What does Nevada law require a landlord to repair?
Nevada requires a landlord to maintain the dwelling unit in a habitable condition at all times during the tenancy, and a unit is not habitable if it violates housing or health codes bearing on health, safety, sanitation, or fitness for habitation, or if it substantially lacks any of nine listed essentials from weatherproofing and plumbing to heating facilities and working electrical systems.
Cited to NRS 118A.290 (habitability of dwelling unit; fees for landlord's own work prohibited) (1)-(6) and 8 more cited sources · Verified August 29, 2026
The tenant starts every remedy with written notice. If the landlord adequately remedies the problem, or uses best efforts to remedy it, within 14 days, the tenant may not proceed; if the landlord does not, the tenant may terminate the agreement immediately, recover actual damages, apply to the court, or withhold the rent that comes due without incurring late fees. Withholding carries a trap most sources miss: there is no defense to an eviction on that ground unless the withheld rent has been deposited into an escrow account maintained or approved by the court, under a mechanism each justice court sets by its own local rule. Repair-and-deduct is available for small jobs — where the reasonable cost is under the greater of $100 or one month's rent, after two separate notices — and the landlord's liability under that section is limited to the same greater-of figure in any 12-month period. Failures of heat, air conditioning, water, hot water, electricity, gas, or a working door lock get a 48-hour clock that excludes weekends and holidays, an uncapped right to buy the service and deduct the cost, and a right to move into comparable housing with the original rent fully abated. Retaliation is prohibited across five landlord actions and nine protected tenant activities, with no time window and no presumption of any kind.
Nevada habitability & repairs at a glance
| Where the duty comes from | Statute — no independent court-created warranty operates alongside it |
|---|---|
| Duty source details | The duty rests entirely on NRS chapter 118A: NRS 118A.290 requires the landlord to maintain the dwelling unit in a habitable condition at all times during the tenancy and defines what that means, and NRS 118A.355, 118A.360 and 118A.380 supply the remedies. NRS 118A.220 makes the whole chapter non-waivable, so the statutory duty is the floor for every residential tenancy in the state; no independent judicially created implied warranty of habitability operates alongside it. |
| Who is covered | Statewide — no coverage split |
| Where the repair standards live | More than one source does real work — the details on this page say which |
| What must be kept in repair | Two things make a Nevada unit uninhabitable, and the statute treats them as equals. A dwelling unit is not habitable if it violates provisions of housing or health codes concerning health, safety, sanitation, or fitness for habitation — so the local code where the property sits is part of the operative standard — or if it substantially lacks any of nine enumerated essentials: effective waterproofing and weather protection of roof and exterior walls, including windows and doors; plumbing facilities that conformed to applicable law when installed and are kept in good working order; an approved water supply under the control of tenant or landlord, capable of producing hot and cold running water, furnished to appropriate fixtures and connected to an approved sewage disposal system kept in good working order so far as the landlord can control it; adequate heating facilities that conformed to applicable law when installed and are kept in good working order; electrical lighting, outlets, wiring, and equipment that conformed to applicable law when installed and are kept in good working order; an adequate number of appropriate garbage and rubbish receptacles, clean and in good repair at the commencement of the tenancy, with the landlord arranging removal unless a written agreement says otherwise; building, grounds, appurtenances, and all other areas under the landlord's control clean, sanitary, and reasonably free of debris, filth, rubbish, garbage, rodents, insects, and vermin at the time the tenancy commences; floors, walls, ceilings, stairways, and railings kept in good repair; and ventilating, air-conditioning, and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, kept in good repair where the landlord supplies them or is required to. A landlord may not charge a tenant any fee for performing work that is the landlord's own duty under this section, including a deductible or copayment under a home protection policy or service contract, unless the work is needed because of a deliberate or negligent act or omission by the tenant, a household member, or someone on the premises with the tenant's consent. |
| Heat standard type | A duty to provide working heating equipment — capability, not a temperature guarantee |
