New Mexico Month-to-Month Lease Agreement

Legal Aspects of Month-to-Month Leases in New Mexico

New Mexico has specific laws surrounding statutory notice periods and tenant rights. When you write the terms and conditions of your lease, you must remember the following laws.

Lease Termination & Renewal 

• By law, parties in a month-to-month lease must provide at least 30 days’ notice when they wish to end the lease. 
• This notice must be in writing, mailed to the other party’s registered address, or handed over in person.
• Besides the termination laws, there are no laws surrounding renewals. It’ll continue until either party sends a notice of termination or the landlord lawfully evicts the lessee.

Rent Increases

• New Mexico doesn’t have rent control laws, as the state’s laws keep governments from establishing them. 
• There’s no limit to how much the rent can increase, provided it’s not due to retaliation. 
• The lessor must send 30 days’ notice, and it must be in writing. Landlords can mail the notice or hand-deliver it to the tenant. 

Security Deposit

• As this is a month-to-month agreement, the lessor can only ask for up to one month’s rent as the security deposit. That’s because only leases longer than a year can have higher security deposits.
• Interest is only required on leases that are longer than a year, so any month-to-month tenant can only request interest after staying in the unit for a year. 
• The lessor has 30 days to return the security deposit after the lease ends.

Tenant Rights 

• In this state, tenants can seek proper and fair housing without being discriminated against. 
• If they require any repairs on damages or issues that affect their health and safety, they can request it from the lessor. 
• The lessor will have seven days to comply with the request before the lessee can solve it using alternative methods.

Required Disclosures 

Landlords must be aware of the legal disclosures any lease requires. Without these disclosures, the lease might be declared void in a court of law. Luckily, New Mexico only has three legal disclosures landlords must remember.

• Agent/Landlord Name: The landlord must ensure the tenant receives their or the property’s managing agent’s name and address. 
• Lead-Based Paint Disclosure: A landlord of a building older than 1978 must disclose the presence of lead-based paint. They must also provide an informational pamphlet or paper on the hazards of this paint.
• Late Fees: Any late fees are only valid if written into the contract. As such, the landlord must detail any late payments, the fee amount, and when they start charging it if they wish to enforce it.