Delinquent Property Taxes in New Mexico: The State Sells the Parcel, and Nothing Buys It Back Afterward
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · New Mexico · Last updated October 21, 2026
A delinquent New Mexico property tax bill changes hands before the property does. Delinquent property taxes are taxes an owner did not pay by the date the state fixed, after which interest and a penalty are added and the parcel can be sold to collect them. Once real property taxes have been delinquent more than two years, the county treasurer prepares a property tax delinquency list by July 1, records it with the county clerk and sends it to the Taxation and Revenue Department (NMSA 1978, 7-38-61). From receipt of that list the Department has the responsibility and exclusive authority to collect (7-38-62). It collects by auctioning the real property itself in the county where the parcel sits (7-38-65, 7-38-67), and on payment the Property Tax Division executes and delivers a deed (7-38-70). Nobody buys a lien here and no certificate is issued. The auction cannot come before three years from the first delinquency date shown on that list (7-38-67). The charge to clear the account is not an investor's return: interest of 1 percent a month on the unpaid taxes (7-38-49), a separate penalty of 1 percent a month that stops at 5 percent of the delinquent taxes (7-38-50), and the Department's costs. The owner can stop the auction by paying everything, or signing an installment agreement, by 5:00 p.m. of the day before the sale (7-38-65, 7-38-66). After the sale the Department states there is no right of redemption for former owners, only two years to challenge the conveyance in District Court (7-38-70). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
Find out where you stand in New Mexico
Where are you with the unpaid property taxes?
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When can the state of New Mexico auction a house over unpaid property taxes?
Real property shall not be sold for delinquent taxes before the expiration of three years from the first date shown on the tax delinquency list on which the taxes on the real property became delinquent (NMSA 1978, 7-38-67). The county treasurer prepares that list by July 1 after taxes have run more than two years delinquent (7-38-61).
How much does New Mexico add to a delinquent property tax bill?
Two charges that behave differently. Interest accrues at the rate of one percent a month or any fraction of a month from the thirtieth day after the taxes were due (7-38-49). A separate penalty of 1 percent a month applies but shall not exceed five percent of the delinquent taxes, with a 5 dollar minimum (7-38-50).
When does the chance to stop a New Mexico tax sale run out?
At 5:00 p.m. of the day prior to the date of the sale, which is the cutoff for paying all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs due, or for entering an installment agreement with the Department (7-38-65, 7-38-66). Proof of payment by that hour shall prevent or invalidate the sale (7-38-66).
When do New Mexico property taxes become delinquent each year?
Taxes of 10 dollars or over are payable to the county treasurer in two equal installments due on November 10 and on April 10 of the following year (7-38-38). Taxes not paid within thirty days after the date they are due are delinquent (7-38-46), which puts those dates at December 10 and May 10.
What makes the New Mexico process different
New Mexico writes no buy-it-back right for former owners into its tax sale at all. Delinquent property taxes here are taxes an owner missed by the statutory date, after which interest and a penalty accrue and the parcel can be sold to satisfy them. The distinctive parts are who sells and how the last day is measured. A county treasurer bills and collects, but once real property taxes run more than two years delinquent the treasurer records a delinquency list and ships the account to the Taxation and Revenue Department, which from then on has exclusive authority over it (7-38-61, 7-38-62). The Property Tax Division auctions the parcel in its own county and issues a tax deed (7-38-67, 7-38-70). The Department's published guidance states plainly that the state has no right of redemption for former owners.
A Pecos house whose last useful hour is 5 p.m. on a Wednesday
San Miguel County's auction is already posted for 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 19, 2026, which makes 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 18 the hour that decides a listed Pecos house (7-38-66). Suppose 1,740 dollars of 2022 tax went unpaid past both installment dates. Interest has run at 1 percent a month from the thirtieth day after each one (7-38-49), while the penalty hit its 5 percent ceiling at roughly 87 dollars and stopped there (7-38-50). By the auction month the interest has passed 750 dollars and the penalty has not moved at all. Paying the full amount, or signing an installment agreement, by that Wednesday evening prevents the sale (7-38-66). Thursday morning offers the owner nothing.
