How many hours' notice must a landlord give before entering in New Hampshire?

No fixed statutory period (see notice standard). New Hampshire fixes no notice period. A landlord may not willfully enter without the tenant's prior consent except to make emergency repairs, and the tenant must allow access at a reasonable time after 'notice which is adequate under the circumstances.'.

What reasons allow a landlord to enter a rental in New Hampshire?

A tenant must allow the landlord in for necessary repairs and 'other reasonable and lawful functions commonly associated with the ownership of rental property,' at a reasonable time and after adequate notice (RSA 540-A:3, V). Showings and inspections ride on that clause.

Can a landlord enter without notice in an emergency in New Hampshire?

Yes — New Hampshire recognizes an emergency exception to the entry-notice requirement.

Are there time-of-day limits on when a landlord can enter in New Hampshire?

No clock hours apply. Access must simply be 'at a reasonable time' (RSA 540-A:3, V).

How much notice must a landlord give before entering in New Hampshire?

Verified July 11, 2026 All New Hampshire topics →

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. The rules on this page reflect the law in force today. The following measure would change it:

HB 1598 (2026) — Eviction-process overhaul (compromise between NH Legal Assistance and landlord groups): caps discretionary eviction stays at 60 days (75 with special circumstances), requires tenants to raise affirmative defenses/counterclaims early, adds pre-hearing evidence-exchange rules and unauthorized-occupant removal procedures. Amends RSA 540:13, 540:13-c, 540:14, 540-A:2, 540-A:4 VII, and rewords RSA 540-A:3 V while keeping the entry standard 'notice which is adequate under the circumstances' verbatim — no change to the answers shown here.Status: Passed both chambers (Senate 2026-05-14, House concurrence 2026-05-21); enrolled 2026-06-04. As of 2026-07-12 the official gc.nh.gov docket still showed general status PASSED and ended at the 06-04 enrollment entries, carrying NO signing entry and NO chapter number; press reports of a signing the week of 2026-07-06 (InDepthNH, 2026-07-10) ran ahead of the official record. The bill takes effect 90 days after passage — approximately early October 2026 if signed — so it was NOT law on 2026-07-12. (checked 2026-07-12).

Measure that did not become law. The following recent proposal failed and is not law — noted here because failed bills are sometimes still described as if enacted:

HB 1336 (2026) — Would have created a 'regulated conditional deposit' letting landlords collect up to one additional month's rent beyond the RSA 540-A:6 one-month security-deposit cap from applicants failing standard screening criteria (credit, income, eviction history), with disclosure and re-screening rights.Status: Passed both chambers; VETOED by Gov. Ayotte 2026-07-02 (veto message: would impede access to housing and lacked clarity on how long landlords could hold the funds). Not law; an override attempt is possible at the fall 2026 veto day — re-check then. (checked 2026-07-11).

New Hampshire sets no fixed entry-notice period — the statute instead bars a landlord from willfully entering a tenant's home without prior consent except to make emergency repairs, and requires the tenant to allow access for repairs and other normal ownership functions at a reasonable time after 'notice which is adequate under the circumstances.' The practical shape: a landlord who wants in for a routine repair, inspection, or showing gives circumstance-appropriate notice and the tenant may not unreasonably refuse, but if the tenant does refuse, the landlord's lawful remedies are a court order or, for true emergencies, direct entry — the statute expressly limits non-consensual entry to those two paths.

Cited to NH RSA 540-A:3 IV, IV-a, V, V-b(b), V-d and 2 more New Hampshire statutes · Verified July 11, 2026

Emergency repairs are defined to include pest and bed-bug response within 72 hours of first notice of an infestation, and a tenant must allow bed-bug evaluation on 48 hours' written notice when a neighboring unit is affected. Violations carry Consumer Protection Act remedies with costs and attorney's fees, and every day a violation continues after a court's temporary order counts as a separate violation. These entry rules bind ALL landlords — the small-landlord exemption in New Hampshire's deposit law does not extend to them.

New Hampshire entry notice at a glance

Advance notice required	No fixed statutory period (see notice standard)
Notice standard	New Hampshire fixes no notice period. A landlord may not willfully enter without the tenant's prior consent except to make emergency repairs, and the tenant must allow access at a reasonable time after 'notice which is adequate under the circumstances.' This is a consent-based regime, stricter than most 'reasonable notice' states. The consent rule is RSA 540-A:3, IV, and notwithstanding anything else in the chapter, non-consensual entry is allowed ONLY for emergency repairs or under a court order obtained pursuant to RSA 540-A:4 (RSA 540-A:3, V-d). The notice language runs against the tenant: a tenant may not willfully refuse the landlord access to make necessary repairs or perform other reasonable and lawful ownership functions 'at a reasonable time after notice which is adequate under the circumstances' (RSA 540-A:3, V). No fixed hours appear anywhere in the statute.
Permitted reasons	A tenant must allow the landlord in for necessary repairs and 'other reasonable and lawful functions commonly associated with the ownership of rental property,' at a reasonable time and after adequate notice (RSA 540-A:3, V). Showings and inspections ride on that clause. Without the tenant's consent, the landlord may enter only for emergency repairs — expressly including entry within 72 hours of first notice of a rodent or insect infestation, bed bugs included, to evaluate, plan, or remediate (IV, IV-a) — or under a court order (V-d(b)). A tenant also may not refuse access to evaluate for bed bugs after an adjacent, upstairs, or downstairs unit is affected, on 48 hours' written notice (V-b(b)).
Emergency exception	Yes
Time-of-day restrictions	No clock hours apply. Access must simply be 'at a reasonable time' (RSA 540-A:3, V).

