Many of the these documents (whether on paper, digital, or on a website) are straightforward to deal with; but some that arrive might be confusing, especially if you don’t know much Spanish and a translation or AI scan still doesn’t give you clarity about what the document is telling you, asking for or demanding.

Document interpretation service

If you receive a document(s) in Mexico that you’re struggling to understand and respond to, our associate offers human assistance with document interpretation.

Whether you have received a physical document or email in Spanish, been given information online that is difficult to understand our associate helps by providing a clear explanation of the information to help you interpret it.

This service is designed for foreign residents or visitors in Mexico who would like personalized assistance understanding information, researching a topic cited in the document to obtain clear explanations in English about what the document is about and what it’s asking for so that you can make an informed response.

Example of situations our associate can assist with

Our associate will be pleased to receive your request and assess your situation when you have a document(s) in Spanish that you need assistance in understanding. Most typically these include:

• Understanding emails, physical letters, or other messages written/published in Spanish.
• Interpreting information found on or delivered on website portals.
• Translation and human interpretation of short texts and everyday communications delivered in Spanish. (If you need a certified translation read this.)
• Human review of forms, documents, instructions, and procedures, and clear interpretation offered for these

How the service works

To keep the service simple and focused our associate offers this personalized human assistance service using email.  They do not provide support by telephone, video meetings, or text-messaging support.

• Complete the request form below.
• You will receive an email introducing you to our associate, and providing you with their email address to which you can send the documents and other relevant information.
• Our associate will review your request, offer you a no-obligation quote, and if you decide to proceed, they will bill you directly.
• Typically, our associate quotes US$20-US$50 per request, depending on the situation and complexity.
• If you decide to proceed, our associate will interpret your document(s) and provide a written response by email.

Make a service request

Complete the request form below and our associate will contact you directly.

What happens next?

• After you complete the request form below, you’ll receive an email introducing you to our associate, and that provides you with an email address to which you can send the documents and other relevant information.
• Our associate will review your situation and offer a no-obligation quote for the service. (Typically between US$20 and US$50 per request.)
• When you’ve paid, they’ll begin work to interpret your document(s) and provide a written response by email.
• Mexperience will send you an email to confirm these details.

It’s possible to lose a great deal money (and even a life’s savings) if you are not insured or discover following an unforeseen event or natural disaster that your policy was not adequate or that the insurer underwriting the policy was not financially sound.

This article highlights practical aspects related to property insurance in Mexico to help you understand home insurance policies and choose coverages which are suitable to your needs and that will be adequate in the event you need to make a claim.

Home insurance if you own or rent in Mexico

You can arrange property insurance whether you own or rent a home in Mexico.

If you own a home in Mexico, you can insure the physical structure of the property as well as arrange coverages for loss of personal property at the home, and third party liabilities.

If you are renting a home in Mexico, you cannot insure the physical structure but you can arrange coverages for loss of personal property situated at the home and third party liability in relation to people visiting or working in your rented home.

Uninsurable residential structures in Mexico

Note that certain physical structures, especially risky ones like wood-framed buildings and palapa (palm or straw) roofing structures are usually explicitly excluded from all policies; if you must insure these, be prepared to pay a high premium to have them included in your coverages (it’s usually uneconomic to do so).

“All Risks” —vs— “Named Perils” insurance coverages

Some policies will offer “All Risks” cover, a form of comprehensive coverage that will pay out in the event of most incidents involving your home.

The better policies offer the option to cover catastrophic incidents such as hurricanes, floods, wind, fire, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes; surprisingly, some Mexican insurers are unable to underwrite some of these events, although specialist US insurers will.

To lower the insurance premium, you can elect to limit certain “Named Perils” assigned to your policy instead of taking All Risks coverage.  When you do this, certain events will be covered while others will not.

Less expensive policies are often the “named perils” type—even though on the surface they might appear to be comprehensive. A good broker will make a clear distinction between these two during its sales offer and demonstrate the cover and price differences between options.

Property insurance —vs— property title insurance

Note that property insurance and property title insurance are different.

Property insurance coverages are paid annually and can underwrite the physical property on the land, your personal possessions at the property, and may also cover third party liabilities related to the property.

Property title insurance is a one-time insurance payment you can buy when you purchase a property that mitigates risks related to unforeseen issues or liens associated with the property’s title.  It must be purchased before you close the property transaction.

Obtaining coverage for all your dwelling spaces

Your policy should cover the main structures of your home space and provide sufficient compensation to rebuild those structures if necessary.

Optionally, you may also cover carports, guesthouses, and other outbuildings including garages, games rooms, cabañas, equipment rooms, bungalows, stand-alone studios, etc.

Some homes in Mexico are composed of several structures (for example, several buildings situated around a central courtyard) and in these circumstances, the insurance rule is usually: everything that is directly connected is treated as one building. Anything that stands alone is considered an additional building.

Insuring your personal possessions situated at the property

A good insurance policy will cover personal goods owned by you, your guests, or domestic employees when they are working at your residence. Coverage for theft of personal property varies, depending on whether it is “scheduled” (specifically listed) or not.

Some policies include coverage for certain valuable property, such as cash, securities, jewelry, fine arts, sporting equipment and property used for business purposes—up to certain limits.

If you need higher limits for specific items of property that you own, this option is available by listing them on a special section of the application and making them a type of ‘named risk.’

Third party liability protection in relation to your home in Mexico

Good home insurance policies provide coverage for personal liabilities to third parties to protect you and your family against any lawsuits or demands presented against you.

For example, if a wall collapses and injures someone who was near it at the time; or the neighbor’s property is damaged due to a falling tree from your garden, a good insurance policy will cover your liabilities in these circumstances.

Policies can also cover injuries to people visiting or working in your home, for example if your housekeeper or gardener injure themselves on the job.

Loss of home use, or rental income

If you rely on your property for work, or to bring in a rental income, you may also choose to include a “loss of use” risk coverage in your policy.

This cover provides for additional living expenses if your house is damaged and cannot be lived in for a time while it’s repaired or rebuilt.

If you rent out your home and rely on this for income, you could take the additional option to cover rental income loss, whereby you are compensated for lost income if your home becomes damaged and unavailable for rental to others (you will need to provide evidence that a rental contract exists).

Rent liability coverage

Some home insurance policies exclude coverage when your home is rented (even occasionally or part time) or add a hefty supplement to the policy’s premium to include renter’s liability as part of the coverage.

If you rent out your home in Mexico (or intend to at some point) and want your coverages to be valid when others are renting the property, check with the provider you get a quote from to see if renter’s liability coverage is included in the premium, or how much more you need to pay in premium to include it.

Insuring your condominium unit in Mexico

Condominium associations in Mexico are supposed to keep a blanket commercial policy in place to cover the entire property.

Typically, this provides insurance coverage for the building as well as communal elements of the property such as pools, garages, the interior walls, fixtures, fittings, and outbuildings associated with the development, or fraccionamiento.

The wording of these commercial insurance policies tends to be very limiting in what they will cover within the terms of a blanket condominium insurance policy and it’s prudent for individual condo owners to arrange separate insurance to mitigate expenses of paying for certain types of damage.

Exclusion of third party liability

Many Mexican-issued insurance policies exclude third party liability and renter’s liability from the standard policy and charge a substantial premium to include these as optional extras. This places an obligation on condominium owners to cover elements not included by the commercial policy on a unit-by-unit basis.

Liability to adjacent properties in the building

Don’t be lured into a false sense of security by condominium blanket coverages: in a situation where an event that happens in your condominium affects an adjacent condominium —for example, a water leak in your shower room that damages your neighbor’s room below— you will be made liable for repairs to yours and your neighbors’ damages.  Having a unit-based insurance policy in place will protect you from the expenses of these sorts of events.

Check the documentation

The key documents to check on your Condo contracts are the ‘Byelaws’ and ‘Covenants’ associated with your condominium property: these are the documents that contain the small print regarding what is and what is not covered by the condominium building’s ‘blanket’ insurance program.

Insurance for beachfront and waterside property in Mexico

It’s possible to insure property near oceans, rivers, and lakes—although premiums may be higher to reflect the additional risks which may arise from storms and flooding that can be more common in these areas.

The online insurance application form will ask you for the Mexican postal code (zip code) of the property, and this is mapped to detailed topographical and statistical data which enables insurers to assess the hydro and meteorological risks that are related to the property and quote accordingly.

Some companies may refuse to insure properties very close to the sea or other bodies of water if historical statistical data show that it’s unviable, although policies may be available from different brokers that will quote for coverage in certain acute circumstances—with higher premiums to reflect the increased risk.

Insurance for homes situated on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula

If you own —or intend to own— a home situated on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, you’ll discover that getting your property insured is more difficult than if it’s situated in other regions of Mexico.

