Utilities 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 118A.390 reaches a landlord who willfully interrupts, or causes or permits the interruption of, any essential item or service required by the rental agreement or the chapter, and treats that the same way it treats a lockout under NRS 118A.480.
- You may recover immediate possession, proceed under NRS 118A.380, or terminate the rental agreement - and in addition to any other remedy recover actual damages, an amount not greater than $2,500 to be fixed by the court, or both.
- That $2,500 is a ceiling, not an automatic payout. In setting the amount the court must consider whether the landlord acted in good faith, the course of conduct between the two of you, and the degree of harm to you.
- The fast route is a verified complaint for expedited relief: file within 5 judicial days after the unlawful act or it is dismissed, and the court must hold a hearing not later than 3 judicial days after filing.
- NRS 118A.200(3)(j) requires every written Nevada rental agreement to set out the respective responsibilities of the landlord and the tenant as to the payment of utility charges.
Understanding the Utilities Clause
The utilities clause decides who pays for power, gas, water and the air-conditioning a Las Vegas summer runs on - and, more importantly, what happens the day one of them goes dark. Nevada answers that second question with a number and a clock, which is unusual. Most states hand you one or the other.
The number is a ceiling a judge sets rather than a sum you are simply owed, and the clock is short in both directions. Read the current text of NRS 118A.390 yourself before you put a figure in a complaint.
What renters assume
A renter who checks the Nevada Supreme Court's own fill-in complaint form - still posted, last revised in 2006 - reads that the claim is statutory damages of $1,000, and takes that as the number.
What is actually true
The form prints a superseded figure. $1,000 was the ceiling in the 2010 text of the section; NRS 118A.390 now reads an amount not greater than $2,500, to be fixed by the court. Claim the current figure, not the one on the form.
Nevada is one of only eight states on this chart that fixes a dollar ceiling at all, and at $2,500 it sits third among them - behind New York City's $10,000 and Denver's $5,000, ahead of Washington's $2,000, Austin's $1,000, Atlanta's $500 and the $300 figures in Chicago and Boston.
The other seven bars are blank for three different reasons, so read the labels before you read the heights. Four of those cities measure the remedy in rent instead - Miami at three months', Phoenix, Philadelphia and Portland at two - while Los Angeles and Seattle run at $100 a day with no cap, and Nashville's answer is actual plus punitive damages.
Plain English Version
Nevada treats a deliberate shutoff as the same kind of wrong as changing your locks. If the landlord cuts something essential on purpose, you can ask a justice court for what the outage actually cost you plus a penalty the court sets up to the ceiling the statute names, and you can ask quickly: there is a short window to file and an even shorter one before the hearing. If the service simply failed and the landlord will not deal with it, that is a different section with its own notice period, and it lets you buy the service yourself and take the cost off the rent.
Utilities 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.
Upon Tenant’s request, Landlord will provide a copy of the actual utility bill for the property. In addition, Landlord will make available an accounting of the utility bill prorations.
Quoted from the published opinion in Kutscheid v. Emerald Square Properties, Inc., 770 N.W.2d 529 (Minn. Ct. App. 2009). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“Tenant’s request, Landlord will”
Nothing happens until you ask, and you can only ask after signing. Nevada does place a utility duty at the other end of that timeline: under NRS 118A.200(3)(j) every written rental agreement must set out the “respective responsibilities of the landlord and the tenant as to the payment of utility charges.” That is the split, not what the building spent. Our Nevada record is about the interruption of an essential service and does not reach a pre-signing disclosure of a shared bill, which leaves the paragraph you signed as the document that answers it.
“provide a copy of the actual utility”
“Actual” is the word Nevada attaches money to, though not to this promise. Under NRS 118A.380, if the landlord fails to supply heat, air-conditioning, running water, hot water, electricity, gas or a functioning door lock and the unit becomes unfit to live in, you give written notice, wait 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and may then buy the service and deduct its actual and reasonable cost from rent, withhold rent without incurring late fees, or take comparable housing while rent on the original unit abates.
“addition, Landlord will make”
A second promise, added because the first leaves a gap: the bill does not show how that total became your line item. NRS 118A.390 reaches a landlord who willfully interrupts, or causes or permits the interruption of, any essential item or service, and treats that like blocking your entry or otherwise recovering possession in violation of NRS 118A.480. It runs on a verified complaint for expedited relief, filed within 5 judicial days of the unlawful act or it is dismissed.
“available an accounting of the utility bill”
The proration is the number you actually pay; the Nevada figure is attached to the service going off: actual damages, an amount not greater than $2,500 to be fixed by the court, or both, with the court weighing the landlord's good faith, the course of conduct, and the degree of harm done - Washington and California run up to $100 a day with no ceiling. Las Vegas Code Enforcement takes complaints about a lack of heat, air conditioning, adequate plumbing and electrical issues in a dwelling unit; it “does not address mold, civil, criminal and financial disputes between a landlord and tenant.”
