If a New Mexico manufactured-home foundation inspection record is missing, request the existing record first. The Regulation and Licensing Department’s Manufactured Housing Division homeowner page sends owners to an Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) request before a new foundation permit and inspection. A home title is not a substitute for the foundation evidence. Keep the question narrow: do you need the historic inspection record, or is there truly no record for the Division to retrieve?
Ask for the earlier inspection file before rebuilding the chain
Use RLD’s Inspection of Public Records page and identify the Manufactured Housing Division and the foundation inspection or permit you seek. Its form asks whether you want to inspect or obtain copies and requests a description of the records with reasonable particularity. Supply the home’s site address and county, owner name at the relevant time if known, manufactured-home identification or permit number if held, and approximate installation or inspection year. These identifiers are practical request details; the official form does not guarantee that all of them were indexed in one database.
Save the request and response. If the Division locates a record, compare the inspection date, site and home identity before using it for a later title or valuation step. If it says the record is unavailable, keep that written outcome and ask which historical series was checked. The Division also links a public permit-search destination, but its readable shell did not expose search fields or an individual result. An empty or inaccessible online screen should not replace the Division’s own IPRA route for an old foundation file.
If RLD has no foundation inspection record
The homeowner instructions describe a new evidence path only after the records request finds none. They call for a New Mexico structural engineer’s foundation report, then a foundation permit application with the report, Homeowner’s Responsibility Form, and proof of ownership. RLD says not to use the home’s title as that ownership proof for this step. After plan review approves the permit, the owner follows the inspection-scheduling instructions printed on the permit. This sequence is about producing documented foundation evidence; it does not retroactively turn a newly inspected foundation into a historic inspection.
- Record found by IPRA: Preserve the actual permit or inspection record and its site/home identifiers; ask the next office whether that record meets its evidence need.
- No record located: Keep the RLD response, obtain the engineer report, and ask MHD to confirm the current application documents before filing a foundation permit.
- Permit approved: Use the permit’s own scheduling instructions, then retain the completed inspection result rather than just an application receipt or engineer opinion.
The public guide lists field-office contacts for permit help, and its inspection instructions give a contact after permit approval. Because fees, forms and office procedures can change, use the linked Division page for current details rather than treating an older title or a proposed permit as approval. For the difference between an issued permit and a completed inspection, our final-inspection status guide offers a short record checklist.
Keep foundation approval separate from title deactivation
RLD places the County Assessor and Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) after the foundation inspection clears. The Assessor’s tax release and Request to Change Valuation are separate from the inspection file. MVD then handles the original title and supporting documents and issues the deactivated title. If MVD has no title, the homeowner page says it must create one. Do not describe an assessor release or deactivated title as the engineer’s foundation report or the passed inspection; each office owns a different step.
For a hypothetical older home, the paper title may be easy to find while the foundation inspection is not. Start with the RLD IPRA response. If it finds the passed inspection, carry that document forward with the assessor and MVD materials. If not, use RLD’s new foundation-report, permit and inspection route before asking the Assessor about tax release. This prevents the title paperwork from being mistaken for a building or foundation approval. Our old building-permit lookup guide can help preserve old address and permit references in the request.
The public permit search and IPRA response answer different questions, and an empty online search does not prove that no foundation permit or inspection exists. RLD may need to search an older file. Avoid making a title or safety conclusion from one missing screen.
Official New Mexico RLD homeowner and records guidance checked September 29, 2026 (UTC). No individual permit search, IPRA submission, inspection or title transaction was performed.