New Mexico's landlord-tenant law (NMSA 47-8, the Owner-Resident Relations Act) has specific provisions that differ from California, Colorado, Texas, and other neighboring states. We get questions on it weekly from new owners and tenants.
Here's the plain-language version of the things that come up most often.
Security deposits
NM cap: one month's rent maximum on a one-year lease. Two months' rent on month-to-month or shorter leases (less common in our portfolio).
Return: 30 days from the date of vacancy, with itemized statement of any deductions. NMSA 47-8-18.
Trust: owners are not required to hold deposits in a separate trust account (NM differs from CA on this), but Camino does maintain segregated trust accounts on owner behalf as a matter of policy.
Notice periods
Month-to-month termination: 30 days written notice from either party. NMSA 47-8-37.
Annual lease termination: the lease ends on its expiration date with no notice required if neither party renews. Camino sends 60-day "intent to renew" notices on every lease as a matter of policy.
Rent increases: 30 days written notice for month-to-month; mid-lease rent increases are not permitted on annual leases.
Repair-and-deduct
NM tenants have repair-and-deduct rights for habitability issues after providing reasonable written notice (typically 7 days for non-emergency, immediate for emergency). NMSA 47-8-27.
What we do: every Camino lease includes a maintenance request URL and emergency phone line. We respond to non-emergency maintenance within 48 hours and emergency maintenance (no heat in winter, no water, gas leak) within 4 hours.
Source of income
New Mexico does not have a statewide source-of-income protection law. The City of Albuquerque does have one (effective 2021); Santa Fe does not.
Camino accepts Section 8 and other housing vouchers across the portfolio as a matter of policy, regardless of city.
Pets
NM does not have a statewide pet-deposit cap. Camino caps pet deposits at $500 across the portfolio (lower than market norm).
Service animals and emotional-support animals are accommodated in every Camino home with no fee or deposit per Fair Housing law.
Eviction process
NM eviction is judicial (no self-help allowed). Process: 3-day notice for non-payment, 7-day notice for non-rent lease violation, then file in magistrate court. Typical timeline from filing to writ: 30-45 days in Santa Fe County.
Camino's eviction rate across our 140-property portfolio is approximately 1 per year. We handle the legal coordination via our property-management attorney.
More questions? Contact us — Marisol is the principal broker and answers landlord-tenant law questions weekly.
An owner once asked me whether the rental analysis we send is the same one we'd give a stranger off the street. The answer is yes — and that surprised her. The work is the same. The pricing recommendation is the same. The only thing that changes is who reads it.
That's the whole bet of this business. Show your work, in writing, and you don't have to spend your life relitigating it.
Comparable rentals, picked carefully
The discipline starts with comps. Three to five recent leases — not listings — within a three-quarter mile radius, matched on bedroom count, square footage, and condition. We weight by recency: a December lease counts more than a March lease in May.
The single biggest mistake amateurs make is using listing prices instead of executed leases. Listings are aspirations; leases are facts.
Listings are aspirations; leases are facts.
Days on market
If a unit sat for sixty days, the price was wrong. If it leased in seven, the price was probably low. Median days-on-market across our Santa Fe portfolio in Q1 was nineteen — a useful benchmark for a healthy lease velocity.
Seasonal rhythm
Santa Fe's rental market has a seasonal pulse: peak demand from May through August, a softer shoulder September through November, and a quiet December–February stretch where pricing rewards patience over speed.
The line items most pro-formas leave out
Three reliable misses: turnover cost, capital reserves, and vacancy lag.
Turnover isn't free. Painting, cleaning, re-keying, listing photography — call it 6% of annual rent on a normal turn, more if you replace flooring. Reserves for roof, HVAC, and water heater run another 2–3% of replacement value per year, even when nothing's broken. And vacancy lag — the gap between one resident leaving and the next paying — is rarely zero, even in a hot market.
Build those three into the model and your projection stops being optimistic fiction.
What we deliver
An eight-page PDF with the comps, the seasonal context, a recommended asking rent (with a high/middle/low band), an estimated days-to-lease, and a one-page net cash-flow projection. Everything cited. Everything dated. Free, no obligation.
If you want one, the form takes thirty seconds. We'll have a draft back in two business days.