The Yucatán region’s geology, coupled with unique hurricane risks, has made it either difficult or prohibitively expensive to insure homes in this area. However, our insurance associate MexPro offers home insurance coverages in the Yucatán region.

Watercraft insurance in Mexico

A few people live on their boat moored in Mexico, while some people who own homes here near a body of water might also own a boat, a jet ski, or a yacht—and these ought to be properly insured while they are situated in Mexican waters.

The premium you pay for insurance of your watercraft is based on two factors:

• the number of days the craft will be in Mexico, and
• the value of the watercraft.

Personal injury and third-party liability cover should also be taken out in case you become involved in an accident on the water. The better policies also offer legal assistance and ‘bond’ cover in addition to the injury and liability cover.

In legal terms, accidents involving watercraft where people are injured or killed are treated in similar fashion to serious car accidents in Mexico.

If you own watercraft and and spend extended periods of time here, or live here, an annual policy may be a better investment than a short term policy covering specific dates.

Check with the broker providing your quote to find out what options they have for year-round coverage of your watercraft in Mexico.

Learn more about property insurance in Mexico

Mexperience offers detailed insights about property in Mexico for buyers, owners, renters, and sellers.

• Choosing a home insurance policy
• Insuring domestic help and workers in your home
• Third party damage cover
• Latest articles about property insurance in Mexico
• Get a no-obligation online quote for home insurance in Mexico

Domestic workers can include housekeepers, nurses or other home assistance;  gardeners, pool cleaning and maintenance workers; and may occasionally include other specialized workers like plumbers and electricians.

You can mitigate the cost of liability

This article describes certain risks that can emerge from having people working in your home and how a suitable insurance policy can mitigate the financial costs and related treatment expenses if someone working there suffers an injury, as well as defend you against civil liability costs in the event of a major adverse incident.

You can obtain home insurance coverage, including third party liability, whether you own or rent your home in Mexico.

Accidents can and do happen in the home

When you have a regular helper or helpers working in your home, you ought to consider what would happen if one of those workers or helpers has an accident and needs treatment, or becomes disabled, or dies.

Examples include:

• if your housekeeper slips and falls badly, and sustains a substantial injury;
• if your gardener injures himself using a power tool, or falls off a ladder;
• if the pool maintenance guy trips and falls into the pool, knocking his head during the fall.

Accidents happen and if someone working in your home (whether the property is owned or rented) suffers an injury or worse, you can become liable for:

• expenses related to their treatment;
• loss of income if they’re unable to work due to an injury in your home; and,
• in the event of their death, you might face a civil lawsuit.

Civil liability can cause financial hardship

Additional risks arise where someone working in your home inadvertently causes an accident and hurts someone else or damages someone else’s property; or where an injury suffered by someone working in your home prevents them from working for a time and they pursue you for loss of income.

Examples of this include:

• the gardener cuts down a tree branch that falls on an adjacent property and injures your neighbor;
• a plumber who comes to replace old pipework on your property causes the condo below yours to be flooded;
• the housekeeper watering plant pots that are placed on a wall accidentally causes the plant pot to fall out onto the street and it injures a passer-by;
• your housekeeper or other worker suffers a severe injury while working at your home that prevents them from working for an extended period—and pursues you for loss of earnings.

An adequate home insurance policy can defend you against these types of unforeseen accidents and mishaps and provides civil liability cover in the event of a serious incident.

Third-party liability insurance for your home

A satisfactory home insurance policy will cover the home’s structure (if you own the home), and your personal goods (whether you own or rent).  The best policies also offer third-party liability coverages or offer third-party insurance as a stand-alone coverage option.

Typical situations that third-party home liability covers

Third-party liability coverage protects you when someone working in your home suffers an accident or inadvertently causes an accident that creates an injury or loss to themselves, or someone else.

For example, if:

• A worker comes to your home, regularly or ad-hoc, to undertake some work for you and, while doing that work, they injure themselves, the insurance coverage will reimburse you for medical and other related expenses you incur for the treatment of that person’s injuries.
• Someone working in your home causes an accident that has an impact on a third party, the insurance will cover medical and other losses suffered by that third party. For example, if a worker is painting an outside wall and the paint pot falls off the ladder onto someone’s parked car, the insurance would cover you for the car owner’s expense in getting that damage repaired.
• A worker at your home suffers a serious accident or injury that prevents them from working for a time, and they pursue you for lost earnings, the insurance would provide coverage up to the insured amount.
• A person working in your home suffers a serious accident and becomes permanently disabled, or dies, the insurance would cover any civil lawsuits that may be brought against you.
• When someone you know is visiting your home and suffers an accident or loss unintentionally caused by you (the policy holder) —or by your immediate family member— or caused by someone working at your home, the insurance would cover expenses for treatment and damages to the visitor.

In the case of civil liability suits, the insurance will also cover your legal expenses in relation to those, usually up to 50% of the insured amount—check the policy for details about this.

Typical limitations and exclusions

Domestic third-party liability insurance policies carry limitations and exclusions that you ought to be aware of; check the policy wording for details.  Significant situations that are almost always excluded include:

• The policies exclude injury to the named policy holder and their immediate family; so, if you or your partner or children suffer an accident on the property or are injured by a person working at the home, medical expenses and liability for those events are not covered.
• Any loss or damages to goods and persons where the home is in process of construction, assembly, or dismantling are explicitly excluded—so these policies will not cover you when you are building or extending a home, or having major remodeling done. The insurance does cover workers when they are attending your home to make repairs and/or undertake maintenance
• When you are host to guests like friends or extended family members, any injuries, or damages they might sustain while on or near your property will not be covered under the policy unless the accident or damage was caused the named policy holder or their immediate family member, or by someone working at the home.
• The insurance will never cover any damages, injuries, or losses arising from any events or situations where criminal or unlawful activity is involved; or if willful negligence is apparent; or for suicides.

How a third-party insurance policy protects you

You can arrange a policy online and the insurance will provide immediate home coverage for you in Mexico on acceptance of your application.

In the event of a claim, the insurance will reimburse you for medical and other related expenses you incur to provide immediate necessary treatments to the person or persons who were injured while working in your home, and it will provide legal help and civil liability coverage as per the policy if the person who was working in your home subsequently pursues you for civil damages.

Arrange a policy online and get immediate coverage

Our home insurance associate, MexPro, offers comprehensive home insurance coverages including third-party liability that can be purchased by itself or as an integral part of a complete home insurance coverage plan.  MexPro is a long-established US-licensed insurance broker that only works with A-rated underwriters.

• You can purchase home insurance whether you own the home, or are renting the home
• If you are renting, you can only insure your personal goods and/or third-party liability
• You can purchase third-party liability by itself as stand-alone coverage
• Choose how much coverage you would like: US$300,000 is a recommended minimum, and you can insure for up to US$2 million
• There is no deductible for third party liability claims, unless the claim is to cover an injury for a person working in your home, in which case a deductible of MXN$600 pesos (about US$30) per claim applies.
• The policy premium is quoted for and paid in US dollars, and any payouts are made in US dollars, or the US dollar equivalent amount in Mexican pesos when you ask for the payment to be wired to a bank account in Mexico.

Learn more about caring for your home in Mexico

Mexperience publishes extensive information to help you plan and care for your home life in Mexico through guides, articles and free eBooks:

• Free eBook: House maintenance and home security
• Articles about property insurance
• Articles about real estate in Mexico

Insurance to cover the costs of burglary in Mexico

Property insurance policies cover theft of most items from your home —and sometimes for certain items stolen from your car or hotel room when you’re traveling— but the specific provisions in most policies typically stipulate an uncovered deductible amount.

Coverage for vandalism

A good insurance policy will also cover you if an act of vandalism is visited upon your property.  While vandalism can be a relatively minor irritation —graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall, for example— it can be far more expensive to make good if the vandalism is severe and happens inside the property as part-and-parcel of a burglary.  Most burglars are looking for easily portable, high-value items like jewelry, technology, and cash, and it’s not unheard of for some burglars to cause extensive internal damage as they move through the house.

While a comprehensive insurance policy will cover vandalism, when the deductible is considered, in practice an event like a graffiti painted on an external wall will be less expensive to make good locally than filing an insurance claim.  The same is true with petty thefts: small losses aren’t covered unless the value of the loss is greater than the policy’s deductible.

Unattended properties are a prime target for burglars in Mexico

In Mexico, unattended homes are at the highest risk of burglary.  It’s unwise to leave your home vacant and unattended in Mexico for lengthy periods, and most foreign residents who plan to be away for a week or more will take some precautions.

Here are some key tips to consider when you plan to be away and leave your house unoccupied for an extended period:

Check the insurance policy

Be sure to check the detail of your home insurance policy as most coverages underwriting domestic dwellings will not pay-out if your property has been left vacant for 30 days or more.

