How much can a landlord charge for a rental application fee in New Mexico?

$50 maximum screening fee, and that fee is the only charge an owner may impose to process a rental application.

Does an application fee have to be refunded in New Mexico?

Yes — in New Mexico at least one circumstance requires application-stage money to be returned. The whole screening fee goes back within 30 calendar days if an earlier applicant takes the unit, or if the owner does not obtain a credit report, perform a reference check, use a screening service, or process the application. It must be returned by certified mail, destroyed on request if it was paid by check, or made available for the applicant to collect.

Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in New Mexico?

Yes — New Mexico requires a receipt for application-stage money.

Does New Mexico have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in New Mexico?

No statute on holding deposits.

What can a landlord charge for a rental application in New Mexico?

Verified August 26, 2026 All New Mexico topics →

New Mexico caps the rental screening fee at $50 and makes it the only charge an owner may impose to process an application, a rule that took effect on June 20, 2025.

Cited to NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 47-8-19.2(A) and (A)(5) and 23 more cited sources · Verified August 26, 2026

The fee comes with conditions: the owner must give written or digital notice and obtain the applicant's written agreement before charging it, must issue a receipt, may not charge it for a unit that is not available, and may not take more than one fee from the same applicant within 90 calendar days for properties under the same ownership. The whole fee must come back within 30 calendar days if an earlier applicant takes the unit or if the owner does not actually screen the applicant, and the owner must give the applicant a copy of any reports used. A published listing must set out every cost of the tenancy in plain language, with each fee itemized. An owner who charges an unauthorized screening fee is liable for $250 and must return all fees paid. New Mexico does not regulate holding money taken to reserve a unit before signing, has no reusable screening report regime, and imposes no denial-notice duty beyond the copy-of-reports requirement.

New Mexico application & screening fees at a glance

Application fee cap	$50 maximum screening fee, and that fee is the only charge an owner may impose to process a rental application. Since June 20, 2025 an owner may charge an applicant a screening fee of no more than fifty dollars to cover the cost of obtaining information about the applicant, including a consumer credit report, a reference check or a screening service. The same section states that the owner shall not charge any other fees to process an application, so the fifty dollars is a ceiling on the total application-stage charge rather than on one component of it. The amount is fixed in the statute; it is not adjusted for inflation and no agency publishes an annual figure.
Fee limited to actual screening cost	Yes
Screening charge rules	An owner may charge the screening fee only for a unit that is actually available, may not take more than one screening fee from the same applicant within 90 calendar days across commonly owned properties, must wait to collect the money until earlier applicants are resolved, and must give the applicant a copy of any reports used. Four conditions ride with the fee. An owner may not charge it when the owner knows or should know that the unit is not available for rent then or will not be available at the start of the residency. An owner must place a hold on a credit card, or wait to deposit cash or checks, until all earlier applicants have either been screened and rejected or been offered the unit and declined to enter into a rental agreement. No other charge may be imposed to process the application. And an owner may not charge more than one screening fee to the same applicant where the screening was completed within 90 calendar days of the application date for any properties under the same ownership. A separate provision requires the owner to give the applicant a copy of any reports used to screen them.
Receipt required	Yes
Refund required in some circumstances	Yes
Refund rules	The whole screening fee goes back within 30 calendar days if an earlier applicant takes the unit, or if the owner does not obtain a credit report, perform a reference check, use a screening service, or process the application. It must be returned by certified mail, destroyed on request if it was paid by check, or made available for the applicant to collect. The duty covers the full fee, not a portion of it, and the deadline runs in calendar days. The second trigger tracks the fee’s purpose: the money comes back where the owner does not obtain a consumer credit report, perform a reference check, use a screening service to obtain information about the applicant, or process the application. The statute also sets out how the money comes back, giving the owner three routes and giving an applicant who paid by check the option to have it destroyed instead. There is no separate duty to return an amount collected above what the reports cost.
Disclosure before collecting	Before taking a screening fee an owner must give the applicant written or digital notice of it and get the applicant's written agreement to pay it; separately, a published listing must state in plain language every cost of the tenancy, with the base rent and each fee itemized and readily identifiable. The listing duty covers the base rent that will be assessed and a description of all fees or charges that will be assessed during the residency. An owner is not held responsible where an outside website fails to reproduce the costs the owner supplied. New Mexico does not require an owner to publish or hand over the criteria an application will be judged against, and does not require a breakdown showing how the fifty dollars is spent.
Denial-notice duties (state law)	New Mexico requires no denial notice, but an owner must give the applicant a copy of any reports used to screen them, whether or not the application is approved. The copy-of-reports duty is unconditional: it is not triggered by a rejection and carries no deadline or prescribed contents. No state statute sets out what a denial must say, when it must be sent, or what reasons must be given. Duties owed by consumer reporting agencies and users of consumer reports under federal law operate separately and are not part of the state rule.
Reusable screening reports	No statute on reusable screening reports
Holding deposits	No statute on holding deposits
Rental fee-transparency rules	A published listing must show every cost of the tenancy in plain language with each fee itemized; charging an applicant a fee that is neither a screening fee nor a deposit, or one that was not published in the listing, is an unfair or deceptive trade practice, as is charging fees that are not in the rental agreement. This is a rental-specific transparency regime, not a general consumer rule read across to housing. The listing must give the base rent and a description of all fees or charges that will be assessed during the residency, itemized and readily identifiable, and the owner is not answerable for an outside website's failure to reproduce what the owner supplied. The 2025 act also wrote charging an applicant a fee in violation of the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act into the state's list of unfair or deceptive trade practices and added a section on prohibited conduct in renting dwelling units. Separately, an owner must give at least 60 days' written notice before raising a fee provided for in a rental agreement.
Penalty for violation	An owner who charges an unauthorized screening fee is liable for $250 and must return all fees the applicant paid; an applicant who sues to enforce the act and prevails is entitled to reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs. The $250 amount attaches specifically to charging an unauthorized screening fee, which covers charging more than fifty dollars, charging a second fee inside the 90-day window, charging any other application-processing fee, and charging without the notice, written agreement or receipt the statute requires. The costs-and-fees provision was widened in 2025 to name an applicant, so someone who never became a tenant can bring the claim. A fee violation is also an unfair or deceptive trade practice under the state’s Unfair Practices Act: charging an applicant a fee that is not a screening fee or deposit, or that was not published in the listing, is named as such at Section 57-12-27. The act’s private remedy allows recovery of actual damages or $100, whichever is greater, rising to as much as three times actual damages or $300, whichever is greater, for a willful practice, plus attorney fees and costs to a prevailing complainant, and the Attorney General may seek a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per willful violation.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, New Mexico Application & Screening Fee Laws (verified August 26, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/application-fees/new-mexico/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

