New Mexico Late Fee Cap 2025: 5% Limit, Down From 10%, and 60-Day Notice for Rent Increases

The 2025 amendment to N.M.S.A. 47-8-15 reduced the maximum late fee from 10% to 5% of the rent for the rental period the tenant is in default on.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-15, as amended by Laws 2025, Chapter 122]

A landlord still using a lease template or internal policy that references the old 10% figure is charging an unlawful late fee on every default since June 20, 2025, regardless of whether that template was accurate when it was written.

The statute specifically states that late fees are to be calculated only on rent, and that rent calculations for late-fee purposes can't include deposits, additional fees, or utilities.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-15, as amended by Laws 2025, Chapter 122]

That narrows the base a landlord can apply the 5% against; a landlord who was previously calculating a late fee against the tenant's total monthly charge, including a utility pass-through or an amenity fee, now has 2 separate problems: a lower percentage, and a smaller base it applies to.

A landlord has to provide notice of the late fee charged no later than the last day of the next rental period immediately following the one in which the default occurred.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-15, as amended by Laws 2025, Chapter 122]

That's a notice about a fee already charged for a specific default, not advance warning before charging it; a landlord who waits past that window to notify the tenant of the late fee has missed the statutory deadline, even if the fee itself was correctly calculated.

Beyond late fees specifically, the statute requires an owner raising any fee provided for in the rental agreement to give written notice at least 60 days before the next periodic rental date, or at least 60 days before a fixed-term lease ends.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-19.4, as created by Laws 2025, Chapter 122, Section 5]

This provision covers fee increases broadly, not just late fees; a landlord raising a pet fee, a parking fee, or any other fee named in the lease has to give this same 60-day notice before the increase takes effect.

For a standard periodic tenancy, the 60-day notice has to go out before the next periodic rental date specified in the rental agreement, which for a typical month-to-month lease means well before the start of the rental month the increase would apply to.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-19.4, as created by Laws 2025, Chapter 122, Section 5]

A landlord planning a fee increase for next month's rent needs to count back 60 full days from that upcoming rental date, not just give a single month's notice, which falls well short of the requirement.

For a fixed-term lease, the 60-day notice instead has to be given before the end of the lease term, rather than before a periodic rental date.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-19.4, as created by Laws 2025, Chapter 122, Section 5]

A landlord managing a 12-month lease that's about to renew needs to calendar that 60-day window against the actual lease-end date, not against whatever rent due date happens to fall nearby.

For a periodic residency of less than one month, the notice only has to be given at least one rental period in advance of the first fee payment to be increased, rather than the full 60 days.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-19.4, as created by Laws 2025, Chapter 122, Section 5]

That's a narrower category, covering arrangements billed more often than monthly; a landlord running a standard month-to-month or annual lease doesn't get the benefit of this shorter window.

Since late fees are themselves a fee set out in the rental agreement, raising the dollar structure or the way a late fee is applied, within the 5% cap, still triggers the 60-day advance notice requirement under the separate fee-increase provision.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-15 and 47-8-19.4, as amended/created by Laws 2025, Chapter 122]

A landlord adjusting how late fees are structured mid-tenancy, even while staying under the 5% cap, needs to treat that change as a fee increase requiring 60 days' notice, not just a recalculation they can apply immediately.

A late fee provision in an existing lease that was written before June 20, 2025, referencing the old 10% cap or a broader calculation base, doesn't override the statute; the statutory cap and calculation rule control regardless of what an older lease document says.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-15, as amended by Laws 2025, Chapter 122]

A landlord operating off a legacy lease template should update it rather than relying on its original late-fee clause, since charging under the old terms is a statutory violation even if the tenant signed that lease years earlier.

This amendment and the fee-increase notice requirement became effective June 20, 2025, the same default effective date that applies to New Mexico's related screening fee cap and listing disclosure requirements from the same bill, since Laws 2025, Chapter 122 included no specific effective-date clause.

[Cite: N.M.S.A. 47-8-15 and 47-8-19.4, as amended/created by Laws 2025, Chapter 122]

A landlord updating lease and fee practices for this change should handle it alongside the screening fee and listing disclosure updates from the same bill, since all of them share this same compliance start date.

The practical starting point is checking every active lease's late fee clause against the new 5% cap and the rent-only calculation rule, and correcting any lease template still referencing the old 10% figure or a broader fee base.

For any planned fee increase, including a change to how a late fee itself is structured, calendaring the 60-day notice window against the specific periodic rental date or lease-end date that applies to each tenant avoids a notice-timing violation even when the underlying fee change is otherwise compliant.