Communal homes

If you’ve purchased your Mexican home in a condominium complex or in a gated community (known in Spanish as privadas or fraccionamientos), some of these have 24-hour security at the gate.

Let your gate staff (or other staff like the property manager or the cleaner) know that you’ll be away and ask one of the neighbors to pick-up your mail and call-in to the property to check on things; this is especially important during the rainy season after a major storm (or hurricane if you live along the coast) to check for any damage that may need attending to right away.

If you don’t have a neighbor or local friend who can help with this, a local realty agent might provide the service for a fee.

Detached homes

If your home is situated along a public street, and especially if it’s in a semi-rural or rural location off-the-beaten-track, we recommend you adopt a range of measures to mitigate the possibility of burglary. These include having interior and/or exterior lighting set-up on timers, and/or motion detectors outside that switch-on lights in key areas when people approach the property.  Some owners have alarm systems installed which are connected to a security company.

Your car and other vehicles

If your car is kept in public view and you’re going to leave it while you’re away, have a neighbor move it occasionally; doing this will also help to keep the car’s battery in good working order, especially if the vehicle is older and your absence is extended.

Home checkers/sitters

Ask a neighbor, family member, or friend —or pay a local agent— to pick-up mail and check the property while you’re away.  An excellent way to protect your property while you’re away for a lengthy period is to have someone you know house-sit for you.

For a trusted friend or family member, this arrangement might provide an opportunity for them to enjoy a rent-free leisure break here in Mexico, and it’s also useful if you have pets that need looking after: having them cared for at home is a better arrangement (and less expensive) than using kennels.

What’s covered by home insurance in Mexico?

The precise coverages on offer to protect your home are determined by where in Mexico the property is situated: not every insurance company will offer full coverage in every part of the country.

To find out what you can cover for your home, our associates, MexPro, provide a property insurance service online: use this to enter your property details and address and their system will give you a quote on property insurance, as available for your review.

Learn more about caring for and insuring your home in Mexico

Mexperience publishes extensive information to help you plan and care for your home spaces in Mexico.

• Guide to securing your home and dwelling spaces in Mexico
• Guide to home maintenance
• Latest articles about property insurance
• Articles about real estate in Mexico

This article introduces you to property insurance choices and guides you through important considerations as you search for and choose a home insurance policy for your needs and lifestyle situation.

Principal coverages offered by insurance policies for your home in Mexico

Depending on your needs, circumstances, and budget, you can insure your property entirely or partially.

The insurance premium will depend on key variables related to the risks you want underwritten, including: the location and type of your property, its age and replacement cost, and what events you want coverage for.

You can insure your home in Mexico for:

• Structural damage caused by natural phenomena like wind, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, as well as damage caused by acts of vandalism and burglary (owners only).
• Loss or damage of personal possessions in the event of flooding or theft (whether you own or rent).
• Third party liabilities related to owning or renting property, for examples if a tree falls on your neighbor’s house or your housekeeper is injured while working in your home (whether you own or rent).

Property insurance policies in Mexico

Property insurance policies in Mexico are different to policies sold in the U.S. and Canada. The policy wording is different, and the types of coverages offered are different, so some things that you might think are included as standard, might not be if you purchase your insurance in Mexico directly from a Mexican insurer.

To bridge this gap, specialist companies based in the U.S. have developed property ownership insurance coverages which reflect the wording, terms, and coverages typically included on US and Canadian policies.

The insurance itself is underwritten by Mexican insurance companies (by law, it must be this way), but the U.S. companies work in partnership with Mexican underwriters to create an insurance coverage that is familiar to those purchasing insurance in the US and Canada (or those who want a US-style policy), and which is legally valid under Mexican law.

Some homeowners in Mexico purchase property insurance from a Mexican insurer direct that charges premiums in Mexican pesos and pays out in Mexican pesos; others purchase from a specialist US-based company that offers US style insurance with premiums in US dollars and pay outs in US dollars.

Buying insurance for your home in Mexico

Should you buy your insurance from a local Mexican broker or a specialized US firm?  Here are some key points to consider about each route:

Buying from an insurance broker in Mexico

When you buy home insurance from a Mexican broker you will typically:

• obtain coverages sold with Mexican-style terms and characteristics, often different to those offered in the US and Canada and which may offer less coverages or have limitations you are not accustomed to;
• have policy wording presented in Spanish, so you will need to be able to read Spanish fluently or have someone translate and/or explain the policy terms to you;
• need to file insurance claims in Spanish and any discussions or disputes about claims will need to be argued in Spanish; you will need to get an interpreter to deal with claims if your Spanish is not that good;
• pay your insurance premiums in Mexican pesos and any claims will be paid out in Mexican pesos.

Buying insurance from a specialist US firm

When you buy home insurance from a specialist US firm you will typically:

• obtain coverages sold with US-style terms with the same kinds of characteristics you see on insurance policies offered in the US and Canada;
• have a policy sold and worded in English;
• be able to file claims and undertake discussions about claims in English;
• pay your premiums in US dollars with any claims paid out to you in US dollars.

Should you choose a Mexico or US based home insurance policy?

If your Spanish is good, you have a decent local insurance broker contact, and you’re satisfied with the coverages offered by a Mexican-style insurance policy, then a local insurance policy will suffice, although there’s no harm in obtaining a quote offered by US-based policies to compare coverages and rates.

We recommend that you consider the services of US-based specialists set-up specifically to service foreign-home ownership in Mexico if your Spanish is not fluent and if you don’t have much experience of buying insurance in Mexico.

It’s also important to consider that, in the event you need to claim, you will find yourself in a stressful situation, and having an insurer that has issued a policy in English, in terms you are familiar with, and covering events which you are used to seeing covered in an insurance policy will be worth any additional premium on the day you may need to make that telephone call to file a claim.

Further, US-led policies can include coverages (for example, third-party liability cover) as standard, whereas many Mexican policies do not cover these without them being specifically scheduled—and with significant additional premiums.

Learn more about property insurance in Mexico

Mexperience offers detailed insights about property in Mexico for buyers, owners, renters, and sellers.

• Practical checklist for home insurance coverages
• Earthquakes in Mexico
• Hurricane season
• Windstorms in Mexico
• Latest articles about property insurance in Mexico
• Get a no-obligation online quote for home insurance in Mexico

In this article, we describe how sewerage and waste water is typically managed at residential homes in Mexico, either via a mains sewer or a natural sewer (septic tank) system.

Two principal ways to deal with waste water

Typically. homes situated in well established neighborhoods in urban areas will have access to a municipally-run mains sewerage system, whereby the property’s waste water is connected to the town or city’s sewer for treatment and recycling.

Homes which are situated in rural areas, or districts of a town or city where the mains sewerage system does not reach —or cannot reach due to local topography or subsoil issues— need to use a septic tank system.  Having your own septic tank might sound daunting, but lots of homes in Mexico have them, and they operate mostly trouble-free when properly cared for.

Mains sewerage systems in Mexico

Like the mains-fed water system, Mexico’s sewerage systems vary by city and neighborhood but, on the whole, Mexico’s sewerage systems are good enough, due in part to extensive government investment in recent decades to ensure that sewerage leaks are kept to a minimum and problems are dealt with swiftly due to the public health consequences of doing otherwise.

Accessing the mains sewerage system

If you rent or buy a built home in Mexico that has a mains-fed water supply, chances are the area will also have a mains sewerage system, and the property’s water waste pipe will already be connected to it.

If you are building your own home on a plot of land that is near to the town or city’s sewer main, you can pay to get the property connected to it.  This work must be done by the local water authority; it cannot be done by your plumber or builders.

Paying for mains sewerage

Homes connected to a mains sewerage system are billed by the same local water authority that manages the mains water supply.  Mains water bills are usually dispatched every two months, and  the sewerage element is either a fixed charge or related to the volume of fresh water consumed.

See also: The cost of utilities in Mexico

Septic tank sewerage systems in Mexico

If the property you rent or buy (or intend to build) is not near a mains sewerage system, the property will have a septic tank (natural sewer) instead.

Septic tanks are most common on properties situated in rural or remote areas, although even some neighborhoods in cities may use one if the property is too far away from the nearest mains sewerage duct.

How septic tank systems work on a property

In essence, a septic tank is quite simple, and properly cared for (see below) will be mostly self-managing.

• Waste water from the property is piped into a septic tank buried underground at least a couple of meters away from the buildings.
• From there, waste passes through a ‘drainfield’—a series of underground pipes and concrete boxes filled with gravel.
• Afterward, the waste water passes into the surrounding soil, where it becomes a type of natural fertilizer.
• This article and video share an excellent overview about septic tank systems, types, and how they work.

Maintaining a healthy septic tank system

A septic waste water system on your property will usually look after itself provided you take care of it and are mindful about what you allow to be put down the toilet and the drains. It might need to be pumped out periodically, and especially if a problem develops.

Here are some tips to help maintain your septic tank system.

