New Hampshire Landlord-Tenant Law 2026: The Plain-English Guide
New Hampshire splits its rental law across two chapters: RSA 540 governs evictions and termination notices, while RSA 540-A covers prohibited practices and security deposits. The state's personality is distinctive: a $100-or-one-month's-rent deposit cap (whichever is greater), interest owed after one year, an itemized deposit return backed by receipts, and a nonpayment eviction process that gives tenants a genuine pay-and-stay right — but also preserves no-cause 30-day terminations on month-to-month tenancies. Paperwork precision is everything here; New Hampshire rewards landlords who document and punishes those who improvise.
Security deposits
- Capped at $100 or one month's rent, whichever is greater (RSA 540-A:6, I(a)). The "$100 or" floor is unusual — on a $1,800 unit the cap is $1,800; on a cheap room it could be the $100 minimum. Certain owner-occupied and shared-facility units have exemptions from some deposit rules.
- Signed receipt required: when you take a deposit (other than by personal, bank, or agency check), you must give a signed receipt stating the amount and where it's held — and it must tell the tenant that any needed repairs should be noted on the receipt or reported in writing within 5 days of occupancy (RSA 540-A:6, I(b)–(c)). That 5-day window is your best defense against move-out damage claims for pre-existing conditions.
- Holding rules: deposits go into a bank, savings and loan, or credit union account, or you post a bond (RSA 540-A:6, III).
- Interest after one year: hold a deposit longer than a year and you owe the tenant interest at the institution's standard savings-account rate, accruing from the day you received it (RSA 540-A:6, IV). Track this per tenant, per year.
- Return within 30 days of tenancy end: the full deposit plus interest, or a written itemized list of deductions — and each damage line item must be supported by receipts, estimates, or invoices (RSA 540-A:7). "Cleaning: $200" with no backup is not compliant.
- The penalty is double: willful noncompliance makes you liable for twice the deposit plus interest, minus only lawful charges (RSA 540-A:8, I(b)).
- The tenant has duties too: they must notify you of their new address within 30 days of moving out, in writing; deposits unclaimed after 6 months become yours (RSA 540-A:8, II). Ask for the forwarding address at the move-out walkthrough regardless.
- Practical habit: photo-document every unit at move-in and move-out, and keep every receipt. See our move-in/move-out inspection checklist.
Use our Security Deposit Deadline Finder and deductions guide.
Rent rules
- No rent control. New Hampshire sets no caps, and no local rent-control regimes exist.
- 30 days' written notice before any rent increase — New Hampshire is one of the states that puts this in statute rather than leaving it to the termination-notice machinery. Calendar every increase 30 days out. See how to raise rent legally.
- No late-fee cap and no mandatory grace period. Fees are lease-driven; state them plainly. One NH-specific wrinkle: bad-check fees are capped at $25 unless your lease expressly provides for a different amount. And you must allow tenants at least one non-electronic payment option — you can't go card-or-app-only.
- No general rent-withholding right. Tenants can't proactively withhold rent over repair disputes; their remedy is a court-based defense (below).
Eviction in New Hampshire
Self-help is flatly illegal — no lockouts, no utility shutoffs, no seizing property (RSA 540-A:3, I–II). Every eviction runs through a written notice to quit followed by a possessory action in court, and the notice must state the reason with specificity (RSA 540:3, III). Vague notices die in court.
- Nonpayment — demand, then 7-day notice to quit. First make a written demand for rent (any time after it's due, before the notice to quit — RSA 540:4), then serve the 7-day notice to quit (RSA 540:3, I).
- The pay-and-stay right: the notice must inform the tenant they can avoid eviction by paying the full arrears plus $15 (RSA 540:9). If they pay before expiration, the eviction is off. But the right expires after three nonpayment notices in any 12-month period — the fourth time, payment doesn't save them.
- Substantial damage or threats to health/safety: 7-day notice (RSA 540:2, II(b), (d); 540:3, II).
- Other lease violations and no-cause terminations: 30-day notice (RSA 540:3, II).
- No-cause eviction still exists for month-to-month tenancies — "other good cause" includes legitimate business reasons (selling, renovating, moving in). It must not be retaliatory or discriminatory, and if the "cause" is something the tenant did, you must first have given a written warning that future conduct could lead to eviction. Tenants in owner-occupied portions of a home have even narrower protections.
- After the notice expires, you file a landlord-tenant writ in district court; the tenant answers and a hearing follows.
See our lease agreement guide. Full process: how to evict a tenant.
