You own your house and live in it. Can you share one or two spare rooms with people who are not family, for a month or longer? This page answers that question for New Mexico, from its state laws and a sample of its cities and counties. We call it a typical home share.

New Mexicoat a glance

New Mexico law

Should you worryabout zoning?

Answer four quick questions. We will show you what the rules we found say for a home like yours, and what to ask your city or county. It works for homeowners and for the family members helping them.

Check your situation

Cities and countiesin New Mexico

Cities and counties

Details for each location

This page is here to help you learn and to give you context. It does not interpret any zoning code and is not legal advice. Rules vary and change, and only your city or county planning office can say what applies to your home.

What the law asksof a home share

Where a state's landlord and tenant law covers home sharing, it gives you and your home sharer a few ground rules. Knowing them up front makes for a better agreement and fewer surprises.

Ground rules in New Mexico

Sharing, boarding, renting, rooming:what the words mean

The laws and codes rarely say "home sharing." They use older words, and each city or county can define them differently. Here is what each word means in everyday terms, and how New Mexico and the locations in our sample use it.

For local leaders

For the national picture, the history of these rules, and more resources, see The Rules Behind the Spare Room.

This page is here to help you learn and to give you context. It does not interpret any zoning code and is not legal advice. Rules vary and change, and only your city or county planning office can say what applies to your home.

Citations, Definitions & SourcesOpen the fine printClose the fine printEvery rule on this page is quoted from a law, a code, or a court opinion, with the date we checked it. The sources for New Mexico are available by clicking Open the Fine Print.

Definitions

A typical home share. You own your house and live in it, and you share one or two spare rooms with people who are not family, for a month or longer.

The six answers. Yes: the rules we found allow a typical home share with no extra step. Yes, with limits: they allow it but set a limit, such as a number of people or rooms. Yes, after a permit or sign-up: they allow it once a step is done. Not clear: the rules do not answer it either way, or we could not read them. No county zoning found: the county and state sources we read show no county zoning code, though none says so in words. No: the rules do not allow it.

State policy and zoning toward home sharing. The map groups states by what their laws and plans do for home sharing today. A state is Leading when two things are true. First, its law stops cities and counties from limiting who lives together based on family ties, in all cases or in some. Second, the state has committed to home sharing: it names home sharing in its State Plan on Aging, an aging strategy, or an affordable housing plan, funds an ongoing home sharing program, or has a law that allows such funding. A one-time pilot is a welcome first step, but it does not count as a statewide commitment. A state is Supportive when one of the two is true, Open when neither is but its landlord and tenant law clearly covers home sharing, and Getting started when none of these is true yet. A state is marked as an opportunity, in a lighter shade on the map, when it has committed to home sharing but its laws do not yet protect home sharing statewide or do not yet say clearly which ground rules apply. Every check traces to a cited source on the state's page. The groups describe state law and policy, not how welcoming any community is, and not what any particular home may do.

Single housekeeping unit. Many zoning codes say a family or household must live as a "single housekeeping unit." The phrase describes people who live together as one household, sharing the home, rather than as separate tenants under one roof. Most codes use it without saying more, and each city or county decides what it means. The codes in our sample that spell it out point to the same kinds of things: sharing the kitchen and living areas, sharing chores and expenses, and, as signs of separate households, locks on bedroom doors or separate leases. Where a city or county on this page defines the phrase, its entry quotes the definition under Read the code. If your city or county's code uses the phrase, ask the planning office how it applies to a home share, such as one where the person sharing your home pays rent and has their own room.

Checked. The date we last read the source itself. Codes change. Your planning office has the current version.

