How much notice does a landlord have to give before filing an eviction for unpaid rent in New Hampshire?

7 days. A nonpayment eviction takes two documents — a demand for rent and a written eviction notice — but they may be served at the same moment, so only the 7 days must run before the landlord files.

How much notice is required to evict for a lease violation in New Hampshire?

30 days. New Hampshire gives a tenant NO statutory right to cure a lease violation, so the 30 days is a straight quit period rather than a remedy period. RSA 540:9's cure right runs only to nonpayment.

How long does an eviction take in New Hampshire?

An uncontested nonpayment case runs about 15 days from service of the eviction notice to the court's notice of default, plus unquantified time to obtain and file the writ and for the sheriff to serve and execute it. These are statutory floors, not observed averages.

Can a landlord change the locks or shut off utilities instead of going to court in New Hampshire?

No — New Hampshire bars self-help eviction by statute; a landlord must go through the court process. Locking a tenant out, holding their property, or shutting off utilities is barred by statute, and the bar is unusually broad. A landlord may deny a tenant access to the rented premises only 'through proper judicial process' (RSA 540-A:3, II).

What is the eviction process and timeline in New Hampshire?

Verified July 25, 2026 Updated October 8, 2026 All New Hampshire topics →

What did not become law. None of the following is law; 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 Governor Ayotte on July 2, 2026 (veto message: would impede access to housing and lacked clarity on how long landlords could hold the funds). On August 19, 2026 the House vote to override, 159 to 155, fell short of the two-thirds required, so the veto was sustained. Not law. (checked October 8, 2026).

New Hampshire requires good cause to evict most residential tenants, so the first question is not how long the notice is but whether the landlord has a statutory ground at all: for 'restricted property' - which under RSA 540:1-a means every residential rental except a single-family house whose owner owns no more than 3 of them, a unit in an owner-occupied building of 4 units or fewer, and a single-family house a bank took by foreclosure - RSA 540:2, II lets the owner terminate 'only for one of the following reasons,' and the landlord then serves a written eviction notice of 7 days (nonpayment, substantial damage, health-or-safety behavior, or a cotenant accused of domestic violence) or 30 days for everything else, and files a possessory action in the circuit court district division.

Cited to RSA 540:1 and 36 more cited sources · Verified July 25, 2026

Owners of the excepted 'nonrestricted' properties may still terminate without cause, but they too must give the 30-day eviction notice. For nonpayment the landlord serves two documents - a demand for rent and the 7-day eviction notice - but RSA 540:4 lets the demand be served simultaneously with the notice, so only the 7 days actually has to run before filing. The tenant can kill a nonpayment case by paying all rent, lease charges, $15 liquidated damages and the landlord's filing and service fees at any time before the hearing on the merits, but only three times in any 12 months (RSA 540:9). The landlord-tenant writ is returnable 7 days after the sheriff serves it; a tenant who contests must appear by the return day and file an answer within 5 days after it, and the hearing is set within 10 days of the appearance; if the tenant defaults, the court mails a default notice the day after the default and no discretionary stay is available; where the landlord wins a contested hearing, the court issues the writ 7 days after it mails the notice of judgment, and any stay is capped at 60 days, or 75 days on a specific showing (RSA 540:13, 540:13-c). Either party has just 7 days from the notice of judgment to file a notice of intent to appeal (RSA 540:20). Locking a tenant out or shutting off utilities is flatly barred by statute (RSA 540-A:3) and exposes the landlord to a minimum $3,000 award for an unlawful lockout where the unit has been re-let.

