Quick Reference: Grounds and Notice Periods for Restricted Property

The Rule Changed Eight Weeks Ago, and Most Guides Have Not Caught Up

For more than two decades, New Hampshire's Supreme Court rule was that the expiration of a lease, standing alone, did not constitute good cause for terminating a tenancy in restricted property.

That came from AIMCO Properties, LLC v. Dziewisz, 152 N.H. 587 (2005), where the court held that reading "other good cause" to include mere expiration of a lease would run contrary to the legislative intent behind RSA 540:2, II, because it would let landlords arbitrarily evict tenants whose leases had ended, denying them the exact protection the statute was written to provide.

The legislature answered that decision twenty years later. HB 60 (2025), signed on 1 August 2025 as Chapter 263, added a new RSA 540:2, II(i), effective 1 July 2026. Lease expiration is now a statutory ground for eviction from restricted property.

So has the title of this article been overtaken by events? No. Read what the new subparagraph actually says, and the point sharpens rather than disappears.

Expiration Alone Still Fails. Three Conditions Have to Line Up

RSA 540:2, II(i) does not say a landlord may evict when a lease ends. It says the expiration of the term is good cause provided that a set of conditions is satisfied. Miss any one, and you are back to proving a different ground entirely.

• Condition one: the lease has to be long enough. The ground applies to a lease whose original term is 12 months or longer, or a lease of less than 12 months that has been renewed for a total period of 12 months or longer. A nine-month lease that has never been renewed does not qualify. A six-month lease renewed once does, because the cumulative period reaches twelve months. That cumulative language matters for anyone running short initial terms.

• Condition two: the 60-day notice. The landlord must have provided the tenant with written notice at least 60 days in advance of the termination date of the lease term, stating both that the lease will not be renewed and that the tenant must vacate at the end of the term. This notice has to exist before the lease ends. It cannot be created afterwards.

• Condition three: the six-month filing window. The landlord must file a possessory action within six months of the lease expiring. This is a use-it-or-lose-it clock. Let a tenant hold over for seven months while you negotiate, and the ground you carefully preserved has evaporated.

The statute also expressly preserves two tenant protections. Nothing in II(i) affects the retaliatory eviction defence in RSA 540:13-a, or a tenant's protections from discrimination under RSA 354:10. A non-renewal that is in fact retaliatory is still defensible as retaliation.

So the honest summary for 2026 is this: a lease expiring, standing alone, is still not enough. A lease expiring plus a qualifying term plus a timely 60-day notice plus a filing inside six months is enough to establish the ground.

The Notice Sequence, and Why the Conservative Reading Is the Safe One

This is the part of the new law that will generate the most argument in the next twelve months, and it is worth understanding rather than guessing at.

Start with the opening words of RSA 540:2, II. A landlord of restricted property "may terminate any tenancy by giving to the tenant or occupant a notice in writing to quit the premises in accordance with RSA 540:3 and 5, but only for one of the following reasons." The list that follows, ending in the new subparagraph (i), tells you which reasons permit a termination. It is not a substitute for the notice to quit; it is the menu of grounds that justify one.

Three features of the statute point the same way. The chapeau requires a notice to quit for every ground on the list and exempts none of them. RSA 540:3, II provides that 30 days' notice is sufficient in all residential cases, with seven days sufficient only where the ground is II(a), II(b), II(d) or II(h), and II(i) is not on that short list. And RSA 540:3, III requires the eviction notice to state with specificity the reason for the eviction, which a letter sent two months before the term ends cannot comfortably do, because at that point no ground has yet arisen. Subparagraph II(i)(A) is drafted as a completed precondition, saying the landlord "has provided" the notice, rather than as the notice to quit itself.

No court has interpreted II(i) yet. The provision took effect on 1 July 2026 and there is no reported decision on whether a single document can do both jobs, or whether a separate notice to quit must follow expiration. A landlord may well argue that one carefully drafted notice satisfies both, and that argument is not frivolous.

