How to become a landlord in Nevada

Every written Nevada lease must be signed by both sides and must cover: the term; the rent, stated as one maximum total figure, and how and when it is paid; occupancy by children and pets; included services; required fees and deposits and the conditions for refund; late, partial payment and dishonored check charges; your inspection rights; who will live there; who pays which utilities; a signed inventory and condition record; a summary of the public nuisance law; how to report nuisances and code violations; and the tenant's rights to display the United States flag and religious or cultural items (NRS 118A.200(1), (3)).

• A written lease for a single-family residence (a building of four or fewer units, not a manufactured home) that is not signed by an agent holding a Nevada property management permit must carry, at the top of the first page and in type at least twice as large as any other in the lease, a disclosure about the rebuttable presumptions of lawful occupancy and a statement that the lease is valid either way (NRS 118A.200(4), (10)).
• Give the tenant one free copy of the signed lease when it is signed, and further copies on request for a reasonable fee (NRS 118A.200(2)).
• If the property is the subject of any foreclosure proceeding, disclose that in writing to a prospective tenant. A willful failure is a deceptive trade practice (NRS 118A.275).
• Disclose in writing, at or before the start of the tenancy, the managers, a Nevada agent for service of process and the owner, with an emergency telephone number (NRS 118A.260).See Owner and manager identity on the Nevada page
• The public nuisance law makes it a misdemeanor to commit or maintain a public nuisance, to willfully fail to remove one, or knowingly to let a building be used for one (NRS 202.470).
• You may set reasonable rules on the placement and manner of a flag or religious or cultural display. The religious or cultural display protection does not cover a display larger than 36 by 12 square inches or one that blocks a door or breaks the law; for door work, give 7 days' written notice before removing it and restore it within 72 hours after the work (NRS 118A.325; NRS 118A.327).
• A lease may not waive the tenant's rights under the chapter, authorize a confession of judgment, make the tenant pay your attorney's fees (a lease may award reasonable fees to whoever prevails in court), or excuse you from liability for your own acts. Such a term is void, and the tenant may recover actual damages caused by including it (NRS 118A.220).
• Unless the written lease makes the tenant pay the property tax or otherwise provides for calculating it and telling the tenant, deliver each July and whenever the rent changes a statement showing the part of each rent payment that represents property taxes (NRS 118.165(1), (3)).

At or before the start of the tenancy, give the tenant in writing the name and address of the people authorized to manage the premises, of a person in Nevada authorized to accept service of process and notices for you, and of the principal or corporate owner, plus a telephone number where a responsible person living in the county or within 60 miles can be reached in an emergency. Keep the information current (NRS 118A.260(1), (2)).

• Instead, you may post the information in every elevator and one other conspicuous place, or in at least two conspicuous places in a building without an elevator (NRS 118A.270).
• After a tenant's demand, a landlord who fails to disclose owes the tenant actual damages or $25, whichever is greater (NRS 118A.410).
• Someone who signs a lease for you without making the disclosure becomes your agent for service of process and for your duties; serving the manager or named agent counts as serving you (NRS 118A.260(3), (4)).
• After a voluntary sale, the new owner takes over the lease and must notify each tenant within 30 days where to pay rent, that the lease continues, and how much deposit it holds (NRS 118A.349).
• After a foreclosure sale of a building of four or fewer units, a tenant who is not named on the mortgage or deed gets a notice of the change of ownership and at least 60 days after it (one rental period, for a tenancy with a period shorter than a month) before removal (NRS 40.255(2), (4), (8)).

Nevada's landlord and tenant chapter has no flood disclosure rule. Other Nevada law was not checked for one (NRS chapter 118A).

Nevada's landlord and tenant chapter has no smoke alarm section. A unit that violates a housing or health code on safety is not habitable, so any alarm rule in the codes that apply to the building matters here. State fire safety law and building and fire codes were not read for this page (NRS chapter 118A).