New Hampshire eviction process at a glance

Nonpayment notice (pay-or-quit)	7 days
Nonpayment notice rules (day counting, cure rights, service)	A nonpayment eviction takes two documents — a demand for rent and a written eviction notice — but they may be served at the same moment, so only the 7 days must run before the landlord files. (1) The demand for rent is an element of the ground itself: the ground is 'Neglect or refusal to pay rent due and in arrears, upon demand' (RSA 540:2, II(a)), and RSA 540:3, II makes the short 7-day period available only where the reason is one 'set forth in RSA 540:2, II(a), (b), (d), or (h)' - so the demand is required for restricted and nonrestricted residential property alike. (2) The written eviction notice is required by RSA 540:3. A landlord may hand over the demand and the 7-day eviction notice at the same moment, because the demand does NOT have to expire first: RSA 540:4 says it 'shall be sufficient if made upon the tenant or occupant at any time after the rent becomes due and prior to or simultaneously with the service of such eviction notice,' and RSA 540:5, I repeats it. The demand may not seek more than the whole rent in arrears (RSA 540:8). Days are CALENDAR days - RSA 540:3 says 'days' with no qualifier, and RSA 21:35, I excludes the day of service and includes the day the act must occur; RSA 21:35, II moves only filing and fee deadlines that land on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday to the next business day, so it does not extend the notice period itself. Service: by any person, personally on the tenant or left at the last and usual place of abode; proof by a true and attested copy plus an affidavit of service that need not be sworn (RSA 540:5, I). The circuit court publishes demand-for-rent and eviction-notice forms; use of the forms is optional but a valid notice 'shall include the same information as is requested and provided on such forms' (RSA 540:5, II). The eviction notice must state the reason with specificity (RSA 540:3, III) and, for nonpayment, must inform the tenant of the right, if any, to avoid eviction by paying arrearages and liquidated damages under RSA 540:9 (RSA 540:3, IV). Cure: the possessory action 'shall be dismissed' if the tenant, at any time prior to the hearing on the merits, pays all rent due plus other lawful charges in the lease, $15 liquidated damages, and the landlord's filing fee and service charges in guaranteed funds, and the landlord files a receipt with the court (RSA 540:9, I) - but a tenant may not use RSA 540:9 to defeat a nonpayment eviction 'more than 3 times within a 12-month period' (RSA 540:9, II). A government or agency rent voucher counts as payment by the tenant (RSA 540:9-a, I). A landlord may accept the arrearage while the case is pending without creating a new tenancy if the landlord tells the tenant in writing that the eviction will proceed anyway (RSA 540:13, VII). No tenancy may be terminated for nonpayment where the tenant covered the landlord's utility bill to keep service on, the arrears do not exceed that amount, and the tenant has receipts (RSA 540:2, VI). Substandard housing is a defense to a nonpayment action on the conditions in RSA 540:13-d.
Lease-violation notice period	30 days
Lease-violation notice rules (cure vs. termination)	New Hampshire gives a tenant NO statutory right to cure a lease violation, so the 30 days is a straight quit period rather than a remedy period. RSA 540:9's cure right runs only to nonpayment. RSA 540:3, II carries TWO day-figures in a single sentence: 'For all residential tenancies, 30 days' notice shall be sufficient in all cases; provided, however, that 7 days' notice shall be sufficient if the reason for the termination is as set forth in RSA 540:2, II(a), (b), (d), or (h).' THE FIGURE SHOWN HERE IS 30. Unlike the URLTA states, these are not a cure-window/termination-date pair - they are alternative notice periods keyed to the GROUND. 30 days applies to a material lease violation (RSA 540:2, II(c)), other good cause (II(e)), lead-hazard abatement (II(f)), willful failure to prepare for pest remediation (II(g)), lease expiration (II(i), in force since July 1, 2026), and to any no-cause termination of nonrestricted property under RSA 540:2, I. 7 days applies only to nonpayment (II(a)), substantial damage by the tenant, household or guests (II(b)), behavior adversely affecting the health or safety of other tenants or the landlord or refusal of suitable temporary relocation for lead abatement (II(d)), and a remaining cotenant who is the accused perpetrator of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking where the victim terminated under RSA 540:11-b (II(h)). SECOND NOTICE TRAP: where the ground is 'other good cause' under RSA 540:2, II(e) and rests on the actions or inactions of the tenant, household or guests, RSA 540:2, III requires the landlord, 'prior to the issuance of the eviction notice,' to give the tenant a separate written warning that in future such conduct would be grounds for eviction, served under RSA 540:5 or by certified mail. That warning has no statutory day count but must precede the 30-day eviction notice, so conduct-based good-cause evictions are genuinely two-notice. 'Other good cause' expressly includes 'any legitimate business or economic reason' and need not rest on tenant fault (RSA 540:2, V), and a tenant's refusal to accept a rent increase is good cause if the landlord gave 30 days' written notice of the amount and effective date of the increase (RSA 540:2, IV). No lease may waive a tenant's rights under the chapter (RSA 540:28).