The conservative practice, and the one that carries the least risk of a dismissed writ, is to treat them as two steps:

1. At least 60 days before the lease term ends, written notice that the lease will not be renewed and that the tenant must vacate at the end of the term. This is what makes the ground exist under II(i)(A).

2. After the term ends and the tenant remains, a notice to quit complying with RSA 540:3 and served under RSA 540:5, stating with specificity that the reason is expiration of the term under RSA 540:2, II(i).

Serving both costs one letter. Serving only the 60-day letter and filing risks an argument that no notice to quit was ever given. Serving only a post-expiration notice to quit risks the ground never having existed at all. Until the Circuit Court gives guidance, do both and confirm the current court forms and wording with New Hampshire counsel.

Managers coming from Ohio's eviction process or Georgia's dispossessory proceedings, where one notice precedes one filing, should build a New Hampshire non-renewal as a sequence rather than a single event, with the dates held on the lease record in contracts and renewals rather than in a manual reminder.

Whether Any of This Applies Depends on a Head Count

Before reaching the grounds at all, determine whether the property is restricted. This is where the statute surprises out-of-state owners, because the test is about how much the owner owns, not about the building.

RSA 540:1-a defines nonrestricted residential property as single-family houses where the owner does not own more than three single-family houses at any one time; rental units in an owner-occupied building containing four dwelling units or fewer; and single-family houses acquired by banks or other mortgagees through foreclosure. Everything else rented for residential purposes is restricted, and the good-cause regime applies.

Read the single-family rule carefully. An owner with three single-family rentals holds nonrestricted property and may terminate for any lawful reason. That same owner buys a fourth house, and all four become restricted at once. The legal status of the first three changes because of a purchase that has nothing to do with them. Any tenant in those houses gains good-cause protection the owner did not previously owe.

For a growing portfolio, the fourth acquisition is a compliance event. Notice templates, lease renewal practice and termination policy all have to change on that closing date.

RSA 540:1-a, IV also removes certain occupancies from the chapter entirely, so they are neither restricted nor nonrestricted: rooming and boarding house rooms rented to transient guests for fewer than 90 consecutive days; hotels, motels, inns, tourist homes and dwellings rented for recreational or vacation use; student dormitories, nursing homes, hospitals and facilities licensed under RSA 151 or certified under RSA 126-A, convents, monasteries, asylums and group homes; a single-family home with no lease that is the owner's primary and usual residence; shared residential real estate under RSA 540-B; vacation or recreational units under RSA 540-C; certain fraternal organisation student housing; and caregiver occupancies, which the statute allows to be ended on not less than 72 hours' written notice where a written agreement so provides.

The 90-day rooming-house rule has an anti-avoidance provision worth knowing: moving an occupant between rooms, or between the owner's rooming houses, does not restart the 90-day count.

The Rest of the Good Cause Menu, Including Two Traps

Non-renewal is now one ground among several, and the others carry conditions that get overlooked.

• "Other good cause" is broader than most people assume. RSA 540:2, V states that other good cause includes any legitimate business or economic reason and need not be based on the action or inaction of the tenant, their family or guests. In JP Morgan Chase Bank, NA v. Grimes, 167 N.H. 536 (2015), the Supreme Court accepted that a stated desire to market, sell or convey the property in a vacant condition constituted a legitimate economic reason on the facts of that case. Owner-side business reasons are available; they simply have to be real and stated.

• Trap one: the warning notice under RSA 540:2, III. Where the ground is other good cause and the cause is based on the actions or inactions of the tenant, their family or guests, the landlord must, before issuing the eviction notice, give the tenant written notice stating that in the future such actions or inactions would constitute grounds for eviction. That warning has to be served in accordance with RSA 540:5 or by certified mail. Skip it, and the eviction notice is defective before it is served. Note the narrowing: this warning requirement attaches to conduct-based other good cause, not to purely economic reasons.