| Heat standard details | The heat duty is equipment-shaped: the dwelling must have adequate heating facilities that conformed to applicable law when installed and are maintained in good working order. No temperature figure and no seasonal window appear anywhere in the chapter — a heating failure is judged as a habitability failure, and as an essential-services failure on the faster clock, not against a stated degree standard. |
| Headline repair day count | 14 days |
| Notice and repair-window rules | Fourteen days is the general figure, and the standard it sets is remedy-or-best-efforts rather than completed repair. The tenant delivers written notice specifying each failure to maintain the unit in a habitable condition and asking that it be remedied; if the failure is remediable and the landlord adequately remedies it, or uses best efforts to remedy it, within 14 days after receiving the notice, the tenant may not proceed. Only where the landlord fails to remedy a material failure, or to make a reasonable effort to do so, in that time do the remedies open. The repair-and-deduct route runs on the same 14 days, or more promptly if conditions require in an emergency, and it needs two notices rather than one — a notice that the dwelling is not in a habitable condition, and a notice of the tenant's intention to correct the condition at the landlord's expense. Essential-service failures run on a much shorter clock: 48 hours after the landlord receives written notice, excluding any Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. A tenant may skip notice in two narrow situations: to recover damages where the landlord admits to the court that it knew of the condition or has had written notice of it from a government agency authorized to inspect for code violations, and to withhold rent where such an agency gave the landlord written notice and the landlord failed to remedy or attempt in good faith to remedy within the time that notice prescribed. The tenant may not proceed at all for a condition caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a household member, or someone on the premises with the tenant's consent, or where the landlord could not act in the 14 days because the tenant refused lawful access. |
| Repair and deduct | Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: The remedy is available where the reasonable cost of compliance or repair is less than $100 or an amount equal to one month's periodic rent, whichever amount is greater, and the tenant may deduct the actual and reasonable cost, or the fair and reasonable value of the work, up to that same amount. The statute then adds an annual limit, phrased as a limit on the landlord rather than on the deduction: the landlord's liability under the section is limited to $100 or an amount equal to one month's periodic rent, whichever is greater, within any 12-month period. Because the per-repair threshold and the yearly limit use the identical formula, one qualifying repair at the maximum uses up the year. The separate essential-services deduction carries no cap of any kind. — The tenant must first have given the landlord notice that the dwelling is not in a habitable condition, and must then notify the landlord of an intention to correct the condition at the landlord's expense. If the landlord fails to use best efforts to comply within 14 days of that written notice — or more promptly where conditions require in an emergency — the tenant may cause the work to be done in a workmanlike manner and, after submitting an itemized statement to the landlord, deduct the cost from rent. The landlord may specify in the rental agreement or otherwise that work under this section and under the essential-services section be performed by a named person or firm, or a class of qualified persons or firms, and the tenant must comply with that specification; if the designated person is unavailable or unable to do the repairs, the tenant uses another qualified person. The remedy is unavailable where the condition was caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a household member, or someone on the premises with the tenant's consent. A tenant who proceeds under the essential-services section may not also proceed under this section or under the general-breach section as to that breach. |
| Rent withholding or escrow | Only on conditions that commonly defeat it — see this page — How: withholding on the tenant's own action, no court filing first; a court or agency escrow program — Nevada gives a self-executing right to withhold and then takes most of its practical value back unless the rent goes into court. Where the landlord has failed to remedy a material habitability failure after the 14-day notice, the tenant may withhold any rent that becomes due without incurring late fees, notice charges, or any other charge or fee authorized by the chapter or the rental agreement, until the landlord has remedied the failure or attempted in good faith to do so. But a separate subsection, added in 2021, provides that a tenant does not have a defense to an eviction on that withholding ground unless the tenant has deposited the withheld rent into an escrow account maintained or approved by the court. Justice courts establish that mechanism by local rule, so there is no single statewide escrow procedure and the tenant has to find the rule of the justice court for the township. The practical result: a tenant who withholds without escrowing has still exercised a statutory right and still avoids the late fees, but has no defense when the landlord files for eviction. A parallel withholding branch exists for essential-service failures, on the same no-late-fee terms, and that one is available only to a tenant who is current in the payment of rent at the time the written notice is given. |
