New Mexico Disclosure Obligations
Guidance on what residential real estate sellers must tell prospective home buyers when selling a house in New Mexico.
Disclosure Laws in New Mexico for Home Sales
The legal requirements placed upon home sellers with regard to disclosures are laid out in New Mexico Statutes § 47-13 et seq., also known as the Real Estate Disclosure Act.
Sellers are expected to provide buyers with a written disclosure of all material defects in their property about which they have actual knowledge. In plain English, this means that you should tell the buyer, in writing, about any significant problems with the property, such as a busted heating pump, a missing window, or a broken pipe.
In addition, your broker will be expected, as a condition of holding his or her license, to tell prospective buyers about any adverse material facts the broker actually knows about the property or the transaction. New Mexico Statutes § 16.61.19.
These disclosures should be given to the buyer before the two of you sign a purchase contract. Intuitively, this makes sense. A buyer who learns of severe defects with the property after signing might quickly renegotiate the price, or back out of the sale entirely.