New Mexico Landlord-Tenant Laws
Local rent regulation in New Mexico
New Mexico law bars any political subdivision, including home-rule municipalities, from adopting ordinances that control rents for privately owned property, with exceptions for government-owned property and government-subsidized affordable housing.
Cited to NMSA 1978 § 47-8A-1 (official compiled code) · Verified August 12, 2026 · Full New Mexico rent-increase rules →
New Mexico Security deposits
New Mexico caps security deposits at one month's rent for any rental agreement shorter than one year — including month-to-month tenancies — while annual leases have no numeric cap but trigger a rare interest rule: if an annual-lease deposit exceeds one month's rent, the landlord must pay the tenant interest on it every year.
New Mexico Rent increase notice
New Mexico is one of the few states with an express rent-increase statute: a landlord raising the rent on a month-to-month tenancy must give written notice at least 30 days before the periodic rental date specified in the rental agreement — that is, 30 days before the rent due date on which the increase takes effect, not merely 30 days before some effective date.
New Mexico Late fees
New Mexico caps residential late fees at 5% of the rent for each rental period the tenant is in default — cut from 10% by a 2025 law effective June 20, 2025 — and the fee may be charged only if the rental agreement provides for it.
New Mexico Entry notice
New Mexico landlords must give 24 hours' written notice before entering a rental unit, and the notice must state the purpose, the date, and a reasonable estimate of the time frame of the entry — an unusually specific content requirement.
New Mexico Eviction process
To evict a residential tenant in New Mexico the owner serves one written notice - three days for unpaid rent, or seven days to cure any other material breach - under NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-33, and then files a petition for restitution in the magistrate, metropolitan or district court, where trial must be set not less than seven nor more than ten days after the summons is served.
New Mexico mobile home park laws
New Mexico's Mobile Home Park Act, NMSA 1978 §§ 47-10-1 to 47-10-23, governs the tenancy of a resident who owns the home and rents the lot beneath it in a park of twelve or more occupied mobile homes: a written lease is required before a tenancy can begin, a lot-rent increase takes sixty days' written notice, and a tenancy may be ended only for the reasons the act lists, each through a notice to quit in the statutory form.
Lot-rent, closure, park-sale and home-sale rules with statute citations →
New Mexico Fair Market Rents (FY 2026) — HUD's benchmark rents for every New Mexico metro area and county.
How this record was verified: Verbatim reads of two independent official documents, each downloaded and read in full: (1) the NM Regulation & Licensing Department's official UORRA compilation PDF (rld.nm.gov, 2019 edition) for sections 47-8-15 (pre-2025 baseline), 47-8-18, 47-8-24, 47-8-37 and full-chapter negative sweeps (no escrow/interest-account rule, no grace period, no pet-deposit statute, no frequency limit); and (2) the final (enrolled, SJC substitute) version of 2025 SB 267 on nmlegis.gov (Laws 2025, ch. 122, signed 2025-04-08, effective 2025-06-20) for the current text of 47-8-15 (5% late fee), new sections 47-8-19.1 to 47-8-19.4, and amended 47-8-48. Every critical figure reconciled against FindLaw (mirror stamped current 2024-01-01) and Justia 2025-edition amendment notes; the two officials agree with each other and the mirrors on the 1-month deposit cap for sub-annual agreements, annual-lease interest trigger, 30-day return, $250 bad-faith penalty, 5% late fee and its notice-to-assess mechanic, 30-days-before-the-rental-date increase rule, and 24-hour written entry notice. Section 47-8A-1 (rent control preemption) initially verified on two mirrors reconciled verbatim (Justia + FindLaw) because the official host nmonesource.com does not offer stable section links; a same-day (2026-07-11) direct read of the official compiled code on nmonesource.com (NMSA Unannotated, Chapter 47) then sight-verified 47-8A-1 verbatim (subsections A-C, History: Laws 1991, ch. 23, § 1), the compiled 47-8-15 text including the 5% subsection (D) and the 2025 ch. 122 history line, the compiled section numbers 47-8-19.1 through 47-8-19.4, and the unamended history lines of 47-8-18 (1975/1985/1989) and 47-8-24 (1975/1995) — all matching the figures shown here. Pending-bill sweep 2026-07-11: 2026 regular session (30-day) adjourned sine die 2026-02-19; SB 138 (repeal rent control prohibition) died in committee (Action Postponed Indefinitely, confirmed on the official nmlegis.gov bill page); no UORRA bill touching the four topics passed.