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There are a variety of eviction notices a landlord can use to try to evict a tenant. The eviction notice must follow the reason behind the eviction, and, if it doesn’t, might provide grounds for a tenant to contest an eviction. A landlord can evict a tenant for cause or no cause at all, depending on the circumstances of each tenancy.
- 30/7 Day No Cause Notice
- 5 Day Breach of Lease Notice
- 3 Day Nuisance Notice
- 5 Day Pay Rent or Quit Notice
- 14 Day Pay Rent or Quit Notice or 30 Day Notice With Cause (for Subsidized Housing)
- 5 Day Unlawful Detainer Notice
How do I request a hearing to contest the eviction notice?
No Cause Notices
I don’t know why the landlord wants to evict me? Doesn’t the landlord have to give a reason?
No. Under Nevada law, specifically NRS 40.251, your landlord can serve a no cause eviction notice. As long as your lease has expired, the landlord can serve an eviction notice and does not have to provide you or the court with any reason for the eviction.
How much time do I have?
If you are outside the term of a lease, or do not have a lease agreement, your landlord can serve you a no cause notice. If you rent by the week, the landlord must serve a 7 day notice. If you rent for any longer period of time, the landlord must provide a 30 day notice. If you received a 30 day notice and are disabled or older than 59 years of age, your landlord can provide an additional 30 days. Notice of the right to request an additional 30 days should be provided in your eviction notice. You must request this additional 30 days in writing and supply proof that you qualify, i.e., proof of age or disability.
Can I fight the eviction?
If you are disabled or older than 59 years of age, you can request an additional 30 days. If the landlord denies your request, you can then file a petition with the justice court. The court will determine whether you can stay the additional 30 days.
If you are 59 or younger and not disabled, you can still ask the court for more time to move under NRS 70.010 (up to 10 days). You do this by waiting for the landlord to serve a 5 day unlawful detainer (required after your 30 or 7 day notice expires). Then, you must file an affidavit within 5 business days. However, you will not have a legal defense to a no cause eviction notice unless your lease has not expired, or your landlord has discriminated or retaliated against you. Please see the information on the unlawful detainer notice for more information.
What is retaliation?
Retaliation is a defense to a no cause eviction notice. Retaliation generally happens when you complain about conditions in or around your dwelling and instead of fixing these problems, the landlord serves an no cause eviction notice. For example, if you complain to the landlord about habitability problems, or call the police about crime, the landlord cannot retaliate by serving you an eviction notice. If this has happened to you, you would have a legal defense to the no cause eviction. See our page about the Landlord Tenant Relationship for more information.
What is discrimination?
If your landlord is evicting you because of your race, color, religion, sex, family size, national origin, or disability, then this would violate the Fair Housing Act. Any act of discrimination is a defense to a no cause eviction notice. While some discrimination is easy to spot, other discriminatory action are not. For example, your landlord cannot evict you for having children. If you have a mental or physical disability, a landlord cannot evict you because you need a service animal even if the service animal has NO special training.
For more information regarding discrimination in housing, please visit our Housing Discrimination page.
What happens next?
After the 30 or 7 day notice expires, the landlord must serve a 5 day unlawful detainer notice.
Breach of Lease/Nuisance Notices
How much time do I have?
With a 5 day lease violation notice or a 3 day nuisance notice, you do not count weekends, holidays, or other days the court is closed. You also do not count the day you are served. With a 5 day lease violation notice, your notice must provide 3 days to cure or remedy the lease violation. Nevada law also defines a nuisance as something that is “ongoing”. This means that if you can fix the problem within 3 days, either a nuisance or a lease violation, you will have a legal defense to the eviction. In some situations, the lease violation or nuisance is so severe that the law may prevent you from saving your tenancy by fixing the problem.
What must the notice say?
Your eviction notice should contain the reasons for the eviction. The reasons should contain enough information for you to figure out what the landlord is referring to and enable you to present a meaningful defense to the court.