Sources for New Mexico

SourceWhere it is used
NMSA 3-21-1 (2025) [Laws 2007, ch. 270, s.1 added F and G] (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
HB 17 (2026 regular session) status: died, action postponed indefinitelyNew Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NMSA 47-8-9 (2025) (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NMSA 47-8-3 (2025) (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1 (1974)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494 (1977)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
HB 17 (2026), introduced text: zoning authority shall not "impose single-family or owner-occupancy requirements on an accessory dwelling unit"; diedNew Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
HB 554 (2025), bill text; passed the House 50 to 10 on 11 March 2025 and died in Senate committeeNew Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
New Mexico Legislature, HB 554 (2025) bill page: actions and final statusNew Mexico. Checked 2026-10-10. Open the source.
NMSA 47-8-37 (2025): "The owner or the resident may terminate a month-to-month residency by a written notice given to the other at least thirty days prior to the periodic rental date specified in the notice." (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NMSA 47-8-18 (2025) (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NMSA 47-8-15(F) (2025) (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NMSA 47-8-20 (2025) (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NMSA 47-8-36 (2025) (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NMSA 47-8-22 (2025) (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NMSA 28-1-9(D): Human Rights Act shall not "apply to rooms or units in dwellings containing living quarters occupied or intended to be occupied by no more than four families living independently of each other if the owner actually maintains and occupies one of the living quarters as his residence" (Justia reproduction; confirm on the official site)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
42 U.S.C. 3603(b)(2)New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
42 U.S.C. 1982New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968): section 1982 "contains none of the exemptions" in the Fair Housing ActNew Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NMSA 28-1-9(D); 42 U.S.C. 3603(b)(2); 42 U.S.C. 1982New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NM FFY 2026-2029 State Plan on AgingNew Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
ALTSD Strategic Plan 2027New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NM Housing Strategy 2026 UpdateNew Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
NM 2025 Consolidated Plan draftNew Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
ALTSD 2024 legislative session pageNew Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Albuquerque IDO 14-16-7-1, Definitions - F ("Family")Albuquerque, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Albuquerque IDO 14-16-7-1, Definitions - D ("Dwelling Unit", "Dwelling, Single-family")Albuquerque, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Albuquerque IDO 14-16-4-2, Table 4-2-1 Allowable UsesAlbuquerque, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Albuquerque IDO 14-16-4-3(B), Residential Uses (4-3(B)(1) Dwelling, Single-family)Albuquerque, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Albuquerque Code of Ordinances, Section 13-19-4, Definitions (Short Term Rentals)Albuquerque, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Albuquerque Code of Ordinances, Section 13-1-6, Business License ApplicationAlbuquerque, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Santa Fe Land Development Code, Chapter 14 as replaced by Ordinance No. 2025-25 (adopted 19 November 2025), Article 14-9 definitionsSanta Fe, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-09. Open the source.
City of Santa Fe, Planning and Land Use page: "Ordinance 2025-25 - Updated Chapter 14 (Effective Date: January 1, 2026)"Santa Fe, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-09. Open the source.
Santa Fe Ordinance No. 2025-25 with Exhibit A, new Chapter 14 (PDF on Municode's file host): Section 1 and 2, table of allowed uses, Section 14-9.2 use definitions, and the "FAMILY" definitionSanta Fe, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-09. Open the source.
Sierra County, County Ordinances and Resolutions listSierra County, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Sierra County Clerk, Ordinances pageSierra County, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.
Sierra County Ordinance 22-005, Repealing Sierra County Planning Ordinance 09-002 (adopted September 20, 2022)Sierra County, New Mexico. Checked 2026-10-08. Open the source.

Cite This Paper

HomeShare Oregon. (2026). The Rules Behind the Spare Room: New Mexico. https://homeshareoregon.org/research/rules-behind-the-spare-room/new-mexico/

About HomeShare Oregon

HomeShare Oregon publishes this paper as students of aging, housing, and community infrastructure. We operate one of many possible interventions in the missing middle. We believe the most useful contribution we can make to the larger field is to add a frame and a research agenda, rather than to argue for our particular role within it.

If you are working on related questions, we would like to hear from you. Email the executive director at executivedirector@homeshareoregon.org.