• The habitability duty includes compliance with housing and health codes concerning health and safety (NRS 118A.290(1)).See Repairs and habitability on the Nevada page

Nevada's landlord and tenant chapter has no general list of required locks and no rule to rekey between tenants. A functioning door lock is one of the essential items the repair remedies protect: if you willfully or negligently fail to supply one and the unit becomes unfit, the tenant may use the 48-hour remedies (NRS 118A.380(1)).

• A tenant who gave notice ending the lease as a victim of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking, or a cotenant or household member, may require you to install a new lock, by rekeying or replacing the mechanism, if the requester pays for it. You may keep a key but may not give one to the adverse party named in the documents, or let that person in to reclaim property unless a law enforcement officer is present (NRS 118A.345(8), (9)).
• In a complex of more than 50 units on one parcel in a county of 100,000 or more people (more than 30 units in a smaller county), you must require background checks for employees with key access, keep written key policies, and keep a key log on the premises (NRS 118A.332).
• In housing operated only for people 55 and older, an employee who works 36 hours or more a week with access to all units must hold a sheriff's work card, with exceptions such as permitted property managers (NRS 118A.335).

The security deposit, any surety bond and any last month's rent you collect may not add up to more than three months' periodic rent. A security deposit is any payment, fee or charge that is to be used to cover unpaid rent, repair damage beyond normal wear, or clean the unit, whatever it is called (NRS 118A.242(1); NRS 118A.240).

• Periodic rent is the monthly amount for a fixed-term or month-to-month tenancy, the weekly amount for a week-to-week tenancy, and one twelfth of the yearly amount for a tenancy paid annually (NRS 118A.125).
• With your consent, a tenant may buy a surety bond instead of paying all or part of the deposit. You do not have to accept a bond, and you may not require one (NRS 118A.242(2), (3)).
• A payment to secure an option to buy the property, and a premium paid to a surety company for a bond, are not security deposits (NRS 118A.240(2)).
• No lease may call a deposit nonrefundable or waive the tenant's deposit rights. The one exception is a reasonable nonrefundable cleaning charge; any other such term is void (NRS 118A.242(8)).
• If a tenant with a disability asks to make reasonable modifications at the tenant's own cost, you may not raise the usual deposit because of the request. You may take an extra deposit only if it is needed to restore the unit, does not exceed the actual restoration cost, and is kept in an interest-bearing account with the interest paid to the tenant (NRS 118.101(3), (4)).

Nevada's landlord and tenant chapter does not require you to hold deposits in a separate account or to pay interest on them. The one interest rule found in the laws read for this page covers an extra deposit taken because a tenant with a disability will modify the unit: it must be kept in an interest-bearing account, with the interest paid to the tenant. Trust account rules for licensed property managers were not read for this page (NRS chapter 118A; NRS 118.101(4)).

• The tenant's claim to the deposit comes ahead of the claims of your creditors (NRS 118A.242(9)).

Every written lease must contain a signed record of the inventory and condition of the parts of the premises under the tenant's exclusive custody and control. Using a written lease that leaves out a required subject is unlawful (NRS 118A.200(3)(k); NRS 118A.200(9)).

• Without a written lease, the law presumes, until shown otherwise, that apart from normal wear the tenant will return the premises in the same condition as when the tenancy began (NRS 118A.200(5)(d)).
• You must deliver possession at the start of the term in a habitable condition (NRS 118A.280).See Repairs and habitability on the Nevada page

If you collect an application, credit report or background check fee and then rent the unit to someone else without doing the thing the fee paid for, refund the fee. You may not charge any of those fees for a minor who is a member of the applicant's household. Nevada's landlord and tenant chapter sets no dollar limit on these fees (NRS 118A.306).

• For this rule, a household means people living in the same home who are related by blood, adoption, marriage or domestic partnership, and a minor is anyone under 18 (NRS 118A.306(3)).
• When a prospective tenant asks, give them a copy of the written lease they would sign (NRS 118A.235).
• If the property is in any foreclosure proceeding, tell the prospective tenant in writing (NRS 118A.275).See Required disclosures and lease language on the Nevada page
• Advertising that shows a preference based on a protected characteristic, or refusing to rent because of one, is barred (NRS 118.100).See Fair housing on the Nevada page