Unconditional-quit grounds	New Hampshire has no true unconditional-quit notice: every termination, including for criminal or dangerous conduct, requires a written eviction notice, and the shortest statutory period is 7 days (RSA 540:3, II). The grounds that get the 7-day notice and carry no statutory cure right are RSA 540:2, II(b) 'Substantial damage to the premises by the tenant, members of his household, or guests'; II(d) 'Behavior of the tenant or members of his family which adversely affects the health or safety of the other tenants or the landlord or his representatives, or failure of the tenant to accept suitable temporary relocation due to lead-based paint hazard abatement'; and II(h), a remaining cotenant or occupant who is the accused perpetrator of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking that caused a lease termination under RSA 540:11-b. Nonpayment (II(a)) also carries the 7-day notice but is defeasible by payment under RSA 540:9. Illegal drug activity is not a separately enumerated ground; it is prosecuted as II(d) health-or-safety behavior or II(e) other good cause. Federally assisted housing is overlaid by federal law where inconsistent (RSA 540:29). Under RSA 540:2, VII(d) a court may enter judgment against only the accused perpetrator in a multiperson household and let the other tenants stay, and the writ is then limited to that person (RSA 540:14, IV). Separately, RSA 540:1-a, IV(h) lets a person with disabilities eject a live-in caregiver on 72 hours' written notice without any court process, but only where a written agreement authorizes summary ejection - that occupancy is excluded from RSA 540 entirely and is not a tenancy.
Court and action	The action is a 'possessory action' (RSA 540:12), commenced by a writ of summons - the landlord-tenant writ - 'returnable before a district court' (RSA 540:13, I). Since 2011 the district courts are the District Division of the New Hampshire Circuit Court: RSA 490-F:3 provides that 'The circuit court shall consist of 3 divisions: a probate division, a district division, and a family division' and confers on it the jurisdiction, powers and duties of the former district courts under RSA 502-A, and RSA 490-F:17 keeps the former district-court procedure in force. Procedure is governed by RSA 540 and the Circuit Court District Division Rules, which RSA 540:13, IV refers to as 'the Rules of the District Court' for discovery timing. Money relief inside the possessory action is capped at $1,500 and does not preclude a separate suit for the excess (RSA 540:13, III). If the defendant pleads a plea putting the title to the premises in question, he must give a recognizance and the case moves to the superior court, where it proceeds as if originally begun there (RSA 540:17, 540:18; neglect to recognize is treated as a failure to answer, RSA 540:19). Landlord self-help petitions under RSA 540-A are heard in the same district division, concurrently with the superior court (RSA 540-A:4, I).
Filing to hearing	Two statutory windows, both in RSA 540:13. The writ of summons and the accompanying court notice 'shall be returnable 7 days from the date of service of the writ by the sheriff' (RSA 540:13, III) - the clock runs from sheriff service, not from filing. A tenant who wishes to contest the eviction 'shall file an appearance in the district court no later than the return day appearing on the writ and file an answer not more than 5 days after the return date stating the defendant's affirmative defenses and/or counterclaims' (RSA 540:13, II(a)). If the tenant files an appearance, 'a hearing shall be scheduled to occur within 10 days after such filing, with allowance for additional time pursuant to paragraph IV, with notice of the hearing mailed to the parties no fewer than 6 days prior to the hearing' (RSA 540:13, V). The 10-day figure is an outer limit on scheduling and may stretch for discovery, but absent good cause or agreement of the parties any motion for a continuance to complete discovery 'shall be filed no later than 5 days after the return day appearing on the writ', and a party that requests discovery must state the defense, claim or counterclaim it relates to (RSA 540:13, IV). If the tenant raises a defense at the hearing that the landlord had no prior notice of, the landlord is entitled to a continuance of not more than 7 days unless the landlord asks for longer (RSA 540:13, IV-a), and any other motion to continue or delay the hearing 'should not be granted without good cause or by agreement of the parties' (RSA 540:13, V-a). These rules have applied since October 8, 2026 (2026 N.H. Laws ch. 308). All periods are calendar days computed under RSA 21:35, I.
Writ of possession and lockout	The possession writ is the 'writ of possession.' On default or judgment for the plaintiff, 'judgment shall be rendered that the plaintiff recover possession of the demanded premises and costs, and a writ of possession shall issue,' and the writ 'shall authorize the sheriff to remove the defendant from the premises' (RSA 540:14, I); the landlord may alternatively enforce the judgment by civil contempt. A tenant who fails to file an appearance or fails to appear at the hearing on the merits 'shall be considered in default,' and the court mails a notice of default 'the day following default' (RSA 540:13, V); the statute sets no waiting period between the default and the writ, and a tenant default 'shall preclude any discretionary stay' (RSA 540:13-c, I). Where both sides appeared at the hearing, the court mails a notice of judgment 'as soon as possible, but no later than 2 days after the hearing on the merits,' and 'Seven days after mailing such notice, if the prevailing party was the landlord, then the court shall enter judgment for the landlord and issue the writ of possession forthwith' (RSA 540:13, V). A party has 7 days from the notice of judgment to file a notice of intent to appeal, 'the judgment of the district court shall be final at the expiration of the appeal