How much can a landlord charge for a security deposit in New Hampshire?

1 month's rent — The cap is that amount or $100, whichever is greater (RSA 540-A:6, I(a)). Two groups of small landlords are exempt from New Hampshire's deposit rules altogether.

How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in New Hampshire?

30 days. No tenant demand is required: the deposit plus any interest due must come back within 30 days from the termination of the tenancy (RSA 540-A:7, I).

What happens if a landlord does not return the deposit on time in New Hampshire?

A landlord who fails the return, itemization, or interest duties owes the tenant twice the sum of the deposit plus interest due, less payments made and lawful charges owing (RSA 540-A:6, IV or 540-A:7; penalty at RSA 540-A:8, I(b)).

Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in New Hampshire?

Yes — New Hampshire requires interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. Interest is owed only if the deposit is held for one year or longer, at the regular-savings-account rate of the institution where it sits, running from receipt (RSA 540-A:6, IV(a)). Otherwise interest is paid with the deposit at return.

What are the security deposit rules 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 caps security deposits at one month's rent or $100, whichever is greater, and the landlord must return the deposit within 30 days after the tenancy ends, with a written itemized list — backed by receipts or estimates — for anything withheld.

Cited to NH RSA 540-A:6 I(a)-(c), II, III, IV and 4 more New Hampshire statutes · Verified July 11, 2026

Deposits must sit in a trust account (or be bonded with the town clerk), and a deposit held a year or longer earns savings-account interest that the tenant can also claim every three years. A landlord who blows the return or interest duties owes double the deposit plus interest, and the cap, receipt, and trust rules are enforceable as consumer-protection violations. Two big carve-outs: none of these deposit rules bind a person renting out a single-family home who owns no other rental property, or units in an owner-occupied building of five units or fewer (unless the unit's occupant is 60 or older), and owner-occupied room rentals fall under a separate shared-facilities law with no cap at all. One more NH quirk cuts for landlords: if the tenant never provides a forwarding address, the landlord is off the hook, and a deposit unclaimed for six months becomes the landlord's property.

New Hampshire security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit	1 month's rent — The cap is that amount or $100, whichever is greater (RSA 540-A:6, I(a)). Two groups of small landlords are exempt from New Hampshire's deposit rules altogether. Under a written lease with quarterly or less frequent rent, the deposit collected on top of the initial rent payment still may not exceed one month's rent equivalent. Major exemption: for the entire deposit subdivision (RSA 540-A:5 through :8), a person who rents a single-family residence and owns no other rental property, or who rents units in an owner-occupied building of 5 units or less, is not a 'landlord' — except as to any unit in such a building occupied by a person 60 or older, which keeps full protection (RSA 540-A:5, I). Shared facilities (owner-occupied room rentals under RSA 540-B) sit outside 540-A entirely, and the deposit amount is whatever the owner sets (RSA 540-B:10).
Return deadline	30 days
Deadline conditions	No tenant demand is required: the deposit plus any interest due must come back within 30 days from the termination of the tenancy (RSA 540-A:7, I). Per RSA 540-A:8, II the landlord is fully excused if noncompliance is due to the tenant's failure to provide a new address on termination. In a shared facility with no written deposit agreement, return is due within 20 days after the occupant vacates (RSA 540-B:10).
Itemization required	Yes
Itemization rules	For damage deductions (reasonable wear and tear excluded): a written, itemized list indicating with particularity the nature of each necessary repair, plus satisfactory evidence the repair has been or will be completed — receipts for materials, labor estimates, bills, or invoices (RSA 540-A:7, I, as tightened by 2006 ch. 296 effective 2006-07-01). For deductions of unpaid rent, the tenant's lease share of real-estate-tax increases, or other unpaid lawful lease charges: a written, itemized list indicating with particularity the period claimed (RSA 540-A:7, II).
Separate account required	Yes
Interest owed to tenant	Yes
Account & interest rules	Interest is owed only if the deposit is held for one year or longer, at the regular-savings-account rate of the institution where it sits, running from receipt (RSA 540-A:6, IV(a)). Otherwise interest is paid with the deposit at return. Deposits remain the tenant's money and must be held in trust, not mingled with the landlord's personal funds; all deposits may be pooled in one trust account at a NH-chartered bank, savings and loan, or credit union, or the landlord may instead post a bond with the city or town clerk (RSA 540-A:6, II). Pooled accounts pay actual interest earned, proportionately (RSA 540-A:6, IV(a)). The tenant may demand the bank name, account number, amount, and rate, and examine deposit records (IV(b)), and may collect accrued interest every 3 years by requesting it 30 days before that lease year expires, with the landlord obliged to comply within 15 days of that year's expiration (IV(c), added 2014 ch. 56 effective 2014-07-26).
Pet deposits	No separate pet-deposit statute. 'Security deposit' means ALL funds in excess of the monthly rent transferred from tenant to landlord for any purpose (RSA 540-A:5, II), so a pet deposit counts against the same greater-of-one-month/$100 cap and follows the same trust, interest, return, and itemization rules — a pet deposit stacked on a full one-month deposit exceeds the cap.
Non-refundable fees allowed	Not addressed by statute
Penalty for violation	A landlord who fails the return, itemization, or interest duties owes the tenant twice the sum of the deposit plus interest due, less payments made and lawful charges owing (RSA 540-A:6, IV or 540-A:7; penalty at RSA 540-A:8, I(b)). A second tier covers the other deposit duties: violating the cap, receipt, trust-account, or transfer-on-sale rules (RSA 540-A:6, I-III) is deemed a violation of the Consumer Protection Act, RSA 358-A:2, carrying its civil remedies. Lease waivers of these rights are void (RSA 540-A:8, III).
Tenant forwarding-address duty	Decisive in NH: the landlord is not liable and forfeits no rights if noncompliance is due to the tenant's failure to notify the landlord of a new address upon termination, and any deposit plus interest unclaimed 6 months after termination becomes the LANDLORD'S property free and clear, absent fraud (RSA 540-A:8, II) — the opposite of unclaimed-property escheat states.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, New Hampshire Security Deposit Laws (verified July 11, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/security-deposits/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.