• Trap two: rent increases. RSA 540:2, IV provides that a tenant's refusal to agree to a rent increase constitutes good cause under II(e), but only if the landlord gave written notice of the amount and the effective date of the increase at least 30 days before that effective date. A rent increase delivered without those two elements does not convert refusal into a ground.

• One ground that can be defeated by utility payments. Under RSA 540:2, VI, no tenancy may be terminated for nonpayment where the tenant was forced to take over the landlord's utility payments to prevent services the landlord agreed to provide from being cut off, the arrears do not exceed what the tenant paid, and the tenant has receipts or other proof.

You Cannot Draft Around Any of This

RSA 540:28 is one sentence and it removes a whole category of workaround: no lease or rental agreement, oral or written, may contain any provision by which a tenant waives any rights under the chapter, and any such waiver is null and void.

A clause stating that the tenancy ends automatically at the term, that the tenant agrees to vacate without further notice, or that the tenant waives the good-cause requirement, is unenforceable in restricted property. The 60-day notice and the notice to quit are not defaults the parties can contract past.

There is also a successor rule. Under RSA 540:27, when the estate occupied by a tenant at will or sufferance is conveyed, the grantee has the same rights and remedies the grantor would have had. A buyer inherits the tenancy and its protections, not a clean slate.

The Court Process, and One Rule That Favours Small Landlords

Possession is recovered by filing a Landlord and Tenant Writ in the Circuit Court District Division for the location of the property, under RSA 540:13.

The writ and its accompanying notice are returnable seven days from the date of service by the sheriff. If the tenant files an appearance, a hearing is scheduled within ten days of that filing, with notice mailed no fewer than six days beforehand. If the tenant does not appear, the court mails a notice of default at least three days before a writ of possession issues. In contested hearings the court must issue a written decision setting out the basis for it.

The landlord may, at their option, claim unpaid rent in the same writ. If they do, the court considers any tenant defence, claim or counterclaim that offsets the amount owed, and any money judgment in the possessory action is capped at $1,500, without prejudice to a later claim elsewhere for the remainder. That cap is a real strategic decision: a large arrears balance may be better pursued separately.

Judgment brings a writ of possession, but RSA 540:13-c lets the court stay dispossession for up to three months where it decides justice requires it, on condition the tenant pays the former rent weekly in advance. Default on a weekly payment and the writ issues.

Appeals run on a tight two-step clock under RSA 540:20 and RSA 540:13, II(d): a notice of intent to appeal filed with the Circuit Court within seven days of the notice of decision, then a notice of appeal in the Supreme Court within 30 days, with rent paid as it comes due throughout.

And here is the rule that separates New Hampshire from most states. RSA 540:30 provides that, notwithstanding RSA 311:7, a person of good character who is not approved to practise law in New Hampshire, but who is a member or employee of a limited liability company, corporation or partnership with five or fewer members, may represent the entity in the Circuit Court on matters arising under RSA 540, with proper written authorisation from the organisation, and each appearance requires a new authorisation.

That is the opposite of the position in states where a non-attorney filing for an owner entity commits unauthorised practice and the petition is void. Small New Hampshire owners can appear for their LLC. Larger entities cannot, and the written authorisation is per appearance, not once for the year.

The Defences That Actually End Cases

Four defences do most of the work in New Hampshire, and each is a records problem before it is a legal one.

• Retaliation. Under RSA 540:13-a, except where the tenant owes the equivalent of one week's rent or more, it is a defence that the action was retaliation for reporting a violation of RSA 540-A or a substantial housing code violation, for initiating an RSA 540-A action or using RSA 540:13-d, or for meeting with other tenants for any lawful purpose. RSA 540:13-b then creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation where a possessory action, a rent increase, or a substantial alteration of the tenancy is instituted within six months after the landlord received notice of the alleged violation, completed the repairs, received notice of an RSA 540-A action, or discovered protected tenant organising. RSA 540:14, II allows damages of up to three months' rent where retaliation is proved.

