State pet-deposit treatment, federal Fair Housing Act assistance-animal rules, and what Nevada landlords can and cannot ask.
In Nevada, your pet policy and your assistance-animal obligations are two separate legal tracks, and confusing them is where landlords get sued. Ordinary pets are a matter of contract: you can restrict, charge for, or refuse them in the lease. Service animals and emotional-support animals (ESAs) are not pets — they are a reasonable accommodation under the federal Fair Housing Act and, in Nevada, under NRS 118.105. That statute bars you from refusing to rent to a person with a disability solely because an animal that assists, supports, or provides service to them will live in the unit. This page lays out what you can require, what you cannot charge, and where a tenant still owes you money.
Total security deposit (including any pet deposit) capped at 3 months' rent. Pet deposits count toward this cap.
A pet is an animal kept for companionship with no disability-related function. Nevada sets no cap on pet deposits, pet rent, or pet fees, and you're free to write breed, size, or no-pet rules into the lease. That freedom disappears the moment the animal qualifies as an assistance animal — an umbrella term covering both service animals (trained to perform a task) and emotional-support animals (which provide therapeutic support through their presence). Under NRS 118.105, a landlord may not refuse to rent to a person with a disability just because such an animal will reside with them. Treat an assistance animal as a pet — charging it a pet fee or applying a breed ban — and you have a Fair Housing problem, not a lease dispute.
You are entitled to verification, but a narrow kind. When a disability and the animal's role are not obvious, NRS 118.105 lets you require proof that the animal assists, supports, or provides service to the person — and the statute says that requirement is satisfied, without limitation, by a statement from a health-care provider that the animal performs a function that ameliorates the effects of the person's disability. That mirrors the federal Fair Housing framework and HUD's 2020 assistance-animal guidance. What you may not demand: the tenant's diagnosis or medical records, a specific certification or registration, proof of professional training, or a demonstration of the task. For a service animal whose function is obvious (a guide dog leading a blind tenant), asking for paperwork at all can itself be a violation.
Because an assistance animal is an accommodation rather than a pet, you cannot charge a pet deposit, pet rent, or pet fee for it, and you cannot enforce breed, size, or weight limits against it. This is the federal Fair Housing rule and it controls in Nevada. The tenant is not, however, getting a free pass on damage. If the animal chews a door, stains carpet, or fouls the yard, the tenant remains fully liable for the repair cost — you simply recover it the same way you would any other tenant-caused damage (against the ordinary security deposit or by direct charge), not through an animal-specific surcharge collected up front. Document the unit's condition at move-in so that liability is provable later.
The accommodation duty is not unconditional. You may deny or remove an assistance animal that poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others that can't be reduced by another accommodation, or that would cause substantial physical damage to property — but the assessment must be individualized and based on the specific animal's actual conduct, never on breed reputation or speculation. You may also decline a request that isn't supported by the reliable disability-related documentation described above. Beware the eviction angle: under NRS 118.115, a tenant has a defense to a summary eviction or other possession action if your attempt to regain the unit violates Nevada's housing-discrimination statutes (NRS 118.010–118.120) or the federal Fair Housing Act. A retaliatory or discriminatory removal can hand the tenant a complete defense.
Nevada does police abuse of the system, though narrowly. Under NRS 426.805, a person who fraudulently misrepresents an animal as a service animal or service animal in training is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500. Note the limits: that statute reaches service-animal fraud, not ESA letters, and it does not give you license to reject a request on a hunch — pursue it only where misrepresentation is clear, and enforcement runs through law enforcement, not self-help. On the flip side, landlords have duties too: NRS 426.790 makes it a gross misdemeanor to unlawfully interfere with a tenant's service animal, a category E felony to injure one, and a category D felony to kill one.
The most common mistake in Nevada ESA cases is responding with a flat denial, "no pets means no pets", instead of engaging in the interactive process. The interactive process is itself a substantive duty. A landlord who refuses to consider the request, demands more documentation than HUD permits, or imposes a pet fee on an accepted assistance animal will lose at HUD even if the underlying accommodation could have been reasonably denied on its merits.
Pet-related eviction filings correlate with overall landlord-tenant litigation rates. View landlord risk and tenant-law profile by city:
This overview reflects Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 118 (NRS 118.105 and 118.115) and Chapter 426 (NRS 426.790 and 426.805), read together with the federal Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. sections 3601 et seq.), the Americans with Disabilities Act, and HUD's 2020 assistance-animal guidance. Statutes and enforcement practice change; verify the current text at the Nevada Legislature and confirm application to your property with Nevada counsel before denying an accommodation or filing to evict. This is general information, not legal advice.
No. An assistance animal is a Fair Housing accommodation, not a pet, so you cannot charge a pet deposit, pet rent, or pet fee for it. The tenant still owes you for any actual damage the animal causes, recovered like any other tenant damage.
You may require proof that the animal assists, supports, or provides service to the tenant. NRS 118.105 says that's satisfied by a statement from a health-care provider that the animal performs a function that ameliorates the effects of the person's disability. You may not demand a diagnosis, medical records, a specific certification, or proof of training.
No. Breed, size, and weight limits are pet-policy terms and do not apply to assistance animals under the Fair Housing Act. You can only act on the specific animal's actual behavior if it poses a direct threat to safety or would cause substantial property damage.
Not exactly. Both are 'assistance animals' protected in housing under NRS 118.105 and the Fair Housing Act, so both get the accommodation and no-fee treatment. But a service animal is trained to perform a task, an ESA provides support through its presence, and the ADA's public-accommodation rules cover only service animals, not ESAs.
Under NRS 426.805, fraudulently misrepresenting an animal as a service animal or service animal in training is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500. That statute targets service-animal fraud specifically and doesn't cover ESA letters; it's enforced through law enforcement, not by rejecting the tenant yourself.
Only for lawful, non-discriminatory reasons — for example, an individualized finding of a direct safety threat or substantial property damage. Under NRS 118.115, if your possession action violates Nevada's housing-discrimination statutes or the Fair Housing Act, the tenant has a defense to the eviction.
Federal authority: 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B); 24 C.F.R. § 100.204; HUD FHEO Notice 2020-01. State authority: NRS § 118A.242. Last updated July 14, 2026. For informational purposes only, not legal advice. Pet and assistance-animal questions are highly fact-specific; consult a licensed Nevada attorney before refusing any request.
