City Councilor Nichole Rogers said Thursday she plans to keep pushing a rental practices ordinance after the Albuquerque City Council deferred the measure, citing concerns that state tenant protections lack local enforcement.
At a press conference, Rogers said the delay exposed a gap in the enforcement of New Mexico Senate Bill 267, which took effect July 1. The proposed city ordinance would adopt key provisions of the state law and give Albuquerque the authority to enforce them locally, including limits on screening fees and requirements that landlords disclose all fees upfront.
Rogers pointed to a test complaint involving a landlord charging $250 application fees, five times the state’s $50 legal limit. She said the complaint bounced between the state Attorney General’s Office and city officials for weeks, with neither able to act.
By the time Rogers raised the issue at a previous council meeting, the city’s Consumer Protection Department had not received the complaint. When it did receive it later, the department sent it back to the state, saying the city lacked an ordinance to enforce the law.
“We don’t say, for criminal — let’s talk about the criminal side — we don’t say, well, the state has speeding laws and the city has speeding laws, so APD shouldn’t worry about speeding. State Police should do that, right?” Rogers said. “Why are we suggesting we do the same thing here?”
“While I had hoped to deliver these necessary protections to Albuquerque renters at our last Council meeting, I am committed to getting this policy right,” Rogers said. “However, the issues facing our tenants — hidden fees, lack of transparency, and ‘pay-to-pay’ barriers — are not hitting ‘pause.’ We must move quickly to codify these rights to ensure fairness and stability in our local housing market.”
State Sen. Heather Berghmans and State Rep. Cristina Parajón attended the press conference and voiced support for the ordinance.
“Housing is the foundation of stability for families across Albuquerque,” said Berghmans, who co-sponsored SB 267 with Sen. Carrie Hamblen of Las Cruces. “By mirroring and strengthening state tenant protections, this ordinance ensures renters are treated fairly and have clear, enforceable rights when navigating the housing market.”
Parajón said evictions often stem from fees renters did not know about, not missed rent payments.
“In my years of work in finding solutions for our unhoused neighbors, the one thing they all experienced was eviction,” Parajón said. “But many weren’t evicted for back rent – many were saddled with undisclosed fees that they simply couldn’t pay.”
Winter Torres, founder of New Mexico Eviction Prevention & Diversion, said her organization has launched a survey to track whether SB 267 has been reported, investigated or enforced since it took effect.
“The City of Albuquerque and its workforce would benefit from adopting the state law’s tenant protections,” Torres said. “These provisions ensure that every household is not overburdened with fees when obtaining the most basic human need – safe, affordable housing.”
Torres said some local apartment complexes have told her group they are not enforcing the state law because of directives from corporate owners outside New Mexico.
Renters can share their experiences with fees and enforcement through a survey at docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfGfqtLiC9OE1EOquQfwJfPrmQabBI-EiUrbcVr7j2RI875-g/viewform
The ordinance would authorize the city’s Planning and Legal departments to enforce state-mandated tenant protections, require landlords to disclose all fees in rental listings, cap application fees at $50 and require a fee-free payment option.
Rogers said she plans to introduce amendments to address concerns about duplicate penalties. Landlords who can show they were already fined by the Attorney General’s Office and corrected the violation would not face additional city fines.
“If they can show proof they’ve already been fined by the AG, and they’ve cured it, then no fee is going to be imposed at the City of Albuquerque,” Rogers said.
Nearly half of Albuquerque households are renters, many of them rent-burdened, according to Berghmans.The measure, O-25-102, is scheduled for consideration at the City Council’s Jan. 21 meeting. If approved, it would take effect 10 days after the mayor signs it.
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