What are the security deposit rules in Nevada?
Nevada caps everything held as security — the security deposit, any surety bond, and prepaid last month's rent combined — at three months' periodic rent, and the landlord must return the balance with an itemized written accounting no later than 30 days after the tenancy ends.
The 30-day clock starts at termination automatically: no demand and no forwarding address are required, and the refund is handed over personally or mailed to the tenant's present or last known address. Only one nonrefundable charge is allowed — a reasonable cleaning charge agreed to in the rental agreement; every other attempt to label deposit money nonrefundable is void as against public policy. A tenant may offer a surety bond instead of cash only if the landlord consents, and a landlord can never require one. Miss the 30-day deadline and the landlord owes the entire deposit plus a court-fixed sum of up to the entire deposit again — up to double the whole deposit, with the court weighing good faith, course of conduct, and harm. There is no interest or separate-account requirement.
Nevada security deposits at a glance
| Maximum deposit | 3 months' rent — NRS 118A.242(1): an AGGREGATE cap — the landlord may not demand or receive 'a security deposit or a surety bond, or a combination thereof, including the last month's rent, whose total amount or value exceeds 3 months' periodic rent.' Prepaid last month's rent counts toward the cap. Under NRS 118A.240(1), ANY payment, deposit, fee or charge to be used for remedying rent default, repairing damage beyond normal wear, or cleaning the unit is a 'security deposit' — so pet deposits and cleaning charges (including the permitted reasonable nonrefundable cleaning charge) fall inside the deposit scheme and, by that definition, inside the cap (interpretation from the definitional text; no case law pinned). |
|---|---|
| Return deadline | 30 days |
| Deadline conditions | No later than 30 days after termination of the tenancy (NRS 118A.242(4)) — the clock runs from termination, with no tenant-demand or forwarding-address precondition. Delivery is by handing it to the tenant personally at the place where rent is paid, or by mail to the tenant's present address or, if unknown, the tenant's last known address. |
| Itemization required | Yes |
| Itemization rules | The landlord must provide an itemized, written accounting of the disposition of the security deposit or surety bond and return any remaining portion within the same 30-day window (NRS 118A.242(4)). Deductions are limited to amounts reasonably necessary to remedy rent defaults, repair damage beyond normal wear, and pay reasonable cleaning costs. Where a surety bond is involved, a tenant who disputes an itemized claim may send a written response to the surety within 30 days of receiving the accounting, which blocks credit-bureau reporting of the landlord's claim unless the surety obtains a judgment (118A.242(5)). |
| Separate account required | No |
| Interest owed to tenant | No |
| Account & interest rules | No escrow, trust-account, or interest requirement exists anywhere in NRS 118A for ordinary deposits (chapter checked). Sole outlier: an ADDITIONAL deposit required in connection with a tenant's disability-modification request must be held in an interest-bearing account with interest paid to the requester (NRS 118.101(4)(c)) — a fair-housing provision outside ch. 118A. |
| Pet deposits | No pet-deposit-specific statute. A refundable pet deposit is used for damage or cleaning, making it a 'security deposit' under NRS 118A.240(1) that counts toward the 3-month aggregate cap and follows the 30-day return rules. SB 166 (2025, eff. 10/1/2025) bars insurers from using dog breed in landlord liability underwriting and requires supportive-housing grant recipients to allow a companion animal, but does not change deposit law for ordinary rentals. |
| Non-refundable fees allowed | Yes |
| Penalty for violation | A landlord who fails or refuses to return the remainder within 30 days is liable for damages (a) in an amount equal to the ENTIRE security deposit plus (b) a sum fixed by the court of up to the amount of the entire deposit — total exposure up to twice the whole deposit, keyed to the deposit, not to the amount wrongfully withheld (NRS 118A.242(6)). For the discretionary component the court weighs the landlord's good faith, the parties' course of conduct, and the degree of harm to the tenant (118A.242(7)). |
| Tenant forwarding-address duty | No statutory duty and no forwarding-address trigger — the 30-day clock runs from termination regardless. But the landlord's mailing duty runs only to the tenant's present or last known address (118A.242(4)), so a tenant who leaves no address risks the refund being mailed somewhere stale. |
Notes and caveats
Statute citations
- NRS 118A.242 (1)-(9) Official source
- NRS 118A.240 (1)-(2) Official source
- NRS 118A.244 Official source
- NV Rev St 118A.242 (mirror re-read) Unofficial mirror
How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Nevada Legislature site (leg.state.nv.us NRS-118A.html, Rev. 4/15/2026, codified through the 2025 session): NRS 118A.242, 118A.240, 118A.300, 118A.210 and 118A.330 each read on the official page and independently re-read on the codes.findlaw.com mirror (current through 1/1/2025); every load-bearing number matched verbatim across both reads. Session laws read in full from official archive PDFs: enrolled AB 308 (2021) confirming the 45-to-60-day and 15-to-30-day rent-notice change (Sec. 7, eff. 7/1/2021) and the 3-calendar-day late-fee grace period (Sec. 2); enrolled AB 121 (2025, all-in rent pricing, eff. 10/1/2025, confirmed codified); enrolled AB 223 (2025) read and confirmed VETOED (its changes absent from the official codified text). 2025 regular-session and 36th Special Session outcomes checked 2026-07-10; Nevada's biennial legislature has no 2026 regular session.