Relevant Laws
NMSA 1978, 7-38-38 and 7-38-71, as amended by Laws 2026, Chapter 31 (House Bill 291)
Section 14 of the act sets the installment due dates: property taxes of ten dollars or over are payable to the county treasurer in two equal installments due on November 10 of the year the bill was prepared and mailed and on April 10 of the following year. Section 15 rewrites the distribution of sale money and is the live change on this page. Effective July 1, 2026, proceeds are distributed in the order provided: first costs, second penalties and interest, third the delinquent taxes to the county treasurer, fourth any delinquent amount the former owner owes on a tax program the Department administers if the former owner is a delinquent taxpayer under 7-1-16, and fifth the balance to the former owner.
NMSA 1978, 7-38-66 and 7-38-67.1, and the definition of abandoned real property in 7-35-2, as enacted by Laws 2018, Chapter 50 (Senate Bill 109)
Section 7-38-66 requires the Department, at least twenty days but not more than thirty days before the date of the sale, to notify each owner whose real property will be sold by certified mail, return receipt requested, unless all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs due are paid by 5:00 p.m. of the day prior to the date of the sale or an installment agreement is entered into by that hour. The notice must state the amount due, the time and place, a description of the property, the owner's right to apply for an installment agreement and a Department contact who can arrange one, and it must also go to each lienholder of record whose address is reasonably ascertainable. Failure to mail the certified notice invalidates the sale. Section 7-38-67.1 creates a special sale, including a continuous online sale, only for abandoned real property, which 7-35-2 defines as vacant subdivided lots in a subdivision plotted on or before 1980 with at least five thousand delinquent lots, delinquent at least ten years, and not including property with existing homes, businesses or other habitable structures.
NMSA 1978, 7-38-65, as amended by Laws 2013, Chapter 155 (House Bill 37)
Provides that if a lien exists by operation of 7-38-48, the Department may collect delinquent taxes on real property by selling the real property on which the taxes have become delinquent; that the property may be sold at any time after the expiration of three years from the first date shown on the tax delinquency list on which the taxes became delinquent, and is to be offered within four years of that date; and that the sale does not go ahead if all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs due are paid by 5:00 p.m. of the day prior to the date of the sale or an installment agreement is entered into by then. Subsection D, added by this act and effective January 1, 2014, requires the Department to offer at least one listed real property for sale in each county annually unless the Property Tax Division director and the county treasurer sign a written agreement to postpone.
NMSA 1978, 7-38-67, as amended by Laws 2005, Chapter 211 (House Bill 332)
Sets the sale requirements. Real property shall not be sold for delinquent taxes before the expiration of three years from the first date shown on the tax delinquency list on which the taxes became delinquent. Notice of the sale is published in a local newspaper in the county at least once a week for the three weeks immediately preceding the week of the sale. The property is sold at public auction by the Department or an auctioneer it hires, in the county where the property is located. The Department sets a minimum sale price that shall not be less than the total of all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs, and a sale properly made constitutes full payment of all delinquent taxes, penalties and interest that are a lien at the time of sale and extinguishes that lien.
NMSA 1978, 7-38-60 and 7-38-61, as amended by Laws 1997, Chapter 124 (Senate Bill 885)
Section 7-38-60 requires the county treasurer, by June 10 of each year, to mail a notice to each owner of property delinquent more than two years, stating the amount due, the date it became delinquent, the rate of accrual of interest and any penalties or costs, that the real property account will be transferred to the Department for collection, and that if taxes on real property are not paid within three years from the date of delinquency the real property will be sold and a deed issued. Section 7-38-61 requires the treasurer, by July 1 of each year, to prepare a property tax delinquency list of all real property delinquent more than two years and to record that list in the office of the county clerk with no recording fee, and to note on the property tax schedule that the account has been transferred to the Department.