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, New Hampshire Landlord Entry Notice Laws (verified July 11, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/entry-notice/new-hampshire/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the New Hampshire statute in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

No fixed hours anywhere in the statute — The only statutory phrase is 'notice which is adequate under the circumstances' (RSA 540-A:3, V). There is no presumption of a particular number of hours, which is why no advance-notice figure is recorded.
Unusual architecture: the notice duty sits on the tenant's side — New Hampshire places the notice standard in the TENANT-obligation paragraph (V), while the landlord-side rule is a consent requirement (IV) paired with an exclusive list of non-consensual entries (V-d, added 2013 ch. 48: emergency repairs or a court order).
Adequate notice alone does not authorize entry over objection — A landlord who enters over the tenant's objection after giving 'adequate notice' is still exposed. The safe sequence is notice, then consent — or a petition under RSA 540-A:4.
Exemption trap: small landlords are fully bound here — The landlord definition in RSA 540-A:1 that governs the Prohibited Practices subdivision has NO single-family or owner-occupied carve-out. The RSA 540-A:5 exemption is deposits-only, so small landlords get no relief from the entry rules.
Remedies: consumer-protection damages, and each day counts separately — Violations of RSA 540-A:3 trigger RSA 358-A:10 civil remedies plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees, and each day a violation continues after a temporary order is a separate violation (RSA 540-A:4).
The $3,000 minimum is a lockout figure, not an entry figure — The not-less-than-$3,000 award in RSA 540-A:4 applies to lockouts where the landlord has re-let the premises. It does not attach to entry violations.
'Premises' means the tenant's exclusive areas — The definition in RSA 540-A:1, III covers only areas of exclusive tenant access.
HB 1598 (2026) rewords the paragraph but keeps the standard — Pending and not incorporated here: HB 1598 (2026), signed the week of 2026-07-06 and effective 90 days after passage — approximately early October 2026 — rewords RSA 540-A:3, V to add 'prevent completion of necessary repairs' while keeping the adequate-under-the-circumstances standard verbatim.

Common questions: New Hampshire entry notice

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How many hours' notice must a landlord give before entering in New Hampshire?: No fixed statutory period (see notice standard). New Hampshire fixes no notice period. A landlord may not willfully enter without the tenant's prior consent except to make emergency repairs, and the tenant must allow access at a reasonable time after 'notice which is adequate under the circumstances.'.
What reasons allow a landlord to enter a rental in New Hampshire?: A tenant must allow the landlord in for necessary repairs and 'other reasonable and lawful functions commonly associated with the ownership of rental property,' at a reasonable time and after adequate notice (RSA 540-A:3, V). Showings and inspections ride on that clause.
Can a landlord enter without notice in an emergency in New Hampshire?: Yes — New Hampshire recognizes an emergency exception to the entry-notice requirement.
Are there time-of-day limits on when a landlord can enter in New Hampshire?: No clock hours apply. Access must simply be 'at a reasonable time' (RSA 540-A:3, V).

Statute citations

NH RSA 540-A:3 IV, IV-a, V, V-b(b), V-d (verified 2026) Official source
NH RSA 540-A:1 I, III (verified 2026) Official source
NH RSA 540-A:4 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official NH General Court site (gc.nh.gov, the redirect target of www.gencourt.state.nh.us): every section these answers rest on read at least twice via independent URLs — the merged chapter pages (540-mrg.htm read twice via independent paths, 540-A-mrg.htm, 540-B-mrg.htm) plus each individual section page (540-A:1, :2, :3, :4, :5, :6, :7, :8; 540:1-a, :2, :3, :9; 540-B:10; 205-A:6) read in full for verbatim quotes, with all figures matching across reads (greater-of one month/$100 cap, 30-day return from termination, one-year interest trigger with 3-year request cycle, double-damages penalty, 6-month unclaimed-deposit rule, 540-A:5 small-landlord exemption, consent-based entry with adequate-under-the-circumstances notice, 540:2 IV 30-day rent-increase notice, new 540:2 II(i) 60-day end-of-lease notice effective 2026-07-01). Negative checks (no late-fee or grace-period statute, no rent control, no express preemption) run against the full text of RSA chapters 540, 540-A, and 540-B plus a gc.nh.gov-restricted search. Session-law identities pinned by cross-referencing official source lines with bill records: 2025 ch. 263 = HB 60 (signed 2025-08-01, eff. 2026-07-01), 2025 ch. 176 = HB 309 (eff. 2026-01-01), 2024 ch. 9 = HB 261. 2026-session check on 2026-07-11: HB 1336 vetoed 2026-07-02; HB 1598 signed week of 2026-07-06, effective 90 days after passage, flagged as pending; dead bills HB 95 (2023) and HB 1362 (2024) debunked from contemporaneous reporting.