| Termination over habitability failures | Yes — a statute states the right — Where the landlord has failed to remedy a material failure to maintain the unit in a habitable condition, or to make a reasonable effort to do so, within 14 days of the tenant's written notice, the tenant may terminate the rental agreement immediately — no court order and no second notice. On termination the landlord must return all prepaid rent and any security deposit the tenant is entitled to recover under the chapter. A parallel immediate-termination right exists for an uncured breach of the rental agreement itself, on a written notice that specifies the acts or omissions and states that the agreement will terminate. Fire or casualty is a third route: where damage substantially impairs enjoyment of the unit, the tenant may immediately vacate and, within 7 days after that, notify the landlord of the intention to terminate, in which case the agreement ends as of the date of vacating; or, where continued occupancy is lawful, vacate the unusable part, in which case liability for rent is reduced in proportion to the loss in fair rental value. None of these arises where the tenant, a household member, or a guest caused the condition. |
| Essential-service remedies | Yes — distinct statutory remedies for essential-service failures — Essential-service failures are Nevada's strongest track. Where the landlord is required by the rental agreement or the chapter to supply heat, air conditioning, running water, hot water, electricity, gas, a functioning door lock, or another essential item or service, and willfully or negligently fails to do so, causing the premises to become unfit for habitation, the tenant gives written notice specifying the breach. If the landlord does not adequately remedy it, or use best efforts to remedy it, within 48 hours — excluding any Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday — after receiving the notice, the tenant may, in addition to any other remedy, procure reasonable amounts of the essential items or services during the noncompliance and deduct their actual and reasonable cost from rent, with no cap; recover actual damages including damages based on the lack of use of the premises or the reduction in fair rental value; withhold rent falling due during the noncompliance without incurring late fees or other charges until the landlord has attempted in good faith to restore the service, which is the one branch that requires the tenant to be current in rent when the notice is given; or procure comparable substitute housing, during which the rent for the original premises fully abates and the tenant may recover the cost of the substitute housing above the abated rent. All three trigger elements must be present, and aggregators commonly report only the first. A tenant who proceeds under this section may not also proceed under the general-breach or repair-and-deduct sections as to that breach, and has no rights under it where the condition was caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a household member, or someone on the premises with the tenant's consent. |
| Retaliation protection | Protected by a general retaliation statute — Nevada's retaliation section states no time period at all: no presumption, no protected window, and no burden shift. Retaliatory purpose is an element the tenant establishes on the facts, whenever the landlord acts. What the section does supply is a defined set of prohibited acts — the landlord may not, in retaliation, terminate a tenancy, refuse to renew a tenancy, increase rent, decrease essential items or services required by the rental agreement or the chapter, or bring or threaten to bring an action for possession — and a defined set of remedies: the tenant is entitled to the remedies of the unlawful-removal section, which are actual damages plus an amount up to $2,500 fixed by the court on three stated factors (whether the landlord acted in good faith, the course of conduct between the parties, and the degree of harm to the tenant), and has a defense in any retaliatory action by the landlord for possession. Four exceptions take the landlord outside the section: the code violation complained of was caused primarily by the tenant's own lack of reasonable care or that of a household member or guest; the tenancy is terminated with cause; a citation has been issued and code compliance requires alteration, remodeling, or demolition that cannot be done with the unit occupied; or the rent increase applies in a uniform manner to all tenants. Bringing an action under the exceptions does not stop the tenant from separately