3.6.7 NMAC, Property Taxes, Administrative Provisions (Taxation and Revenue Department rules)
The Department's own rules carry the operative numbers. 3.6.7.59 provides that the 7-38-50 penalty is in addition to any interest imposed under 7-38-49 and is not computed on the interest accrued, and applies the minimum penalty to each installment and each tax bill. 3.6.7.60 prescribes the delinquency notice form, which states that interest shall accrue at the rate of one percent a month or any fraction of a month, that the penalty is one percent a month but shall not exceed five percent of the delinquent taxes with a five dollar minimum, and that an unpaid account goes to the Property Tax Division for collection. 3.6.7.77 sets the installment agreement terms, including a down payment of no less than twenty percent of all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs due and payment in equal monthly installments within thirty six months. 3.6.7.80 defines costs as the Department's internal expenses and sets the excess proceeds refund procedure.
Taxation and Revenue Department, Delinquent Property Tax Auctions
The Department's own page on the process, and the source that states the absence of a redemption right directly: the State of New Mexico does not have a right of redemption for former owners, there is a two-year period in which the former owner or someone claiming through him may challenge the sale in court under 7-38-70, and the only redemption period in New Mexico is the 120-day federal IRS redemption period. The page also quotes 7-38-70(B) on what the deed conveys, states that the deed the state issues is a tax deed, that the minimum bid is based on the total of taxes, penalty, interest and costs due, that a sale properly made under 7-38-67 extinguishes the tax lien only and no other liens, and that the Division does not hold sales in all 33 counties each year. It lists each scheduled county auction and the Property Tax Division number, 505-827-0883.
Property Tax Division notice of public auction sale, San Miguel County, November 19, 2026
A current auction notice published by the Property Tax Division under 7-38-65, giving the time, date and location of the sale, the terms of the Property Tax Division public auction sales, and a minimum bid for each item offered. Its terms state that registration closes promptly at the start of the sale, that successful bidders must pay in full before the auction concludes, that on receiving payment the Division shall execute and deliver a deed and that a successful bidder has no right of entry until the deed is received, that the former owner or anyone claiming through him may bring a District Court action challenging the conveyance no later than two years from the date of sale, and that property sold may be subject to a 120-day federal IRS redemption period.
Santa Fe County Treasurer, delinquent property tax interest and penalty
A county treasurer page stating how the statutory charges are applied in practice: that if property taxes are not paid within thirty days after the date they are due, interest accrues from the thirtieth day after they are due until the date they are paid at the rate of one percent a month or any fraction of a month, for a total of twelve percent per year under 7-38-49, and that a penalty of one percent of delinquent taxes for each month or any portion of a month they remain unpaid is imposed but the total penalty shall not exceed five percent of the delinquent taxes, with a five dollar floor. The same page lists the first half bill as due in November and delinquent after December 10.
Regional Variances
New Mexico delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Sale mechanism
Tax deed, sold by the state rather than the county. No lien and no certificate is ever auctioned. The Department may collect delinquent taxes on real property by selling the real property (7-38-65), the sale is a public auction run by the Department or an auctioneer it hires in the county where the parcel sits (7-38-67), and on payment the Division executes and delivers a deed conveying all of the former owner's interest as of the date the state's tax lien arose, subject only to perfected interests existing before that date (7-38-70).
Delinquency dates
Two installments. Taxes of ten dollars or over are payable to the county treasurer due November 10 and April 10 of the following year (7-38-38). Taxes not paid within thirty days after the date they are due are delinquent (7-38-46), so the delinquency dates fall on December 10 and May 10. Notice of the delinquency date is published weekly for the three weeks before it (7-38-46).
Penalty and interest before any sale
Interest at one percent a month or any fraction of a month from the thirtieth day after the taxes were due until they are paid, not imposed on interest or on any penalty (7-38-49). A separate penalty of one percent a month that shall not exceed five percent of the delinquent taxes, with a five dollar minimum a county may suspend by resolution adopted by September 1 (7-38-50). Fifty percent, or fifty dollars if greater, where the delinquency was an intent to defraud (7-38-50).
