ByHow to Break Your Lease in New Mexico Without Any Expenses
Lease agreements exist to protect a landlord's property and rights, as well as a tenant's privacy and living conditions. If you rent in New Mexico, you likely signed a lease before you were allowed to move in. When you signed that lease, you probably intended to live in the property for an extended period of time, perhaps for a year or more. However, life is unpredictable and situations can arise that may leave you wondering if .
There are a number of legal reasons, as well as many nonlegal reasons, why someone renting in New Mexico may want to break their lease. This DoNotPay guide can help you understand tenant laws and reasons for breaking a lease, as well as offer an alternative to trying to accomplish this task on your own.
What Are Valid Reasons for Breaking My Lease In New Mexico?
According to New Mexico tenant laws, there are five specific legal reasons you can break your lease without any penalty. They are:
- Domestic violence and abuse - If you are living in a rental where you are a victim of domestic abuse, you have the right to terminate your end of the lease on the unit without penalty. You must contact local law enforcement for specific information, but you are protected.
- Landlord harassment or violation of privacy - If your landlord enters your unit without a 24-hour notice or changes your locks without your permission, you are entitled to break your lease. These are clear violations of New Mexico tenant laws.
- Uninhabitable unit - Your landlord is required to keep your unit up to health and safety codes and make any repairs necessary in order to keep your home in good living condition. If you are regularly without heat or functioning plumbing, or the unit is often in a state of disrepair, you may legally terminate your lease.
- Active military duty - If you are an active member of the military, you are protected in the event of deployment or relocation. At least 30 days’ notice must be given to your landlord, but you will face no consequences for breaking your lease early.
- Early termination clause - Thoroughly examine your lease to see if there is an early termination clause. This clause will allow you to pay an agreed-upon amount to effectively end your lease early.
Though the list of legal reasons to break your lease is not very long, there are still reasons that could be investigated and may help you terminate your lease early. They include:
- Landlord violation of a lease agreement: If the landlord breaks their own rules in the lease, such as raising the rent during a fixed rent period.
- Illegal contract: If the home cannot legally be rented out.
- Mandatory disclosure violation: If the landlord was legally required to disclose vital information about the property to you, and they failed to do so.
- Senior citizen or health issues: A lease-breaking arrangement offered in some states that allows elderly or ill people to break their lease early.
What Are the Consequences of Breaking My Lease in New Mexico?
The following are not generally considered legitimate reasons to break your lease early. They include:
- Buying a new house
- Moving to a new town
- Moving in with a partner or family member
- Relocating for a job or school
The consequences and costs of breaking a lease early for unjustifiable reasons can be severe. What happens when you break your lease early without justification is you may be sued by your landlord and find yourself owing a lot of money. If you don't pay this debt right away, it could get sent to collections and negatively affect your credit score.
However, your landlord is required by law in New Mexico to find a new tenant right away, leaving you off the hook for paying any more rent once the unit is filled.
New Mexico’s Lease Termination Notice Requirements
To give proper notice to your landlord about breaking your lease, abide by these requirements:
| Rent Payment | Notice Time | Statute |
| Week-to-week | 7 days | NM Stat § 47-8-37 (2018) (a) |
| Month-to-month | 30 days | NM Stat § 47-8-37 (2018) (b) |
| Year-to-year | No statute | No statute |
Breaking Your Lease in New Mexico on Your Own
If you feel determined to regardless of the reason, you want to be sure you're taking the correct steps:
- Keep every conversation between yourself and your landlord in writing.
- Look over your lease to see if there is an early termination clause.
- Collect as much documentation as you can, such as proof of the uninhabitable conditions or court orders.
- Familiarize yourself with local New Mexico tenant laws.
- Prepare a “Notice To Vacate” letter for your landlord and be sure to give them plenty of notice.
If the task of confronting your landlord with the intent of breaking your lease is daunting or intimidating, you can rest assured that you don't have to do it by yourself. DoNotPay has a Break Your lease product that will walk you step-by-step through the process of breaking your lease and send out necessary letters and notices on your behalf.
DoNotPay can even help you in court if your landlord tries to escalate the situation. Whatever your reasons for wanting out of your lease, you deserve to be comfortable and happy wherever you live.
DoNotPay Can Help With Your New Mexico Rental Problems
If you want to break your lease but don't know where to start, DoNotPay can guide you through it.
Here's how you can get started in 3 easy steps:
- Search Break My Lease on DoNotPay.
- Prepare a signed copy of your lease that you can use as a reference, and enter the state the lease was signed in.
- Let us guide you through the 4 potential options.
Then, DoNotPay uses your specific situation to craft the right notice letter for you:
- If you're a uniformed service member breaking a lease to fulfill your service obligations, we'll send your landlord an SCRA Protection Letter.
- If you're breaking your lease for a reason protected by your state's tenant laws, we'll write your landlord a letter detailing your protections for breaking the lease under the relevant law.
- If your reasons for breaking your lease aren't protected by federal or state law, but you'd like to try to convince your landlord to let you break the lease through mutual agreement, we'll draft a hardship letter making your case to your landlord.
- If there are no remaining options for breaking the lease with protection but your state requires landlords to mitigate damages to tenants who break their leases, we'll notify your landlord of that obligation and minimize the remaining rent you have to pay.
What Other Problems Can DoNotPay Solve for You?
In addition to helping you with lease agreements and tenant laws, DoNotPay has so many great services and products designed to simplify your life and take the hard work out of everyday tasks. Our solutions are fast, east, and successful, saving you time and money. Our services can help you:
- Understand breach of contract
- Reduce your property taxes
- Change your mailing address
- Create a power of attorney
- Cancel any service or subscription
for DoNotPay today to get started!