New Hampshire Tenant Laws: Deposits, Habitability, and Eviction

New Hampshire tenant rights are set mainly by two state statutes — RSA Chapter 540 covering eviction and termination, and RSA Chapter 540-A covering security deposits and prohibited landlord conduct — along with federal fair housing and lead paint rules. Together they cap what a landlord can charge for a deposit, require a habitable unit, limit when a landlord can enter, prohibit self-help evictions, and (as of July 1, 2026) require 60 days’ notice before a long-term lease is not renewed. Here is what those protections actually look like in practice.

Lease Agreements and Required Disclosures

A rental agreement in New Hampshire can be written or verbal. Oral agreements are enforceable for terms under one year, but a written lease protects you more clearly: during a fixed term, your rent cannot go up and you cannot be evicted so long as you meet your obligations.

A landlord cannot use lease language to strip you of statutory rights. If a clause conflicts with state law — for example, a term waiving the warranty of habitability or allowing a landlord to lock you out — the statute controls and the clause is unenforceable.

For properties built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to disclose any known lead-based paint hazards and give you an EPA-approved lead information pamphlet before you sign.¹

Security Deposit Rules

New Hampshire caps security deposits at one month’s rent or $100, whichever is greater. The cap applies to every landlord, regardless of portfolio size.²

When you pay the deposit, the landlord must give you a signed receipt showing the amount and the location of the funds, and stating that you have five days from move-in to report existing damage in writing.² Use those five days. A dated written list of everything already broken, stained, or worn is the strongest evidence you can produce months later if the landlord tries to charge you for pre-existing damage.

Your deposit is still your money while the landlord holds it. It has to sit in a trust account at a New Hampshire bank, credit union, or savings and loan, separate from the landlord’s own funds. As an alternative, the landlord can post a bond with the town or city clerk for the total deposits held on properties in that municipality. You can ask for the bank name, account number, deposit amount, and interest rate at any point. If the landlord holds the deposit for a year or more, you are owed interest at the rate the bank pays on the account.²

After you move out, the landlord has 30 days to return the deposit with any interest owed.³ The only lawful deductions are for unpaid rent and damage beyond normal wear and tear, and any deduction must come with an itemized list. If the landlord withholds money improperly, you can sue to recover it, and courts have awarded additional damages when a landlord ignored the required procedure.

Rent, Late Fees, and Increases

New Hampshire has no statewide rent control. The initial rent is whatever you and the landlord agree to. Once a lease is signed, the rent cannot change during the term unless the lease itself allows an adjustment.

Late fees are only enforceable if the lease specifically provides for them. There is no statutory cap on late fees for standard residential rentals, so the lease language governs, though a court can reject a fee that is plainly punitive.

For a month-to-month tenancy, the landlord must give 30 days’ written notice before raising the rent. The same 30-day written notice governs other significant changes to a month-to-month arrangement.

The Right to a Habitable Home

Every residential landlord in New Hampshire is bound by an implied warranty of habitability. The unit must have working heat, running water, functional plumbing and electricity, sound structural elements, and properly installed smoke detectors. Minimum standards sit in RSA Chapter 48-A, and local health officers can inspect and order corrections when a landlord falls short.⁴

If the landlord ignores a serious repair problem, you may be able to withhold rent, but only under strict conditions. You have to notify the landlord in writing while your rent is current, then allow 14 days for the landlord to begin correcting the problem (less in a genuine emergency). The condition cannot have been caused by you or your guests, and you cannot have refused the landlord access to fix it. Withholding rent without meeting every one of these requirements can hand the landlord grounds for an eviction filing, so document everything and treat this as a last resort.

New Hampshire does not have a formal repair-and-deduct statute the way some states do. Paying a contractor and taking the cost off your rent is not a recognized remedy here. If a furnace fails mid-winter and you are considering that route, talk to a lawyer or legal aid first.

Landlord Entry and Your Privacy

New Hampshire’s entry rule is stricter than tenants often assume. Under RSA 540-A:3, a landlord cannot enter without your prior consent, except to make emergency repairs.⁵ This is consent-based, not just notice-based. For any planned entry — repairs, inspections, showings — the landlord has to ask and you have to agree.

That said, you cannot unreasonably refuse. The statute requires you to allow access for necessary repairs and other legitimate ownership functions at a reasonable time after notice adequate under the circumstances.⁵ The statute does not fix a specific number of hours, though the 48-hour written notice required for bed bug inspections in adjacent units gives a sense of what the legislature treats as adequate for planned entries.

Emergencies are the only carve-out. A landlord can enter without consent to deal with a fire, gas leak, burst pipe, or similar urgent threat, and emergency entry for pest infestations, including bed bugs, is permitted within 72 hours of the landlord learning about the problem. If a landlord repeatedly enters without consent and without an emergency, you can file a complaint under RSA 540-A and the court can impose civil penalties.⁶

Notice Before Eviction or Non-Renewal

Notice requirements depend on the type of tenancy and the reason for ending it.

