Nevada AB 121 Compliance Guide for Las Vegas Landlords

If you own or manage a rental in Las Vegas, Henderson, or anywhere in Clark County, the way you advertise rent and collect fees changed on October 1, 2025. That is the day Assembly Bill 121 took effect. AB 121 is the transparency law that housing advocates call the Nevada junk-fee law, and it rewrote several rules inside Nevada’s landlord-tenant statutes. This guide walks through what the law requires, what it does not require, and the practical steps a Las Vegas landlord should take to stay compliant on every listing and every lease.

What Is Nevada AB 121 and When Did It Take Effect

Assembly Bill 121 passed during Nevada’s 2025 legislative session and amended Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 118A, the body of law that governs residential landlord-tenant relationships across the state. The bill became effective on October 1, 2025, and it applies to new leases and renewals from that date forward. You can read the bill history and text on the Nevada Legislature’s official bill page.

The core idea behind AB 121 is simple. A renter should be able to look at an advertised price and know the full amount they will pay each month, without hidden add-ons appearing later on the lease. For landlords, that means the number you post has to be the real number, and the fees you charge have to follow new rules on disclosure, payment, and refunds. The stakes are not theoretical. A tenant who is misled on price can take a landlord to court, and a judge can award damages plus attorney fees.

Advertising the Maximum Total Periodic Rent

The headline change is how you state the price. AB 121 requires landlords to advertise and disclose a single, all-inclusive figure known as the maximum total periodic rent. This figure has to include the base rent plus every mandatory recurring charge a tenant must pay to occupy the unit, such as a monthly amenity fee, a required service charge, or a technology package that is not optional.

The single number rule follows the listing everywhere it appears. That includes the lease itself, your MLS entry, Zillow, Apartments.com, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, a printed flyer in a Summerlin leasing office, and any social media ad. If a mandatory fee is part of occupancy, it belongs inside the advertised figure, not tacked on after the applicant is already emotionally committed to the home.

There is a hard limit attached to this rule. A landlord cannot charge a tenant more than the maximum total periodic rent that was advertised and disclosed, no matter how the individual line items are broken out inside the lease. In other words, you can still itemize on the lease for clarity, but the sum a tenant is obligated to pay each period cannot exceed the all-in number you promised.

For Las Vegas operators who run properties with amenity fees, valet trash, or mandatory pest programs, this is the provision that requires the most attention. Optional services a tenant can decline may be handled separately, but anything a tenant has no choice but to pay is part of the advertised rent.

The Mandatory Fee-Free Rent Payment Method

AB 121 also targets how tenants pay. Under the law, a landlord must offer the tenant at least one method of paying rent that meets two conditions at the same time. First, the method cannot require the tenant to pay any fee or surcharge for using it. Second, the method cannot require the tenant to hand over bank account information.

In plain terms, a personal check, a money order, or a cashier’s check dropped at the office satisfies the requirement, because none of those charge the tenant a convenience fee and none force the tenant to expose a bank account number to an online portal. You can still offer card payments and online portals as options. You simply cannot make a fee-charging method the only way to pay.

There is a companion rule for those online portals. If you charge a fee for paying rent through a website or app, that charge must be identified separately in the rental agreement, and it cannot exceed what the portal operator actually charges you to process the payment. You are not allowed to mark up the processing fee and pocket the difference.

When Application Fees Must Be Refunded

Screening fees get their own guardrails under AB 121. If you collect an application fee to run a background check, a credit check, or income verification, that money is tied to the service it was collected for. If you end up renting the unit to a different applicant and you never performed the screening the fee was meant to cover, you have to refund it.

The logic is that an application fee is not a deposit and not extra income. It is reimbursement for a specific cost. When the cost is never incurred and the applicant is passed over, the fee goes back. This connects directly to how you document your screening pipeline, which we cover in more depth in our guide to Nevada rental application screening and adverse action.

AB 121 adds one more limit on screening charges. A landlord cannot collect an application, credit report, or background check fee for a minor in the household. Screening fees apply to the adults who will be responsible on the lease, not to children.

How AB 121 Compares to Other Nevada Fee Rules

AB 121 does not exist in a vacuum. Nevada already caps certain charges and controls how others are handled. Late fees, for example, are limited under separate statutes, and a landlord who stacks charges beyond what the law allows creates the same kind of exposure AB 121 was written to prevent. If you are unsure where your late-fee schedule stands, review what the state permits in our breakdown of Nevada late fee laws and what landlords can charge.

