Lease Acceleration Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Nevada law says, what's specific to Las Vegas - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- NRS 118.175 provides that if a tenant of real property abandons the property, the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental.
- NRS 118.171 defines the property those sections cover to include an apartment, a dwelling, a landlord-owned mobile home on the landlord's own property, and commercial premises.
- Where the landlord re-rents early, or cannot re-rent despite reasonable efforts, a former tenant is liable for the actual damages resulting from the abandonment.
- Where the landlord makes no reasonable effort at a fair rental, liability reaches only actual damages occurring before they had reason to believe the property was abandoned.
- NRS 118.185 ends the agreement on whichever of its listed events comes first, and on a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy NRS 118.175 deems the term a month or a week.
Understanding the Lease Acceleration Clause
An acceleration clause is the line that converts a departure into a single debt. Rent stops falling due month by month and the unexpired term becomes one figure, payable the day the keys change hands.
Nevada meets that with a statute, and not one in the chapter a Las Vegas renter gets pointed to. NRS 118.175 sits in chapter 118, and it puts the work on the landlord: reasonable efforts to rent an abandoned property at a fair rental.
What renters assume
The obvious place to look is chapter 118A, Nevada's residential landlord and tenant act, because that is the chapter a Las Vegas renter gets pointed to. Read down its full section list and nothing on rent acceleration appears, which makes the paragraph look like a private arrangement the state never reached.
What is actually true
The section that governs is one chapter over. NRS 118.175 requires reasonable efforts to rent an abandoned property at a fair rental, and NRS 118.171 puts an apartment and a dwelling inside the definition it works from.
Sixteen cities sit on this chart and every row is labelled with words rather than a figure, so there is no number here to rank one state against another. Ten of the sixteen labels open with the word mandatory; the other six run the other way, with Miami and Philadelphia reading no duty to re-rent, Atlanta likely no duty, Denver and Columbus answering with case law and Boston with its 93A limits.
Las Vegas is in the first group, and three rows there read Mandatory on abandonment word for word: Las Vegas, Seattle and Portland. Phoenix's label turns on abandonment as well, so four of the sixteen start the duty at the same event rather than at the notice you give.
The shared label still hides different machinery. Seattle's statute caps a fixed-term tenant at the lesser of two amounts, and Oregon deems the agreement terminated where the landlord does not try. Nevada fixes no cap and no deadline: it measures the landlord's actual damages under NRS 118.175 and, where no effort was made, stops the bill at the point they had reason to believe the property was abandoned.
Plain English Version
Nevada does not ask what the paragraph adds up to. It asks what your landlord actually lost after you went, and it tells them to hold that loss down by renting the place again at a fair price. A landlord who never tries cannot count the months that piled up after they had reason to know the unit was empty for good.
Rent Acceleration Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Las Vegas, NV
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
Set out here as the opinion sets it out, and one sentence short of the end. The lease goes on to say when late fees and interest may begin to run on an accelerated amount, and that sentence is not shown:
If any monthly installment under this agreement is not paid when due and remains unpaid after a date specified by a notice to Tenant, the entire principal rent amount owed for the full lease term shall at once become due and payable at the option of the Landlord and judgment may be had for all said amounts due. The foregoing provision shall not relieve the Landlord of its obligation to mitigate damages. In the event the rental premises is re-rented to another for full value prior to expiration of the lease term, Landlord shall file Notice of Partial Satisfaction of any judgment entered to the extent of the third party rental agreement.
[…]
Quoted from the published opinion in Summers v. Crestview Apartments, 2010 MT 164, 357 Mont. 123, 236 P.3d 586 (No. DA 09-0489). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“not paid when due and remains”
The trigger here is money: a missed payment, then a notice date passing. Nevada's own section starts elsewhere, with the unit standing empty. NRS 118.175 is written for a tenant who abandons the property, and NRS 118.171 defines the real property it reaches to include an apartment and a dwelling, so an ordinary Las Vegas apartment tenancy is covered. Nevada aims a second power at the wording itself: under NRS 118A.230 a court finding a provision unconscionable when made may refuse to enforce the agreement, enforce the rest without it, or limit how it applies.
“the full lease term shall at once”
This is the quantity the paragraph exists to produce, and it is not the quantity Nevada's section works in. Under NRS 118.175 a former tenant who abandons is liable for the landlord's actual damages resulting from the abandonment, the loss the landlord can show rather than the rent left on the calendar. Arizona gets there from a second direction: A.R.S. § 33-1368(C) limits recovery to reasonable damages, court costs and attorney fees and does not authorize accelerated future rent, alongside the re-renting duty in A.R.S. § 33-1370.
“foregoing provision shall not relieve”
The lease treats re-renting as a duty it is declining to take away, and in Nevada it is not the lease's to withhold. NRS 118.175 provides that if a tenant of real property abandons it, “the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental.” The consequence sits in the same section: where the landlord fails to make reasonable efforts to rent the property at a fair rental, the former tenant is liable only for actual damages occurring before the landlord had reason to believe the property was abandoned. A cut-off date, not a discount.