Get familiar with the system

If you have never rented or purchased a house with a septic tank system ask the owner (or previous owner) about it.  Make sure you know where it’s situated on the property and how to get access to it.

Only flush toilet paper

Other than bodily waste, nothing other than toilet paper should ever be flushed down. Toilet paper is designed to break down and is ‘septic tank safe,’ but paper tissues are not, so those and diapers, dental floss, hygienic pads, etc. should all be discarded in a waste bin, never down the toilet. Anything containing plastic or rubber can wreck your septic system and require you to have it pumped out.

Avoid putting undue stress on the system

Too much water all at once is not good for a septic tank system. For example, it’s better to do laundry over several days instead of doing it all in one day.  Similar with dish washers. Keep showers short, and if you use a bath, try not to drain it at the same time you are doing laundry.

Be careful with your kitchen sink

It’s possible (but not ideal) to use ‘food disposal grinders’ with a septic tank, but only if the food you are grinding down is easily biodegradable, i.e., natural foods, not processed—and never in excess quantities.

It’s best to wipe out food scraps into a separate waste bin and compost those separately, so that the amount of food waste going down your drain and entering your septic tank is minimized.

Oil, grease, and other fats from cooking should not be washed down your sink.  Some systems have a ‘grease trap’ that collects fat before it reaches the septic tank and this will need cleaning out occasionally.  In any event, it’s best practice to remove as much food/oil/fat from your dishes using an absorbent paper towel before washing them.

Beware of cleaners and chemicals

Septic tanks depend on good bacteria to break down all the waste. Harsh cleaners and chemicals can kill these bacteria and make your tank less efficient, or cause it to malfunction.

Some sites that publish information about septic tanks claim that small amounts of bleach won’t damage the tank; it’s probably best to avoid using bleach as a whitener in your laundry, for example.

Never use drain de-blocking chemicals if you have a septic tank. Drano and similar products contain highly corrosive acids that will kill the bacteria in your tank’s system.  If you need to de-clog a drain use a rubber plunger or a drain snake coil, instead.

Using natural cleaners like white vinegar, salt, citrus, baking soda, boric acid (borax), as alternatives to commercial cleaning products can help to protect the integrity of your septic tank.

Regular maintenance, and tank replacement

You might occasionally need to get your septic tank pumped out—check locally for service providers who do this, or ask a plumber for a referral.

If the septic tank is very old or becomes damaged, it will begin to leak and you’ll know by the stench and waste water that will rise from the ground near where the tank is buried. Contact a plumber if you need to replace it, or the property owner if you’re renting. Septic tank replacement is quite a big job as it requires considerable digging and other labor in addition to the new parts.

Learn more about water supplies in Mexico

Mexperience publishes articles and guides to help you understand water supplies and the efficient use of water at your home in Mexico, including:

• Water delivered to residential homes in Mexico
• Understanding water pressure systems
• Clarity about drinking the water
• Latest articles related to use of water in Mexico
• Latest articles about Mexico’s rainy season and dry season

How water is delivered in Mexico

Water in Mexico is usually delivered to homes in one of four ways:

• via mains-feed system; or
• via a communal feed sourced from official local water springs and wells; or
• via a private well situated on the property or in the local neighborhood (although this is rare); or
• via a combination of rain collection (in season) and local water delivery by truck.

None of these methods provide provide the constant pressure needed to move the water effectively around your property’s pipework.  Good pressure is needed especially for use in showers and taps situated on the second or third story of a property, and to water your garden with a hose or pressure-driven sprinkler.

The importance of your home’s cistern

Almost all properties in Mexico have a cistern to collect and store water—regardless of whether you get water from a mains-fed system, a communal feed, rain water collection, or a combination of these.

The low pressure water feed from the mains-fed and communal water distribution systems is sufficient to fill these underground water storage areas, usually via a pipe that runs just below the surface of the street level. (Mains-fed systems in some places might have sufficient pressure to fill a tank on a low roof, but you ought not to count on this.)

If you have water deliveries made by truck and/or collect rainwater during the rainy season, that water will be channeled into your property’s cistern.

Cisterns sizes are expressed in liters and cubic meters: one cubic meter of cistern will store 1,000 liters (264 US gallons) of water.  They’re usually made of concrete and vary in size. Some homeowners dig a big hole, line it with concrete, and place a plastic tank in that space —a large tank for domestic use will store around 11,000 liters of water— leaving a service lid for access and maintenance to the tank inside; however, most cisterns are built using concrete that stores the water directly.

Cisterns (and tanks) need cleaning occasionally to clear sediment that inevitably builds-up on the cistern’s base, and algae that may begin to propagate around the top edges of the high waterline.

Smaller homes will usually store around 3000-4000 liters of water inside a small concrete cistern; mid sized homes may have cisterns of about 10,000 liters, larger homes, condos and apartment buildings, and properties with extensive gardens may have two or more cisterns with a capacity to store 50,000 or more liters of water on the property.

Water storage is especially prevalent during the dry season, when there’s no rainwater to collect, and mains-feed systems, which are usually intermittent and deliver water once every few days, often reduce delivery schedules during acute dry spells between November and May to conserve water in the area they serve.

Cisterns filled from mains-fed water or communal water networks have a float valve installed that shuts-off the incoming water when the cistern is filled.  Cisterns that are filled using rain water have overflow systems that prevent additional rainwater from accumulating when they’re full.

Creating water pressure for your property in Mexico

There are two principal ways of creating pressure within your home, building, or property.  The first, which is a gravity-led pressure system is almost universal even if you use the second method, which is to install a hydro-pump within your home’s water system—and there are two principal types of those.

El Tinaco—The water reservoir on your roof

If you’re familiar with Mexico you will have seen water tanks everywhere, situated atop roofs on homes and buildings across the country.  The very old ones are made of cement; modern versions are made using a special type of plastic. Some of these tanks are mounted on a tower or base to give them additional height above the property’s rooftop.  The additional height creates additional pressure below, that is especially useful in shower rooms on upper floors.

An electric pump moves water from the cistern to the tinaco. The pump is usually automated: it switches on when a floating switch in the tinaco falls below a certain level, and stops when it’s full, preventing the tinaco (water reservoir) on the roof from overflowing.

Rooftop reservoirs in private homes usually store between 1,000 and 2,000 liters of water. In condos and other buildings that serve multiple units, these tanks may be larger, although the water is usually stored (and thus the weight distributed) across multiple smaller tanks.

When the water from the cistern has been pumped-up to your roof, gravity takes over.  The higher the tank is situated above the property, the more pressure you’ll have below.  A tank on on a small tower above the roof of a two-story home provides plenty of pressure for upstairs and downstairs showers, and to power 100-foot long hosepipes connected to downstairs taps. Note that showers on two-story homes will require the reservoir tank to rest on a tower above the roofline to create sufficient pressure and water volume for a good head of water to flow upstairs.

Installing a hydro-pump for water pressure

Some people choose to install a hydro-pump on their property that keeps the water pipes pressurized throughout the home.

A pump-driven pressurized system is helpful if the design of the property doesn’t lend itself to having a roof-top tank (practically and/or aesthetically), or in cases where a water tank cannot be placed sufficiently high enough above the property to create a decent amount of water pressure throughout the home.

There are two main types of water pressure system for homes:

• A hydro-pneumatic pressure tank/pump combination; and
• A water pressurizing pump.

A hydro-pneumatic pressure tank/pump —Bomba Hidronuemática— pressurizes water in a tank that is then channeled into the property’s water pipe system.  When you switch on a tap, the pressurized water in this tank is released to give pressure at the tap-head. The pump ignites when the tank’s water pressure falls below a preset level—thus, pressure with this type of pump can fluctuate as the pressure in the tank drops gradually until the pump reignites to restore the pressure level. Tanks come in various sizes, and larger properties require bigger tanks to operate effectively and prevent significant fluctuations in water pressure.
See also: Types of hydro-pneumatic pressure tanks/pumps (Amazon Mexico).

A water pressure pump —Presurizador de Agua— is a pump that is plumbed directly into the property’s water pipe system without the need for a pressurized tank. When you switch on a tap, the pump ignites and is controlled to provide a constant pressure level while the water is running.  These types of pumps are ideal when you want a consistent water pressure and/or don’t have much space to store a pressurized tank.
See also: Types of water pressure pumps (Amazon Mexico).

Choosing a water pressure pump for your home in Mexico

Each type of pressure pump has its advantages and disadvantages.

They depend on an electric pump to operate, so power cuts may affect your water pressure—whereas a gravity-fed system will not be affected by power cuts while there is sufficient water in the rooftop reservoir tank.

Some homes have a tank on the roof in addition to a pressure pump to keep a modicum of pressure in the system even if the power fails or the pump breaks down.

