Free New Mexico Security Deposit Itemization

A New Mexico security deposit itemization is the line-by-line written accounting a landlord must produce whenever any part of the deposit is kept at the end of a tenancy. Under NMSA § 47-8-18(C), when actual cause exists to retain any portion of the deposit the owner must provide the resident with an itemized written list of the deductions from the deposit and the balance of the deposit, if any, within 30 days of the date the rental agreement terminates or the resident departs, whichever is later. This itemization statement is the document that satisfies that requirement; if you also want a cover letter to transmit it, use our New Mexico security deposit return letter, and our New Mexico security deposit laws guide covers the wider framework.

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Video: a plain-language walkthrough of the New Mexico deposit itemization – the 30-day itemized-list deadline under § 47-8-18, the passbook-rate interest rule, the no-wear-and-tear limit, and the forfeiture-and-penalty remedy.

Complete the form below to build an itemized deduction statement ready to print, sign, and send. Enter the original deposit, add any passbook-rate interest the law requires on a larger deposit, then itemize each deduction with a category and a specific description. The generator sums the deductions, subtracts them from the deposit plus interest, and calculates the refund due, or the balance the tenant still owes when the deductions exceed the deposit. Every figure you enter flows straight into the dated PDF statement, and the running total updates as you type.

New Mexico treats the security deposit as the tenant’s money that the landlord merely holds, and NMSA § 47-8-18, part of the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act, is the statute that governs how and when it must be accounted for. The controlling number is thirty. When actual cause exists to retain any portion of the deposit, the owner must provide the resident with an itemized written list of the deductions from the deposit and the balance of the deposit, if any, within 30 days of the date the rental agreement terminates or the resident departs, whichever is later. Miss that window and the landlord’s position collapses, because subsection (D) strips the right to keep a single dollar of the deposit.

The word that does the work in the statute is itemized. It is not enough to mail the tenant a check for whatever is left after some private arithmetic; the law requires a written list that breaks the deductions down so the tenant can see exactly what was charged and why. A lump-sum “we kept $600 for damages” fails the itemization requirement even if the underlying charges would have been valid, because the tenant cannot test a figure that was never broken out. The itemization statement generated above is built to satisfy that requirement: each deduction appears as its own line with a category, a description, and an amount, and the deposit-accounting block ties the total back to the refund.

The clock is triggered by the later of termination or departure, not by the date the tenant hands over a forwarding address. This trips up landlords who wait for a mailing address before starting the accounting. When no forwarding address is provided, the landlord sends the itemized statement and any refund to the tenant’s last known address, which is often the rental unit itself. A landlord who understands that the deadline runs from move-out will inspect the unit and draft the itemization immediately, and our New Mexico move-in and move-out checklist is the upstream record that makes each line item defensible.

Landlords often ask whether they need an itemization or a return letter. The honest answer is that the itemized written list is the piece NMSA § 47-8-18 actually demands, and the return letter is optional cover correspondence that transmits it. The two documents serve different jobs and many landlords send both.

The itemization statement is the schedule of deductions. It is the table that lists each charge as a separate line, states the original deposit and any interest, sums the deductions, and shows the resulting refund or balance owed. If a tenant challenges the accounting in metropolitan or small claims court, the itemization is the exhibit the judge reads, because it is the document that proves the landlord broke the deductions out rather than keeping the deposit as a lump sum.

The return letter is the cover page. It addresses the tenant by name, references the property, states the disposition in a sentence or two, and encloses the refund check. It is a courtesy and a paper trail, but on its own a bare letter that says “your deposit is being returned less deductions” does not satisfy the itemization requirement unless the deductions are actually itemized. That is why our New Mexico security deposit return letter tool builds the letter and the itemized accounting into the same document, while this itemization tool produces the standalone statement you can attach to any letter or hand over at a walk-through. Use the itemization when you want a clean, tabular deduction schedule; use the return letter when you want a single signed letter that carries the accounting inside it.

NMSA § 47-8-18 does several things at once: it caps the deposit on short leases, it forces interest on larger deposits, it limits what a landlord may itemize, and it dictates how the landlord must account for it. Understanding each part is what separates a deduction that survives a challenge from one that is thrown out.

The One-Month Cap on Short Leases

For a rental agreement of less than one year, subsection (A)(2) provides that the owner shall not demand or receive a security deposit greater than one month’s rent. On a lease of one year or more the statute does not fix a dollar ceiling, but the moment the deposit rises above one month’s rent, the interest duty below is switched on. The cap matters on the itemization because a landlord who over-collected can only itemize against the amount the law allowed the landlord to hold; a deposit taken in excess of the cap on a short lease is money the statute did not permit the owner to demand in the first place.

Passbook-Rate Interest on a Larger Deposit

When an owner collects and holds a deposit greater than one month’s rent, subsection (A)(1) of NMSA § 47-8-18 requires the owner to pay the resident annual interest on the deposit equal to the passbook interest rate permitted to savings and loan associations in New Mexico. The deposit itself need not be held in a separate interest-bearing account, but the interest must be paid to the tenant at the end of each rental year. A deposit at or below one month’s rent carries no interest requirement. The itemization above includes an interest field so that any passbook-rate interest owed is added to the deposit total rather than quietly dropped, because interest that is owed but never credited is itself a shortfall the tenant can pursue.

