A New Mexico residential real estate purchase agreement (“Contract for Sale and Purchase of Real Estate”) is a contract which commits a buyer to an offer to purchase real estate, according to specific terms agreed by the buyer and seller. Negotiated specifics include the purchase price, financing method, closing date, and more.
Do Sellers in New Mexico Have To Disclose Property Defects?
New Mexico does does require real estate sellers to disclose any material defects with a property. In most cases, this is through a standardized disclosure form provided by the local real estate agency, but any disclosure which provides the required information is valid.
By mutual agreement, it may be possible to waive the use of a standard form and handle required disclosures another way. However, the seller always has a duty to disclose all material defects that are not obvious on a casual inspection of the property, even if the buyer agrees to take the property “as-is.”
The following facts do not carry a duty of disclosure:
- Whether any owner or occupant has been diagnosed with HIV or any other medical condition that is not related to the occupancy of real estate
- Whether the property has been the site of a death or felony
Required Seller Disclosures in New Mexico
New Mexico sellers of residential real estate must make the following disclosures, as appropriate, in order for a real estate purchase agreement to be considered legally binding:
- Seller’s Property Disclosure: Discloses material defects with a property that are known to the seller at the time of sale, and details any potential issues and conditions that may affect the value of the property.
- Lead-Based Paint Disclosure: Any home constructed earlier than 1978 must come with a disclosure upon the transfer of the property which includes any information about the presence of lead on the premises, as well as educational materials that communicate the health risks associated with lead exposure.
- Estimated Property Tax Levy Disclosure: Provides a statutory disclosure of tax burden information, including the estimated amount of property tax levy and the listed price used in the estimate. The seller must provide a copy of the assessor’s response, in writing, to the prospective buyer.
Sources
- 1 N.M. Stat. § 47-13-2
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A seller, lessor or landlord of real property, including a participant in an exchange of real property and any agent involved in such a transaction, shall not be liable for failure to disclose and shall not have a duty to disclose to any person who acquires, by voluntary or involuntary transfer, a legal or equitable interest in the real property, including any leasehold interest or security interest for an obligation, the fact or suspicion that the real property is or has been:
A. the site of a natural death;
B. the site of a homicide, suicide, assault, sexual assault or any other crime punishable as a felony; or
C. owned or occupied by a person who was exposed to, infected with or suspected to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus or diagnosed to be suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome or any other disease that has been determined by medical evidence as highly unlikely to be transmittable to others through the occupancy of improvements to real property or that is not known to be transmitted through the occupancy of improvements located on that real property.
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