There are many primary and secondary sources available to you as a UNM School of Law student researching the topic of housing law.
Below, we've listed a number of resources to help get you started in your research. Also, click on the tab within this research guide, titled Research Guidance, where we've listed methods and examples to help you find more targeted information within many of the resources highlighted below.
If you are having trouble locating or using any resources in this guide, or would like more help with your research strategies, please contact us via our questions portal, we're here to help.
Various courts might hear a housing-law case, either at the state or local level, or at the federal level. For example, a New Mexico small-claims magistrate court or Metropolitan court might hear a case on landlord/tenant relations, while federal courts usually have jurisdiction over cases involving housing discrimination and affordable housing programs that are federally-funded.
The following include links to resources providing access to judicial decisions relating to housing; this list is not comprehensive. A competent researcher will expand their research to New Mexico OneSource as well as Westlaw, and Lexis to ensure they locate additional cases on housing law. Some cases heard by trial courts might only have filings for trial court cases researchable via re:Search New Mexico.
Be aware that you might also need to research agency/administrative law decisions as well, such as decisions made by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. See the separate box on this page for Administrative Law decisions.
Reports issued by HUD on FHA claims and controversies.
Use your student credential to access Westlaw's Real Property Practice Area to explore primary and secondary sources dealing with real property.
Use your student credentials to log into Lexis Advance's Real Property Practice law to see primary and secondary materials on real property.
Court records and documents for the New Mexico Appellate Courts, District Courts, Magistrate Courts, and Metropolitan Court are available online via re:Search NM for those who meet the criteria. Most cases that are viewable in re:Search®NM fall within Tier 1, including most civil, probate, domestic relations, domestic violence, parentage proceedings, and criminal case types. Persons seeking access to research court filings and documents via re:Search NM must submit their own application from their own email address for confirmation purposes. Only one application per email. More information available here.
Federal regulations, including those on housing, are chronologically published in the Federal Register and codified topically in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Title 24 of the CFR contains regulations pertaining to housing and urban development; it is not the only code section that contain regulations pertaining to housing. Researchers should use the CFR index as well as other tools to ensure they locate pertinent regulations.
New Mexico state regulations, including those on housing, are chronologically published in the New Mexico Register (searchable via cumulative index) and codified topically in the New Mexico Administrative Code (NMAC)(boolean and keyword searchable on New Mexico One Source as well as the New Mexico Administrative Code website).
Check out the Library of Congress's research guide on how to research administrative law, as well as the UNM Law Library's guide on legislative and administrative law research for more comprehensive sources of New Mexico administrative law. Contact the UNM Law Library for help on researching any of the above.
Federal statutes, including those on housing, are codified in the U.S. Code. Two significant federal statutes addressing housing discrimination and affordable housing programs include but aren't limited to The Fair Housing Act and The Department of Housing and Urban Development Act. Both are codified in title 42 of the United States Code.
Student can use their Lexis credentials to access the annotated United States Code Service.
Students can use their Westlaw credentials to access the United States Code Annotated.
HeinOnline maintains a copy of the United States Code since its inception in 1925.
It is sometimes difficult to pin down the location of a bill within the United States Code. Legislation passed by Congress is often scattered throughout the Code, but the Popular Name Table published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel outlines the appropriate U.S.C. sections that the statute appears in. Westlaw's Popular Name tool is also very navigable and helpful.
Statutory indexes like the USCA's are crucial to use when researching enacted law to ensure you are being comprehensive in your research.
HUD maintains a list of Acts and presidential actions that impact housing.
New Mexico state statutes, including those statutes on housing, are codified in the New Mexico Statutes (the official annotated code issued by the NM Compilation Commission is the New Mexico Statutes Annotated). Significant state acts include but aren't limited to, the Affordable Housing Act and the New Mexico Human Rights Act.
New Mexico building codes including the Commercial Code can be researched here as well as the New Mexico Statutes Annotated and the New Mexico Register, where incorporated.
Check out the Library of Congress's research guide on how to research federal statutory law, as well as the UNM Law Library's guide on legislative and administrative law research for more comprehensive sources of New Mexico enacted law.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development conducts hearings carried out by administrative law judges to resolve charges of discrimination. Research these decisions and orders of these administrative proceedings in databases including but not limited to the following:
State agency decisions may also be available and researchable; researchers are advised to first start with the state agency in question, namely the agency's website, then proceed to seeing whether agency decisions are available on research databases like Westlaw or Lexis, or in print at the Law Library.
New Mexico building codes including the Commercial Code can be researched here as well as the New Mexico Statutes Annotated and the New Mexico Register, where incorporated.
There are various services - Municode and American Legal are well known - that collect municipal codes/local ordinances and index them. These free services allow searching within a specific code.
Has an extensive collection of New Mexico ordinances.
provides searchable regulations of over 700 local governments (including several New Mexico cities) including in AK, AZ, AR, CT, GA, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MO, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, VA, WV, & WI.
provides searchable regulations of over 450 local governments with a few in AK, AZ, CO, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, MD, MA, MI, MT, NV, NM, NC, PA, UT, VT, VA, & WI
provides searchable regulations of over 1,000 local governments with a few in AR, CA, DE, IL, KS, KY, ME, MI, MN, NE, NH, NM, OK, RI, VA, VT, & WY.
provides searchable regulations of over 300 local governments with a few in AZ, CA, CO, IA, KS, MI, MN, MT, NM, NV, OK, OR, SD, TX, WA, WI, & WY.
For more information on researching municipal codes and local ordinances, check out the Library of Congress's guide on researching municipal codes and ordinances.
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