New Mexico bill to stop HOA foreclosures over fines died in its second committee
New Mexico bill to stop HOA foreclosures over fines died in its second committee
2026-09-15 · New Mexico · Legislation · Did not pass
A 2025 bill that would have put the first limits in New Mexico history on when a homeowner association may foreclose passed its first committee and then was never heard again. House Bill 440 died at sine die on March 22, 2025. Because it died, an association's lien in New Mexico still has no dollar floor, no minimum delinquency period and no carve-out for debts made up entirely of fines.1
What HB 440 would have done
The bill, from Reps. Tara L. Lujan and Antonio Maestas, amended Section 47-16-6 NMSA 1978. It left the association's lien intact and attached three conditions to foreclosing it:
“The association's lien may be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate; provided that an association may not foreclose on a lien that is: (1) less than twelve months delinquent; (2) in an amount of less than five thousand dollars ($5,000); or (3) for assessments consisting solely of fines.”
Each limb targets a different failure. The twelve-month clause stops a fast foreclosure on a short delinquency. The $5,000 floor stops a foreclosure over a small balance. The third limb is the one that reaches furthest: it would have severed the line that runs from a rule violation to a fine to a lien to a forced sale.
How far it got
HB 440 was introduced and referred to the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee on February 17, 2025, with a second referral to House Judiciary. HCPAC reported it Do Pass on February 22, 2025. It then sat in House Judiciary, which never placed it on an agenda. At adjournment the record was marked “Action Postponed Indefinitely” — New Mexico's disposition for a bill still in committee when the session ends. It was not reintroduced in the 2026 short session.
What the law is instead
The Homeowner Association Act leaves the lien where it has always been. An assessment or fine becomes a lien from the time it becomes due, and the lien “may be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate.” There is no statutory minimum amount, no waiting period, and no distinction between a lien for unpaid assessments and a lien built from fines.
That is a narrower set of protections than a New Mexico owner might assume from coverage of other states. Several states cap or condition association foreclosure by statute; New Mexico's answer to all three questions HB 440 asked is currently “the declaration and the board decide.”
Where the practical limits actually come from
With no statutory floor, the constraints on a New Mexico association's foreclosure decision come from three other places, and it matters which one a board is relying on.
The declaration. Many New Mexico declarations impose their own thresholds — a minimum balance, a board vote, a notice sequence — and those are enforceable as contract terms whether or not the statute requires them. A board that has never checked whether its own declaration limits foreclosure is working blind in both directions.
Section 47-16-18's notice and hearing machinery. Before a fine or suspension, the Act requires notice and an opportunity to be heard, with a board majority approving the proposed fine. A fine imposed without that process is vulnerable, and a lien built on such fines inherits the defect.
The cost and the discretion. Judicial foreclosure in New Mexico is slow and expensive relative to a small balance, which is why the $5,000 floor in HB 440 would have codified what many boards already do as a matter of policy.
What to watch next
No reporting identifies a sponsor planning to reintroduce HB 440 in 2027. That is not the same as saying it will not return — the bill cleared a committee on its first attempt, which is further than most HOA bills get in New Mexico — but nothing has been announced and nothing is prefiled. Prefiling for the 60-day 2027 session opens January 4, 2027, and the introduction deadline is February 18, 2027.
For a board, the useful takeaway is that a fine-only foreclosure remains lawful in New Mexico and remains, for exactly that reason, the association decision most likely to attract the next bill.
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