The notice must also explain that if the court finds you guilty of an unlawful detainer, the court may issue a summary order for the sheriff or constable to remove you within 24 hours after receipt of the order.
The notice must also advise you that you may seek relief if the landlord unlawfully removes or excludes you from the premises or willfully interrupts an essential service required by law or the rental agreement.
No cause notices also have to advise you that you can request additional time to stay in the unit if you are over 59 or disabled.
What is a lease violation?
A “lease violation” is self explanatory: a violation or non-compliance with your lease. To constitute a reason to evict you, the lease violation must be “material.” “Material” means important or legally significant. Repeated instances of minor violations of your lease also constitute a basis to evict you. For example, not paying a security deposit is a material lease violation; not paying your rent on time is not a material lease violation if you pay the rent and late fees. Repeated instances of late payment of rent would be a basis to evict you.
What is a nuisance?
“Nuisance” is harder to define. Nevada law defines nuisance as “conduct or an ongoing condition which constitutes an unreasonable obstruction to the free use of property and causes injury and damage to other tenants or occupants of that property or adjacent buildings or structures. . . .” NRS 40.2514(4). “Nuisance” also includes “anything which is injurious to health or indecent or offensive to the senses or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.” NRS 40.140.
In common terms, a nuisance is anything serious or repeated that affects your neighbors or the condition of your dwelling. For example, a party celebrating your child’s graduation is probably not a nuisance. Repeated wild parties would be a nuisance.
What happens after the 3 or 5 day notice expires?
If the landlord does not agree that the conduct has ceased or otherwise wants to continue with the eviction, you will receive a 5 day unlawful detainer notice after the 5 day lease violation or 3 day nuisance notice expires.
What is a 5 day unlawful detainer notice?
The 5 day unlawful detainer notice is the required notice if the landlord seeks a summary eviction order. The 5 day unlawful detainer notice must advise you that you have five judicial days to move or file an affidavit with the justice court. If you want to file an affidavit, you must file the affidavit within five business days. Do not count the day you received the notice, weekends, and holidays when the state court is closed. Some courts have 4 day weeks and you do not count the Friday or Monday that the court is closed. Also, if the fifth day is a weekend or holiday, you then have until the next day the court is open.
If you file an affidavit, you must also serve a file-stamped copy of the affidavit upon your landlord within those same five days. If you do not file an affidavit and do not move, then the landlord can have the judge sign an eviction order without any further notice to you. The constable or sheriff will then serve the eviction order to you and lock you out within 24 hours.
Pay Rent or Quit Notice
How much time do I have?
If you have received a 5 day pay rent or quit notice, you have until 12 noon of the 5th day following service of this notice to pay the rent, move, or file an affidavit with the justice court. You do not count the day you are served, weekends, holidays, and other days the court is closed. Some courts have 4 day weeks and you do not count the Friday or Monday the court is closed.
You must file by noon of the fifth day and this usually means you will have until noon of the following week to file. This does not apply if you are served on a weekend or a holiday. Also, if the fifth day is a weekend or holiday, you then have until the next day the court is open.
Do I have a defense?
Nevada law provides several defenses to a 5 day pay rent or quit notice. The defenses fall into two general categories:
- I paid the rent or tried to pay the rent.
- I have a legal reason for not paying the rent.
1. I paid the rent or tried to pay the rent.
NRS 40.253 specifically provides that if you paid the rent or tried to pay the rent (called “tendered the rent” in legalese), then you have a legal defense to a pay rent or quit eviction. To establish this defense you should provide a receipt or some other evidence that establishes you paid, or tried to pay, the rent. If you tried to pay the rent, do not spend this money and bring it with you to court.
2. I have a legal reason for not paying the rent.
There are a wide variety of legal reasons for not paying the rent. Many judges are unaware of these reasons so you should carefully consider whether you want to risk what often happens in an eviction hearing: you are legally correct but the judge evicts you anyway. If you cannot appeal an adverse ruling or the evidence supporting your claim is weak, you may not want to rely on these legal arguments and you should just pay the rent.