• Six months is a long shadow. A repair complaint in March turns any September non-renewal into a case where the landlord carries the burden of rebutting a presumption.

• Habitability. RSA 540:13-d bars a possession action based on nonpayment where the premises are in substantial violation of RSA 48-A fitness standards or local codes and the violation materially affects habitability, provided the tenant proves by clear and convincing evidence that they gave notice while not in arrears, the landlord failed to correct within 14 days of receipt of written notice or as promptly as an emergency required, the tenant did not cause the violation, and repairs were not prevented by extreme weather or lack of access.

• Payment after notice. RSA 540:9 dismisses any possessory action based solely on nonpayment if, at any time before the hearing on the merits, the tenant pays all rent due plus other lawful lease charges, $15 liquidated damages, and the landlord's filing fee and service charges, in guaranteed funds. The landlord must then file a receipt with the court and confirm a copy went to the tenant; failure to file means the hearing proceeds and the case is dismissed if the tenant proves payment. A tenant may use this no more than three times in any 12-month period. Separately, RSA 540:9-a treats a written promise to pay from the state, a county, a municipality or an organisation disbursing federal or state funds as payment by the tenant.
  
  

  That combination makes rent ledger accuracy decisive. The arrears figure in the demand has to be right to the dollar, and payment receipts have to be produced on the court's timetable, which is why rent collection and payment records tied to specific rental periods do more work in New Hampshire than a running balance ever will.

• Acceptance of payment. RSA 540:13, VII lets a landlord accept arrears while a nonpayment action is pending without creating a new tenancy, but only if the landlord informs the tenant in writing of the intention to proceed with the eviction despite the payment. Accept the money without that letter and the tenancy risk is real.

The Screening Rule Nobody Is Talking About Yet

The same 2025 act added RSA 540:2, VIII, also effective 1 July 2026, and it changes tenant screening on both sides of the transaction.

A no-fault termination of tenancy, defined as any termination under RSA 540:2, II(i), shall not be considered an eviction for the purposes of rental applications and tenant screening reports, by either the lessor or the lessee. The court handling the proceeding must note in the court documentation that the termination was at no fault of the tenant. The provision expressly does not limit a landlord's ability to perform due diligence on a prospective tenant.

Two operational consequences follow. If you use the new non-renewal ground, the resulting record is statutorily not an eviction for screening purposes, and the court file should say so. And if you screen applicants in New Hampshire, a court record showing a II(i) no-fault termination cannot be treated as an eviction in your criteria. Screening policies written before July 2026 will not know this category exists.

Common Mistakes Property Managers Make in New Hampshire

1. Relying on a guide written before July 2026. Most still say lease expiration is never good cause. Most written since say it always is. Both are wrong.

2. Sending the non-renewal notice late. It must be provided at least 60 days in advance of the termination date of the lease term. There is no cure after the fact.

3. Treating the 60-day notice as optional. A post-expiration filing cannot substitute for the advance notice RSA 540:2, II(i)(A) requires.

4. Assuming the 60-day letter is also the notice to quit. No court has ruled on this yet; the conservative practice is to follow it with a notice to quit under RSA 540:3 and 540:5 once the term has ended.

5. Missing the six-month filing window after expiration, which removes reliance on the lease-expiration ground.

6. Using II(i) on a short lease. The term must be 12 months or longer originally, or renewed to a cumulative 12 months or longer.

7. Buying a fourth single-family rental without changing policy. All four become restricted property under RSA 540:1-a.

8. Skipping the RSA 540:2, III warning before a conduct-based other-good-cause eviction.

9. Raising rent without the 30-day notice of amount and effective date, then treating refusal as good cause under RSA 540:2, IV.