period' (RSA 540:20), and a timely notice of intent to appeal plus weekly rent paid into court holds off dispossession (RSA 540:25, I). A tenant who files a post-judgment motion, such as a motion for reconsideration, must pay all rent as it comes due until the court rules on it (RSA 540:13, II(e)). After a confession of judgment or a ruling for the landlord, the court may stay dispossession to a date not later than 60 days where justice requires, or up to 75 days if the tenant proves that the longer stay will not result in financial harm to the landlord, damage to the premises or ongoing threats to the health or safety of the landlord or other tenants, and that the tenant needs additional time due to factors such as age, familial status, disability or limited English proficiency; the tenant pays the former rent weekly in advance, and on any missed weekly payment 'a writ of possession shall be issued forthwith and the sheriff shall evict the tenant as soon as possible' (RSA 540:13-c, I). A payment agreement may hold the writ, but signing one waives the right to appeal, and on an affidavit of non-compliance the court issues the writ within 5 business days without further hearing unless the tenant objects within 4 business days (RSA 540:13-c, II). A delay by the sheriff in serving the writ does not invalidate a writ that was valid when the landlord directed the sheriff to serve it (RSA 540:14, V).
Appeal window	7 days
Best-case uncontested timeline (derived from statutory minimums — contested cases run longer)	An uncontested nonpayment case runs about 15 days from service of the eviction notice to the court's notice of default, plus unquantified time to obtain and file the writ and for the sheriff to serve and execute it. These are statutory floors, not observed averages. The arithmetic, from the statutory minimums: 7 days for the eviction notice to expire (RSA 540:3, II - the demand for rent may be served simultaneously under RSA 540:4, so it adds nothing), then the landlord-tenant writ is served and is returnable 7 days from sheriff service (RSA 540:13, III); a tenant who has not filed an appearance by the return day is in default, and the court mails the notice of default 'the day following default' (RSA 540:13, V). The statute sets no further waiting period before the writ of possession issues on a default (RSA 540:14, I), and a defaulting tenant cannot get a discretionary stay (RSA 540:13-c, I). On a 30-day ground the same arithmetic gives 30 + 7 + 1 = about 38 days. A contested case runs longer: the hearing may be set up to 10 days after the tenant's appearance with 6 days' mailed notice (RSA 540:13, V), discovery and a defense the landlord had no notice of may extend that (RSA 540:13, IV and IV-a), the court mails the notice of judgment within 2 days of the hearing and issues the writ 7 days after mailing it if the landlord prevailed (RSA 540:13, V), the losing party has those 7 days to file a notice of intent to appeal (RSA 540:20), and the court may stay dispossession up to 60 days, or 75 days on a specific showing (RSA 540:13-c, I).
Self-help eviction (lockout, utility shutoff) barred	Yes
Self-help scope and tenant remedies	Locking a tenant out, holding their property, or shutting off utilities is barred by statute, and the bar is unusually broad. A landlord may deny a tenant access to the rented premises only 'through proper judicial process' (RSA 540-A:3, II). That paragraph reads: 'No landlord shall willfully seize, hold, or otherwise directly or indirectly deny a tenant access to and possession of such tenant's rented or leased premises, other than through proper judicial process.' RSA 540-A:3, I bars willfully causing 'the interruption or termination of any utility service being supplied to the tenant including, but not limited to water, heat, light, electricity, gas, telephone, sewerage, elevator or refrigeration, whether or not the utility service is under the control of the landlord,' except for temporary interruption during actual repairs or emergencies. RSA 540-A:3, III bars seizing or holding the tenant's property, and RSA 540-A:3, IV and V-d bar entry without consent except for emergency repairs or under a court order. RSA 540-A:2, I adds a general prohibition on willfully violating quiet enjoyment or attempting 'to circumvent lawful procedures for eviction pursuant to RSA 540.' Remedy: a tenant petitions the circuit court district division with no filing fee and may proceed without counsel; the court must hear it within 30 days of filing or 10 days of service, whichever is later, and may issue ex parte temporary orders on a showing of immediate irreparable harm (RSA 540-A:4, II-VIII). Damages run through RSA 358-A:10 - actual damages or $1,000 whichever is greater, doubled to trebled for a willful or knowing violation, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees (RSA 540-A:4, IX(a)) - and landlord damages 'for any unlawful dispossession or lock-out of a tenant from the premises where the landlord has re-let the premises or has a new tenant in the premises shall not be less than $3,000' (RSA 540-A:4, IX(e)). A tenant who proves a violation is shielded from any possession action for 6 months except for nonpayment, violation of a substantial obligation of the lease, or violation of RSA 540-A (RSA 540-A:4, XI). Two carve-outs: RSA 540-A:4, II-a preserves common-law remedies including self-help for a 'non-rental owner' (an owner who does not rent the property out) against squatters under RSA 540-A:3, IX, and RSA 540-A:3, II-a/II-b let a landlord tow or remove obstructing, leaking or improperly parked vehicles and property on graduated notice. After a tenant vacates, the landlord must store personal property with reasonable care for 7 days and may then dispose of it without notice (RSA 540-A:3, VII).