seeking damages or injunctive relief over the condition of the unit. — Complaining in good faith of a building, housing, or health code violation affecting health or safety to the government agency responsible for enforcing that code; complaining in good faith to the landlord or a law enforcement agency of a violation of the chapter or of a specific statute carrying a criminal penalty; organizing or joining a tenant's union or similar organization; the issuance of a citation resulting from a code complaint; instituting or defending a judicial, administrative, or arbitration proceeding raising the habitability of dwelling units under the chapter; refusing to consent to a landlord-adopted regulation made after the rental agreement was signed that would take effect before the applicable waiting period has run; complaining of housing-discrimination or fair-housing violations, or otherwise exercising rights under those laws; being a victim of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, or stalking, or terminating a rental agreement on that ground; and, for a federal, tribal, or state worker or a member of such a worker's household, paying rent during the period the statute specifies. |
| Damages, penalties, and defenses | Actual damages are the backbone: they are available on the habitability track, and on the essential-services track they expressly include damages based on the lack of use of the premises or the reduction in the unit's fair rental value. A tenant may also apply to the court for such relief as it deems proper. Where a landlord unlawfully removes or excludes the tenant, willfully interrupts an essential item or service, or otherwise recovers possession unlawfully, the tenant may recover actual damages and an amount up to $2,500 fixed by the court on three stated factors, and may use an expedited procedure: a verified complaint filed within 5 judicial days of the unlawful act, dismissed if filed late but without extinguishing the tenant's other remedies, with a hearing not later than 3 judicial days after filing, an option to consolidate with a pending eviction, costs and official fees deferred for the filing tenant and then assessed against the party that does not prevail, and power in the court to order the premises or services restored, award damages, enjoin the landlord, and hold the landlord in contempt. Landlord defenses recur across the sections: the condition was caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a household member, or someone on the premises with the tenant's consent; the tenant refused lawful access so the landlord could not act within the cure period; the tenant was not current in rent when notice was given, which defeats only the essential-services withholding branch; and, on every track, that the landlord used best efforts to comply within the cure period even though the work is unfinished. |
| Can the duty be waived or shifted | A delegation provision reaches beyond the usual single-family limits |
| Waiver and delegation rules | A rental agreement may not provide that the tenant agrees to waive or forego rights or remedies afforded by the chapter, and any prohibited provision is void as contrary to public policy — with an unusual sting: the tenant may recover any actual damages incurred through the mere inclusion of the provision, without having to be evicted or otherwise harmed by it. Delegation is allowed but policed. The landlord and tenant may agree that the tenant will perform specified repairs, maintenance tasks, and minor remodeling only if the agreement is entered into in good faith and does not diminish the landlord's obligations to other tenants, and the statute states expressly that an agreement is not in good faith where the landlord had the duty to do the work and the tenant only agreed because the landlord or the landlord's agent refused to perform it. There is no single-family or dwelling-type limit on that delegation. The same section also voids a clause making the tenant pay the landlord's attorney's fees, while permitting a clause awarding reasonable fees to the prevailing party. |
| Leading court decisions | This page rests on the statutes cited below |
| Local rules | Local law enters Nevada's scheme in two places. The definition of habitability itself incorporates housing and health codes, so a violation of the city or county code concerning health, safety, sanitation, or fitness for habitation makes the unit uninhabitable as a matter of state law, and a written notice from a government agency authorized to inspect for such violations can substitute for the tenant's own notice. Second, the court escrow that a withholding tenant needs in order to have an eviction defense is set up by each justice court by local rule, not by a statewide procedure, so the mechanics differ from township to township and the tenant has to look up the rule of the court where the property sits. |
Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Nevada Habitability & Repair Laws (verified August 29, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/habitability/nevada/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.
