Las Cruces, NM Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Sec. 30-721(A)(13) adopts the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code by reference as part of the city's building code, and Sec. 30-722(I) amends it for local conditions. The heat supply requirement is the piece renters lean on most: Sec. 3 so dwellings must provide heat every year from November 1 through April 1, replacing the model code's blank date placeholders with those fixed dates; Sec. 4. Sec. 30-722(I)(8) also adopts IPMC Appendix A, the 'Boarding Standard,' which governs how the city secures a structure found unfit for occupancy, and Sec.

14) by striking its seasonal date restriction, so screens must be maintained year-round rather than only in warm months. Because Las Cruces amended the code's appeals structure, IPMC Section 107 ('Means of Appeals') and Section 108 ('Board of Appeals') are excluded outright: Sec. 30-722(I)(3) and (4) route any appeal of a property maintenance order through Chapter 30 of the Municipal Code instead of the standard IPMC boards. Sec. 30-721(A)(13) also interprets any IPMC reference to the International Plumbing, Mechanical or Zoning Codes as pointing to the corresponding codes the city has separately adopted in LCMC 1997, as amended.

All of the adopted codes and their local amendments are on file for public inspection at the Community Development Department, City Hall, 700 N. Main Street, per Sec. 30-721(B). Together, these sections set the baseline habitability floor: rental units must be structurally sound, weathertight, free of insect entry year-round, and heated on the November-to-April schedule, or the unit is out of compliance with the adopted maintenance code regardless of what a lease says.