Time before sale
Two clocks. The county treasurer lists real property delinquent more than two years by July 1 and transfers the account (7-38-61). The parcel may not be sold before three years from the first delinquency date shown on that list, and is to be offered within four years of it (7-38-65, 7-38-67). Since January 1, 2014 the Department must offer at least one listed property per county each year absent a written postponement agreement (7-38-65).
Redemption period and clock
None after the sale. The Department states the state has no right of redemption for former owners. Before the sale, the owner's window closes at 5:00 p.m. of the day prior to the date of the sale, measured from the sale date itself and not from an anniversary (7-38-65, 7-38-66). Proof of full payment by that hour, or of a timely installment agreement being paid, shall prevent or invalidate the sale (7-38-66).
Redeemer's charge
Monthly simple interest plus a capped monthly penalty, and no investor return at all, because no bidder holds anything before the auction. The amount is all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs due (7-38-65). That is one percent a month interest, which does not compound (7-38-49, 3.6.7.59 NMAC), plus the penalty that stops permanently at five percent of the delinquent taxes (7-38-50). In a long delinquency nearly all the growth is the monthly interest.
Other costs
The Department's costs, and no statute or rule fixes a statewide figure. 3.6.7.80 NMAC describes costs as the Department's internal expenses, such as employee wages and benefits, supplies and travel, and says the expenses of seizure and sale under 7-38-67 are in addition to the costs under 7-38-62 and may exceed them. Ask the Property Tax Division for the figure on your own account. Interest at one percent a month also runs on the balance during an installment agreement (7-38-68).
Notice to the owner
County treasurer notice by June 10 to owners delinquent more than two years (7-38-60); the delinquency list recorded with the county clerk by July 1 (7-38-61); Department notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, at least twenty and not more than thirty days before the sale, naming the amount due, the time and place, the right to an installment agreement and a Department contact, with the same notice to lienholders of record (7-38-66); and newspaper publication weekly for the three weeks before the sale (7-38-67).
Where to pay
The county treasurer until the account transfers. Once the Department has received the tax delinquency list, payment of the delinquent taxes and any penalty, interest or costs is made to the Taxation and Revenue Department, which may authorize county treasurers to act as its agents in accepting payments, including payments under an installment agreement (7-38-62). The collecting office is the Property Tax Division, reachable at 505-827-0883.
Surplus proceeds
Claimable, in a fixed order that changed on July 1, 2026. Sale money pays costs, then penalties and interest, then the delinquent taxes, then, under the 2026 amendment, any delinquent amount the former owner owes on a tax program the Department administers, and then the balance to the former owner (7-38-71). The Department notifies former owners of record by mail of the right to claim a refund, competing claims need a court order, and after two years unclaimed balances go to unclaimed property (3.6.7.80 NMAC).
Payment plan
An installment agreement with the Property Tax Division, available only once for the same taxes. Written, no more than thirty six months, interest at one percent a month on the unpaid balance, and at least twenty percent down in equal monthly payments by rule (7-38-68, 3.6.7.77 NMAC). It must be signed by 5:00 p.m. of the day before the sale, none can be made on or after the date of the initial sale, and after a breach the Division shall not enter into another one for those taxes (7-38-66, 7-38-68).
Abandoned subdivision lots, a separate route
A second sale route exists and it does not reach homes. Abandoned real property may be sold by special sale and may be offered continuously on the Property Tax Division website until December 31 of the tax year it is offered (7-38-67.1). The definition is narrow: vacant subdivided lots in a subdivision plotted on or before 1980 with at least five thousand delinquent lots, delinquent at least ten years, excluding any property with existing homes, businesses or other habitable structures (7-35-2).
Frequently Asked Questions
Other New Mexico guides
Adult Guardianship in New Mexico
Adverse Possession in New Mexico: Ten Years, a Writing, and Every Tax Bill
Asset Protection Planning in New Mexico (2026)
Dealing With Debt Collectors in New Mexico (2026)
Expunging a Criminal Record in New Mexico (2026)
Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in New Mexico
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