A promise to show you the bill later is not disclosure. The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed. The addendum allocated the building's gas bill by share of rentable square footage and its water and sewer bill equally among the units - that is the court's own description of the formula, not the lease's words - and it promised the actual bill on request. That did not satisfy Minn. Stat. § 504B.215, subd. 2a(1), which requires the landlord of a single-metered residential building that bills utilities separately from rent to give prospective tenants, before they sign, the total utility cost for the whole building for each month of the most recent calendar year. A leasing agent's statement that the tenant's own unit averaged $60 to $80 a month was insufficient, and disclosure after signing was irrelevant. Her actual charges ran $168.18 for December 2007, $171.39 for January 2008 and $170.67 for February 2008. The court also held that the treble-damages remedy in § 504B.221(a) does not reach this violation, and remanded for actual damages - a clean win on the rule, and a much smaller one on the money.
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 Utilities Clause
- NRS 118A.390 reaches a landlord who 'willfully interrupts or causes or permits the interruption of any essential item or service required by the rental agreement or this chapter,' and treats that the same way it treats removing the tenant, blocking the tenant's entry, or otherwise recovering possession in violation of NRS 118A.480.
- The tenant may recover immediate possession, proceed under NRS 118A.380, or terminate the rental agreement and, in addition to any other remedy, recover actual damages, 'receive an amount not greater than $2,500 to be fixed by the court, or both.' In setting that amount the court must consider whether the landlord acted in good faith, the course of conduct between the landlord and the tenant, and the degree of harm to the tenant. The ceiling was $1,000 in the 2010 text of the same section, and the Nevada Supreme Court's fill-in complaint form, last revised in 2006 and still posted, prints the superseded $1,000 figure.
- The fast route is a verified complaint for expedited relief. It must be filed within 5 judicial days after the unlawful act or it is dismissed, the court must hold a hearing not later than 3 judicial days after filing, and the court may order the landlord to restore the premises or the essential items or services, award the damages, and enjoin further violations or hold the landlord in contempt. Filing costs and fees are deferred and then assessed against the party that does not prevail.
- NRS 118A.380 is the parallel remedy where the landlord simply fails to supply heat, air-conditioning, running water, hot water, electricity, gas or a functioning door lock and the unit becomes unfit to live in: after written notice and 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, the tenant may buy the service and deduct its actual and reasonable cost from rent, recover actual damages, withhold rent without incurring late fees, or take comparable housing while rent on the original unit fully abates. Every written Nevada rental agreement must already set out the 'respective responsibilities of the landlord and the tenant as to the payment of utility charges' under NRS 118A.200(3)(j).
NRS 118A.390 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Nevada's rule lives in NRS 118A.390. It reaches a landlord who 'willfully interrupts or causes or permits the interruption of any essential item or service required by the rental agreement or this chapter,' and it puts that conduct in the same box as removing the tenant, blocking the tenant's entry, or otherwise recovering possession in violation of NRS 118A.480.
The menu of remedies is wide. You may recover immediate possession, proceed under NRS 118A.380, or terminate the rental agreement, and in addition to any other remedy you may recover actual damages, 'receive an amount not greater than $2,500 to be fixed by the court, or both.'
Read that as a ceiling rather than a check waiting to be cashed. In setting the amount the court must consider whether the landlord acted in good faith, the course of conduct between the landlord and the tenant, and the degree of harm to the tenant - so the same shutoff can be worth very different sums depending on how it happened.
The part most renters never hear about is the speed. A verified complaint for expedited relief must be filed within 5 judicial days after the unlawful act or it is dismissed, and the court must hold a hearing not later than 3 judicial days after filing.
On that complaint the court may order the landlord to restore the premises or the essential items or services, award the damages, and enjoin further violations or hold the landlord in contempt. Filing costs and fees are deferred and then assessed against the party that does not prevail.
NRS 118A.380 is the parallel route, and it answers a different fact pattern. The landlord has not cut anything on purpose but simply fails to supply heat, air-conditioning, running water, hot water, electricity, gas or a functioning door lock, and the unit becomes unfit to live in.
After written notice and 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, you may buy the service and deduct its actual and reasonable cost from rent. The same section also lets you recover actual damages, withhold rent without incurring late fees, or take comparable housing while rent on the original unit fully abates.
Before any of that, the agreement itself has a job to do. NRS 118A.200(3)(j) requires every written Nevada rental agreement to set out the respective responsibilities of the landlord and the tenant as to the payment of utility charges, which is the line to look for before you sign rather than after a bill arrives.
Nevada Tenant Protections
A landlord who willfully interrupts, or causes or permits the interruption of, any essential item or service required by the rental agreement or the chapter is liable to you under NRS 118A.390, which treats that conduct like a lockout under NRS 118A.480. You may recover immediate possession, proceed under NRS 118A.380, or terminate the rental agreement, and in addition to any other remedy recover actual damages, an amount not greater than $2,500 to be fixed by the court, or both; in setting that amount the court must consider the landlord's good faith, the course of conduct between you, and the degree of harm to you.