The pumps come in different sizes. Capacity is usually expressed in ‘flow’ of cubic meters of water per hour, (1m³ = 1,000 liters), and/or ‘horsepower’—that describes the raw power of the pump.

More expensive pumps tend to have copper-wound motors; the more common and less expensive models have aluminum-wound motors.  Whether copper or aluminum is better is a matter for debate.

If you have large property and will be pumping a lot of water with need of a heavy duty pump, you might consider a more expensive copper-wound motor; for most homes a less expensive aluminum-wound motor is likely to be adequate.

Talk to a plumber about how to choose and buy the right type and size of water pressure pump for your home’s needs.

Learn more about water supplies in Mexico

Mexperience publishes articles and guides to help you understand water supplies and the efficient use of water at your home in Mexico, including:

• Water supplies for residential homes in Mexico
• Clarity about drinking the water
• Sewerage and septic tank systems for your home in Mexico
• Latest articles related to use of water in Mexico
• Latest articles about Mexico’s rainy season and dry season
• Home Maintenance and Security in Mexico

If your home in Mexico is situated in an area of the country than can get cool or cold, there are various ways to keep your home and yourself warm and the main ones are described in this article.

Ways to keep your home spaces warm during the cool or cold months of the year

For most places in Mexico, some extra layers of clothing and perhaps one or two heating sources are usually enough to take the edge off any chill or cold before bedtime, and in the early morning hours.

Open air fireplaces

Homes situated in areas that are known for being cool or cold during the fall and winter, even older homes, have built-in fireplaces with a chimney for burning wood.

Open fires, properly managed, can create a good amount of heat and create a warm and inviting atmosphere in your home on cooler and cold evenings.  There are however, two considerations to take into account when you use open air fireplaces:

• Buying the wood: choose a local supplier that sells properly cured wood for burning (green wood will cause havoc with your chimney) and who sources wood from naturally felled trees and/or sustainable wood farms to avoid encouraging indiscriminate (and illegal) deforestation.
• Keep your chimney clean, well maintained, and in good working order to minimize the amount of wood smoke that will get into the living areas and settle on indoor surfaces over time.

Wood burning stoves

If you have a chimney space, or a stone floor clearing in a main room, a wood-burning stove can be an ideal way to heat your home.  Like open fireplaces, they are wood-fueled, but the wood is placed inside a sealed stove to burn.

Key features:

• Using manual shutters, you can control the amount of air that flows through the stove and thus control the burn-rate of the wood—and to some extent, the amount of heat it generates.
• Wood burning stoves can create an enormous amount of heat and the top ledge can optionally be used to heat water in a kettle or slow cook a casserole inside a Dutch oven.
• Unlike open fireplaces, the wood smoke is contained inside the stove unit and funneled out from there through a sealed duct that (typically) leads up the chimney and outdoors, so hardly any wood smoke escapes into the home’s living areas.
• These stoves might create too much heat for your Mexican home, but you can manage this by reducing the amount of wood fuel you burn, or by lighting it in the late afternoon so when nightfall arrives, the house is warm but the stove is no longer giving off a lot of heat.

Electric-powered indoor space heaters

If your home doesn’t have chimney space, or is smaller, or you live in a condo or apartment that doesn’t lend itself to having a fireplace or a wood burning stove, you might choose an electric-powered space heater.

Electricity can get expensive in Mexico if you use an excess each billing-bimester. Heaters use a lot of electricity, so heating an entire home with electric heaters is cost-prohibitive for most people. However, a space heater or two to take off the edge of an evening chill can be affordable and is a commonly-used form of heating here.

Some notes about electric space heaters

• Electric-powered space heaters are sold in various forms and sizes, as this page on Amazon Mexico illustrates.
• Some models feature a fan that draws cold air in to pass it through heated elements inside the unit, and blows the heated air back out into the room. This can be efficient, but also noisy.
• The heaters that don’t use a fan have elements which heat a liquid inside the sealed unit that disperses heat into the space around it. Less efficient, but quiet.
• For the well-heeled, Dyson sells an electric air heater and cooler at a premium price that combines HEPA filter air purification with heating and cooling and without as much noise as a traditional fan-assisted space heater.
• As with gas-fired heaters, your home will need to be properly ventilated when you use electric space heaters to avoid condensation building-up, especially on windows.

Gas-fired indoor and outdoor space heaters

Gas-fired space heaters, that work using LPG tanks, are available for indoor use, but they create a lot condensation, especially on and around windows.  Gas-fired space heaters for outdoor use can be helpful if your home has a sizeable terrace and you enjoy spending winter evenings outdoors there.

Some notes about gas-fired heaters

• Amazon Mexico showcases the typical range of gas-fired space heaters available for your home.
• They can be helpful for large indoor spaces with high ceilings that would require a lot of energy (and time) to warm up using an electric space heater.
• Regardless of the room size, when you use these gas heaters indoors, ventilation is essential for health reasons and to minimize condensation.
• Outdoor gas-fired space heaters can be very helpful on terraces and in other outdoor areas where you may gather during an evening, and/or to keep an area warm while you enjoy a meal outdoors during the colder months.
• Fireplace-like heaters are also available for outdoor use; some are gas-fired and some are wood-burners.

Electric blankets

Electric blankets are popular and can provide an economic and efficient way to warm your couch or bed during cold evenings.  They don’t require too much electricity if you use them sparingly, and help you to ward off chilly evenings as you watch a film or pre-warm your mattress and blankets before you go to sleep.

• Electric blankets are sold in many different styles
• You can choose sizes to match your bed type, e.g. single, double, Queen, King, etc.
• Some models have a timer so that you can set the blanket to heat up and shut down at certain intervals and all of them allow you to adjust the temperature.
• More expensive models feature digital controllers with a clock and thermometer so you can set precise timings and temperatures.

Centrally controlled heating and cooling

Most houses situated in the mountainous regions of Mexico are not fitted with integrated “central” heating systems, although some modern apartment buildings may feature duct-fed heating and air conditioning systems.

If you want your Mexican home to emulate those in Europe which use wall-mounted radiators heated by water flowing through them and fired by a gas or electricity, you can obtain them in Mexico, but they are relatively expensive to install, and running costs will be higher than the alternatives listed earlier in this article.  Whether they are worth the investment is a moot point, and ultimately it’s personal choice. A local plumber may be able to advise you.

Modern buildings, especially contemporary condos and apartment blocks situated in big cities and fashionable housing developments, might have heating and cooling systems pre-installed, with hot and cold air delivered to each home through ducting. The cost of these is paid for as part of the communal HOA fees.

Taking care of your home in Mexico

Mexperience publishes guides and articles to help you maintain and secure your house, home, and dwelling spaces in Mexico.

• Latest insights about taking care of your home in Mexico
• Electricity supply for your home
• Gas supply for your home
• Insurance for your home in Mexico

Practical insights to help you keep your Mexican home well-maintained and secure

How to maintain, manage, and secure your home in Mexico

When you have moved to Mexico and taken possession of your home, whether you own your property in Mexico or are just renting it, there will be certain matters to organize and deal with on a regular basis to keep your house properly maintained and secured when you are home and away.

With some local insights and forward planning, maintaining and securing your home in Mexico ought not to pose any major headaches or inconveniences.

Our guides to home maintenance and home security share tips and practical knowledge to help you secure your dwelling spaces and prevent your Mexican home from falling into disrepair.

Practical advice combined with local knowledge to help you manage your home in Mexico

Our guides are an integral part of our homestead management series and topics related to house maintenance and home security include:

• Moving house: to, from and within Mexico
• How to hire domestic helpers for your home
• How water is supplied to homes in Mexico
• Managing the water supply at your house
• Drinking water in Mexico
• Water pressure at residential properties in Mexico
• Learning about waste water systems at your property
• Keeping your home warm in the cooler or cold months
• Dealing with household waste disposal and recycling
• Managing the electricity supply at your house
• Learn about gas supplies and gas-fired appliances
• Keeping in touch at home using phone and internet
• Tips for securing your Mexican home and property
• Keeping unattended properties safe
• Insurance coverages for your home in Mexico

More resources for Living & Lifestyle in Mexico

Mexperience offers you a comprehensive online resource of information and local knowledge to help you discover Mexico, explore choices, find opportunities and plan a new life in Mexico.  Our resources include:

• A regular Mexico Newsletter you can subscribe to for free
• Regularly-updated articles about lifestyle planning  in Mexico
• Insights about day to day living with Mexico Home Life

• buying land to build a residential home; or
• considering a home that is situated in a semi-rural or rural area; and/or
• looking at a property that has been recently constructed.

There are many properties in Mexico that are not connected to a mains or community-managed water network, especially (but not solely) in rural areas, and properties without a mains water feed need to be served by one of two alternative means: rainwater, or water truck deliveries (or a combination of these two).

The effect of the dry season on water supplies

Most of Mexico experiences a ‘dry season’ lasting about six months, between November/December and May/June, although water scarcity doesn’t typically become noticeable until around mid-to-late February.

