Nevada deposit deductions: the condition record belongs in the lease

Each state in this series puts the weight of a deposit dispute somewhere different. Colorado lets the tenant demand your photographs. Utah asks for a written itemization. Arizona puts the tenant in the room at move-out. Idaho points back at the deposit clause you wrote at signing. Montana writes down who has to prove what. Nevada puts the move-in record somewhere none of them do: inside the lease itself. Any written rental agreement in Nevada must contain “a signed record of the inventory and condition of the premises under the exclusive custody and control of the tenant.”

This article sets out what the Nevada Revised Statutes actually say, and then what that means for the photos you keep. It covers Nevada only.

What the statute says

We read the current text of NRS chapter 118A (sections 118A.110, 118A.200, 118A.240, 118A.242 and 118A.244) on the Nevada Legislature’s site, in the revision that includes the 2025 session — not a summary. Section 118A.200 was amended in 2025, so an older summary may not match the text below.

• The condition record is a required lease provision. “Any written rental agreement must contain, but is not limited to, provisions relating to the following subjects”, and the list includes “a signed record of the inventory and condition of the premises under the exclusive custody and control of the tenant” (118A.200(3)(k)), along with the deposits required “and the conditions for their refund” (3)(f). Using a written agreement that does not conform to the section is, in the statute’s word, “unlawful” (118A.200(9)).
• No written lease, a presumption instead. “The absence of a written agreement raises a disputable presumption” that, “other than normal wear, the premises will be returned in the same condition as when the tenancy began” (118A.200(5)(d)). That presumption still leaves someone needing to show what the condition was when the tenancy began.
• What a deposit may cover. Three things: remedying a default in rent, “repairing damages to the premises other than normal wear caused by the tenant”, and cleaning the dwelling unit (118A.240(1)). At the end of the tenancy the landlord may claim “only such amounts as are reasonably necessary” for those purposes, including “the reasonable costs of cleaning the premises” (118A.242(4)).
• Normal wear is defined. It “means that deterioration which occurs without negligence, carelessness or abuse of the premises, equipment or chattels” by the tenant, the household or someone there with the tenant’s consent (118A.110).
• Thirty days, itemized, in writing. The landlord must provide “an itemized, written accounting of the disposition of the security deposit” and return what remains “no later than 30 days after the termination of the tenancy”, handed over where rent is paid or mailed to the tenant’s present or last known address (118A.242(4)).
• Miss the 30 days and the deposit can count twice. A landlord who fails or refuses to return the remainder within 30 days is liable for damages “in an amount equal to the entire security deposit”, and for a further sum fixed by the court “of not more than the amount of the entire security deposit” (118A.242(6)). For that second sum the court considers whether the landlord acted in good faith, the course of conduct between the two sides, and the harm to the tenant (118A.242(7)).
• Little can be made nonrefundable. Apart from “a nonrefundable charge for cleaning, in a reasonable amount”, no lease may call a deposit nonrefundable or waive the tenant’s rights under the section; such a clause is void (118A.242(8)).
• Surety bonds get their own dispute step. Where the tenant bought a surety bond instead of paying a deposit, the tenant may send the surety a written response disputing an item in your accounting; sent within 30 days, it stops the surety reporting the claim to a credit agency unless the surety obtains a judgment (118A.242(5)).
• Sale of the building. When your interest ends, you must notify the tenant of the successor and transfer the deposit, or return it; the successor takes on “the rights, obligations and liabilities of the former landlord” as to the deposit (118A.244(1)).

Notice the shape of this. As in every other state in this series, nothing in these sections mentions photographs. What Nevada does is make the starting condition a signed part of the lease, so the move-in record is not a courtesy you extend to the tenant; it is a provision the statute expects to find in the agreement. The statute does not say, in these sections, what happens to a deduction when that record is missing or thin. We did not research how Nevada courts treat that.

Where the photos come in

The signed record is words — the photos are what stand behind it

An inventory-and-condition form says “carpet: good, small stain by closet”. A tenant who disputes a carpet deduction will ask how small, and which closet. Photographs taken the day the record is signed, kept with it, are what answer that — and because the record is part of the lease, it is natural to treat the photos as an attachment to the lease rather than something on a phone. Whether a given set of photos persuades a Nevada court is a court’s call; the statute only tells you the written record has to exist.

“Itemized” is a list of claims, and each claim is a pair of pictures

The 30-day accounting has to be itemized, and every item has to be “reasonably necessary” and caused by the tenant, not normal wear. The cheapest way to show the difference between a stain the tenant caused and a carpet that simply aged is the same spot photographed at move-in and at move-out. If a contractor did the repair, their before-and-after photos and invoice support the amount; what the after picture proves covers what those files can and cannot show.

The 30-day clock makes file dates worth reading

Under 118A.242(6) the penalty turns on time, and the second part of it turns on good faith. A tidy set of dated photos, an itemized list and a refund sent inside the window is what good faith looks like on paper. Read your photos’ dates before you rely on them: a phone’s photos and videos write their times differently, and a date shifted by a time zone is an argument you do not want to have in front of a judge.

A short routine that fits the statute

1. Put the inventory and condition record in every written lease, signed. Nevada lists it as a required provision. Keep the photos taken that day with it.
2. Keep the move-in photos as originals — off the phone by cable, not through a message app or a portal. Which routes keep the camera record explains why.
3. At move-out, photograph the same spots as the move-in set. A matching pair is what separates damage from normal wear, which Nevada defines and excludes.
4. Never edit the original. Circle the damage on a copy and keep both. Some phone editing tools write into the file that generative AI was used; the damage may be perfectly real, but it is an argument you did not need to have. What an AI-edited photo records explains.
5. Send the itemized accounting and the remainder inside 30 days. Late, and the tenant can claim the entire deposit plus up to the same again.
6. Keep everything, unchanged. A SHA-256 fingerprint of each file lets you show later that the photo in front of a court is the one you took. Change one pixel and the fingerprint changes completely.

The limits, stated plainly

• This is not legal advice. It is our reading of the current statute text, and it covers Nevada only. We did not research Nevada case law — including what happens to deductions when the lease lacks the condition record, or how courts weigh photographs — and we did not research what the 2025 amendments changed from the prior text. Local ordinances, your lease and case law can all matter. Check your situation with a Nevada lawyer or your association.
• A photo with an intact camera record is corroboration, not proof. Camera data can be edited, and a real photo can still be of the wrong unit or taken on the wrong day.
• A photo with no camera record is not a fake. Screenshots, chat apps and many portals remove it from genuine photos every day.
• Our checker does not judge a picture by looking at it, and gives no confidence score. It reads what is in the file, in your browser, and uploads nothing.

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ImposterShield reads the evidence inside image and video files. It runs in your browser and uploads nothing. If a file has been stripped, it says so. If it has not read a file, it says that too.