A. Any person claiming a solar right shall record that right by filing a declaration in substantially the following form with the county clerk of each county in which is located any portion of the properties burdened by a solar right or any portion of the properties on which a solar right is claimed:

SOLAR RIGHT DECLARATION

..., owner of the real property described below, claims a solar right in favor of the following described real estate in ...... county, New Mexico:

(Description either by metes and bounds, if in a platted subdivision, by lot and block subdivision name, by middle Rio Grande conservancy district tract number or other adequate legal description.)

The following named persons have each received notification by certified mail evidenced by a return receipt signed by the named person, or if the address of any person was not known and could not be ascertained by reasonable diligence, or if a return receipt signed by the named person could not be obtained, then notification to that person shall be made by publication of a copy of this declaration, with the intended date of filing, at least once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the property for which the solar right is being claimed is located, the last publication of which was no less than ten days prior to the filing of this declaration:

(A listing of the names of the holders as shown in the records of the county clerk of any interest in property burdened by a claimed solar right, including owners, mortgagors, mortgagees, lessors, lessees, contract purchasers and contract owners or sellers, and a description, either by metes and bounds if in a platted subdivision, by lot and block and subdivision name, by middle Rio Grande conservancy district tract number or other adequate legal description, of that burdened property.)

The claimant has placed improvements on the land in the form of a solar collector, as shown by the attached survey or plot plan setting forth distances from lot lines and height from ground level of all solar collectors entitled to be recorded under the provisions of the Solar Recordation Act, Chapter ..., Article .. NMSA 1978 and setting forth the maximum height of a theoretical fence located at the property lines of the property on which the solar collector is located which will not interfere with the solar easement.

Notice is hereby given that by virtue of the Solar Recordation Act, Chapter ..., Article ... NMSA 1978, the holders of any interest in property described above as having been mailed notice must record a declaration, with the county clerk in each county in which solar right recordation has been filed, contesting the claimed solar right within sixty days, or the solar right shall be fully vested. Witness ......... hand and seal this ... day of ......., 19 ...

.....................................................................

(here add acknowledgment).

B. Any person desiring to claim a solar right must record that right and give notice to affected property owners as provided in the Solar Recordation Act as a necessary condition precedent to enforcing a solar right. Failure to so record and give notice shall constitute a jurisdictional defect and deprive any court of subject matter jurisdiction to enforce the solar right. However, nothing in this subsection shall apply to any solar right, lease, easement or contract right which has vested prior to the effective date of this subsection.

C. Any person who receives notice of the recordation may, within sixty days after receiving notice, file a declaration contesting the right, in the same manner and at the same place as the recordation was filed. If a declaration is filed contesting the claimed solar right, then the solar right shall not be enforceable against the property covered by the declaration unless agreed to by contract or ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction, and any claim of a solar right shall expire one year from the date of declaration unless the parties agree by contract to settle the solar rights dispute or unless court action has commenced by that date to establish the claim of the solar right.

History: Laws 1983, ch. 233, § 4.