Nebraska Lease Agreement

Required Landlord Disclosures (2)

1. Lead-based paint and hazards: Nebraska landlords must follow federal guidelines regarding lead-based paint and hazard disclosures, which apply to all houses built before 1978. Landlords who own homes built prior to 1978 must include a lead-based paint and hazard disclosure form and an EPA Pamphlet.

2. Landlord/agent identity: Nebraska state law requires landlords to notify tenants of the name and address of the landlord or the landlord’s agent (76-1417).

Security Deposit Regulations

Maximum Security Deposit Amount: Nebraska landlords can charge a maximum security deposit of up to one month’s rent. If applicable, landlords can charge 25% of one month’s rent as a pet deposit (76-1416.1).

Receipt of Deposit: Nebraska state law does not require landlords to give tenants a receipt for the security deposit.

Deduction Tracking: Nebraska landlords must track any deductions made from their tenant’s security deposit in an itemized list and present it to the tenant within 14 days of the termination of the tenancy (76-1416.2).

Returning a Tenant’s Security Deposit: Nebraska requires landlords to return a tenant’s security deposits, minus any deductions, within 14 days of the tenancy’s termination (76-1416.2).

Landlord’s Access to Property

Advance Notice: In most cases, Nebraska requires landlords to provide at least 24 hours’ written notice to a tenant before entering the property. They should only enter at reasonable times. In the written notice, landlords should state why they need to enter and the reasonable timeframe in which they will do so (76-1423.3a-b).

Immediate Access: Nebraska landlords can enter a property immediately in emergencies or if it is impracticable to provide written notice to their tenant (76-1423.3).

Landlord Harassment: Nebraska state law protects tenants from unlawful entries or consistent demands for legal entries that, in effect, harass the tenant. Tenants facing harassment can obtain a court order to stop the harassment or terminate their lease. In both cases, they may sue their landlord for damages equal to no less than one month’s rent and reasonable lawyer costs (76-14,105.2).

Rent Payment Laws

Grace Period: Nebraska state laws do not require landlords to give tenants a grace period to pay rent.

Late Rent Fees: Nebraska does not have laws governing late rent fees, and landlords may set these at their discretion as long as the lease agreement includes the fees.

Tenant’s Right to Withhold Rent: If a landlord fails to supply heat, water, or other essential services, Nebraska tenants can independently pay for and obtain essential services and deduct the costs from their rent payment (76-1427.1a).

Breach of Rental Agreement

Missed Rent Payment: If a tenant misses their rent payment, Nebraska landlords can issue a seven-day pay-or-quit notice (76-1437.2).

Lease Violation: Nebraska landlords can issue a 14- or 30-day quit or cure notice if tenants violate their lease. This notice gives the tenant 14 days to fix the lease violation; otherwise, the lease will terminate at the end of the 30-day notice period (76.1431.1).

Self-Help Evictions: Self-help evictions are illegal in Nebraska, and landlords should not attempt them. Illegally evicted tenants can sue their landlord for up to three months’ rent and reasonable lawyer fees (76-1430).

Lease Abandonment: In Nebraska, tenants must notify their landlords if they will be absent for more than 7 days. A tenant absent without written notice for an entire rental period or thirty days is considered to have abandoned the property. In these situations, landlords have the right to take possession of the property. Additionally, tenants may be responsible for actual damages, including missed rent payments and the costs of finding a new tenant (76-1432).

Ending a Lease

Month-to-Month: In Nebraska, landlords and tenants can end a month-to-month lease by providing the other party with at least 30 days’ notice (76-1437.2).

Fixed-Term: Nebraska tenants can end a fixed-term lease early for several reasons, including domestic violence (76-1431.01), landlord harassment (76-1438), landlord’s failure to maintain and repair the property (76-1419), or any other violations of the lease agreement by the landlord (76-1425).

Property Abandonment: Within 6 months of lease termination or property abandonment, Nebraska landlords must give their tenants a notice of the date by which they must claim their personal property and where it can be picked up, with a 7-14 days notice window depending on the delivery method (69-2303). Landlords can choose where to store the abandoned property (69-2306). After the notice window, property worth less than $2,000 in total can be kept or disposed of by the landlord, while property worth over $2,000 in total must be sold via public sale, with proceeds belonging to the State Treasurer minus landlord costs (69-2308).

Renewing a Lease

Required Renewals: Nebraska landlords are not required to let tenants renew their leases. However, landlords must provide tenants with appropriate notice of non-renewal (see next section).

Required Notice: Nebraska state law requires landlords to give 7 days’ notice when terminating a week-to-week lease and 30 days’ notice when terminating a month-to-month lease (76-1437).

Rent Control & Stabilization

Nebraska does not have any rent control or stabilization laws or regulations.