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, New Hampshire Eviction Process Laws (verified July 25, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/eviction-process/new-hampshire/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

Good cause is the headline — RSA 540:1-a, II defines 'restricted property' as all residential rental property except a narrow list in paragraph I — single-family houses where the owner owns no more than 3, rental units in an owner-occupied building of 4 or fewer dwelling units, and single-family houses acquired by banks or other mortgagees through foreclosure. RSA 540:2, II permits termination of restricted property 'only for one of the following reasons.'
Calling New Hampshire a plain notice-period state is wrong — Because RSA 540:1-a, II brings essentially all residential rentals into restricted property, the great majority of apartments are governed by the good-cause list. New Hampshire belongs with Colorado and Oregon as a for-cause state rather than with the notice-period states.
Nonrestricted property: no cause needed, but still 30 days — Nonrestricted property may be terminated without cause under RSA 540:2, I, but the 30-day eviction notice of RSA 540:3, II still applies because that paragraph governs 'all residential tenancies.'
7 days for rent, 30 days for lease violations — from one sentence — RSA 540:3, II reads: "For all residential tenancies, 30 days' notice shall be sufficient in all cases; provided, however, that 7 days' notice shall be sufficient if the reason for the termination is as set forth in RSA 540:2, II(a), (b), (d), or (h)." Nonpayment is II(a) and gets 7 days; failure to comply with a material lease term is II(c), which is absent from that list and therefore falls to the 30-day default — the split arises by exclusion from a list.
Stale-source trap: nearly every secondary source says 'flat 7 days' — Almost all secondary write-ups describe New Hampshire as a flat 7-day notice state. That is wrong for lease violations and for every ground outside RSA 540:2, II(a), (b), (d) and (h).
No statutory right to cure a lease violation — RSA 540:9's cure right runs only to nonpayment, so the 30 days for a lease violation is a straight quit period rather than a remedy period. The 30-day figure recorded here is the period for the material-breach ground under RSA 540:2, II(c).
New since July 1, 2026: lease expiration became a good-cause ground — 2025 N.H. Laws ch. 263 (HB 60, signed 08/01/2025) added RSA 540:2, II(i) and VIII effective JULY 1, 2026 — three weeks before this page's verification date. II(i) makes expiration of a lease term a good-cause ground for restricted property where the original term was 12 months or longer (or a shorter lease renewed to a total of 12 months or more), the landlord gave written notice at least 60 days before the termination date that the lease will not be renewed and the tenant must vacate, and the landlord files the possessory action within 6 months of expiry.
No-fault terminations are not reportable as evictions — Paragraph VIII provides that such a 'no-fault termination of tenancy' is not an eviction for rental-application and tenant-screening purposes, and the court must note the no-fault character in its documentation. This is the first no-fault route into restricted property, and it is new enough that most secondary write-ups predate it.
Official page lags the law — Until early September 2026 the official code page carried a stale bracketed legend reading '[Paragraph II(i) effective July 1, 2026.]' although that date had passed; the legend was removed by September 12, 2026 and the page now prints paragraph II(i) as current law, which it has been since July 1, 2026. The official pages for the sections amended on October 8, 2026 (RSA 540:13, 540:13-c, 540:14, 540-A:2, 540-A:3 and 540-A:4) carry bracketed legends, and where a paragraph changed they print the old and new text side by side; the text marked 'effective October 8, 2026' is the law from that date and is the text shown here.
Open question: how the 60-day notice and the eviction notice overlap — II(i) creates a genuine second notice — the 60-day non-renewal notice under II(i)(A) is separate from, and precedes, the RSA 540:3 eviction notice. The statute does not say whether the 30-day eviction notice may be served during the 60-day window or must follow lease expiration; that is unresolved here, and this page shows only the RSA 540:3 periods.