The rules are recent — All of the application-stage rules described here were created by a single 2025 law that took effect on June 20, 2025. Guidance published before that date describes New Mexico as having no limit on application fees, which is no longer accurate.
$50 is the whole application charge — The fifty-dollar figure is not a cap on one component. The statute separately forbids charging any other fee to process an application, so an owner cannot add administrative, processing, or convenience charges on top.
The 90-day rule is per ownership, not statewide — The bar on a second screening fee within 90 calendar days applies to properties under the same ownership. An applicant who applies to a different owner can be charged again, and nothing requires the second owner to accept the earlier screening.
Screening criteria need not be disclosed — New Mexico requires disclosure of the fee and of the costs of the tenancy, but no statute requires an owner to tell an applicant what standards the application will be judged against or to explain a rejection.
Money to hold a unit is not covered — Nothing in state law caps a sum taken to reserve a unit before a rental agreement is signed, requires a written statement about it, or says what happens to it if the deal falls through. The deposit rules in the act are written around a tenancy that has already begun.
Short stays can fall outside the act — The act exempts transient occupancy in a hotel or motel, and defines transient occupancy as rent paid on less than a weekly basis or an occupant who has not shown an intent to make the unit a residence. Arrangements of that kind are not covered by the fee rules.
The penalty runs to applicants — The 2025 law widened the costs-and-fees provision to name an applicant as a party who can sue, so someone who was charged an unlawful fee and never became a tenant can bring the claim.
Local rules — New Mexico law does not authorize or forbid local ordinances on rental application fees. The state's rent control prohibition reaches local control of rental rates only.
How the cost limit works — The fee is defined as a one-time charge that recoups the owner's cost of purchasing a consumer credit report or reference check or the assistance of a screening service, and the charging section allows it only to cover the cost of obtaining information about the applicant. The fifty-dollar ceiling therefore sits on top of a cost-recoupment purpose. The statute does not separately require an owner to hand back the difference between the fee and what the reports actually cost; the return duty is triggered by no screening being carried out rather than by over-collection.
What the receipt duty covers — An owner who takes a screening fee must give the applicant a written or digital receipt for it. The duty is one of the conditions attached to the right to charge the fee at all, so an owner who skips it has charged an unauthorized fee.
When money must come back — The statute names two situations in which the screening fee must go back to the applicant within 30 calendar days: an earlier applicant is offered the unit and agrees to enter into a rental agreement, or the owner does not actually carry out the screening. Because at least one circumstance forces a return, the duty exists.
Reusable screening reports — New Mexico has no portable or reusable screening report regime. The application-screening sections were written fresh in 2025 and are the provisions that would carry such a rule, but neither requires an owner to accept a report an applicant already holds, sets a validity window for one, nor bars a fee where one is used. What limits repeat charges instead is the rule barring more than one screening fee from the same applicant within 90 calendar days for properties under the same ownership, which restrains a single owner rather than creating a report an applicant carries from landlord to landlord.
Money to hold a unit — No New Mexico statute sets a cap, a written-statement duty, or disposition rules for money taken to hold a unit between an application and a signed rental agreement. The deposit section is written around the tenancy: it lets an owner demand a deposit from the resident to cover damage caused during the term, and a deposit is defined as money a resident delivers as a pledge to abide by the rental agreement, neither of which reaches someone who has not yet signed. The application-stage section bars other charges to process an application but does not address a sum taken to reserve a unit. Where such money is taken, the terms are left to what the parties agree.