Generate a New Hampshire security-deposit return letter — free, no signup, built on the same verified New Hampshire rules as this page.

Notes and caveats

Exemption trap: the small-landlord carve-out is deposits-only — The RSA 540-A:5, I carve-out is scoped 'for the purposes of this subdivision' — the security-deposit subdivision (540-A:5 through :8) only. Exempt small landlords remain fully bound by the entry, utility-shutoff, and lockout rules, because the Prohibited Practices subdivision uses the broad landlord definition in RSA 540-A:1 with no carve-out (confirmed from both definition sections).
Tenants 60 or older keep full protection, unit by unit — The 60-and-older exception restores full deposit protections unit-by-unit inside otherwise-exempt owner-occupied buildings.
Trust account required — but pooling is fine and a bond substitutes — The separate-account requirement is recorded here because RSA 540-A:6, II requires trust holding and bars mingling deposits with the landlord's personal money. Pooling all tenants' deposits in one New Hampshire trust account is permitted, and a municipal bond substitutes for the account entirely; that alternative is described in the interest rules.
Nonrefundable fees: no rule either way, so the answer is empty — No statute expressly allows or bans nonrefundable fees. But the broad RSA 540-A:5, II definition — all funds in excess of monthly rent, transferred for any purpose — pulls any move-in fee into the refundable-deposit scheme for covered landlords.
Application fees are regulated separately — RSA 540-A:3, VIII (2024 ch. 46, effective 2025-01-01) governs fees charged to prospective tenants: anything above documented costs is refundable within 30 days if the unit is not rented to the applicant.
Interest trap: not payable only at move-out — Many charts say New Hampshire deposit interest is payable only at move-out. The every-three-years request right in RSA 540-A:6, IV(c), added in 2014, says otherwise.
HB 1336 (2026) was vetoed — the extra deposit month is not law — HB 1336 would have let landlords take an extra month's rent from screening-marginal applicants. It was VETOED on 2026-07-02, with an override conceivable at the fall veto day.

Common questions: New Hampshire security deposits

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 can a landlord charge for a security deposit in New Hampshire?: 1 month's rent — The cap is that amount or $100, whichever is greater (RSA 540-A:6, I(a)). Two groups of small landlords are exempt from New Hampshire's deposit rules altogether.
How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in New Hampshire?: 30 days. No tenant demand is required: the deposit plus any interest due must come back within 30 days from the termination of the tenancy (RSA 540-A:7, I).
What happens if a landlord does not return the deposit on time in New Hampshire?: A landlord who fails the return, itemization, or interest duties owes the tenant twice the sum of the deposit plus interest due, less payments made and lawful charges owing (RSA 540-A:6, IV or 540-A:7; penalty at RSA 540-A:8, I(b)).
Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in New Hampshire?: Yes — New Hampshire requires interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. Interest is owed only if the deposit is held for one year or longer, at the regular-savings-account rate of the institution where it sits, running from receipt (RSA 540-A:6, IV(a)). Otherwise interest is paid with the deposit at return.
Can a landlord charge a non-refundable fee in New Hampshire?: Not addressed by statute.

Statute citations

NH RSA 540-A:6 I(a)-(c), II, III, IV (verified 2026) Official source
NH RSA 540-A:7 I, II (verified 2026) Official source
NH RSA 540-A:8 I-III (verified 2026) Official source
NH RSA 540-A:5 I, II (verified 2026) Official source
NH RSA 540-B:10 (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.