The through-line across all of these rules is transparency. A charge that is clearly disclosed, tied to a real cost, and inside the legal cap is defensible. A charge that surprises a tenant after move-in is the kind of fee AB 121 was designed to eliminate.

A Compliance Checklist for Las Vegas Landlords

Bringing a rental into line with AB 121 is not complicated, but it does require you to touch every place your price and fees appear. Here is a practical sequence.

1. Add up your base rent and every mandatory recurring fee for each unit, then set that sum as your maximum total periodic rent.
2. Update every live listing, from the MLS to Zillow to your Facebook Marketplace posts, so the advertised figure matches that all-in number.
3. Rewrite your lease template so the total obligation never exceeds the advertised figure, even if you itemize charges for clarity.
4. Confirm you offer at least one no-fee payment method that does not require bank account details, such as a check or money order.
5. If you use an online portal, disclose the processing fee separately and confirm it does not exceed the portal operator’s actual charge.
6. Set up an application fee tracking process so any fee for an unscreened, rejected applicant is refunded, and stop charging screening fees for minors.

Landlords who run properties in newer master plans like Cadence, Skye Canyon, or Inspirada should pay special attention to bundled amenity and technology fees, since those communities often build recurring charges into the resident experience. Those recurring charges belong inside the advertised rent.

What AB 121 Does Not Change

It helps to be clear about the limits of the law. AB 121 is a transparency and fee statute. It does not cap the amount of rent you can charge, and Nevada remains a state without statewide rent control. You are still free to price your Henderson or North Las Vegas rental at whatever the market supports. What the law changes is how honestly and completely that price has to be presented.

The law also does not eliminate legitimate optional charges. A tenant who chooses a covered parking spot or an upgraded package service can still be billed for it, provided the service is genuinely optional and clearly separated from the mandatory rent. The dividing line is choice. Mandatory means it is part of the advertised rent. Optional means it can sit outside the number, as long as the tenant is truly free to decline.

Frequently Asked Questions About Nevada AB 121

Does AB 121 apply to single-family rental homes or only apartments

AB 121 amended Nevada’s general residential landlord-tenant law, so its reach extends to residential rentals broadly, not just large apartment communities. A single-family home in Spring Valley and a condo in Enterprise are both subject to the same transparency and payment rules. If you advertise a residential unit for rent in Nevada, the all-in pricing and fee-free payment requirements apply.

Can I still charge an amenity fee under AB 121

Yes, but if the amenity fee is mandatory, it must be folded into the maximum total periodic rent you advertise. You cannot list a low base rent and then reveal a required amenity fee once the applicant is ready to sign. The advertised number has to already contain every recurring charge the tenant cannot avoid.

What happens if I violate AB 121

A tenant harmed by a violation can bring an action in court. Nevada law allows a judge to award the actual damages the tenant sustained, equitable relief, and the tenant’s court costs and reasonable attorney fees. For violations that involve deception in advertising, the law also allows statutory damages of 250 dollars per violation. Multiple listings and multiple tenants can multiply that exposure quickly, which is why fixing your advertising is the highest-value first step.

Do I have to refund every application fee

No. You only have to refund an application fee when you rent the unit to a different applicant and you did not actually perform the screening the fee was collected to cover. If you ran the background and credit checks that the fee paid for, the fee was used for its stated purpose. The refund obligation is about not keeping money for a service you never delivered.

Staying Ahead of Nevada’s Rental Laws

AB 121 is one piece of a fast-moving body of Nevada rental legislation that also touches deposits, screening, and habitability. Rules change session by session, and a lease template that was compliant two years ago may quietly fall out of step. For a wider view of the current landscape, our overview of Nevada landlord-tenant laws in 2026 pulls the major statutes together in one place.

The safest posture for a Las Vegas landlord is to treat transparency as the default. Advertise the true all-in number, offer an honest way to pay without a surcharge, and only keep fees you actually earned. Do that, and AB 121 becomes a formality rather than a liability.

Let the IRES Team Handle Compliance for You

Keeping every listing, lease, and payment method aligned with Nevada law is exactly the kind of detail that is easy to miss when you are managing a rental on your own. Our property management team stays current on AB 121 and the rest of Nevada’s landlord-tenant rules so your Las Vegas rental is advertised correctly, priced legally, and protected from avoidable disputes. If you would like a second set of eyes on your listings and lease, reach out to the IRES team for a consultation and we will walk through your portfolio with you.