The dry season brings challenges to the landscape as well to home owners, as water can become quite scarce in some areas or regions—even at properties served by water main systems as supplies to homes are throttled by water authorities to conserve supplies until the rains return and local underground wells get replenished.

How will your property get its water?

When you’re buying property in Mexico, whether it’s a built home, and especially when investing in land upon which you intend to build your home, it’s vital to know exactly what the water supply arrangements are, because it may not be as straightforward as you might expect.

Land (or property) without a reliable water source will require you to depend on water deliveries by truck (if available locally) and/or you will need to collect rainwater in season (between May/June and October/November)—and keep this water stored in underground cisterns on the property.

In Mexico’s established towns and cities, water is most usually piped directly to homes in residential neighborhoods using a water mains network, with each home’s supply routed through a water meter by which you pay according to your consumption. Water bills are sent out bi-monthly. Mains water is usually fine for washing, bathing, and cooking, but it might not be suitable for drinking without being filtered.

If the property you’re planning to buy is not served by a mains water system, then its wise to establish what water supply arrangements are currently in place —or can be put into place— to supply the property with a reliable supply of water before you sign a contract to buy.

Water supply in Mexico

Properties in Mexico usually obtain their water supply from one of four principal sources:

• a mains water system, which is usually metered; or
• a local community water system fed from a licensed water well; or
• a combination of rainwater collection (in season); and
• water-truck deliveries.

You can learn more about water supply services here.

Getting a reliable water supply for your property

If you discover that a property you’re interested in is not served by a water main system, don’t take anyone’s word, or hear-say, about other sources. Undertake due diligence and find out how the property is being served by water (or whether you’ll need to make alternative arrangements) and ascertain that any existing supply agreements that are in place are binding in the event of a property transfer.

In the absence of a water main system, your property may be supplied with water in these ways:

Local mains or community water systems

If a local mains water supply or community water system exists locally, you ought be able to get your property connected to it—but double check this as local rules and regulations about connections can be quirky.

The procedure to get connected can be time-consuming and will involve negotiation with local water authorities or community leaders, as well as connection fees in addition to the consumption or annual supply costs.

Consult with the local water authority (or community leaders in rural areas) as well as a local architect and/or plumber about the options and costs involved to get a property connected to the local mains system.

Local water wells

If the water source is a licensed local water well, this should be stipulated on the deeds or related contract or covenant and the property’s right to access to the well and the system that delivers water from it should be checked and verified by you and/or the Notary Public dealing with your property transaction.

Rain collection

Properties that are not near, or which cannot connect to, mains or community water systems will often have underground cisterns on-site that store rainwater, collected in season using roof capture systems.

Modern rainwater collection methods make optimal use of the roof space to collect and channel rainwater into underground water cisterns.  Read more about this in the next section about water collection and storage.

Water delivery by truck

Most towns and villages, and especially those in (semi)rural areas, have a company or two operating a fleet of local water delivery trucks.  Most of the vehicles are usually kept parked and idle between June and October, but when the dry season starts, they ply a brisk trade by transporting water to local residences that are not supplied by a water main system, and whose rainwater collection arrangements are either non-existent or whose water cisterns have run low and require a refill.

The smaller trucks have tanks carrying 5,000 liters (1,300 US gallons) of water; the large ones carry 10,000 liters (2,600 US gallons) of water.

Water truck deliveries are essential during the dry season for many properties that don’t have a mains water supply; and properties that have large gardens and/or swimming pools tend to require refills of their water cisterns during the dry season if they don’t have rainwater collection and/or substantial underground cistern space.

You can never be sure about the precise amount of water being dispensed by the delivery truck: you buy ‘a tank’ at at an agreed price and whatever amount of water is in the truck gets pumped out of it and into your property’s cistern —there is no metering system— although if you know the full capacity of your cistern, you can estimate the amount of water that was dispensed after it’s been filled based on how full the cistern was before and after the delivery.

Buying water from delivery trucks is the second-most expensive to way to buy water; only purified water in bottles costs more. Prices for a tank fluctuate locally depending on factors such as current diesel fuel costs and how far away your property is situated from the licensed water wells that refill these trucks. If your home is near the water truck station, you’ll be offered a lower price than if it’s situated many miles away from it; and prices can escalate if your home is more remote, e.g., on a mountain ridge requiring the heavy water-laden truck to climb steep roads and negotiate dusty country lanes to arrive.

Water collection, storage, filtering, recycling—and gardening

Rainwater collection is a viable way to enjoy a beautiful countryside property that is not near a mains water feed, or which is too far away from the nearest community run water system to connect at a reasonable cost.

There are five key considerations to take into account when your property needs to collect rainwater as part of its water supply:

Efficient rainwater collection

The tremendous thunderstorms that arrive in the late spring and summer drench the landscape and each storm releases colossal amounts of water that can be collected for use in your home.

One square meter of roof space can potentially collect one liter of water for each one millimeter of rain that falls; thus the ratio is 1:1:1.

• If you’re building your own home, talk to your architect about how to design the roof space to optimize rainwater collection.
• If you’re buying an older home, talk to an architect or water management consultant about how you can use the existing roof space for collection, and/or make adjustments to the existing roof to optimize the amount of rainwater you can collect on your property.

In 2025, Mexico passed new legislation to make rainwater harvesting obligatory in new builds, and encourage existing owners to use rainwater to supplement any other means the property may use for its water supply.  The matter is discussed in this magazine article, and further research can be made online (Google).

Water storage at your home in Mexico

As we remarked on our article about water pressure in Mexico, most properties, even those supplied by a mains water system, have an underground cistern to store water for use on the property.

If your home is not near a water mains feed system, and/or remotely or rurally situated, having ample water storage is essential to keep you sufficiently supplied with water through the dry months of the year when rain is scarce or non-existent, and to minimize your dependency on water truck deliveries.

Properties using rainwater collection, sometimes referred to as Rain Water Harvesting (RWH), need to have a means to collect and store the water.  This is usually done with an underground cement cistern or polyurethane storage tank.

More advanced systems will channel an initial flow of rainwater away from the storage to prevent dust/dirt carried in that flow from being channeled into the storage tank.

Water for your garden during Mexico’s dry season

The dry season brings two key challenges to home owners who have gardens in homes without a mains water supply: the absence of rain requires you to use substantial quantities of water to keep your garden flora alive, and your water cisterns are not being replenished for daily water use around the home.

Don’t underestimate the volume of water that you’ll need to maintain your home’s garden during the dry season.

There are many techniques to optimize the use of water in your garden during the dry season, and this article provides an excellent primer on the subject.

Water filtering for drinking

As we remarked in our article about drinking water in Mexico, most people buy bottled water, or filter the water that is supplied to the property before they use it for drinking—whether it’s supplied by a mains feed system, water delivery trucks, or is collected from rainfall.

Sophisticated water filtering systems exist that will make rainwater potable (drinkable), and any water that is harvested/recycled that cannot easily be filtered for drinking can be rechanneled for use in toilets and for the garden.

Water recycling on the property

The latest techniques used for water collection at residential homes also feature systems to recycle water within the property—channeling water that cannot be reused in the home into the garden to feed the flora, and channeling water that can be filtered and reused in the home back into the property’s main water cistern.

The methods recycle a helpful percentage of every liter used, which reduces the amount of water cistern storage space required (cisterns are expensive to build) and make efficient use of the rainwater that’s been collected.

Talk to an experienced professional

Contact a water consultant in your local area, or talk to a local architect or an experienced plumber about options available for rainwater collection, water storage, water filtering and water recycling on your property.

Learn more about water supplies in Mexico

Mexperience publishes articles and guides to help you understand water supplies and the efficient use of water at your home in Mexico, including:

• How water is delivered to homes in Mexico
• Understanding water pressure systems
• Clarity about drinking the water
• Latest articles related to use of water in Mexico
• Latest articles about Mexico’s rainy season and dry season
• Free and continuously-updated guide to House Maintenance and Security in Mexico

This article describes how to find house keepers in Mexico, how they work, and the responsibilities that come with having a housekeeper or other domestic helper working at your home.

Common types of domestic helpers in Mexico

Housekeepers are the most commonly-hired home help.  They typically attend a home for one to six days a week, depending on the household’s needs, and some housekeepers live-in at the home.

Gardeners, part-time or full-time, are common at larger homes with extensive gardens to maintain, and at gated communities and condominium developments that have green areas requiring constant attendance.

Pool maintenance helpers are also common in gated communities and may also be hired to maintain a pool at a larger private home.

Some domestic helpers provide practical living assistance to help people with their daily home routines.  These workers are especially helpful to people who are elderly, have low mobility or need extra care at certain times, perhaps during a period of convalescence.

