If you own property in México and you need to rent it out, I have 7 suggestions to protect you in case something goes wrong (renters not paying rent on time, or not paying at all, causing damage to your property or building, fixing anything without your permission, causing problems to neighbors, you name it).Here are my suggestions:
1.- Have a good rental agreement in Spanish, prepared or reviewed by an attorney. If you are working with a real estate agent, make sure he/she is a lawyer or TSUCI or licensed Agent or he/she is using a contract already revised by an attorney.
2.- Ask for one month deposit (hold by the owner and refund to renter at the end of the rental if no damage was done or owe any money)
3.- Ask for a Fiador signature.- also known as co-signer, this is a person who owns local real estate and promise to pay any money owed for the renter (in case he/she does not pay). Fiador has to be provided by renter.
4.-Ask for a certificado de libertad de gravamen.- certificate of free liens of Fiador´s property.
5.- Ask fos a copy of ID´s of renter and fiador “credencial de elector” (INE) id or passport.
6.- Sign the rental agreement in front of a Notario (it will save you a lot of time if you have to go to court).
7.- Issue an official receipt and pay your taxes every month.
All this will provide you with the tools and proofs to act in case something goes wrong, or the “domain extinction procedure” affects your property. You will still need to hire a trial attorney to start a trial against the renter.
Whatever happens, do not enter to your house without renter´s permission while the contract is in force, it could be a criminal act (allanamiento de morada). Talk to an attorney first.
The previous information comes from one of the chapters of my online course “How to Buy Real Estate in Mexico“. If you would like to know more about purchasing property in this country, I reccomend that you check it out. You can find it on udemy here. You can also find my courses on Skillshare by clicking here.
