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New Mexico residential lease agreement

Answer the questions, download the lease. Free, no account, and it holds your figures to what New Mexico allows.

What New Mexico law does to your lease

These are the figures the builder holds you to. Each one is the statute's, not ours, and the citation is there so you can read it yourself.

RuleNew MexicoWhere it says so
Most a landlord may take as a depositNo statutory limit on a term, 1 month's rent month to monthOn a residency of less than a year, month to month included, one month's rent is the ceiling. On an annual agreement there is no ceiling, but anything above one month's rent has to earn the resident passbook interest, paid annually.NMSA 1978, 47-8-18(A)
Earliest a late fee may be chargedThe day after it is dueNMSA 1978, 47-8-15(D)
Most a late fee may be10% of the rentOnly where the rental agreement provides for it, and the owner has to give notice of the fee charged by the last day of the rental period after the one the default fell in, or lose it.NMSA 1978, 47-8-15(D)
Notice before the landlord may enter24 hoursTwenty-four hours in writing, saying why the owner is coming and giving the date and a reasonable estimate of the time frame. No notice is needed for a repair the resident asked for within the previous seven days.NMSA 1978, 47-8-24(A)(1)
Notice to end a month-to-month tenancy30 daysThe notice runs to the periodic rental date named in it.NMSA 1978, 47-8-37(B)

What New Mexico makes you disclose

Who manages and who owns
At or before the residency begins the owner must disclose in writing the name, address AND telephone number of the person authorized to manage the premises and of an owner or someone authorized to act for the owner in accepting service of process and receiving notices and demands. An owner who does not is not entitled to the notice the Act otherwise requires the resident to give. NMSA 1978, 47-8-19

The clause most landlords get wrong

Rent stated as a base figure with mandatory fees bolted on beside it. If a fee is not optional, it is rent, and several states now say so outright: the lease has to carry one total figure that the landlord may not charge above. The builder asks for the total and then asks how much of it is fees, which is the same information in the order the law wants it.

The second is the assistance animal. A no-pets clause that does not carve one out is a fair-housing problem, not a pet problem, and no pet rent or pet deposit may be charged for one. Your lease says so whether or not you allow pets.

After it is signed

Download the PDF and it is yours, account or not. If you want the tenant to sign it without printing anything, a free Kouzr account sends it for signature, files the executed copy against the tenancy, and keeps it beside the listing, the rent record and the deposit accounting, so the paperwork for that home is in one place when the tenancy ends.

Is this New Mexico lease legally binding?

A written lease signed by the landlord and every adult tenant is a contract, and this one is built to say what New Mexico requires a residential lease to say. What it is not is legal advice, and no lawyer has reviewed it. It is a form you complete yourself, the same category as the fill-in-the-blank lease sold in an office supply shop, and it is worth having a lawyer in your state read it before you rely on it, especially on a property you will hold for years.

How much can a landlord charge as a security deposit in New Mexico?

New Mexico caps every deposit taken together at no statutory limit on a term, 1 month's rent month to month (NMSA 1978, 47-8-18(A)). That is the total of the security deposit, any pet deposit, and any last month's rent held as a deposit, not each of them separately. The builder holds your figure to that ceiling and tells you when it has. On a residency of less than a year, month to month included, one month's rent is the ceiling. On an annual agreement there is no ceiling, but anything above one month's rent has to earn the resident passbook interest, paid annually.

Can a landlord charge a late fee in New Mexico?

Yes, but not without limit. New Mexico caps it at 10% of the rent (NMSA 1978, 47-8-15(D)). A fee charged earlier or larger than that is not enforceable, and the rest of the lease still stands. Only where the rental agreement provides for it, and the owner has to give notice of the fee charged by the last day of the rental period after the one the default fell in, or lose it.

How much notice does a landlord have to give before entering in New Mexico?

24 hours for anything that is not an emergency, at a reasonable hour (NMSA 1978, 47-8-24(A)(1)). A lease cannot shorten it, so the builder raises your figure if you enter a smaller one. Genuine emergencies need no notice anywhere. Twenty-four hours in writing, saying why the owner is coming and giving the date and a reasonable estimate of the time frame. No notice is needed for a repair the resident asked for within the previous seven days.

How much notice ends a month-to-month tenancy in New Mexico?

30 days of written notice from either side (NMSA 1978, 47-8-37(B)). The builder writes that figure into the term clause. A lease may agree on longer notice than the statute; one that gives less is unenforceable to that extent, and the statutory period governs instead. The notice runs to the periodic rental date named in it.

Do I have to include a lead-based paint disclosure?

Only if the home was built before 1978, and then yes, everywhere in the country. Federal law requires the landlord to disclose known lead-based paint, hand over any report they have, and give the tenant the EPA pamphlet before the tenant is committed to the lease (42 U.S.C. 4852d). Enter the year built and the builder attaches it for you.

Can I have the tenant sign it online?

Yes. Download the PDF and sign it however you like, or make a free Kouzr account and send it to the tenant for signature from here: they get a link, sign on a phone, and the executed copy files itself against the tenancy alongside rent and the deposit record. The PDF is free either way and does not require an account.

Kouzr is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. The builder produces a form you complete yourself, and no lawyer has reviewed the document it assembles. Have one admitted in New Mexico read it before you rely on it.