Permissible Deductions You May Itemize

The deposit may be applied to a limited set of purposes, and only those belong on the itemization: unpaid rent; the reasonable cost to repair damage caused by the tenant or the tenant’s guests beyond ordinary wear and tear; reasonable cleaning to return the unit to the condition it was in at the start of the tenancy; unpaid utility charges the lease makes the tenant’s responsibility; and other amounts the lease specifically authorizes consistent with the statute. Anything outside that list, such as routine turnover painting, a charge dressed up as an administrative or re-rental fee, or a deduction for a condition that predated the tenancy, is not a lawful line item and should never appear on the statement.

Normal Wear and Tear Is Never a Line Item

The line between damage and wear and tear decides most deposit disputes, and NMSA § 47-8-18(C) answers it directly: no deposit shall be retained to cover normal wear and tear. Normal wear and tear is the gradual deterioration a unit suffers from ordinary living: faded or lightly scuffed paint, carpet worn thin in the main walking paths, small nail holes from hanging pictures, and minor marks near light switches and door handles. Damage is harm beyond that ordinary use: large holes punched in drywall, carpet burns or pet-urine saturation, broken fixtures, and filth left far below move-in condition. Only damage is chargeable, and the move-in and move-out condition records paired with dated photographs are the evidence that separates the two when a line item is challenged.

A well-built itemization groups each charge into a recognizable category so the tenant, and if necessary a judge, can see at a glance what kind of expense it is. The generator above offers a category selector for exactly this reason. The recognized categories under New Mexico practice are:

• Unpaid rent. Rent that was due and unpaid when the tenancy ended, including any lawful late fees the lease provides. This is the most defensible category because the amount is fixed by the lease and the ledger.
• Damage repair. The reasonable cost to repair damage caused by the tenant or the tenant’s guests beyond ordinary wear and tear. Each damage line should name the specific item, the location, and the repair, and be tied to an invoice, estimate, or dated photograph.
• Cleaning. Reasonable cleaning to return the unit to the condition it was in at move-in, not a blanket turnover-cleaning fee. Charge only for cleaning that exceeds ordinary readiness, such as removing pet odor, cleaning an oven left caked with grease, or hauling away abandoned property.
• Unpaid utilities. Utility charges the lease makes the tenant’s responsibility that remained unpaid at move-out, supported by the final bill.
• Other lease-authorized amounts. Any additional charge the lease specifically and lawfully authorizes, consistent with the statute. Use this category sparingly and cite the lease provision.

Every category shares the same evidentiary standard: the owner bears the burden to justify the deduction, so each line should carry a specific description and be backed by documentation. A category label alone is not a justification.

An itemization is ultimately an arithmetic document, and getting the math right is what turns a list of charges into a defensible refund figure. The generator performs the calculation automatically, but every landlord should understand the underlying steps so the numbers can be checked by hand.

The calculation runs in three moves. First, the total available deposit is the original security deposit plus any passbook-rate interest owed on a larger deposit. Second, the total deductions is the sum of every itemized line, across every category. Third, the refund is the total available deposit minus the total deductions. When the deductions are less than the deposit, the difference is the refund the landlord must return with the itemization. When the deductions exactly equal the deposit, the refund is zero and the statement documents why nothing is coming back. When the deductions exceed the deposit, the itemization shows a balance owed by the tenant, and the landlord may pursue that balance as a separate debt, provided the itemized statement was delivered on time so the right to do so was not forfeited.

Consider a worked example. Suppose the original deposit was two thousand dollars, the lease was for a two-year term so the deposit exceeded one month’s rent and earned forty dollars in passbook-rate interest, and the landlord itemized six hundred dollars and fifty cents in valid deductions across unpaid rent and a documented carpet repair. The total available deposit is two thousand forty dollars, the total deductions are six hundred dollars and fifty cents, and the refund due to the tenant is one thousand four hundred thirty-nine dollars and fifty cents. Now suppose instead the deposit was nine hundred dollars and the documented damage came to one thousand two hundred dollars. The deductions exceed the deposit, the refund is zero, and the itemization shows a balance owed by the tenant of three hundred dollars. The generator handles both branches and labels the tenant-owes case clearly so it is never mistaken for a refund.

Delivery is where otherwise-careful landlords lose. The itemized statement and any refund must reach the tenant within thirty days of the later of termination or departure, and because the burden of proving timely delivery falls on the owner, the method matters as much as the deadline.

Send the itemization and refund to the forwarding address the tenant provides. If the tenant left no forwarding address, send it to the tenant’s last known address, which is frequently the rental unit itself; the statute does not excuse the deadline simply because the tenant failed to leave an address. The defensible practice is certified mail with return receipt requested, which produces a dated proof of mailing and a signature on delivery. Keep the certified-mail receipt and the green card, or the electronic equivalent, with the itemization and the supporting documentation.

Because the clock runs from move-out and not from any later event, a landlord who inspects promptly, gathers documentation, and mails the itemization well inside the thirty days has a wide margin. A landlord who waits until day twenty-nine leaves no room for a mail delay, a wrong address, or a missing receipt to push the effective delivery past the deadline. Treat the thirty days as a hard outer limit