Wealthy households might have live-in housekeepers who work full-time six days a week, although most people hire a housekeeper only part-time—typically for up to one or two days a week.

Finding a reliable housekeeper in Mexico

Finding a reliable housekeeper in Mexico most often requires you to use your social skills and people networks.  Most reliable housekeepers are found and hired on a referral basis. Here are some tips for scouting for a housekeeper to help at your home in Mexico.

Finding housekeepers through previous owners and occupiers

Housekeepers working at a certain property might have been attending that home for many years. If you are moving into a rented house or buying an existing home, you might be asked if you wish to employ the housekeeper that already works there, or you may ask the property owner or house seller about any housekeepers they know who are looking for work.

If you are buying a house, it’s not uncommon for the previous owners to offer to introduce you to any existing home helpers they might hire, most commonly a housekeeper and/or gardener.

Helpers referred by property owners or previous occupiers is an ideal way of getting introduced to potential new housekeepers (and other helpers), because workers who have been ‘with the property’ for some time tend to be the most reliable; they live locally, they know the property and have a history with the previous owners or occupiers. Loyalty that has been built-up, perhaps over many years, can reflect in reliability for you.

You will, however, need to negotiate terms and cultivate your own relationship with the people who you hire to help at your house and be able to express to them (in Spanish) what you require.

Finding a housekeeper through other referral channels

If you want to hire domestic help but don’t have the convenience of a previous owner or occupier’s reference, common ways to find a housekeeper include:

• Asking your neighbors, friends, and work colleagues for connections to people they know.
• Sometimes a neighbor who hires a housekeeper one or two days a week may be able to refer you to their housekeeper who might be looking for an additional day(s) to fill in their work week.
• If you live in a gated community or condominium development, ask the Home Owner Association about any housekeepers they might know, or post an ad on the community notice board.  Gated communities usually operate WhatsApp groups, which are another way to ask for referrals.
• Visit any local community centers you may attend to look for ads on notice boards, and ask community members for references or referrals.
• Search and ask on online community groups related to the location in Mexico where you live. Sometimes community members will post a notice if their housekeeper (or someone they know) is looking for additional work
• If someone you know (or is part of a local community group) is moving away, they might want to help the housekeeper find new employment.
• Sometimes a neighbor, friend or work colleague may have a housekeeper who has a friend or family member looking for work.
• Some people put a notice on their front door asking for a housekeeper—although that’s less common now than it used to be.  This ought to be a last resort effort, as it’s always preferable to hire by referral.
• If the referral is not a direct contact from someone you know and trust, carefully interview the candidates to get a feel for them and their previous experience, ask about others homes they help (or have helped) and ask for references.

How day-visit housekeepers and some other domestic employees work in your home

Most housekeepers and other domestic employees (e.g. gardeners, pool maintenance people) only visit for some hours during the day.

Housekeepers’ schedules

House helpers, whether day-workers or live-in housekeepers, work a maximum of six days a week. Under Mexican Law, all laborers are entitled to one day a week off work, and most people take Sundays off to be with their family.

Some housekeepers might work all day, others may work a half day or only 2-3 hours if the home is small.  In cases where they work less than a full day, housekeepers will usually want a nearby neighbor to hire them on the same day, to make their commute worthwhile.

Gardeners’ schedules

Depending on the size of your garden, gardeners might attend for a a few hours, or work at your property one or more days a week. Properties with large or well-developed and manicured gardens may have a full-time gardener.

Pool maintenance

If you have a swimming pool at your property (your private residence or gated community) the pool maintenance people will usually come at least one or two days a week; some will attend daily—their visits tend to be short as they will be managing pools for several properties in the area where you live.

Arrival and departure times

Schedules will vary, and are by negotiation.

Housekeepers

If you live in Mexico City, or some other large city in Mexico, housekeepers might have a long way to travel to your house and therefore may not be able to arrive very early in the morning; however, they might stay later into the evening or night before finishing their day.

Ask your housekeeper about their commute and essential family routines so that you can be sensitive to their needs in regard to and arrival and departure times; for example, some housekeepers may have children to drop-off at a local school before they travel to your home.

Gardeners and pool maintenance

If your gardener only comes periodically, e.g. every two weeks, or once a month, they will likely arrive on the agreed date, but arrival times may vary.  If your gardener has a regular schedule one or more days a week, they will likely arrive in the morning at or around an agreed time.

Pool maintenance teams will either attend the property daily, or periodically as agreed with the owner.  Most pool maintenance teams work in defined areas and go to several properties for an hour or less each day; they may stay longer if the pool has a specific issue, e.g., the rains cause the water to turn green.

Providing refreshment for day-helpers

Housekeepers who attend your home during the day ought be given an hour’s break if they work the entire day, or short breaks if they are working part day. It’s appropriate to have water/juice available for them.  Gardeners ought be provided with a reliable supply of fresh drinking water, as a minimum.

Meals for housekeepers

Not all people provide a meal to their housekeeper, but it’s appreciated, good practice, and we recommend you do. A common practice if the housekeeper will do some cooking as part of their routine is for them to eat part of the food they prepare for you and your family.  Otherwise, ask what they enjoy eating and have some of those fresh ingredients stocked so that they may prepare a meal for themselves.

Errands and shopping

Some housekeepers will be prepared to go out and do simple shopping for you.  If you ask them to do this, be sure to give them enough cash for the purchases you ask for, as well as their public transportation to the market/store, and back.

If what you ask them to buy is going to be heavy or bulky, e.g., a large order of fresh fruit and vegetables, you ought to pay for a return cab.

Live-in housekeepers

Live-in housekeepers are not as common as they were in bygone eras, but there are plenty of housekeepers who continue to live-in at homes to provide day-long support without having to commute back-and-fro to their home each day.

Some housekeepers prefer a live-in arrangement as it provides regular full time employment, one day (usually Sunday) plus public holidays to rest, and no need to spend time and money commuting each work day.

If you hire a live-in housekeeper in Mexico, you will be expected to provide suitable and comfortable accommodations (most larger houses and condos in Mexico have housekeeper’s quarters) as well as all meals and usually a uniform or other suitable work clothing.

Live-in housekeepers can expect one day per week off work as well as all Mexican public holidays off and may require extra time off for family emergencies and exceptional occasions (e.g., weddings, funerals).  The family unit is an important concept in Mexico and it’s therefore appropriate to ask your live-in housekeeper about their family routines and and be sensitive to their personal and family needs as these arise.

Rates of pay for housekeepers and other domestic helpers in Mexico

Check with your neighbors and/or friends and colleagues about the current daily pay rates for housekeepers in your area.

Housekeepers and domestic helpers working in larger cities (especially Mexico City) are paid more in good part because they often have a long commute involved in getting to and from your home.

The Aguinaldo

A Christmas bonus (Aguinaldo) is expected and required by law, equal to at least two-weeks of their pro-rata pay, and it’s appropriate to pay four weeks.

For example, if they work for you two days a week, and you want to pay two weeks bonus, the bonus is four day’s pay (2 days x 2 weeks); if they work for six days a week, the bonus is 12 day’s pay (6 days x 2 weeks).

Many households will pay four weeks’ equivalent pro-rata pay as a Christmas bonus, especially to long-serving housekeepers and other helpers. In the examples above, this equates to a payment equal to eight days’ pay (2 days x 4 weeks) and 24 days’ pay (6 days x 4 weeks), respectively.

Making payment

Most payments to housekeepers and other domestic helpers are paid in cash, although some housekeepers might accept payment via local bank transfer.

Day-helpers: Housekeepers (and others) who work one day a week in your home are paid daily on the day they attend; if they attend two your home two or more days a week, you may pay them on the last day of that week’s work.

Live-in housekeepers: Most live-in housekeepers are paid every 15 days and some are paid weekly.  Some may ask to be paid in cash, although others might accept payment via local bank transfer, especially when you’re paying every two weeks.

Employment law, healthcare, and well-being

Changes in Mexico’s laws now stipulate that people who hire domestic employees (housekeepers, gardeners, etc.) register at the Mexican Health Service website.

By doing this, the housekeeper/other helper receives health and medical coverages from Mexico’s social security institute, the IMSS.  The employer (homeowner) is also required to pay a tax to cover this cost, based on minimum salaries.

In practice, many housekeepers in Mexico, particularly those who only work a day or less per week at the house, continue to be informally employed by private homeowners (as well as those renting homes) as neither they nor the people employing them register.

Full-time and live-in housekeepers are most likely to be registered under the scheme as they are effectively a full-time employee of the household they work for.

If your housekeeper is informally employed by you, there is a tacit understanding (culturally) that you are responsible for medical costs (including medicines and medical equipment, where required) caused by any injuries which might be sustained while working in your home.

Furthermore, many householders who hire housekeepers, informally or as full-time housekeepers, and live-in housekeepers, contribute to their housekeeper’s well-being in a variety of ways, including, for example, giving some support to them or their families in times of exceptional need (medical, emergencies) as well as remembering their children’s birthdays and other special occasions, e.g., wedding of their children.

