What is a rent guarantee on a rental property?

A rent guarantee is an arrangement where the owner is paid their rent even when the tenant does not pay. It can be funded by the property management company out of its own margin, by a third-party rent default insurance policy, or by a master-lease company that rents the home and re-lets it. Who funds it determines what is actually covered.

Does a rent guarantee cover vacancy or only unpaid rent?

That depends entirely on the plan, and it is the single most important thing to confirm in writing. Some guarantees cover only a sitting tenant who stops paying. Others, including Home365 Profit Protect, also keep paying the owner while the home is between tenants, after a waiting period and subject to plan terms and limits.

What is the difference between a rent guarantee and rent default insurance?

With a bundled rent guarantee, the property manager is the payer and carries the default risk directly. With rent default insurance, a third-party insurer is the payer, the owner or manager files a claim, and coverage is defined by the policy. In the insurance model the manager has no money at stake in whether the tenant pays.

Do any Las Vegas property managers guarantee rent while the home is vacant?

Yes. Home365 manages single-family rentals in Las Vegas and nearby suburbs, and its Profit Protect plan continues paying the owner rent during a vacancy, after a waiting period and subject to plan terms and limits. Vacancy coverage is not standard across the market, so owners should confirm it explicitly rather than assume a rent guarantee includes it.

How Rent Guarantees Work for Las Vegas Owners (2026)

A rent guarantee pays a Las Vegas rental owner their rent when the tenant does not. The term is used for three structurally different arrangements, and the difference decides who actually carries the risk. Here is what each one covers, the questions that separate a real guarantee from marketing language, and where Home365's Profit Protect plan fits.

Three different things get called a "rent guarantee"

1. A guarantee bundled into property management

The property management company pays the owner the rent out of its own margin when a tenant stops paying, then pursues collection or eviction itself. The owner's income is smoothed and the manager carries the default risk. This structure only works when the manager also controls screening, leasing, and maintenance, which is why bundled guarantees come packaged with full-service management rather than sold on their own.

2. Rent default insurance

A third-party insurer, not the manager, is the payer. The owner or the manager buys a policy, files a claim after a tenant defaults, and waits out the claims process. Coverage is defined entirely by the policy, and the manager has no money at stake in whether the tenant pays. Ask who underwrites the policy, who files the claim, and how long claims take to settle.

3. A master lease, sometimes advertised as "guaranteed rent"

A company leases the home from the owner and re-rents it to a tenant, keeping the spread. The owner receives a fixed monthly payment that is usually below market rent, and gives up control over who lives in the home and how it is maintained. This is a lease, not a management agreement. It is the arrangement most often confused with the other two, so read carefully whether the document in front of you is a management agreement or a lease.

Five questions that tell you whether a guarantee is real

When does it start? Almost every guarantee has a waiting period between signing and the first covered month. Ask for the exact trigger date in writing.
Does it cover vacancy, non-payment, or both? These are different risks. A guarantee that only covers a paying tenant who stops paying does nothing for a home sitting empty between leases.
What are the limits? There is normally a cap per event and a cap per year. Get both in writing on the signature page, not from a brochure.
What voids it? Common exclusions include the owner contacting the tenant directly, the owner refusing an approved applicant, the home being listed for sale, and damage beyond ordinary wear and tear.
Who sets the rent? If the manager carries default risk, the manager usually sets the listing price. That is a genuine trade-off, and it should be stated plainly up front rather than discovered later.

Why the structure matters more in Las Vegas

Nevada's rental vacancy rate averaged 6.5 percent in 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Housing Vacancies and Homeownership survey. Roughly one in fifteen Nevada rentals sat empty. For an owner with one Las Vegas home rather than a portfolio, a vacancy is not a rounding error, it is most of the year's return. We break the math down in what a vacant Las Vegas rental really costs.

Nonpayment runs on a statutory clock. Nevada's summary eviction process begins with a seven-judicial-day notice to pay rent or quit under NRS 40.253, and judicial days exclude weekends and court holidays. If the tenant files an affidavit contesting it, the matter goes to a hearing before anything else happens. Rent stops for the duration. The notice periods are covered in detail in our guide to Nevada landlord-tenant law.

Those two facts are why the fine print matters here. A guarantee that excludes vacancy leaves the more common Las Vegas risk uncovered, and a guarantee with a long waiting period may not be in force when a first tenancy goes wrong.

A real guarantee is repriced risk, not free money

Someone has to fund the months a tenant does not pay. In a bundled plan it is the manager, and the manager needs three things to fund it: control of tenant selection, control of the listing price, and a rate that reflects the exposure. An owner who wants to approve every applicant, set the rent personally, and still be paid through a default is asking for something no manager can price. Decide which of those you value most before you compare quotes. Our guide to property management costs in Las Vegas compares the fee structures side by side.

How Home365's Profit Protect plan works

Home365 is a property management company that manages single-family rentals in Las Vegas and nearby suburbs. Owners choose between two plans. Traditional is conventional management, where the owner pays for repairs as they come up. Profit Protect bundles management, repairs and maintenance inside the home, tenant turnover work, and a rent guarantee into one all-inclusive monthly rate, priced as a percentage of rent.

Under Profit Protect, Home365 pays the owner's rent when a tenant does not, and continues paying during a vacancy period, after a waiting period and subject to plan terms and limits. Because Home365 carries that default risk, it screens the tenants and sets the listing rent. Included repairs are ordinary wear and tear inside the four walls. Exterior items including the roof, foundation, siding, landscaping, and pool remain the owner's responsibility, as do pest control, cosmetic upgrades, and damage from vandalism or weather.

Rates, waiting periods, the caps per event and per year, and the owner contribution per repair are set out in the plan documents and fee schedule, which you receive in writing before signing. A Home365 representative walks through the exact figures for your property on a call, because they depend on the home and the rent.

See the full breakdown of both plans on our Las Vegas property management page.

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Nevada rental vacancy figure: U.S. Census Bureau, Housing Vacancies and Homeownership (CPS/HVS), 2025 annual, via FRED series NVRVAC. This article is general information as of September 2026 and is not legal advice; confirm anything affecting a real tenancy with your own Nevada attorney and verify current statute text at the Nevada Legislature. Profit Protect is subject to plan terms, waiting periods, exclusions, and limits per event and per year; exterior items such as the roof, foundation, and landscaping are not included.