“Partial Satisfaction of any judgment”
The lease answers a replacement tenant with a credit against a judgment already entered. Nevada answers sooner. Under NRS 118.185, after an abandonment the rental agreement terminates when the landlord accepts a surrender offered with notice, or re-rents to another tenant, or the property is deemed abandoned under NRS 118.195, or a court order or chapter 118A ends it, or the term expires, whichever occurs first. Termination on that date stops the rent running against you, rather than trimming a total already fixed.
The Montana Supreme Court struck this paragraph down, and its conclusion is one sentence: “Thus, we conclude that the accelerated rent provision is unconscionable and therefore unenforceable.” The tenants had moved out of their apartment on October 13, 2006, and Crestview answered with a Statement of Deductions from the Security Deposit charging rent through the end of the lease in June - $6,505.75 billed against a $2,170 deposit. Two reasons carried the court. Acceleration undermines the landlord's duty to mitigate and reduces the incentive to re-rent promptly, because a landlord already holding a judgment for the whole term has little reason to fill the unit. And Crestview drafted the lease while these tenants had no meaningful choice and no opportunity to negotiate any of it. The case was reversed and remanded, and two justices wrote separately - their objection being that the majority had gone as far as treating acceleration clauses as unenforceable in themselves. So read the holding narrowly, as the majority wrote it: this provision, in this residential lease, unconscionable and unenforceable. It is a Montana decision and it binds no other state's courts. What travels is the reasoning, and the reasoning is about mitigation - which is exactly the question the statute in your own city's decode answers.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Nevada Law on Lease Acceleration Clause
- NRS 118.175 states that 'If a tenant of real property abandons the property, the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental.' NRS 118.171 defines 'real property' for that group of sections to include 'an apartment, a dwelling, a mobile home that is owned by a landlord and located on property owned by the landlord and commercial premises,' so the duty covers an ordinary Las Vegas apartment tenancy.
- The consequence of not trying is written into the same section. If the landlord re-rents for a term beginning before the agreement would have expired, or despite reasonable efforts cannot re-rent before the agreement is otherwise terminated, the former tenant is liable for any actual damages of the landlord which may result from the abandonment. But if the landlord 'fails to make reasonable efforts to rent the property at a fair rental,' the former tenant is liable only for actual damages occurring before the landlord had reason to believe the property was abandoned.
- NRS 118.185 closes off the accrual period separately: after an abandonment the rental agreement terminates when the landlord accepts a surrender offered with notice, or re-rents to another tenant, or the property is deemed abandoned under NRS 118.195, or a court order or chapter 118A ends it, or the term expires, 'whichever occurs first.' For a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy, NRS 118.175 deems the term of the agreement to be a month or a week.
- The full section list of chapter 118A, Nevada's residential act, carries no section on rent acceleration, and neither NRS 118.175 nor NRS 118.185 sets a deadline or a procedure for re-renting, so whether the landlord's efforts were reasonable is judged case by case. NRS 118A.230 separately allows a court that finds a rental agreement or any of its provisions unconscionable when made to refuse to enforce the agreement, enforce the remainder without the unconscionable provision, or limit the application of that provision to avoid an unconscionable result.
NRS 118.175 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
The operative sentence is short. NRS 118.175 provides that if a tenant of real property abandons the property, the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental. Abandonment is the trigger the section names, and the duty it states runs from there.
It reaches ordinary rentals. NRS 118.171 defines real property, for that group of sections, to include an apartment, a dwelling, a mobile home that is owned by a landlord and located on property owned by the landlord, and commercial premises, which puts a Las Vegas apartment tenancy inside the duty.
What follows splits two ways. If the landlord re-rents for a term beginning before the agreement would have expired, or despite reasonable efforts cannot re-rent before the agreement is otherwise terminated, the former tenant is liable for any actual damages of the landlord which may result from the abandonment. If instead the landlord fails to make reasonable efforts to rent the property at a fair rental, the former tenant is liable only for actual damages occurring before the landlord had reason to believe the property was abandoned.
NRS 118.185 settles the other half of the arithmetic, which is when the running stops. After an abandonment the rental agreement terminates on whichever comes first of the landlord accepting a surrender offered with notice, re-renting to another tenant, the property being deemed abandoned under NRS 118.195, a court order or chapter 118A ending it, or the term expiring. For a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy, NRS 118.175 deems the term of the agreement to be a month or a week.
One more section sits behind all of that. NRS 118A.230 lets a court that finds a rental agreement, or any provision of it, unconscionable when it was made refuse to enforce the agreement, enforce what is left without that provision, or limit how the provision applies so that it does not produce an unconscionable result.
Neither NRS 118.175 nor NRS 118.185 sets a deadline or a procedure for re-renting, so whether the efforts were reasonable is argued on the facts of your own case. Read the current text of both before you rely on either.
