A Nevada rental application tells you who will live in your rental, where they have lived and how they will pay the rent. When every applicant answers the same questions, you can compare renters fairly and show that you did.
This guide covers what to ask, how to pre-screen leads, the federal and Nevada laws that apply, application fees, assistance animals, and how to approve or deny an applicant.
What should a Nevada rental application ask?
An application collects personal and financial details, so ask only what you need to apply your written rental criteria. Your Nevada rental application should ask for:
- Applicant and co-signer names, email, phone and date of birth,
- A Social Security number, entered securely,
- The desired move-in date and everyone who will live in the home,
- The current address and current landlord’s contact details,
- Employer, job title and monthly income,
- Any housing voucher or rental assistance,
- Pets, assistance animals, vehicles and smoking, and
- Past evictions and consent to screening.
The Rentari application covers all of this in six short sections. Renters can upload a pay stub, photo ID, bank statement or reference letter, and you choose which background questions to ask, with up to four of your own.
See it first: open the whole application before you send it.
Pre-screen your leads
Not every lead fits your rental. A short pre-screener shows who meets your basic criteria before anyone spends time or money on a full application.
Send the Rentari pre-screener from Leads. Your Nevada pre-screener asks every lead for:
- Monthly household income,
- Desired move-in date,
- How many people would live there,
- Pets, and what kind,
- Smoking, and
- A self-reported credit band.
When a lead’s answers fit, invite them to apply. Remember: pre-screener answers are what the renter tells you, so verify them with the application and screening.
Federal application laws
Federal law sets the baseline for every screening decision in Nevada. These five laws shape how you screen applicants:
Fair Housing Act (FHA): You may not treat applicants differently because of these seven protected characteristics:
- Race,
- Color,
- National origin,
- Religion,
- Sex,
- Familial status, or
- Disability
It also bars ads that show a preference and different rental terms for different applicants (42 U.S.C. § 3604).
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA): Bars credit discrimination, including because income comes from public assistance. Courts differ on whether a lease counts as credit, so count assistance income the same way as wages (15 U.S.C. § 1691).
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Covers places open to the public, such as a leasing office. Disability rules for the rental home itself come from the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 12182).
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): Covers credit, criminal and eviction reports. You need the renter’s consent before screening. Rentari collects it before our screening partner, RentButter, runs the checks (15 U.S.C. § 1681b).
Civil Rights Act of 1866: Bars race discrimination when renting any property, including homes the Fair Housing Act exempts, such as some small owner-occupied buildings (42 U.S.C. § 1982).
Criminal history: HUD warns that blanket bans on applicants with any criminal record can be discriminatory, and an arrest alone does not show that a person did anything.
Further reading: HUD fair housing rights and obligations and FTC guidance for landlords.
Nevada application laws
Beyond federal law, Nevada has its own rules on application fees and fair housing. Check both before you send an invite.
Nevada Law
Nevada application and screening fees
The rule: 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).
Advertising that shows a preference based on a protected characteristic, or refusing to rent because of one, is barred (NRS 118.100).
Local rules: Cities and counties can add their own limits. Check local rules before you set a fee.
In Rentari: You choose an optional application fee when you send the invite. It is paid to you on top of any screening fee.
Nevada Law
Fair housing in Nevada
Protected classes: Nevada's Fair Housing Law bars refusing to rent, setting different terms, deposits or services, or advertising a preference because of race, religious creed, color, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, ancestry, familial status or sex. It also bars falsely saying a unit is unavailable and interfering with anyone exercising these rights (NRS 118.100).
Accommodations: Allow a tenant with a disability to make reasonable modifications at the tenant's own cost when needed to use the home, and make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies and services. Where reasonable, you may require restoration at move-out, reasonable wear and tear excepted (NRS 118.101(1), (2)).
Exemptions: An owner of no more than three single-family houses who rents without a real estate licensee, and an owner living in a building of up to four units, are generally outside the law's definition of a dwelling, subject to limits on recent transactions, but the advertising ban still covers them (NRS 118.060(2); NRS 118.100(3)).
Enforcement: A tenant may file a complaint with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission or sue in district court for actual and punitive damages, costs and attorney's fees, and a violation is a defense to an eviction (NRS 118.110; NRS 118.115; NRS 118.120).
Familial status: Familial status means living with a child under 18 in one's lawful custody or with the custodian's written permission, being pregnant, or being in the process of obtaining custody (NRS 118.065).
Pets, ESAs and service animals
Ask about animals on every application, but treat an assistance animal differently from a pet. Here is what to keep in mind:
Pet information: The Rentari application asks whether an animal will live at the property and lets the renter mark an assistance animal.
Not a pet: A service animal or emotional support animal is not a pet. Under federal fair housing law you generally can’t:
- Charge a pet fee, pet deposit or pet rent for one, or
- Apply your pet breed, size or weight limits to it.
Damage: The renter stays responsible for any damage the animal causes.
In Rentari: An assistance animal is routed as a fair housing request and is never charged a pet fee.
Nevada rules on assistance animals
Assistance animals: You may not refuse to rent to a person with a disability solely because an animal that assists, supports or serves the person will live there. You may ask for proof, such as a health care provider's statement (NRS 118.105).
Assistance animals: The state animal-proof provision must be considered with independent federal limits on disability inquiries and reasonable accommodations. Federal rules generally bar inquiries about an applicant's disability or its nature or severity, while allowing specified inquiries made uniformly, including ability to meet tenancy requirements and eligibility for disability-specific housing. The accommodation regulation includes a guide dog under a no-pets policy and a needed reserved parking space as examples. Review the particular request under current law (NRS 118.105; 24 CFR 100.202 and 100.204).
Approvals and denials
Apply the same written criteria to every applicant, and handle each decision the same way.
Approval: Choose Accept complete household in the household decision. Your lease draft is ready to review. Before move-in, check Nevada’s deposit rules:
Lawful reasons to deny: Deny only for reasons in your written criteria that you apply to every applicant, such as income below your standard, credit history, rental history including unpaid rent or eviction judgments, or incomplete or false information. Use criminal history only where Nevada and local law allow it, and weigh the offense and how long ago it happened.
Adverse action notice: If a screening report contributes to a denial, or to terms such as a co-signer, a higher deposit or higher rent, federal law requires a notice that:
- Names the reporting company and how to reach it,
- Says that company did not make the decision,
- Explains the renter’s right to a free copy of the report within 60 days, and
- Explains the right to dispute the report.
In Rentari: Choose Deny selected applicants and send individual notices in the household decision to send each notice. You make the decision.
Record keeping: Federal law sets no retention period for a private landlord’s applications. A fair housing lawsuit can be filed up to two years after a decision, so keep each application, your written criteria and the decision at least that long (42 U.S.C. § 3613(a)(1)(A)).
Screening reports: When you no longer need a screening report, destroy it securely. The FTC Disposal Rule covers consumer reports (16 C.F.R. Part 682).
Nevada rental application questions
Can I charge application fees for everyone in the household in Nevada?
Not for minors in the applicant's household. And if you rent to someone else without processing an applicant's application or running the check the fee paid for, refund that fee (NRS 118A.306).
Who pays for screening on Rentari?
In most states the renter pays the screening fee at the end of the application and nothing is charged to you. Where a state requires the landlord to pay, the invite tells you. The fee is shown before payment.
Can I ask about criminal history?
You choose whether the application asks about criminal convictions; it is off by default. Check Nevada and local rules first, and avoid blanket bans.