Notes and caveats
- Withholding without court escrow leaves no eviction defense — This is the Nevada point most often missed, and it has been law since 2021. The habitability section grants a right to withhold rent without incurring late fees or notice charges, and a later subsection of the same section provides that the tenant has no defense to an eviction on that ground unless the withheld rent has been deposited into an escrow account maintained or approved by the court. The two are separate: a tenant who withholds and does not escrow keeps the fee protection but loses the defense. Because justice courts create the escrow mechanism by local rule, the procedure is a township-level question, and secondary material written before 2021 omits the requirement entirely.
- Fourteen days is not a repair deadline — The statute does not give the landlord 14 days to finish the work. It says the tenant may not proceed if, within 14 days of the notice, the landlord adequately remedies the failure or uses best efforts to remedy it — and the remedies open only on a failure to remedy a material failure or to make a reasonable effort to do so. A landlord who has genuinely started and is pressing on may be inside the statute on day 15. The best-efforts qualifier is routinely dropped when the figure is quoted, and a 2025 bill that would have changed how the standard operates was vetoed, so the text stands as written.
- The repair-and-deduct limit is annual, and the statute limits the landlord — Two figures use the same formula and are frequently reported as one. The remedy reaches repairs whose reasonable cost is less than $100 or one month's periodic rent, whichever is greater. Separately, the landlord's liability under that section is limited to $100 or one month's periodic rent, whichever is greater, within any 12-month period — the statute frames it as a limit on the landlord, not as a cap on the tenant's deduction, and in practice one repair at the ceiling exhausts the year. Two notices are required, not one, the landlord may name who does the work, and a tenant who uses the essential-services section for a breach may not also use this one for the same breach.
- The 48-hour clock skips weekends and holidays — For essential-service failures the landlord has 48 hours after receiving the written notice, excluding any Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday — not 48 calendar hours. The trigger also has three cumulative elements: the item must be one the rental agreement or the chapter requires the landlord to supply, the failure must be willful or negligent, and it must cause the premises to become unfit for habitation. The requirement that the tenant be current in rent attaches only to the withholding branch; it does not gate the right to buy the service and deduct the cost, to recover damages, or to move into comparable substitute housing with the original rent fully abated.
- There is no Nevada retaliation window — The retaliation section contains no time period of any kind: no presumption, no protected span of days after a complaint, and no shifting of the burden onto the landlord. Sources reporting a 180-day Nevada retaliation window are describing something the statute does not contain. What the section gives a tenant is a list of five prohibited landlord actions, nine protected activities, actual damages plus an amount up to $2,500 that the court fixes, and a defense in any retaliatory action for possession — with retaliatory purpose left for the tenant to establish.
- Pest control is a move-in duty, not an ongoing one — Nevada's habitability list requires the building, grounds, appurtenances, and other areas under the landlord's control to be clean, sanitary, and reasonably free of debris, filth, rubbish, garbage, rodents, insects, and vermin — but only at the time the tenancy commences. The chapter states no continuing extermination duty, which sets Nevada apart from states whose statutes name pest control as an ongoing covenant. A 2025 bill that would have added a duty to keep effective measures in place against rodents, insects, and vermin passed both houses and was vetoed on June 2, 2025, so it is not law.
- One breach, one section — The essential-services section says a tenant who proceeds under it may not proceed under the general-breach section and the repair-and-deduct section as to that breach. Because those three routes carry very different clocks and limits — 48 working hours and no cap on the essential-services deduction, against 14 days and the greater of $100 or one month's rent for ordinary repairs — choosing the route is a real decision, and stacking them for the same failure is not available.
Common questions: Nevada habitability & repairs
Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.
- Does Nevada have an implied warranty of habitability?
- Statute — no independent court-created warranty operates alongside it. The duty rests entirely on NRS chapter 118A: NRS 118A.290 requires the landlord to maintain the dwelling unit in a habitable condition at all times during the tenancy and defines what that means, and NRS 118A.355, 118A.360 and 118A.380 supply the remedies. NRS 118A.220 makes the whole chapter non-waivable, so the statutory duty is the floor for every residential tenancy in the state; no independent judicially created implied warranty of habitability operates alongside it.
