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Rent-to-Own Rights

Rent-to-Own Laws in New Mexico: Your Rights

New Mexico's Rental-Purchase Agreement Act bars a store from unlawfully entering your home or breaching the peace to repossess, and, like Ohio, it forbids treating a simple failure to return the goods as probable cause for a criminal charge. You can reinstate after a missed payment (longer if you'd returned the item), return the goods without penalty, and buy them early. Missing payments is a civil matter, not a crime.

What New Mexico's rental-purchase law generally provides

Can you be charged with a crime?
No. Missing payments is civil, and keeping the item is not treated as theft here either.
Can they enter your home?
No home entry without your permission
Getting it back (reinstatement)
Yes
Paid enough to own it?
You don't own the goods until you've paid the total amount necessary to acquire ownership, which the store has to disclose, and your agreement must spell out your purchase option, including the right to an early purchase option and the price or formula for it (NMSA 1978, §57-26-5). A store can't make you pay more than the disclosed amount needed to acquire ownership, or add an extra payment to own them (§57-26-6).
Fee caps
New Mexico's act doesn't set a fixed dollar reinstatement-fee cap, but it bars more than one reinstatement fee on any single payment, and it bars any late charge or other penalty for reinstating beyond a single reinstatement fee (NMSA 1978, §57-26-6). A store also can't require you to buy insurance or a damage waiver from it.
Owe a balance after repossession?
Not allowed

These describe what the statute says. Your own contract and the facts of your situation can affect how they apply.

Verified against New Mexico Rental-Purchase Agreement Act (NMSA 1978, §§ 57-26-1 to 57-26-12) on .

New Mexico regulates rent-to-own through its Rental-Purchase Agreement Act (NMSA 1978, §§57-26-1 to 57-26-12). It blocks the harshest contract terms, takes on the criminal-charge fear directly, and gives you real rights when you fall behind.

Can I be arrested for not paying?

No. Falling behind is a civil matter. Enforcement runs against the store: a lessor that breaks the rules is liable to you for the greater of your actual damages or 25% of the total payments needed to own the goods (at least $100 and up to $1,000), plus costs and attorney’s fees (§57-26-11).

Can I be charged with theft for keeping the item?

No, and New Mexico is explicit about it, the same protection Ohio offers. A rental-purchase agreement may not provide that merely failing to return the goods is probable cause for a criminal action (NMSA 1978, §57-26-6). So a simple failure to return the item cannot be turned into a criminal charge against you.

That makes New Mexico one of the safer states on this question. Even so, returning the item is the clean way to end the matter if you decide to walk away.

Can the store come into my home?

No. A rental-purchase agreement may not authorize the store, or anyone acting for it, to enter your premises unlawfully or to commit any breach of the peace in repossessing the goods (NMSA 1978, §57-26-6). That same section also bars a confession of judgment, a wage assignment, a security interest in your other property, and a waiver of your defenses. A store that can’t repossess peacefully has to use the courts.

Reinstatement after a missed payment

If you miss a payment, you can reinstate without losing any rights or options you’d earned by paying the past-due rental charges, the reasonable pickup and redelivery costs if the goods were picked up, and any reinstatement fee, within 5 days of the renewal date (monthly) or 2 days (more frequent) (NMSA 1978, §57-26-7). The law also bars more than one reinstatement fee on a single payment, and any extra penalty for reinstating.

If you returned the goods within 7 days of the renewal date, you get longer:

  • at least 21 days after the return if you’d paid less than two-thirds toward ownership; or
  • at least 30 days if you’d paid two-thirds or more.

On reinstatement, the store must give you back the same goods if available, or a comparable substitute.

Returning the goods or buying them early

You can terminate the agreement without penalty by voluntarily returning the goods in good repair (reasonable wear and tear excepted) at the end of any rental period, along with any past-due payments (NMSA 1978, §57-26-5). Or you can buy them early: your agreement has to disclose your purchase option, including an early purchase option and the price or formula for it, and a store can’t make you pay more than the disclosed amount needed to own them. The ownership calculator can help you compare.

New Mexico rent-to-own questions

Can a rent-to-own store in New Mexico have me arrested for missing payments?
Falling behind on payments is a civil matter, not a crime. Enforcement is civil: a store that breaks the rules is liable to the consumer for the greater of actual damages or 25% of the total payments to own the goods, at least $100 and up to $1,000, plus costs and attorney's fees (NMSA 1978, §57-26-11).
Can I be charged with theft for keeping rent-to-own property in New Mexico?
New Mexico protects rent-to-own customers here, like Ohio. Its Rental-Purchase Agreement Act provides that a rental-purchase agreement may not treat merely failing to return the goods as probable cause for a criminal action (NMSA 1978, §57-26-6). So a simple failure to return the item cannot be turned into a criminal charge against you. Returning the item is still the clean way to end the matter.
Can a rent-to-own store enter my home in New Mexico to take the item back?
A rental-purchase agreement may not authorize the store, or anyone acting for it, to enter your premises unlawfully or to commit any breach of the peace in repossessing the goods (NMSA 1978, §57-26-6). The same section bars a confession of judgment, a wage assignment, a security interest in your other property, and a waiver of your defenses.
Can I get rented rented merchandise back after it is repossessed in New Mexico?
If you miss a payment you can reinstate without losing any rights or options you'd earned by paying the past-due rental charges, the reasonable pickup and redelivery costs if the goods were picked up, and any reinstatement fee, within 5 days of the renewal date (monthly) or 2 days (more frequent) (NMSA 1978, §57-26-7). If you returned the goods within 7 days of the renewal date, you get longer: at least 21 days after the return if you'd paid less than two-thirds toward ownership, or at least 30 days if you'd paid two-thirds or more. On reinstatement the store must give you back the same goods if available, or a comparable substitute.
In New Mexico, can I owe money after the item is repossessed?
You may terminate the agreement without penalty by voluntarily returning the goods in good repair (reasonable wear and tear excepted) at the end of any rental period, along with any past-due payments (NMSA 1978, §57-26-5). Because it renews one period at a time, returning the goods stops future payments.

Sources

Every statement about the law on this page links to the official statute itself, so you can read the law, not just our summary of it. Notice something out of date? Let us know.

Consumer information, not legal advice. For your situation, consider speaking with a licensed New Mexico attorney or a local legal-aid office.