Month-to-month tenancy: either side can end it with at least 30 days’ written notice.⁷
Fixed-term lease: you are generally obligated through the end of the term. Leaving early without legal justification can leave you on the hook for rent until the landlord re-rents the unit.
Nonpayment of rent or serious violations: the notice period shortens to seven days.⁷
Non-renewal of a long-term lease, effective July 1, 2026: for any lease with an original term of 12 months or longer, or one renewed to a total of 12 months or longer, the landlord must give at least 60 days’ written notice before the term ends if they do not intend to renew. If the landlord skips that 60-day notice, you have grounds to challenge an attempted end-of-lease removal.⁸

The Eviction Process

A landlord cannot force you out through self-help. Changing the locks, shutting off utilities, or removing your belongings are all prohibited under RSA 540-A:3.⁵ Every eviction has to go through the court.

The process opens with a written notice to quit. For unpaid rent, that is a seven-day demand, and paying the full amount owed within those seven days stops the eviction. For other lease violations, the notice period is 30 days, during which you can either cure the violation or vacate.⁸

If you neither pay nor leave, the landlord files a possessory action in the circuit court’s landlord-tenant division. You will receive a hearing date and can raise defenses. Common ones include improper notice, retaliation, and habitability failures. If the court rules for the landlord, a writ of possession issues after a seven-day appeal window.⁹

Protection From Retaliation

New Hampshire law prohibits a landlord from evicting you in retaliation for exercising a legal right. Reporting a code violation, requesting repairs, or joining a tenants’ organization are all protected activities, and if a landlord responds by filing to evict you, retaliation is a defense you can raise in court.¹⁰ This is the backstop that makes the habitability rules usable: without it, insisting on a livable unit could cost you your home.

Breaking a Lease for Domestic Violence or Military Orders

RSA 540:11-b allows victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking to end a lease early without financial penalty. The abuse or triggering event must have occurred within the last 150 days, and you must give the landlord written verification.¹¹

Acceptable verification includes a valid protective order, proof that you initiated action for a protective order, a police report, written confirmation from a victim’s advocate or healthcare provider, or a signed self-certification form from the circuit court. Once you have given proper notice, you have 30 days to vacate (or another timeframe agreed with the landlord), and you owe rent only through the date you actually leave or the termination date, whichever is later.¹¹

In federally assisted housing, the Violence Against Women Act adds protections, including the right to request lease bifurcation to remove the abuser without losing your housing.¹²

Active-duty military tenants who receive deployment or permanent change-of-station orders can end a lease under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. After you give written notice with a copy of the orders, the lease terminates 30 days after the next rent payment is due.¹³

Fair Housing, Disability Accommodations, and Assistance Animals

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in advertising, screening, lease terms, and access to amenities based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status. A landlord cannot refuse to rent to you because you have children, use a wheelchair, or belong to a particular ethnic group.

If you have a disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation — a change to a rule, policy, or practice that gives you equal opportunity to use your home. Assigned parking closer to your unit, permission to install grab bars, or an exception to a no-pets policy for an assistance animal are typical examples. A landlord cannot charge extra fees or deposits as a condition of granting the accommodation, though you remain responsible for damage an assistance animal causes.¹⁴

A landlord can deny a request only if it would impose an undue financial or administrative burden, fundamentally change the nature of the housing operation, or pose a direct threat to others’ safety. When one specific request is denied, the landlord is expected to discuss alternatives that might work.¹⁴

Assistance animals, including emotional support animals, must be allowed as a reasonable accommodation even in a no-pets building, and no pet deposit or monthly pet fee applies. Where the disability-related need is not obvious, you may be asked for reliable documentation.¹⁵ Blanket breed or weight restrictions in a pet policy do not automatically apply; each request has to be evaluated individually, and denial is limited to narrow cases such as a direct threat to health or safety or significant property damage that no other accommodation could prevent.¹⁶

One gap worth knowing about: New Hampshire does not prohibit landlords from refusing to accept Section 8 housing choice vouchers. Some states treat source of income as a protected class, but New Hampshire’s fair housing law does not, so a landlord can legally decline your application solely because you would pay with a voucher, unless a local ordinance says otherwise.

1
eCFR. 24 CFR Part 35 Subpart A – Disclosure of Known Lead-Based Paint and Lead-Based Paint Hazards Upon Sale or Lease of Residential Property
2
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 540-A:6 – Procedure
3
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 540-A:7 – Return
4
New Hampshire DHHS. Housing Standards
5
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 540-A:3 – Certain Specific Acts Prohibited
6
New Hampshire Judicial Branch. RSA 540-A Information Sheet and Filing Instructions
7
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 540:3 – Eviction Notice
8
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 540:2 – Termination of Tenancy
9
New Hampshire Judicial Branch. Rule 5.7 – Writ of Possession and Judgment
10
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 540:13-a – Defense to Retaliation
11
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 540:11-b – Termination of Lease by Tenant Due to Domestic Violence
12
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
13
U.S. Department of Justice. Financial and Housing Rights
14
U.S. Department of Justice. Reasonable Accommodations Under the Fair Housing Act
15
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Fact Sheet on HUD’s Assistance Animals Notice
16
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals