Free Nevada Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A Nevada commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a storefront, an office, a warehouse, a restaurant space — to a tenant who will trade from it. Nevada splits its landlord and tenant law by property type at chapter level: NRS Chapter 118A covers dwellings, and NRS Chapter 118C is headed Landlord and Tenant: Commercial Premises.

Very few states legislate this way. It means the rules below were written with business tenants in mind rather than adapted from residential ones.

Chapter 118C concentrates on what a landlord may and may not do to a tenant in possession.

Utilities and Fixtures

NRS 118C.200 sets basic obligations. A landlord or the landlord’s agent may not interrupt, or cause the interruption of, a utility service that the tenant pays for directly to the utility company, unless the interruption results from construction, bona fide repairs, or an emergency.

The section also bars removing a lock, latch, hinge, hinge pin, doorknob, or other mechanism connected to a door, window, or attic hatchway cover, and any furniture, fixtures, or appliances the landlord furnished — unless the removal is for a bona fide repair or replacement, which must then be performed promptly.

Lockouts and the Key Notice

A landlord may not intentionally prevent a tenant from entering the commercial premises except by judicial process, subject to the exceptions the section sets out. Where a landlord does change the door lock of premises let to a tenant delinquent in rent, § 118C.200 requires a written notice on the front door giving the name and the address or telephone number of the person or company from whom the new key may be obtained.

The new key need only be provided during the tenant’s regular business hours, and only if the tenant pays the delinquent rent.

The tenant can go to court quickly, and can also sue. Under NRS 118C.200, a tenant facing a violation may recover possession of the commercial premises or terminate the lease, and may recover from the landlord the tenant’s actual damages, one month’s rent or $500 whichever is greater, reasonable attorney’s fees, and court costs — less any delinquent rent or other sums the tenant owes.

NRS 118C.210 supplies the fast route. Where a landlord locks a tenant out in violation of § 118C.200, the tenant recovers possession by filing a verified complaint for reentry with the justice court of the township where the premises are located, specifying the facts of the alleged unlawful lockout, and stating those facts orally under oath to the court.

The remedy runs both ways. Where a tenant files such a complaint in bad faith and a writ of restitution is served, the landlord may recover in a separate action an amount equal to actual damages, one month’s rent or $500 whichever is greater, attorney’s fees, and costs, less any sums the landlord owes the tenant.

1. Agree the rent, the escalation basis, the term, and how taxes, insurance, and repairs divide.
2. Read the lockout and utility provisions closely, since § 118C.200 yields to a conflicting lease term.
3. Decide who contracts directly with the utility companies, because the protection turns on the tenant paying them directly.
4. Deal with abandoned property expressly, given the fourteen-day period § 118C.020 works from.
5. Execute the lease and keep the remedies provisions accessible to both sides.

Chapter 118C addresses conduct and remedies rather than the deal, so a Nevada commercial lease agreement should cover:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the commercial premises and any shared areas.
• Rent, the due date, and how increases are calculated.
• The term, renewal rights, and holdover terms.
• Who holds the utility accounts and pays them.
• What happens to property left behind at the end of the tenancy.
• Allocation of taxes, insurance, and repairs, plus assignment and subletting consent.