2021 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 47 - Property Law
Article 8 - Owner-Resident Relations
Section 47-8-8 - Rights, obligations and remedies.

The Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act applies to, regulates and determines rights, obligations and remedies under a rental agreement, wherever made, for a dwelling unit located within this state.

History: 1953 Comp., § 70-7-8, enacted by Laws 1975, ch. 38, § 8.

Cross references. — For inapplicability of forcible entry or detainer provisions, see 35-10-2 NMSA 1978.

For landlord's lien on tenant's personalty, see 48-3-5 and 48-3-6 NMSA 1978.

Magistrate court had subject matter jurisdiction when it decided claim for possession. — Where the parties entered into a lease option contract pursuant to which plaintiff agreed to lease and defendant agreed to rent a residential property in Vanderwagen, New Mexico for sixty months, and where the lease option contract included an option to purchase the residence at any time during the contract's terms, and where defendant paid plaintiff $10,000 that defendant claimed to be a down payment toward the purchase price of the property but which was not mentioned in the lease option contract, and where defendant stopped making monthly payments on the property after two years, and where plaintiff filed a petition for restitution seeking possession of the property in magistrate court, and where the magistrate court granted the writ of restitution and awarded damages, past-due rent, and attorney fees, and where, on appeal, defendant claimed that the magistrate court did not have subject matter jurisdiction because defendant was not occupying the property pursuant to a rental agreement but pursuant to a contract for the sale of the real property, the magistrate court did not err in exercising jurisdiction because the plain language of the parties' lease option contract demonstrates that the parties entered into a rental agreement as defined in NMSA 1978 § 47-8-3 and subject to the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act (UORRA), and the plain language of NMSA 1978 § 47-8-10(A) demonstrates that the legislature has endowed magistrate courts with subject matter jurisdiction over claims arising from any conduct in this state governed by the UORRA or with respect to any claim arising from a transaction subject to UORRA for a dwelling located within its jurisdictional boundaries. White v. Farris, 2021-NMCA-014.

Law reviews. — For survey, "The Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act," see 6 N.M.L. Rev. 293 (1976).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 40 Am. Jur. 2d Housing Laws and Urban Development § 17.

What constitutes willfulness or malice justifying landlord's collection of statutory multiple damages for tenant's wrongful retention of possession, 7 A.L.R.4th 589.

Specificity of description of premises as affecting enforceability of lease, 73 A.L.R.4th 236.