- How long does a landlord have to make repairs in Nevada?
- 14 days. Fourteen days is the general figure, and the standard it sets is remedy-or-best-efforts rather than completed repair. The tenant delivers written notice specifying each failure to maintain the unit in a habitable condition and asking that it be remedied; if the failure is remediable and the landlord adequately remedies it, or uses best efforts to remedy it, within 14 days after receiving the notice, the tenant may not proceed.
- Can a tenant repair and deduct in Nevada?
- Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: The remedy is available where the reasonable cost of compliance or repair is less than $100 or an amount equal to one month's periodic rent, whichever amount is greater, and the tenant may deduct the actual and reasonable cost, or the fair and reasonable value of the work, up to that same amount. The statute then adds an annual limit, phrased as a limit on the landlord rather than on the deduction: the landlord's liability under the section is limited to $100 or an amount equal to one month's periodic rent, whichever is greater, within any 12-month period.
- Can a tenant withhold rent for repair problems in Nevada?
- Only on conditions that commonly defeat it — see this page — How: withholding on the tenant's own action, no court filing first; a court or agency escrow program — Nevada gives a self-executing right to withhold and then takes most of its practical value back unless the rent goes into court. Where the landlord has failed to remedy a material habitability failure after the 14-day notice, the tenant may withhold any rent that becomes due without incurring late fees, notice charges, or any other charge or fee authorized by the chapter or the rental agreement, until the landlord has remedied the failure or attempted in good faith to do so.
- Can a landlord retaliate against a tenant who complains about repairs in Nevada?
- Protected by a general retaliation statute — Nevada's retaliation section states no time period at all: no presumption, no protected window, and no burden shift. Retaliatory purpose is an element the tenant establishes on the facts, whenever the landlord acts.
- Can a lease make the tenant responsible for repairs in Nevada?
- A delegation provision reaches beyond the usual single-family limits. A rental agreement may not provide that the tenant agrees to waive or forego rights or remedies afforded by the chapter, and any prohibited provision is void as contrary to public policy — with an unusual sting: the tenant may recover any actual damages incurred through the mere inclusion of the provision, without having to be evicted or otherwise harmed by it. Delegation is allowed but policed.
Citations
- NRS 118A.290 (habitability of dwelling unit; fees for landlord's own work prohibited) · (1)-(6) (verified 2026) Official source
- NRS 118A.355 (failure of landlord to maintain dwelling unit in habitable condition) · (1)-(5) (verified 2026) Official source
- NRS 118A.360 (repair and deduct where cost is less than the specified amount) · (1)-(5) (verified 2026) Official source
- NRS 118A.380 (failure to supply essential items or services) · (1)-(5) (verified 2026) Official source
- NRS 118A.390 (unlawful removal or exclusion; interruption of essential services; expedited relief) · (1), (2), (5), (6), (7) (verified 2026) Official source
- NRS 118A.510 (retaliatory conduct by landlord prohibited; remedies; exceptions) · (1)-(3) (verified 2026) Official source
- NRS 118A.220 (prohibited provisions in a rental agreement) · (1), (2) (verified 2026) Official source
- NRS 118A.350 (failure of landlord to comply with rental agreement) · (1) (verified 2026) Official source
- NRS 118A.400 (damage or destruction of premises by fire or casualty) · (1) (verified 2026) Official source
How this record was verified: Direct reading of the Nevada Legislature's official text of NRS chapter 118A in full — including §§ 118A.220, 118A.290, 118A.350, 118A.355, 118A.360, 118A.380, 118A.390 and 118A.510, each read clause by clause with its history line — from the Legislature's published chapter page as revised April 15, 2026 for the 2025 Nevada Revised Statutes; together with the Legislature's own list of bills vetoed in the 83rd Session, the Governor's signed veto message for Assembly Bill 223, and the Legislature's session records for the 2025 special session, read to establish what has and has not changed.