In force since October 8, 2026: 2026 N.H. Laws ch. 308 (HB 1598) — 2026 N.H. Laws ch. 308 (HB 1598, 'relative to notice and proceedings for tenants and landlords engaged in eviction processes') was signed by Governor Ayotte on July 10, 2026 and took effect October 8, 2026, 90 days after its passage. It amends RSA 540:13, II-V (adding paragraphs IV-a and V-a), RSA 540:13-c, I, RSA 540:14 (new paragraph V), RSA 540-A:2, RSA 540-A:3, V and RSA 540-A:4, VII, and the answers on this page state the amended text.
What changed on October 8, 2026 — A tenant who contests must file an appearance by the return day and an answer stating affirmative defenses and counterclaims not more than 5 days after the return date (RSA 540:13, II(a)); a tenant who files a post-judgment motion, such as a motion for reconsideration, must pay rent as it comes due until the court rules on it (RSA 540:13, II(e)); any discovery-continuance motion must be filed within 5 days after the return day, and a party requesting discovery must state the defense, claim or counterclaim it relates to (RSA 540:13, IV); a landlord met at the hearing with a defense it had no prior notice of gets a continuance of up to 7 days (RSA 540:13, IV-a), and other continuances need good cause or the parties' agreement (RSA 540:13, V-a); a tenant who does not appear is in default, the default notice is mailed 'the day following default' rather than at least 3 days before the writ, and a default bars any discretionary stay; in a contested case the court mails notice of judgment within 2 days of the hearing and, 7 days after that mailing, enters judgment for a prevailing landlord and issues the writ of possession 'forthwith' (RSA 540:13, V); the RSA 540:13-c discretionary stay fell from 3 months to 60 days, extendable to 75 days only if the tenant proves no financial harm, no damage and no health-or-safety threat plus a need based on factors such as age, familial status, disability or limited English proficiency, and a missed weekly payment during a stay brings the writ 'forthwith' (RSA 540:13-c, I); and a sheriff's delay in serving does not invalidate a writ that was valid when the landlord directed service (RSA 540:14, V). Three further changes sit in the prohibited-practices chapter. Relief on a petition under that chapter follows 'a ruling of the court following a hearing on the merits', and the court may order a person found to have violated RSA 540-A:2, III, whether the defendant or a member of the tenant's family, a guest or an occupant, to vacate immediately and not return without a further court order (RSA 540-A:4, VII(b)). Each side must give the other a copy of every document it intends to offer in evidence at least 5 days before the hearing on the merits, which may be done electronically; if a party does not, the court must continue the hearing for up to 5 days at the request of the party who did not receive the documents (RSA 540-A:4, VII(c)). And the general prohibition was rewritten into three paragraphs, so that the bars on willfully damaging the landlord's property, on denying other tenants quiet enjoyment, on behavior that unreasonably and adversely affects the health or safety of other tenants or of the landlord or the landlord's agent, and on willfully preventing emergency repairs reach members of the tenant's household, guests and other occupants of the premises, not the tenant alone (RSA 540-A:2, II-III).
What chapter 308 leaves alone — It does not amend RSA 540:2, RSA 540:3, RSA 540:9 or RSA 540:20, so the notice periods, cure rules and 7-day appeal window recorded here are unchanged.
Every period here is in calendar days — RSA 540:3, RSA 540:13 and RSA 540:20 all say 'days' with no qualifier; RSA 21:35, I excludes the day the period is reckoned from and includes the day the act must occur. RSA 21:35, II shifts only filing and fee deadlines falling on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday to the next business day — which can move the deadline to FILE the notice of intent to appeal but does not lengthen a notice period.
The only business-day figures in the chapter are not among the figures shown — RSA 540:13-c, II(d)-(e) uses business days — the writ within 5 business days of an affidavit of non-compliance, tenant objection within 4 business days. Those figures are not part of the periods shown here.
Nonpayment: two documents, one waiting period — A demand for rent is an element of the ground (RSA 540:2, II(a) 'upon demand'; RSA 540:3, II makes 7 days available only for reasons 'set forth in RSA 540:2, II(a), (b), (d), or (h)'), and a written eviction notice is required by RSA 540:3. But RSA 540:4 and RSA 540:5, I both provide the demand is sufficient if served 'prior to or simultaneously with' the eviction notice, so the two may be handed over together and only the 7-day notice period must expire before filing. Skipping the demand loses the case; waiting for the demand to expire first delays the case for nothing.
