Short-Term Rentals on Land in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

The county Assessor is reclassifying STR properties as non-residential -- a real tax increase

Starting in 2026, the Bernalillo County Assessor's Office undertook a formal review of thousands of properties suspected of operating as short-term rentals (typically defined as stays under 30 days), evaluating each against a "predominant use" standard -- essentially, whether the property is genuinely being operated as a business rather than lived in as a residence. Out of roughly 4,000 properties initially reviewed, the Assessor's Office reclassified about 1,047 of them from residential to non-residential (commercial) for property-tax purposes, a move that collectively raised those owners' property taxes by an estimated $1.8 million. Under New Mexico property-tax law, non-residential property is taxed at a meaningfully higher mill rate than residential property -- Bernalillo County figures put the gap at roughly $229 more per $100,000 of assessed value for non-residential versus residential in recent tax years, and mill rates are set (and can shift) annually, so treat any specific figure as illustrative rather than fixed.

This reclassification policy is not the same thing as the City of Albuquerque's own short-term rental permit ordinance (which requires a city STR permit, a signed Good Neighbor Agreement, and specific occupancy limits) -- that city ordinance applies only inside Albuquerque's city limits. The county Assessor's tax-classification policy described here is what actually reaches unincorporated county land, including the East Mountains and South Valley areas this site's Bernalillo County hub otherwise covers.

The policy is genuinely contested -- know that going in

This isn't a settled, uncontroversial rule. The reclassification became the subject of a public dispute between Bernalillo County Assessor Damian Lara, who implemented it, and Bernalillo County Treasurer Tim Eichenberg, who at one point moved to reverse some of the reclassifications on the county's tax rolls -- a conflict that escalated in spring 2026 into Assessor Lara filing a civil complaint for injunction and a state ethics complaint against Treasurer Eichenberg, alleging he had no legal authority to unilaterally alter the tax rolls. Property owners and real-estate industry groups have pushed back publicly on the reclassification itself, and reporting in 2026 indicated the state had at one point weighed in supporting keeping some STR properties classified as residential. Given the dispute is still working through county government and the courts, a specific parcel's ultimate classification and tax bill should be confirmed directly with the Assessor's Office rather than assumed from this description, and expect the underlying policy to keep evolving.

If your property gets reclassified: the Notice of Value protest process

Bernalillo County property owners receive an annual Notice of Value (NOV) from the Assessor's Office, typically mailed around April 1, and have 30 days from that mailing to file a formal protest if they disagree with the classification or valuation -- for the 2026 tax year, the county's public deadline reminders put the last day to file at May 1. A protest is filed with the Assessor's Office (main office at Alvarado Square, 415 Silver Ave SW, with satellite locations at 6001 San Mateo Blvd NE and 5600 Coors Blvd NW), using the county's protest form; if a hearing before the county valuation protests board is required, the county must mail notice of the hearing date, time, and place at least 15 days beforehand. For a parcel being purchased specifically to operate as a short-term rental, ask the seller for the property's current classification and tax history before closing, and confirm directly with the Assessor's Office -- at (505) 222-3700 -- whether the parcel has already been flagged or reclassified, since a change made shortly before or after a sale can otherwise come as a surprise on the next tax bill.