Taking care of your home in Mexico

Mexperience publishes guides and articles to help you maintain and secure your house, home, and dwelling spaces in Mexico.

• Registering your housekeeper/home-helpers with IMSS (Spanish)
• About Mexico’s IMSS health service
• Learn about Quincenas: Pay-days in Mexico
• Learn about the Aguinaldo: the Christmas bonus
• Home insurance: covering third party liabilities
• Latest insights about Home Maintenance in Mexico

This article describes how electricity is supplied to homes in Mexico, how to plan for electric power cuts, how to find current electricity prices, and how to pay your electricity bill.

Electricity supply to homes in Mexico

All electricity in Mexico is supplied by CFE, a colossal state-owned electric company. Rates for domestic electricity are set by the government and include subsidies for homes that conserve energy as well as seasonal subsidies for homes in regions with very hot summers or cold winters. (See the section below for prices and bills.)

Electricity voltage in Mexico

Electricity to homes in Mexico is delivered at 120-140 volts at a frequency of 60Hz.

If you require a 220-240 volts circuit (for example, for certain types of air conditioning units, electric ovens, or high-end induction hobs), you will need to ask the electric company to supply you with a “bifase” circuit and have an electrician undertake the special wiring for you inside your home.

Electricity plugs and sockets in Mexico

Electric plugs (clavijas) and sockets (enchufes) are type A and/or B—identical to those used in the USA.

The older Type A socket plugs have flat pins whereas the newer plugs have a notch on one side and might also have a third (earth) pin that prevents them from being plugged in to an older Type A plug socket without the use of an adapter.

Older Type A sockets have two identical sized pin inlets that will accommodate all older Type A plug pins without an adapter; Type B sockets have a wider pin inlet on one side, allowing Type B plugs (with a notch) to be inserted, and they also have a third (earth) pin inlet to accommodate Type B plugs with three-pins.

All modern homes in Mexico have the newer Type B 3-pin plugs, but there are still many older properties that have the old two-pin plug that will not accommodate newer plugs, or plugs with three pins, unless you use an adapter.

Reliability of electric supply

Mexico’s electricity power grid has been undergoing a continual upgrade in recent years, making electricity supply here more reliable than it ever has been.

Most of Mexico’s electricity supply is delivered by overhead cables. Overhead cables are more susceptible to the elements and this affects the reliability of the supply, especially during the rain and wind storms.

Some towns and cities are beginning to create underground ducts for cabling; new developments are often designed with underground cable ducts now, but it will be decades —if not longer— before Mexico’s electricity system is principally delivered by means of underground ducting.

Power outages which were frequent a decade or more ago —and could last for days in some cases— are far less frequent now and, when they do happen, the outages tend to be quite short or temporary in nature.

How frequent and severe the outages depend principally on local factors. Different neighborhoods tend to have different ‘patterns’ of outages; and ‘good’ neighborhoods can suddenly begin to experience frequent outages for no apparent reason. Rural areas tend to experience more power outages than urban areas.

Old or failing local transformers (the ones you see strapped to lamp posts) are the principal culprits of localized power outages in Mexico, and the electric company has been working hard to replace these with newer and more reliable transformers.

In areas subject to the rainy season (May/June through October/November) power outages tend to be more frequent as heavy rains, wind, and lightning affect the transformers and electricity sub-stations.

Another issue to be mindful of is the fluctuation of voltage, so it’s prudent to protect sensitive equipment (for example, computers, high-fidelity electrical appliances) with power-surge protection boxes if you notice that the voltage fluctuates a lot in your area (light bulbs are a key indicator).

If you live in an area that is susceptible to tropical storms and hurricanes, keep in mind that electricity supplies might be affected, perhaps for days or longer, after a storm or hurricane.

See also: Dealing with electrical power cuts in Mexico

Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS)

If you have electrical equipment that is critical to your work or well-being, an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS – wiki) can be installed in your home.

There are many types of UPS systems on the market, and you will need to do some research to decide which one is best for your specific needs.  Essentially there are two types: battery powered UPS and fuel-powered UPS.

• If you want to keep low-voltage appliances (e.g., WiFi modems, computer monitors, and computers) running during regular outages which may last from a few minutes to a few hours then a battery-backup system will probably work for you.
• If you must keep high-power appliances (e.g. refrigerators) running continuously, or lower power appliances running for long periods, then you will need a fuel-powered (e.g., diesel) generator on your property.

Battery backup units (Amazon Mexico) are affordable and easy to install and use as you simply plug your critical appliances into the unit, which contains a large battery.  When there is power, the unit charges its battery and passes electricity to your appliances directly. When there’s a power cut, the unit’s circuitry detects this and feeds electricity to your appliances from its battery power.

Fuel-based generators come in many sizes and research is required to determine which one is right for your circumstances.

Electricity prices in Mexico

Prices for electricity in Mexico are set by the government and vary each month.  Also, the more electricity you use, the higher your rate is per kwH consumed.  This is done to help low-income families and to encourage users generally to conserve energy, by penalizing higher energy consumers and rewarding lower energy consumers with generous subsidies.

Current electricity prices in Mexico

You can get the current and historical rates from this page on the CFE’s website (Spanish).  Choose the “Domesticas – 1” option for residential electricity prices.

Seasonal electricity subsidies

Subsidies are applied in some northern cities and some southern cities in summer when air conditioning/heating uses rise. The subsidies apply from April to October in the south, and May to November in the north.

Electricity meters

All properties have electricity meters, usually visible to the street, so that the electric company’s representative can visit and read the meter for each bill. Mexico is gradually changing-out old-style analog meters to new-style electronic meters which are digital and can be read and controlled remotely.

Electricity bills in Mexico

Electricity bills in Mexico are dispatched every two months.

CFE workers deliver electricity bills in paper format by hand to homes across Mexico.  You can use the CFE’s smartphone app, CFE Contigo, to pause paper bills and have digital/electronic bills only (the app will alert you when there’s a bill waiting to be paid), although many people still prefer to receive paper bills as these can be used as proof of address for official purposes.

Paying your electricity bill

There are several convenient ways to pay your electricity bill.

You ought to pay your bill in a timely manner because the CFE is efficient at cutting-off supplies to homes and it can take between one and three days to get power restored to your home if you are cut-off due to late payment.

Convenient ways to pay your electricity bill include:

• At any CFE automated teller.
• Through the CFE Contigo smartphone app if you have a Mexican bank account/card.
• Via online banking if you have a Mexican bank account.
• In cash at one of Mexico’s local convenience stores.  Take the paper bill with you to scan the barcode, or show them the PDF bill you can download from your CFE smartphone app. A small service fee is added if you pay this way.
• You can make a line at at retail bank or at the local electricity office and pay there, but we don’t recommend this as lines tend to be long, especially near paydays.

Late payments

We recommend that you pay your electricity bill in good time, because the electric company is very efficient at cutting-off power supply to your home off if you are late in payment.  This can be especially inconvenient if you live in a hot area and rely on air-conditioning and have fridges/freezers running.

If are paying electronically, you ought to pay at least a couple of working days before the due date, as it can take time for the payment to reach your account.  If you are paying cash at a convenience store, the payment will usually register within 24 hours.

Getting reconnected if you’re cut-off

When you don’t pay your electricity bill by the due date, or if you pay too close to the due date and your payment fails to reach the account on time, a technician is assigned and sent to your property to disconnect you. Digital meters are disconnected electronically using a special device carried by the technician.

If you are cut-off due to late payment, you will need to:

• Pay the outstanding bill plus the penalty fee for reconnection; then
• You need to request a reconnection, that is best done using the CFE Contigo app available at the Android and iPhone app stores, or otherwise via the CFE Web Portal; or in person at the local electricity office that deals with your property.

When you request a reconnection, the payment on account will be checked, and your service will join a line for reconnections.  A technician will be scheduled-in to revisit your home and reconnect your electricity supply.

Timescale for reconnection: According to this page on the CFE website, it takes between one and three days after your request for a reconnection to get your home reconnected following cut-off due to late payment.

Risk of contract cancellation: After 15 days of non-payment the electricity company might cancel your contract and if this happens you will need to seek a brand new contract/reconnection afterwards.  This takes longer to arrange than a short-term disconnection/reconnection.  If you only live in your home in Mexico part-time be sure to pay your electricity bill even when you’re absent and avoid allowing the account to remain unpaid for more than a couple of weeks.

Taking care of your home in Mexico

Mexperience publishes guides and articles to help you maintain and secure your house, home, and dwelling spaces in Mexico.

• Dealing with electrical power cuts in Mexico
• Electricity company website (CFE)
• Insurance for your home in Mexico
• Latest insights about taking care of your home in Mexico