A New Mexico rental application tells you who will live in your rental, where they have lived and how they will pay the rent. When every applicant answers the same questions, you can compare renters fairly and show that you did.
This guide covers what to ask, how to pre-screen leads, the federal and New Mexico laws that apply, application fees, assistance animals, and how to approve or deny an applicant.
What should a New Mexico rental application ask?
An application collects personal and financial details, so ask only what you need to apply your written rental criteria. Your New Mexico rental application should ask for:
- Applicant and co-signer names, email, phone and date of birth,
- A Social Security number, entered securely,
- The desired move-in date and everyone who will live in the home,
- The current address and current landlord’s contact details,
- Employer, job title and monthly income,
- Any housing voucher or rental assistance,
- Pets, assistance animals, vehicles and smoking, and
- Past evictions and consent to screening.
The Rentari application covers all of this in six short sections. Renters can upload a pay stub, photo ID, bank statement or reference letter, and you choose which background questions to ask, with up to four of your own.
See it first: open the whole application before you send it.
Pre-screen your leads
Not every lead fits your rental. A short pre-screener shows who meets your basic criteria before anyone spends time or money on a full application.
Send the Rentari pre-screener from Leads. Your New Mexico pre-screener asks every lead for:
- Monthly household income,
- Desired move-in date,
- How many people would live there,
- Pets, and what kind,
- Smoking, and
- A self-reported credit band.
When a lead’s answers fit, invite them to apply. Remember: pre-screener answers are what the renter tells you, so verify them with the application and screening.
Federal application laws
Federal law sets the baseline for every screening decision in New Mexico. These five laws shape how you screen applicants:
Fair Housing Act (FHA): You may not treat applicants differently because of these seven protected characteristics:
- Race,
- Color,
- National origin,
- Religion,
- Sex,
- Familial status, or
- Disability
It also bars ads that show a preference and different rental terms for different applicants (42 U.S.C. § 3604).
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA): Bars credit discrimination, including because income comes from public assistance. Courts differ on whether a lease counts as credit, so count assistance income the same way as wages (15 U.S.C. § 1691).
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Covers places open to the public, such as a leasing office. Disability rules for the rental home itself come from the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 12182).
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): Covers credit, criminal and eviction reports. You need the renter’s consent before screening. Rentari collects it before our screening partner, RentButter, runs the checks (15 U.S.C. § 1681b).
Civil Rights Act of 1866: Bars race discrimination when renting any property, including homes the Fair Housing Act exempts, such as some small owner-occupied buildings (42 U.S.C. § 1982).
Criminal history: HUD warns that blanket bans on applicants with any criminal record can be discriminatory, and an arrest alone does not show that a person did anything.
Further reading: HUD fair housing rights and obligations and FTC guidance for landlords.
New Mexico application laws
Beyond federal law, New Mexico has its own rules on application fees and fair housing. Check both before you send an invite.
New Mexico Law
New Mexico application and screening fees
The rule: 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).
Local rules: Cities and counties can add their own limits. Check local rules before you set a fee.
In Rentari: You choose an optional application fee when you send the invite. It is paid to you on top of any screening fee.
New Mexico Law
Fair housing in New Mexico
Protected classes: 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: 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)).
Retaliation: Retaliating against someone who opposed discrimination or took part in a complaint is also unlawful (NMSA 1978 § 28-1-7(I)(2)).
Exemptions: 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: 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)).
Pets, ESAs and service animals
Ask about animals on every application, but treat an assistance animal differently from a pet. Here is what to keep in mind:
Pet information: The Rentari application asks whether an animal will live at the property and lets the renter mark an assistance animal.
Not a pet: A service animal or emotional support animal is not a pet. Under federal fair housing law you generally can’t:
- Charge a pet fee, pet deposit or pet rent for one, or
- Apply your pet breed, size or weight limits to it.
Damage: The renter stays responsible for any damage the animal causes.
In Rentari: An assistance animal is routed as a fair housing request and is never charged a pet fee.
Approvals and denials
Apply the same written criteria to every applicant, and handle each decision the same way.
Approval: Choose Accept complete household in the household decision. Your lease draft is ready to review. Before move-in, check New Mexico’s deposit rules:
Lawful reasons to deny: Deny only for reasons in your written criteria that you apply to every applicant, such as income below your standard, credit history, rental history including unpaid rent or eviction judgments, or incomplete or false information. Use criminal history only where New Mexico and local law allow it, and weigh the offense and how long ago it happened.
Adverse action notice: If a screening report contributes to a denial, or to terms such as a co-signer, a higher deposit or higher rent, federal law requires a notice that:
- Names the reporting company and how to reach it,
- Says that company did not make the decision,
- Explains the renter’s right to a free copy of the report within 60 days, and
- Explains the right to dispute the report.
In Rentari: Choose Deny selected applicants and send individual notices in the household decision to send each notice. You make the decision.
Record keeping: Federal law sets no retention period for a private landlord’s applications. A fair housing lawsuit can be filed up to two years after a decision, so keep each application, your written criteria and the decision at least that long (42 U.S.C. § 3613(a)(1)(A)).
Screening reports: When you no longer need a screening report, destroy it securely. The FTC Disposal Rule covers consumer reports (16 C.F.R. Part 682).
New Mexico rental application questions
Can I charge an application fee in New Mexico?
Only a screening fee of up to $50 to cover the cost of screening, and no other fee to process an application. Give notice, get the applicant's written agreement, and issue a receipt (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-19.2(A)).
Who pays for screening on Rentari?
In most states the renter pays the screening fee at the end of the application and nothing is charged to you. Where a state requires the landlord to pay, the invite tells you. The fee is shown before payment.
Can I ask about criminal history?
You choose whether the application asks about criminal convictions; it is off by default. Check New Mexico and local rules first, and avoid blanket bans.