A verified complaint for expedited relief must be filed within 5 judicial days after the unlawful act or it is dismissed, and the court must hold a hearing not later than 3 judicial days after filing, with filing costs and fees deferred and then assessed against the party that does not prevail.
Where the landlord instead fails to supply heat, air-conditioning, running water, hot water, electricity, gas or a functioning door lock and the unit becomes unfit to live in, NRS 118A.380 lets you, after written notice and 48 hours excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, buy the service and deduct its actual and reasonable cost from rent, recover actual damages, withhold rent without incurring late fees, or take comparable housing while rent on the original unit fully abates.
NRS 118A.200(3)(j) requires the written rental agreement to set out who pays which utility charges.
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.
Las Vegas adds no shutoff penalty of its own. The city's landlord and tenant brochure names the local layer as the Las Vegas Municipal Codes for building, fire and zoning, and points to NRS 118A for landlord and tenant law, so a Las Vegas renter's money remedy comes from NRS 118A.390 on a verified complaint filed in justice court.
The city does have a role, and it is worth knowing exactly where it stops. The Code Enforcement Division responds to complaints about a lack of heat, air conditioning, adequate plumbing and electrical issues in a dwelling unit, and the same brochure lists 'Provide a safe, habitable dwelling unit with all utilities/services in good working condition' as a landlord responsibility.
But the brochure is equally plain that Code Enforcement 'does not address mold, civil, criminal and financial disputes between a landlord and tenant.' A code complaint can get the condition looked at, but it is not the thing that puts $2,500 or your actual damages in your hand - so do not let it stand in for the money claim, which has only 5 judicial days to be filed.
So run both tracks if you need to, and keep the deadline in view. Confirm the current text of the statute and check for any newer city rule before relying on these figures.
It has to. NRS 118A.200(3)(j) requires the written rental agreement to set out the respective responsibilities of landlord and tenant as to the payment of utility charges.
NRS 118A.380 names air-conditioning alongside heat, running water, hot water, electricity and gas. Get the lease to say who maintains it and who pays to run it.
Red flag. Willfully interrupting an essential item or service exposes the landlord under NRS 118A.390 to actual damages and an amount not greater than $2,500 fixed by the court.
That gap is what NRS 118A.200(3)(j) exists to close. Ask which charge sits under which paragraph, and get the answer written in before you sign.
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 118A.390, 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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'Tenant pays all utilities'
No list, no split. NRS 118A.200(3)(j) requires the agreement to set out the respective responsibilities for the payment of utility charges, so ask for the line-by-line version.
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Shutoff threat over late rent
A clause reserving the right to cut power for unpaid rent describes conduct NRS 118A.390 prices at actual damages plus an amount not greater than $2,500 fixed by the court.
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Air-conditioning left unassigned
NRS 118A.380 lists air-conditioning with heat, running water, hot water, electricity and gas. A lease silent on who maintains it is a Las Vegas summer argument waiting to happen.
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No deducting, says the lease
A clause telling you never to buy a utility yourself and take it off the rent runs against NRS 118A.380, which allows exactly that after written notice and 48 hours.
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No answer on who holds accounts
When every account stays in the owner's name, the owner's unpaid balance becomes your dark apartment. Ask before signing and get the answer written into the agreement.
Your Rights as a Las Vegas Tenant
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$2,500, your damages, or both
For a willful interruption of an essential item or service, NRS 118A.390 lets you recover actual damages, an amount not greater than $2,500 to be fixed by the court, or both.
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A hearing in 3 judicial days
File a verified complaint for expedited relief within 5 judicial days of the unlawful act and the court must hold a hearing not later than 3 judicial days after filing.
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Restoration, not just money
On that expedited complaint the court may order the landlord to restore the premises or the essential items or services, award the damages, and enjoin further violations or hold the landlord in contempt.
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Buy the service, deduct the cost
Under NRS 118A.380, after written notice and 48 hours excluding weekends and legal holidays, you may buy the service and deduct its actual and reasonable cost from rent.
What To Do - Step by Step
Write down the exact time
Photograph the dark meter, the dead thermostat, the dry tap. Note the exact date and time service stopped, because both Nevada clocks run from that moment.
Call the utility, not the landlord first
Ask who requested the disconnect and why. A landlord-requested shutoff, or one over the landlord's own unpaid balance, is the fact your whole claim rests on.
Put your notice in writing and date it
Where the service failed rather than being cut, NRS 118A.380 runs on written notice plus 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Keep a dated copy.
Keep every receipt
Actual damages are half the remedy. Hotel nights, fans, spoiled groceries, and the actual and reasonable cost of any service you buy under NRS 118A.380 all have to be provable.
File the verified complaint inside 5 judicial days
This is the step with no second chance. A verified complaint for expedited relief filed later than 5 judicial days after the unlawful act is dismissed; costs and fees are deferred, then assessed against the party that does not prevail.
Check the statute as it reads today
Confirm the current text of NRS 118A.390 before filing in the justice court that hears Las Vegas landlord-tenant cases - and claim $2,500, not the older figure still printed on the courts' fill-in form.