New Mexico Mold Law: Tenant Rights, Disclosure & Insurance
Does New Mexico license mold work?
No mold-specific license confirmed. The NM Regulation and Licensing Department, Construction Industries Division licenses contractors generally ("licensing contractors and enforcing licensing laws"), but its public page lists no mold assessment, mold remediation, indoor air quality, or water-damage-restoration classification. This is a finding of absence — I could not obtain an affirmative primary-source statement that NM does not license mold work, so treat as probable-but-not-confirmed.
Habitability: what landlords must provide
Statutory habitability duty under the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act; mold is NOT named. NMSA 1978 § 47-8-20(A) requires the owner to "substantially comply with requirements of the applicable minimum housing codes materially affecting health and safety," make repairs necessary to keep the premises in a safe condition, maintain common areas safely, keep "electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air conditioning and other facilities" in good working order, provide waste receptacles, and supply running water, reasonable hot water and reasonable heat. Mold reaches this standard only through the housing-code / health-and-safety clauses, not by name. (NMSA 1978 § 47-8-20 (Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act, owner obligations))
Notice and repair timeline
7 days. Under NMSA 1978 § 47-8-27.2, the resident gives the owner written notice of the conditions needing repair and the owner has seven days from the notice to remedy before abatement remedies attach. Under NMSA 1978 § 47-8-27.1, a termination notice must state that the rental agreement terminates on a date "not less than seven days after receipt of the notice if a reasonable attempt to remedy the breach is not made in seven days."
Tenant remedies
(1) Rent abatement — NMSA 1978 § 47-8-27.2: after written notice and the 7-day cure window, the resident may abate one-third of the daily pro-rata rent for each day the condition persists; if the dwelling becomes uninhabitable and the resident vacates because of the condition, 100% of the daily rent abates. Abatement does not apply to failure or defect in a mere "amenity," and courts retain discretion to apply equitable abatement. (2) Termination — NMSA 1978 § 47-8-27.1: for material noncompliance with the rental agreement or noncompliance with the Act materially affecting health and safety, on 7 days' written notice; unavailable where the condition was caused by the deliberate or negligent act of the resident, a family member, or a person on the premises with the resident's consent. (3) Repair-and-deduct: § 47-8-27.2 permits the resident to "choose an alternate remedy in accordance with the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act" but sets no repair-and-deduct dollar cap; whether NM has a standalone repair-and-deduct statute is UNVERIFIED. (4) Constructive eviction: the 100%-abatement-on-vacating provision in § 47-8-27.2 functions as the statutory analogue; common-law constructive eviction in NM is UNVERIFIED.
Selling a home: mold disclosure
No general statutory residential condition disclosure act. NMSA 1978 ch. 47, art. 13 ("Real Estate Disclosure") does NOT impose a condition-disclosure duty: § 47-13-2 is titled "Disclosure of information not required in real estate transactions"; § 47-13-4 requires only an estimated property-tax-levy disclosure from the county assessor (and grants immunity to complying sellers/brokers); § 47-13-5 covers distributed energy generation systems. Whether NM common law or NM Real Estate Commission broker rules require disclosure of a known adverse material fact such as mold is UNVERIFIED. (NMSA 1978 §§ 47-13-1 to 47-13-5 (Real Estate Disclosure article — tax-levy and stigmatized-property provisions only; no mold or condition disclosure))
Deadlines to bring a claim
Personal injury: 3 years — NMSA 1978 § 37-1-8 ("for an injury to the person or reputation of any person, within three years"). Property damage: 4 years — NMSA 1978 § 37-1-4 (actions "brought for injuries to property or for the conversion of personal property or for relief upon the ground of fraud, and all other actions not herein otherwise provided for and specified within four years"). NM's discovery rule and any construction statute of repose are UNVERIFIED.
Insurance treatment of mold
Unverified. I could not reach the NM Office of Superintendent of Insurance for a mold bulletin or rule. No NM statute mandating or capping mold coverage was confirmed.