Lease termination and notice periods
- Month-to-month: 30 days' written notice, either party (RSA 540:3, II). On a month-to-month, that 30-day notice can be without cause, subject to the retaliation and discrimination limits.
- Week-to-week: notice equal to the rental period (7 days).
- Fixed-term: ends by its terms. Early termination is limited — active military duty, landlord harassment, uninhabitable conditions, or an early-termination clause. New Hampshire requires landlords to mitigate — after an early departure you must make reasonable efforts to re-rent and can't just bill the old tenant for the whole remainder (RSA 540-A:3, VII).
- Abandonment has a specific statutory test (RSA 540-A:4, XII): after proper abandonment notice, the unit counts as abandoned if at least two of the following hold — written notice of intent to vacate, all keys returned, most possessions removed, or 91+ days of unpaid rent.
Repairs and habitability
- Landlords must provide habitable property — heat, plumbing, electricity, code compliance.
- Tenants must give written notice of defects; you then have 14 days to repair. Miss it and the tenant's remedy is unusual and court-centered: withholding is not a freestanding right — it's an eviction defense (RSA 540:13-d). If the tenant's rent was current when they gave notice of a substantial health/safety code violation and you didn't fix it in 14 days, the court can order the disputed rent paid into the court, then apportion it between you (fair rental value of the defective unit) and the tenant (damages) when the case resolves.
- Retaliation is both prohibited and a defense: a possessory action brought in retaliation for the tenant reporting a violation of RSA 540-A or a substantial housing-code violation can be defeated outright (RSA 540:13-a). Never time a notice to quit, rent hike, or service cut to a tenant's complaint.
- See how to handle maintenance requests.
Entry rights
New Hampshire doesn't pin a fixed number of hours to every entry — the standard is reasonable notice, adequate under the circumstances, at reasonable times, and the tenant may not willfully refuse access for necessary repairs or other lawful ownership functions (RSA 540-A:3, V). Two specifics to know:
- Emergency repairs: entry without consent is allowed, including to evaluate and remediate rodent or insect infestations (including bed bugs) within 72 hours of first notice (RSA 540-A:3, IV–IV-a).
- Bed-bug inspections of adjacent units: after you're notified of bed bugs in a neighboring unit (adjacent, above, or below), you must give 48 hours' written notice before entering to inspect (RSA 540-A:3, V-b(b)).
- Practical rule: 24 hours' written notice for routine entries satisfies "adequate under the circumstances" in virtually every case. Document notice date, method, reason, and time.
Discrimination
The federal Fair Housing Act applies, and New Hampshire's law (RSA 354-A) adds age, marital status, and sexual orientation (with gender identity covered under the state's broader civil-rights framework). Practical traps: "ideal for a young professional" in an ad (age), different treatment of unmarried couples (marital status), and occupancy rules that hit families with children. One exemption to know: owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units are exempt from most of RSA 354-A's housing provisions — but not from the ban on discriminatory advertising (RSA 354-A:13, RSA 354-A:10, VII). Screen every applicant with identical written criteria. Our fair housing guide covers what you can and can't ask.
Small-landlord practical tips
1. Master the 5-day move-in window. The signed receipt telling tenants to report needed repairs in writing within 5 days of occupancy is your best deposit defense — use it every time.
2. Every deduction needs a receipt. New Hampshire's itemization rule expects receipts, estimates, or invoices per line item. No receipt, no deduction — build the paper trail as work happens, not at move-out.
3. Track interest from day one. After month 12, every deposit accrues interest at the account's savings rate. A spreadsheet column now beats a courtroom argument later.
4. Follow the demand-then-notice sequence for nonpayment: written demand for rent first, then the 7-day notice to quit with the pay-plus-$15 language. Skipping the demand step or the statutory language voids the notice.
5. Calendar 30-day rent-increase notices — and keep at least one non-electronic rent payment option available, or you're violating the statute on day one.
The bottom line
New Hampshire is a paperwork state: receipt-backed deposit itemizations, signed receipts with 5-day repair-reporting language, interest after year one, specific-cause notices, and a genuine pay-and-stay right on the first three nonpayment notices per year. The upside is real too — no-cause 30-day terminations survive on month-to-month tenancies, and there's no rent control. Landlords who run tight documentation — receipts for everything, proper notice sequences, interest tracked — do fine here. Landlords who wing it get doubled.
This is general information, not legal advice. Consult a New Hampshire landlord-tenant attorney for specific situations.