New Mexico tenant screening laws

You may charge an applicant a one-time screening fee of no more than $50 to cover the cost of a credit report, reference check or screening service, and no other fee to process an application. Before charging it, give written or digital notice of the fee, get the applicant's written agreement to pay, and give a receipt once it is paid (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-19.2; NMSA 1978 § 47-8-19.3).

• Do not charge the fee when you know or should know the home is not available now or will not be at the start of the residency (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-19.2(A)(2)).
• Hold a card payment, or wait to deposit cash or a check, until every earlier applicant has been screened and turned down or offered the home and declined (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-19.2(A)(4)).
• Return the fee within 30 calendar days if an earlier applicant is offered the home and agrees to rent it, or if you do not obtain a credit report, check references, use a screening service or process the application. Return it by certified mail, destroy an uncashed check on request, or make it available for pickup (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-19.2(B), (C)).
• Do not charge an applicant a second screening fee if you screened them within 90 calendar days of the application for any property under the same ownership, and give the applicant a copy of any report used to screen them. Keep that same-owner, 90-day fee restriction distinct from a blanket duty to accept any applicant-supplied portable report. Confirm the applicable reuse requirements and actual report before ordering or charging again (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-19.3; Laws 2025, chapter 122: final SB 267, section 4).
• An unauthorized screening fee makes you liable for $250 and for returning every fee the applicant paid (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-48(B)).
• An applicant includes someone who agrees to act as a guarantor or cosigner (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-3(D)).
• For a New Mexico brokerage managing property for others, NMAC 16.61.24.15 requires property-management records to be accessible from the registered brokerage office. Keep the previous six years during a management agreement and retain records for six years after that agreement ends. The qualifying broker is responsible for maintenance and safekeeping. This is a brokerage management rule, not a universal six-year disposal date for every private owner or application. Check other retention duties and any dispute before discarding records (NMAC 16.61.24.6 and 16.61.24.15).

The New Mexico Human Rights Act bars refusing to rent, setting different terms, or advertising or asking questions that show a preference because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition, spousal affiliation, physical or mental disability, or military status (NMSA 1978 § 28-1-7(G)).

• Disability protection applies where the disability is unrelated to the person's ability to rent and maintain the housing (NMSA 1978 § 28-1-7(G)).
• Retaliating against someone who opposed discrimination or took part in a complaint is also unlawful (NMSA 1978 § 28-1-7(I)(2)).
• The Human Rights Act exempts some owner-occupied buildings of up to four units, and some single-family rentals by an owner of no more than three that are not advertised in a discriminatory way (NMSA 1978 § 28-1-9(A), (D)).
• Retaliation for a fair housing complaint to a government agency is barred by the Owner-Resident Relations Act too (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-39(A)(4)).See Retaliation on the New Mexico page