Free New Mexico Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A New Mexico commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a storefront, an office, a warehouse, a workshop — to a tenant who will run a business there. New Mexico keeps two routes apart: the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act in Chapter 47, Article 8, and the general forcible entry and unlawful detainer provisions in Chapter 35, Article 10.

The second is the magistrate court route, and it is procedural rather than substantive. It sets how quickly a possession case moves and what a court hearing one may decide.

Two features of the possession process shape how a commercial dispute plays out.

Three Days’ Notice, Then a Short Clock

NMSA § 35-10-3(A) provides that, except as § 35-10-1 provides, three days’ written notice to quit must be given to the defendant before a civil action for forcible entry or unlawful detainer may be filed.

Subsection B keeps the case moving once filed. The return day of the summons must be not less than three and not more than ten days from service of the civil complaint and summons on the defendant, and no continuance may be granted for more than ten days except by consent of the parties.

What the Court Will Not Decide

Subsection C is the provision worth planning around. Questions of title or boundaries of land are not investigated in an action for forcible entry or unlawful detainer, though the action does not prevent a party from testing the right of property in another way.

The same subsection bars combining claims: an action for forcible entry or unlawful detainer may not be brought in connection with any other action, nor made the subject of setoff.

Three points that matter to a business tenancy. Under NMSA § 35-10-3(D), a landlord’s right in a forcible entry or unlawful detainer action is not affected by the underleasing of the tenant — so a sublet does not disturb the landlord’s position in the action.

Subsection E protects a lessee who was induced into the lease improperly. Where a lessee has been induced to take a lease by force, fraud, or intimidation, that lessee may plead a paramount title in themselves, an outstanding title, or the want of title in the lessor.

Subsection F allows the legal representatives of a person who could have brought the action to bring it after that person’s death, and subsection G applies the general magistrate court laws and procedures except where other law provides.

1. Nail down the rent, how it escalates, the term, and who shoulders insurance and repairs.
2. Describe the premises precisely, since a possession action will not resolve a boundary question.
3. Write a cure period into the lease, because the statute supplies a three-day notice rather than a chance to remedy.
4. Include a dispute resolution clause, given that no other claim can be joined to a possession action.
5. Execute the lease and note where each party’s notices are to be sent.

Article 10 governs the possession process, so a New Mexico commercial lease agreement carries the substance:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the premises exact enough to avoid a boundary argument.
• Rent, the due date, and how and when it rises.
• The term, renewal rights, and holdover terms.
• A default definition and the cure period you want.
• Responsibility for property taxes, insurance cover, utilities, and repair work.
• Permitted use, subletting terms, and where notices are served.