Is there a legal limit on late fees in New Hampshire?

No statutory cap (see reasonableness standard and notes). New Hampshire sets no statutory late-fee standard for conventional residential tenancies. Enforceability rests on ordinary state contract and liquidated-damages principles, meaning a fee must approximate actual loss rather than punish.

Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in New Hampshire?

No New Hampshire statute addresses daily late fees for conventional rentals, so a daily fee is a lease-drafting matter.

What late fees can a landlord charge in New Hampshire?

Verified July 11, 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 sets no cap on residential late fees and mandates no grace period for apartments and houses — the state's landlord-tenant chapters never mention late fees, so the lease governs, bounded only by ordinary contract-law limits on penalty clauses.

Cited to NH RSA 540:9 I(a), II and 2 more cited sources · Verified July 11, 2026

The $15 figure some sources cite is not a late fee: it is the fixed liquidated-damages amount a tenant pays (plus arrears and filing costs) to cancel a nonpayment eviction under RSA 540:9, usable at most three times in 12 months. The one real statutory grace period lives in manufactured-housing law: park owners may not charge any late fee on lot rent paid in full within 7 calendar days of the due date (RSA 205-A:6, IV, effective July 1, 2019). Two newer wrinkles touch payment mechanics rather than fees: since January 1, 2026 a landlord cannot require rent be paid solely by electronic transfer and must accept at least one non-electronic method, and rental application fees above documented screening costs must be refunded within 30 days when the applicant is not rented to.

New Hampshire late fees at a glance

Statutory cap	No statutory cap (see reasonableness standard and notes)
Mandatory grace period	None mandated statewide
Must be in the lease	Not addressed by statute
Daily fees	No New Hampshire statute addresses daily late fees for conventional rentals, so a daily fee is a lease-drafting matter. It is bounded by contract-law penalty doctrine and, for lease charges pursued in eviction, by the 'other lawful charges contained in the lease' framing of RSA 540:9, I(a).
Reasonableness standard	New Hampshire sets no statutory late-fee standard for conventional residential tenancies. Enforceability rests on ordinary state contract and liquidated-damages principles, meaning a fee must approximate actual loss rather than punish. RSA chapters 540, 540-A and 540-B never regulate late-fee amounts or timing. The Consumer Protection Act (RSA 358-A) is a backstop for oppressive practices.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, New Hampshire Late Fee Laws (verified July 11, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/late-fees/new-hampshire/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Check a late fee against the New Hampshire rules — free, no signup, built on the same verified New Hampshire law as this page.

Notes and caveats

No cap and no grace period anywhere in the landlord-tenant chapters — RSA 540 (all sections listed on the official merged page), RSA 540-A (540-A:1 through :8) and RSA 540-B contain no late-fee cap, no grace period, and no fee-structure rule for conventional tenancies. The silence is the rule, not a gap.
Nothing conditions a late fee on a written lease — The must-be-in-the-lease answer is empty: no statute imposes that requirement. The agreement requirement comes from contract law — RSA 540:9, I(a) presupposes 'other lawful charges contained in the lease.'
The $15 figure is not a late-fee cap — RSA 540:9's $15 is eviction-cure liquidated damages, not a late-fee cap and not a grace period. The cure right itself is capped at 3 uses per 12-month period (RSA 540:9, II).
The 7-day grace period belongs to manufactured-housing parks only — RSA 205-A:6, IV (added 2019 ch. 59, effective 2019-07-01) applies ONLY to manufactured-housing-park lot rent. Do not generalize it to apartments — and do not omit it when describing park tenancies.
New since January 1, 2026: no electronic-only payment mandates — RSA 540-A:3, X (HB 309, 2025 ch. 176, effective 2026-01-01) bars requiring rent be paid solely by electronic transfer. It is new enough that 2025-vintage guides miss it.
Application fees carry their own disclosure and refund rules — RSA 540-A:3, VIII (2024 ch. 46, effective 2025-01-01) requires disclosure plus refund of any excess over documented background/credit-check and reasonable administrative costs, within 30 days, if the unit is not rented to the applicant.
No New Hampshire appellate case fixes a late-fee formula — No appellate decision setting a residential late-fee formula was found, so enforceability rests on ordinary contract and liquidated-damages principles.
No 2026 act touches late fees — None of the 2026 landlord-tenant measures addresses late fees: HB 1336 (deposits) was vetoed and the veto was sustained, and HB 1598 (eviction procedure) took effect October 8, 2026 without touching late fees.

Common questions: New Hampshire late fees

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

Is there a legal limit on late fees in New Hampshire?: No statutory cap (see reasonableness standard and notes). New Hampshire sets no statutory late-fee standard for conventional residential tenancies. Enforceability rests on ordinary state contract and liquidated-damages principles, meaning a fee must approximate actual loss rather than punish.
Is there a grace period before rent is late in New Hampshire?: None mandated statewide.
Does a late fee have to be written into the lease in New Hampshire?: Not addressed by statute.
Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in New Hampshire?: No New Hampshire statute addresses daily late fees for conventional rentals, so a daily fee is a lease-drafting matter.

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (July 11, 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.

Citations

NH RSA 540:9 · I(a), II (verified 2026) Official source
NH RSA 205-A:6 (manufactured housing parks) · IV (verified 2026) Official source
NH RSA 540-A:3 · X (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.