“Wrongful eviction” in everyday speech mixes two different problems the Nevada statutes keep separate. Self-help — changing locks, blocking entry, or cutting off essential services to force a tenant out — is what NRS 118A.480 forbids and NRS 118A.390 remedies. A court eviction that used the wrong notice, or that is alleged to be retaliatory, is still a Chapter 40 proceeding, with the defenses and sealing rules that chapter and NRS 118A.510 provide. This page states those statutes. It does not decide whether any particular lockout or court order was unlawful.

What NRS 118A.480 forbids

NRS 118A.480 provides that the landlord shall not recover or take possession of the dwelling unit by action or otherwise, including willful diminution or interruption — or causing or permitting the interruption — of any essential item or service required by the rental agreement or Chapter 118A, except:

  1. by an action for possession or other civil action or summary proceeding in which the issue of right of possession is determined;
  2. when the tenant has surrendered possession; or
  3. when the tenant has abandoned the dwelling unit as provided in NRS 118A.450.

NRS 118A.090 defines “exclude” to mean evicting, prohibiting entry by locking doors or otherwise blocking entry, or making a dwelling uninhabitable by interrupting electric, gas, water, or other essential services. That definition is the vocabulary NRS 118A.390 uses.

The court proceeding NRS 118A.480 contemplates is typically the summary-eviction path in NRS 40.253 and 40.254, described in How does eviction work in Nevada? and walked through at /courts/eviction-process/.

What NRS 118A.390 authorizes

NRS 118A.390(1) applies if the landlord unlawfully removes the tenant, excludes the tenant by blocking or attempting to block entry, willfully interrupts or causes or permits the interruption of an essential item or service required by the rental agreement or the chapter, or otherwise recovers possession in violation of NRS 118A.480. The tenant may recover immediate possession under subsection 4, 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.

NRS 118A.390(2) directs the court, in setting that additional amount, to consider whether the landlord acted in good faith, the course of conduct between the parties, and the degree of harm to the tenant.

Expedited relief. NRS 118A.390(4)–(6) describe a verified complaint for expedited relief. It must be filed within 5 judicial days after the date of the unlawful act; if it is not timely filed, it must be dismissed, though the tenant retains other remedies. The court shall hold a hearing not later than 3 judicial days after filing. Before or at that hearing the tenant must provide proof that the landlord was properly served. If the court determines that subsection 1 was violated, it may order restoration of the premises or essential services or both, award the subsection 1 damages, and enjoin further violations — and, if the circumstances warrant, hold the landlord in contempt. Filing fees are deferred; after hearing, the court assesses costs and fees against the party that does not prevail, unless it reduces or waives them.

The complaint may be consolidated with a pending summary-eviction or unlawful-detainer action between the same parties (NRS 118A.390(5)(b)).

Retaliation as a defense to a court eviction

A landlord who uses the court path can still run into NRS 118A.510. If a possession action is brought in retaliation for a listed protected act — a good-faith housing-code complaint, a Chapter 118A complaint, joining a tenants’ union, raising habitability in a proceeding, complaining of housing discrimination, or the domestic-violence termination in NRS 118A.345, among others — NRS 118A.510(2) says the tenant “has a defense in any retaliatory action by the landlord for possession” and is entitled to NRS 118A.390 remedies. Subsection 3 lists exceptions, including a termination with cause and a uniform rent increase.

NRS 40.2545 addresses sealing of an eviction case file in specified circumstances (automatic sealing after dismissal, after denial, or when the landlord files nothing after a tenant affidavit; discretionary sealing on stipulation or tenant motion). Sealed proceedings are “deemed never to have occurred,” and notices to surrender are not open to public inspection.

What this page is not

NRS 118A.390 is a remedy statute for an unlawful exclusion or essential-service interruption. It is not a second-guessing of every court-ordered eviction, and this page does not apply it to anyone’s facts. The Civil Law Self-Help Center maintains a housing section that includes illegal-lockout materials; Nevada Legal Services publishes statewide housing help. Those are official-help resources, not substitutes for the statute text or for advice about a specific situation.