New Mexico · Law guide

New Mexico HOA law guide.

Every New Mexico statute HOPB hosts in full for condominium and homeowners’ associations, grouped by what it does — with the official text and a plain-language guide on each. A few broader laws that can still reach a community are covered on the related & miscellaneous laws page.

8 statutes Full text on-site NMSA 1978

Community formation & governance

The acts that bring a New Mexico community into existence and set the rules for running it. Which one governs you depends on whether you own a condominium unit or a lot, and — for a condominium — on when it was created.

47-16 New Mexico Homeowner Association ActNMSA 1978, §§ 47-16-1 to 47-16-18 — the general homeowners’-association statute, applying to all associations created and existing in the state and not to condominiums governed by the Condominium Act. Records within ten business days with fifty dollars a day if refused, a recorded notice without which the association may not charge assessments at all, the right to attend and speak at open meetings, and a fine that needs notice, a hearing and a board vote. 47:7A–7D New Mexico Condominium ActNMSA 1978, §§ 47-7A-1 to 47-7D-20 — New Mexico’s version of the Uniform Condominium Act, governing condominiums created after it took effect in 1982. Creation and allocated interests, the association’s powers and management, assessments and the lien, and the disclosure and cancellation rights a purchaser is owed. New Mexico did not adopt the uniform act’s six-month lien super-priority. 47:7 New Mexico Building Unit Ownership ActNMSA 1978, §§ 47-7-1 to 47-7-28 — the 1963 condominium statute, still the governing law for every New Mexico condominium created before 1982 and until its owners vote to leave it. Unlike the newer Act it states a lien priority: behind tax liens and a first mortgage of record, ahead of everything else.

Corporate framework

An association’s corporate machinery comes from Chapter 53 — but only if it is incorporated, which nothing in New Mexico law requires.

53:8 New Mexico Nonprofit Corporation ActNMSA 1978, §§ 53-8-1 et seq. — members, meetings, notice, quorum, voting and proxies, directors and their duties and liability, and a records right reaching all books and records of the corporation for any proper purpose at any reasonable time. Most of it yields to the articles of incorporation and the bylaws, including the right to vote itself.

Homeowner protections & remedies

Topic-specific statutes that protect New Mexico homeowners in and around common-interest communities, and the two that decide what can be done about a collector.

28:1 New Mexico Human Rights ActNMSA 1978, §§ 28-1-1 to 28-1-15 — the state fair housing law and counterpart to the federal Fair Housing Act. The full protected-class list for a housing transaction, the exemptions, what the commission may order, and the deadline that catches people out: a complaint goes to the human rights division of the labor department within three hundred days of the act complained of. 47:3 Solar Rights Act & Solar Recordation ActNMSA 1978, §§ 47-3-1 to 47-3-12 — a solar right is a property right in New Mexico, measured by beneficial use and ranked by priority in time, with a recordation system to protect it. Reproduced with § 3-18-32, which voids a covenant effective after 1 July 1978 that effectively prohibits a solar collector — and which is codified in the municipalities chapter where nobody would look for it. 61:18A Collection Agency Regulatory ActNMSA 1978, §§ 61-18A-1 et seq. — New Mexico licenses collection agencies through the financial institutions division. An association collecting its own assessments in its own name is outside the Act; the management company or agency it hires is generally inside it; and a creditor that collects under a name suggesting a third party has brought itself in. 57:12 New Mexico Unfair Practices ActNMSA 1978, §§ 57-12-1 et seq. — the state consumer-protection statute and the usual route where the complaint is about a practice rather than a breach of covenant. Actual damages or one hundred dollars whichever is greater, up to treble damages for a wilful violation, and fees to a prevailing complainant — but also to a defendant against a groundless claim.

General information, not legal advice. Each statute is reproduced from the New Mexico Statutes Annotated 1978 as published by the New Mexico Compilation Commission and may not reflect the most recent amendments. Always confirm the current text against the official source.

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