Common questions: New Mexico application & screening fees

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How much can a landlord charge for a rental application fee in New Mexico?: $50 maximum screening fee, and that fee is the only charge an owner may impose to process a rental application.
Does an application fee have to be refunded in New Mexico?: Yes — in New Mexico at least one circumstance requires application-stage money to be returned. The whole screening fee goes back within 30 calendar days if an earlier applicant takes the unit, or if the owner does not obtain a credit report, perform a reference check, use a screening service, or process the application. It must be returned by certified mail, destroyed on request if it was paid by check, or made available for the applicant to collect.
Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in New Mexico?: Yes — New Mexico requires a receipt for application-stage money.
Does New Mexico have a reusable tenant screening report law?: No statute on reusable screening reports.
Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in New Mexico?: No statute on holding deposits.

Citations

NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 · 47-8-19.2(A) and (A)(5) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-3 · 47-8-3(T) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 · 47-8-19.2(A) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 · 47-8-19.2(A)(2), (A)(4), (A)(5) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.3 · 47-8-19.3(A) and (B) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 · 47-8-19.2(A)(3) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 · 47-8-19.2(B) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 · 47-8-19.2(B) and (C) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 · 47-8-19.2(A)(1) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.1 · 47-8-19.1 (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.3 · 47-8-19.3(B) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.3 · 47-8-19.3 (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-18 · 47-8-18(A) and 47-8-3(F) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 · 47-8-19.2(A)(5) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.4 · 47-8-19.4 (verified 2026) Official source
Laws 2025, Chapter 122, Sections 8 and 9 (Senate Bill 267) · Sections 8 and 9 (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 57-12-27 (prohibited conduct in renting of dwelling units) · 57-12-27 (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-48 · 47-8-48(A) and (B) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.2 (dwelling unit applicant screening fee; prohibited fees) · 47-8-19.2 (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.3 (background checks) · 47-8-19.3 (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-19.1 (owner disclosure to applicants) · 47-8-19.1 (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-3 (definitions) · 47-8-3(D) and (T) (verified 2026) Official source
NMSA 1978, Section 47-8-48 (prevailing party rights in lawsuit; private enforcement) · 47-8-48 (verified 2026) Official source
Laws 2025, Chapter 122 (Senate Bill 267, Housing Application Fees) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act, NMSA 1978 Sections 47-8-1 through 47-8-52, as published by the New Mexico Compilation Commission, with the application-stage sections 47-8-19.1 through 47-8-19.4, the definitions in 47-8-3, the deposit rules in 47-8-18 and the remedies in 47-8-48 read in full; plus a read of the enrolled text of Senate Bill 267 of 2025 (Laws 2025, Chapter 122) on the New Mexico Legislature's site, including its two Unfair Practices Act sections, and a sweep of the 2025 regular, 2025 special and 2026 regular sessions against the legislature's published session-dates document.