Nevada Tenant Protections
The duty belongs to the landlord rather than to you: after an abandonment NRS 118.175 says they shall make reasonable efforts to rent the property at a fair rental, and what a former tenant owes is measured as actual damages resulting from the abandonment rather than as the unexpired term.
A landlord who fails to make those efforts at a fair rental is held to a shorter window, reaching only actual damages occurring before they had reason to believe the property was abandoned. NRS 118.185 then gives the accrual an end date, terminating the agreement on the first of its listed events, among them an accepted surrender offered with notice and a re-rental to another tenant.
On a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy NRS 118.175 deems the term a month or a week, and NRS 118A.230 lets a court that finds an agreement or a provision unconscionable when made refuse to enforce it, enforce the rest without it, or limit how it applies.
What's Specific to Las Vegas
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Our record finds no City of Las Vegas or Clark County ordinance on rent acceleration or on the duty to mitigate. The answer for a departing renter here is the state one, whichever side of the city line the unit sits on.
The city's own landlord and tenant brochure points renters to chapter 118A for landlord and tenant law, and this is the question where that pointer stops short. The full section list of chapter 118A carries no rent-acceleration section, while the section deciding what your landlord must do with the empty unit is a chapter away at NRS 118.175.
The same brochure is plain about where the city's help ends, saying the Code Enforcement Division “does not address mold, civil, criminal and financial disputes between a landlord and tenant.” What you owe after leaving early is that kind of dispute, so it gets settled under the state sections in court and not by a call to the city.
It should, and the duty runs either way. NRS 118.175 requires reasonable efforts to rent an abandoned property at a fair rental.
That tracks NRS 118.185, which terminates the agreement when the landlord re-rents to another tenant, on whichever of its listed events comes first.
Ask what loss the figure stands for. After an abandonment NRS 118.175 measures liability as actual damages, not as the months left on the calendar.
Raise it before you sign. NRS 118.175 says the landlord shall make reasonable efforts at a fair rental, and NRS 118A.230 lets a court limit a provision it finds unconscionable when made.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- NRS 118.175, read on law.justia.com. Nevada publishes the official text at www.leg.state.nv.us.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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The whole term arriving as one number
Every unexpired month billed on the day you go. NRS 118.175 measures the landlord's actual damages after an abandonment, so ask what loss each part of that figure stands for.
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Wording that retires the re-rental duty
A sentence freeing your landlord from finding anybody else. Set it against NRS 118.175, under which the landlord shall make reasonable efforts to rent the property at a fair rental.
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Rent still running past a new tenancy
You are billed for months a replacement was already paying for. NRS 118.185 terminates the agreement when the landlord re-rents to another tenant, on whichever listed event comes first.
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A lease-break fee sitting on top of the balance
One vacancy, charged twice on the same statement. Ask, before you pay either one, which of them is subtracted from the other, because what Nevada measures is actual damages.
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A relisting priced above what you paid
The unit reappears at a higher rent and then sits. NRS 118.175 asks for reasonable efforts at a fair rental, so keep the advertisement, the date it ran and the rent it asked.
Your Rights as a Las Vegas Tenant
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A duty written into the statute
NRS 118.175 requires reasonable efforts to rent an abandoned property at a fair rental, and NRS 118.171 puts an apartment and a dwelling inside the definition it uses.
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Actual damages, not the unexpired term
Where the landlord re-rents early, or cannot re-rent despite reasonable efforts, the former tenant is liable for the actual damages resulting from the abandonment.
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A shorter window when nobody tried
Where the landlord fails to make reasonable efforts at a fair rental, liability reaches only actual damages occurring before they had reason to believe the property was abandoned.
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An end date for the accrual
NRS 118.185 terminates the agreement on the first of its listed events, and on a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy NRS 118.175 deems the term a month or a week.
What To Do - Step by Step
Read the paragraph before it is quoted at you
It is usually filed under default or remedies, and the giveaway words are accelerate, immediately due and payable, and the entire balance of the term.
Put the handover in writing
Say in a dated letter or email that you are giving the unit back. NRS 118.185 ends the agreement when a landlord accepts a surrender offered with notice, so make the offer one you can prove you made.
Leave the unit re-lettable, and record that you did
Hand the keys over on a date you can evidence, and walk the rooms with a camera the same day. If the place was ready to let, a long vacancy needs some other explanation.
Follow the advertisement week by week
Save the listing from the management company's own site and from the big rental portals, keeping the date and the rent asked each time either changes. Reasonable efforts at a fair rental is a factual question, answered with records.
Ask for the arithmetic in writing
Request the date the unit went back on the market, the date a new tenancy began, the rent that tenant pays, and an itemization of the actual damages claimed. A move-out statement is a claim your landlord would have to prove, not a settled debt.
Take advice before you sign or pay anything
A Nevada landlord-tenant attorney or a local legal aid office can read your paragraph against NRS 118.175 and NRS 118A.230, and confirm the current text of the sections with you.