habitability claim may be asserted in the summary proceeding.

Right to protection from retaliation. Nevada law prohibits retaliatory conduct against a tenant who has exercised a legal right, such as complaining to a code-enforcement agency or requesting repairs; a notice issued in retaliation gives the tenant a defense. Right to be free of self-help eviction. A landlord may not change the locks, remove the tenant’s belongings, or shut off utilities to force a tenant out. Only a court-ordered writ of restitution, executed by the sheriff or constable, may remove a tenant; a self-help lockout exposes the landlord to damages.

Right to fair housing protection. The federal Fair Housing Act and Nevada’s fair-housing law prohibit eviction decisions based on protected characteristics. And where a property is federally backed or federally subsidized, the CARES Act 30-day notice requirement may extend the notice period before a nonpayment eviction may proceed.

Local Justice Court practice can vary by township on filing forms and hearing scheduling. Confirm the county’s requirements before filing, and see our guide to Nevada eviction procedure for the full process.

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