Most Nevada residential evictions run through the summary eviction statutes: NRS 40.253 for nonpayment of rent and NRS 40.254 for other unlawful-detainer grounds. Those sections require a written notice, give the tenant a short window to pay, surrender, or contest by filing an affidavit with the court named in the notice, and — if the court issues a removal order — direct the sheriff or constable to post it within 24 hours and remove the tenant not earlier than 24 hours and not later than 36 hours after posting. For a dwelling covered by NRS Chapter 118A, NRS 118A.480 bars the landlord from recovering possession except through a court proceeding, the tenant’s surrender, or abandonment.

This page is the laws summary. The step-by-step walkthrough of each notice, deadline, hearing, and lockout clock is Nevada Eviction Process (Summary Eviction), Step by Step.

What is a summary eviction?

NRS 40.253 and NRS 40.254 describe a “supplemental remedy” in addition to the older formal unlawful-detainer action in NRS 40.290 to 40.420. In the summary track:

  • The case begins with a written notice served under NRS 40.280 (with special service rules for certain short-term nonpayment notices).
  • The notice must identify the court and tell the tenant how to contest.
  • The tenant is the party who files first if the tenant wants a hearing. NRS 40.253(3)–(4) and NRS 40.254(1)(c) require the contesting affidavit to be filed within the notice deadline. After the landlord receives a file-stamped copy, the landlord shall not lock the tenant out.
  • If the tenant does not file and the notice period expires, the landlord may apply by affidavit of complaint. Justice Court Rule of Civil Procedure 103 (part of JCRCP 101–111) provides that no hearing is required if the tenant filed nothing, though a judge may hold one.
  • If both sides file, NRS 40.253(6) requires a hearing on the truthfulness and sufficiency of the affidavits. No legal defense yields a summary removal order. A legal defense requires the court to refuse relief in the summary case and send the dispute into the formal NRS 40.290–40.420 track.

The Nevada courts’ landlord-tenant handbook describes the same split: summary eviction is faster and does not produce a money judgment in the same action; a genuine dispute over material facts sends the case out of the summary track.

What are the two summary tracks?

Nonpayment (NRS 40.253). When rent on a dwelling, apartment, mobile home, or recreational vehicle with monthly or shorter periodic rent is in default, the landlord may serve a notice requiring payment or surrender before the close of business on the seventh judicial day following the day of service. A short-term alternative (rent reserved by the week or less, tenancy of 45 days or less) expires at or before noon of the fourth full day. Mobile-home-lot tenants in mobile home parks are excluded (NRS 40.253(12)). A landlord may not refuse tendered rent because collection fees or attorney’s fees have not also been paid, apart from a reasonable late charge or dishonored-check charge (NRS 40.253(11)).

Other causes (NRS 40.254). When the claimed unlawful detainer is under NRS 40.250, 40.251, 40.2514, or 40.2516, the landlord may use the NRS 40.253 procedures, except the notice must advise the tenant of the right to contest by affidavit before close of business on the fifth judicial day after service, or to request a stay of a removal order for up to 10 days under NRS 70.010(2). Those grounds, and the matching notice lengths, are listed in Nevada eviction notices.

A fixed-term tenancy simply ends at its expiration date; staying past it is an unlawful detainer without a further notice (NRS 40.250). A lease term that tries to shorten the statutory notice periods is void (NRS 40.252).

What happens at lockout — and after?

NRS 40.253(5)(a) sets the removal clock once an order issues: the officer posts the order in a conspicuous place within 24 hours of receiving it, then removes the tenant not earlier than 24 hours but not later than 36 hours after the posting. That 24-hour figure is lockout timing after a court order, not a 24-hour notice to quit.

After removal, NRS 118A.460 requires safe storage of property left behind for 30 days and, for 5 days after an eviction or lockout, a reasonable opportunity to retrieve essential personal effects (the statute lists medication, baby formula, basic clothing, and personal care items). Disputes over storage charges or essential-effects access go back to the same court under NRS 40.253(7)–(9).

Is there a stay of eviction?

Two different “stay” mechanisms appear in the official texts:

  • Stay of execution up to 10 days. NRS 70.010(2) allows a justice court to stay execution of any judgment, including unlawful detainer, for a period not exceeding 10 days. NRS 40.254 requires other-cause notices to mention that request. JCRCP 110 (amended effective October 29, 2024) requires a stay motion to be included in the tenant’s answering affidavit; a motion filed after the court has already issued the order, or after the officer has executed it, is untimely and may be summarily denied. Self-help materials often call this a hardship stay. The statute’s mechanism is described in What is a hardship stay of eviction in Nevada?.
  • Stay pending appeal. NRS 40.385 allows either party to appeal a summary-eviction order within 10 judicial days and describes a stay of execution obtained by filing a $250 bond (commercial tenants have a different bond rule). A tenant who keeps possession during the appeal must pay the contract rent as it comes due.

How is summary eviction different from a “formal” eviction?

NRS 40.253 and 40.254 sit “in addition to” the remedy in NRS 40.290 to 40.420. If the court finds a legal defense in the summary case, NRS 40.253(6) requires further proceedings under that formal track. The formal action can also be used from the start. The courts handbook notes circumstances in which summary eviction is not available, including evictions after a residential foreclosure sale (NRS 40.255) and eviction of a mobile-home-park lot tenant (NRS 40.253(12) and Chapter 118B).

Unlawful lockouts and utility shutoffs are not an alternative eviction method. They are the subject of NRS 118A.390 and wrongful eviction in Nevada.

For the day-by-day process, including what each affidavit must contain, use the summary-eviction process page. Official self-help materials are published by the Civil Law Self-Help Center, the Nevada Supreme Court’s self-help site, and Nevada Legal Services.