Conduct-based 'other good cause': two sequential notices — RSA 540:2, III requires a written warning 'prior to the issuance of the eviction notice' that in future the conduct would be grounds for eviction — and only then the 30-day eviction notice.
Lease expiration under II(i): also two notices — The 60-day non-renewal notice plus the RSA 540:3 eviction notice, with the sequencing question above unresolved. All other grounds need only a single eviction notice.
The appeal window is 7 days, and it is eviction-specific — RSA 540:20 reads: 'Any party to an action brought pursuant to this chapter shall, within 7 days of the date of the notice of judgment, file in the district court a notice of intent to appeal to the supreme court.' 'Brought pursuant to this chapter' makes it eviction-specific on its face, and the same section makes the judgment final at the expiration of the appeal period.
The appeal is two-step — 7 days is only the first step — New Hampshire requires the 7-day notice of intent in the circuit court, then a notice of appeal in the supreme court within 30 days of the notice of decision (RSA 540:13, II(d)(2)), with all rent paid weekly into court during the appeal (RSA 540:25, I; RSA 540:14, I fixes the weekly amount). The 7 days is recorded as the headline figure because missing it ends the appeal — read alone it will look like the whole appeal window, which it is not.
Signing a payment agreement waives the right to appeal — RSA 540:13-c, II: a tenant who signs a payment agreement to hold the writ gives up the appeal outright.
Self-help is barred by statute, not by case law or silence — RSA 540-A:3, II bars denying access 'other than through proper judicial process'; RSA 540-A:3, I bars willful utility interruption; and RSA 540-A:2, I bars any attempt 'to circumvent lawful procedures for eviction pursuant to RSA 540.'
Two carve-outs that are not lockout exceptions — RSA 540-A:4, II-a expressly preserves common-law self-help for a 'non-rental owner' proceeding against an unauthorized occupant under RSA 540-A:3, IX (the squatter provision added by 2024 ch. 370), and RSA 540-A:3, II-a/II-b permit removal of obstructing, leaking or improperly parked vehicles on graduated notice. Neither permits locking out a tenant.
Out of scope — and worth saying so — Manufactured housing parks have their own good-cause scheme with its own grounds and a different cure rule (RSA 205-A:4, including a $15 liquidated-damages tender before the eviction notice expires); shared facilities where the occupant shares a kitchen or bath with the owner are governed by RSA 540-B; vacation and recreational rental units by RSA 540-C. RSA 540:1-a, IV removes from RSA 540 altogether: transient rooming and boarding house guests (under 90 consecutive days), hotel/motel/vacation rooms, dormitories, nursing homes, hospitals, RSA 151/RSA 126-A licensed or certified facilities, convents, monasteries, asylums, group homes, an owner-occupied single-family home where the occupant has no lease, fraternal/social organization student housing, and live-in caregivers. Federal law governing federally owned, operated or subsidized units supersedes RSA 540 where inconsistent (RSA 540:29).
No local overlays exist — No New Hampshire statute authorizes municipal rent control or a local just-cause ordinance, and RSA 540 contains no local-option or opt-out clause; there is no official registry of adopting localities and none is published here. Municipal housing codes matter only indirectly, as the substantive standard behind the RSA 540:13-d habitability defense and the RSA 540:13-a retaliation defense.
The nonresidential figures in RSA 540:3, I are deliberately excluded — RSA 540:3, I sets a 7-day nonpayment period and a rent-period-length notice for NONRESIDENTIAL tenants only. No residential figure here is drawn from it.
Source agreement on the headline figures (2026-07-25) — The official gencourt.state.nh.us text of RSA 540:2, 540:3 and 540:20 carries the 30/7 notice split, the good-cause structure and the 7-day appeal language in identical terms. Two currency points sit behind those figures: 2025 ch. 263 has been in force since July 1, 2026, and 2026 ch. 308, in force since October 8, 2026, does not amend any of those three sections.