NRS 118A.355 allows you to withhold rent if (1) your dwelling violates NRS 118A.290 (Nevada’s habitability law), (2) you have provided written notice to your landlord, and (3)your landlord has not fixed this problem or attempted to fix the problem within 14 days. See the section of habitability law for further details.
If the landlord has fixed or attempted to fix the problem, or you are not current with the rent, you cannot withhold rent. Also, NRS 118A.355 requires you to deposit your rent with the court when you file your affidavit. The court will determine when the landlord will get the rent,
NRS 118A.380 is a similar law that allows you to withhold rent. However, NRS 118A.380 deals with essential services and the landlord’s willful or negligent failure to supply essential services. See the section on essential services for more detail. With an essential services problem, you only have to wait 48 hours after providing written notice for the landlord to fix or attempt to fix the problem, excluding weekends and holidays. If the landlord fails to fix the problem and fails to make a good faith effort to fix the problem, then you can withhold the rent. You cannot withhold rent if you are not current, but you do NOT have to deposit the rent into escrow when you file your affidavit.
NRS 118A.490 also allows you to offset or subtract from your rent any amount the landlord owes you under your lease, NRS Chapter 118A, or other applicable law. To have a defense to a nonpayment eviction, this offset amount must equal or exceed the rent you owe to the landlord.
For example, a leaky roof has caused $2,000 in damages to your furniture and clothing. You have not paid this month’s rent which is $1,000 and the landlord has served a 5 day pay rent or quit notice. You would have a legal defense to the eviction based on the NRS 118A.490 and the damages you sustained because of the leaky roof.
Another example would be if you failed to pay the rent and the landlord shut off the power to your dwelling. NRS 118A.390 allows you to sue the landlord for $2,500 in statutory damages, plus actual damages. If your rent is $1,000 or less, then you would have a defense if the landlord served a 5 day pay rent or quit notice.
Even if I do not have a legal defense, can I still file an affidavit and ask for more time to pay the rent or move?
Yes. NRS 40.253 requires the court to hold a hearing even if you do not have a legal defense and just want to ask the court for more time to either pay the rent or move under NRS 70.010.
The Hearing Process
What if I want to contest the eviction?
The 5 day unlawful detainer must advise you of the court that has jurisdiction over your case. Southern Nevada has three main justice courts: Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas. If you live in Las Vegas or unincorporated Clark County, Las Vegas Justice Court has jurisdiction over your case. You file your affidavit with the clerk of the court.
If you file your affidavit with the clerk of the court and serve your affidavit to the landlord, you are then entitled to a hearing before the judge where you can present any legal defense to the eviction. The clerk will tell you what happens next.
You should not be evicted until your hearing and only if the judge finds that you have not raised a legal defense. Then, the judge signs an eviction order. Thus, the affidavit lets the landlord and the court know you are contesting the eviction and requires the court to set a hearing.
What happens at the hearing?
At your eviction hearing, tell the judge your side of the story. Your job is to convince the judge that you have a legal defense to the eviction. The Nevada Supreme Court has determined that “legal defense” is when you have a “genuine issue of material fact.” Anvui, LLC v. G.L. Dragon, LLC, 163 P.3d 405 (2007). You also have a legal defense if you fixed the nuisance or lease violation, did not do what the eviction notice alleges, or the nuisance or lease violation is not serious or repeated.
If the judge finds that you have raised a legal defense, the judge will deny the eviction. If you do not raise a legal defense, the judge will grant the eviction and you may legally be locked out within twenty-four (24) hours or the same day. You do have the right to ask for a stay of eviction for up to ten (10) days if the judge grants the eviction. Stays are generally only granted if you can show the court compelling reasons why you need it. You may file an appeal of the eviction action if you can show that the judge made an error of law in coming to his or her decision. You must file your appeal within 10 days of the eviction hearing.
Originally posted on Nevada Legal Services