Common questions: New Hampshire eviction process

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 much notice does a landlord have to give before filing an eviction for unpaid rent in New Hampshire?: 7 days. A nonpayment eviction takes two documents — a demand for rent and a written eviction notice — but they may be served at the same moment, so only the 7 days must run before the landlord files.
How much notice is required to evict for a lease violation in New Hampshire?: 30 days. New Hampshire gives a tenant NO statutory right to cure a lease violation, so the 30 days is a straight quit period rather than a remedy period. RSA 540:9's cure right runs only to nonpayment.
How long does an eviction take in New Hampshire?: An uncontested nonpayment case runs about 15 days from service of the eviction notice to the court's notice of default, plus unquantified time to obtain and file the writ and for the sheriff to serve and execute it. These are statutory floors, not observed averages.
How long does a tenant have to appeal an eviction judgment in New Hampshire?: 7 days.
Can a landlord change the locks or shut off utilities instead of going to court in New Hampshire?: No — New Hampshire bars self-help eviction by statute; a landlord must go through the court process. Locking a tenant out, holding their property, or shutting off utilities is barred by statute, and the bar is unusually broad. A landlord may deny a tenant access to the rented premises only 'through proper judicial process' (RSA 540-A:3, II).

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (July 25, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).

Updated, October 8, 2026 — New Hampshire 2026 chapter 308 (HB 1598) took effect October 8, 2026. A tenant who contests an eviction must file an answer stating affirmative defenses and counterclaims within 5 days after the return date (RSA 540:13, II(a)); a tenant who does not appear is in default and the court mails the default notice the day after the default, with no statutory wait before the writ and no discretionary stay (RSA 540:13, V; 540:13-c, I); after a contested hearing the court mails the notice of judgment within 2 days and issues the writ 7 days after mailing it where the landlord prevails; the discretionary stay is capped at 60 days, or 75 days where the tenant proves no financial harm, no damage and no health or safety threat and a need based on factors such as age, familial status, disability or limited English proficiency; a sheriff's delay does not invalidate a valid writ (RSA 540:14, V). The tenant-side entry duty now bars willfully preventing completion of necessary repairs (RSA 540-A:3, V) and the prohibited-practices chapter reaches household members, guests and occupants (RSA 540-A:2); the entry notice standard is unchanged. The uncontested timeline is about 15 days on a nonpayment ground and about 38 on a 30-day ground. HB 1336 (a second deposit month) was vetoed July 2, 2026 and the veto was sustained August 19, 2026.
Correction, September 20, 2026 — New Hampshire: the manufactured housing park page routed park deposits to RSA 477:48, a section repealed in 1985; the live rules are the general deposit subdivision, RSA 540-A:5 to 540-A:8, whose definitions expressly reach a park space, and the page now states them. The lease termination page adds the tenant's own right to end a written lease within 7 days of a relocation forced by a lead exposure hazard (RSA 130-A:8-a, VIII) and the required contents of the 30-day lead-hazard notice. The habitability page adds the asbestos enforcement route in RSA 141-E. The entry and eviction pages now state exactly what 2026 ch. 308 changes on October 8, 2026. The application page adds RSA 540:2, VIII: a no-fault lease-expiration termination is not an eviction for screening purposes.
Correction, September 5, 2026 — New Hampshire: the pending entry for 2026 chapter 308 (HB 1598, effective October 8, 2026) now describes the eviction-process changes the act makes — the 60-day discretionary stay (75 days on a specific showing), no discretionary stay after a default, the five-day answer, the two-day judgment notice and the seven-day writ — instead of saying it changes no answer.

Citations

RSA 540:1 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:1-a · I-II (nonrestricted vs restricted property); IV (occupancies excluded from the chapter) (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:2 · I; II(a)-(i); III; IV; V; VI; VII; VIII (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:3 · II (30 days / 7 days); III (specificity); IV (RSA 540:9 advisory) (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:4 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:5 · I (service, proof); II (court forms) (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:7 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:8 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:9 · I(a)-(b); II (3 times in 12 months) (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:9-a · I-II (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:11-b (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:12 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:13 · I; II(a),(d),(e); III (7-day return); IV (5-day discovery-continuance deadline); IV-a; V (10-day hearing, default notice the day after default, notice of judgment within 2 days, writ 7 days after); V-a; VII (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:13-a (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:13-c · I (60-day discretionary stay, 75 days on a showing, none after a default); II (payment agreement waives appeal) (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:13-d · I-II (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:14 · I (writ of possession); IV; V (sheriff's delay) (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:17 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:18 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:20 · 7-day notice of intent to appeal (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:25 · I; I-a; II (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:26 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:28 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540:29 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540-A:2 · I-III (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540-A:3 · I (utilities); II (lockout); III; IV; V-d; VII (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540-A:4 · I-III; VI; VIII; IX(a),(e); XI (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 358-A:10 · I (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 21:35 · I-II (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 490-F:3 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 490-F:17 (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 502-A:14 · I-II (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540-B:1 · I (shared facility - out of scope) (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 540-C:1 · I-II (vacation/recreational units - out of scope) (verified 2026) Official source
RSA 205-A:4 · I-VI (manufactured housing parks - out of scope) (verified 2026) Official source
2025 N.H. Laws ch. 263 (HB 60) - bill status and chaptered final version · Signed by Governor Ayotte 08/01/2025; Chapter 263; eff. 07/01/2026 (verified 2026) Official source
2026 N.H. Laws ch. 308 (HB 1598) - bill status and chaptered final version · Signed by Governor Ayotte 07/10/2026; Chapter 308; eff. 10/08/2026 (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.