10. Writing a lease clause that waives good cause. RSA 540:28 makes it null and void.

11. Filing within six months of a repair complaint without anticipating the RSA 540:13-b retaliation presumption.

12. Accepting arrears mid-case without the written notice required by RSA 540:13, VII.

13. Forgetting to file the payment receipt under RSA 540:9 after a tenant cures.

14. Sending a non-member employee of a large entity to court. RSA 540:30 covers organisations with five or fewer members, with written authorisation per appearance.

15. Treating a II(i) no-fault termination as an eviction in screening. RSA 540:2, VIII says it is not.

Build the Record the Statute Actually Asks For

New Hampshire is unusually document-driven. Nearly every ground and nearly every defence turns on whether a specific piece of paper exists, was served correctly, and was dated properly.

Four things belong in the system rather than in someone's memory. Each unit needs a restricted or nonrestricted flag, with the ownership count that produced it and the date it was last checked, because that flag changes when the portfolio changes. Each qualifying fixed-term lease needs a 60-day non-renewal notice deadline calculated backwards from the term end and a six-month possessory-action deadline calculated forward from expiration, with the notice reviewed against RSA 540:3 and RSA 540:5 before service. Every notice needs proof of service under RSA 540:5, which permits personal service or leaving it at the last and usual place of abode, with an affidavit of service that need not be sworn. And every repair complaint, RSA 540-A claim and tenant meeting needs a date, because RSA 540:13-b turns the following six months into presumed retaliation.

RIOO's contracts and renewals holds lease terms alongside the derived notice and filing dates, so a New Hampshire non-renewal runs on calculated deadlines rather than remembered ones. Leasing management keeps the renewal decision and its notice in one place, which matters when the decision not to renew must be documented two months before the term ends. And dashboards and reports surface which units are approaching a 60-day decision point across a portfolio, which is the difference between a planned non-renewal and a missed one.

Conclusion

New Hampshire has not abandoned just cause. It has added one more cause, on conditions.

Before 1 July 2026, a lease expiring gave a landlord of restricted property nothing, on the authority of AIMCO Properties v. Dziewisz. Since 1 July 2026, RSA 540:2, II(i) makes expiration a ground, but only for leases of twelve months or longer, only where written notice went out at least sixty days before the termination date of the term, and only if the possessory action is filed within six months. Retaliation and discrimination defences survive untouched, and the resulting record is not an eviction for screening purposes under the new RSA 540:2, VIII.

The rest of the existing RSA 540 framework continues to apply, including the good-cause list in RSA 540:2, II, the seven-day and thirty-day notice split in RSA 540:3, the written warning required by RSA 540:2, III before a conduct-based other-good-cause eviction, the ban on lease waivers in RSA 540:28, the six-month retaliation presumption in RSA 540:13-b, and the pay-to-stay cure in RSA 540:9.

The practical instruction is short. Work out whether the property is restricted, using the ownership count rather than the building. If it is, choose the ground before you choose the notice. And for a non-renewal, calendar two statutory dates the day the lease is signed: at least sixty days before the term ends, and six months after expiration. A lease expiring is still not enough. A qualifying lease with a timely 60-day notice and a filing inside six months establishes the new ground, though the notice-to-quit sequence should be confirmed with New Hampshire counsel until the courts interpret RSA 540:2, II(i).

This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. RSA 540:2, II(i) and VIII took effect on 1 July 2026 and there is no reported case law interpreting them yet, so practice on the notice sequence may develop quickly. Confirm the current statutory text, Circuit Court forms and service requirements before serving notice or filing, and consult a licensed New Hampshire attorney on a specific matter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Can a New Hampshire landlord evict simply because the lease ended?
Not on expiration alone. Since 1 July 2026, RSA 540:2, II(i) makes expiration good cause for restricted property, but only where the lease term was 12 months or longer or was renewed to a cumulative 12 months or longer, the landlord provided written notice at least 60 days in advance of the termination date of the term, and the possessory action is filed within six months of expiration.

Q2. What changed in New Hampshire eviction law in 2026?
HB 60 (2025), enacted as Chapter 263 and effective 1 July 2026, added RSA 540:2, II(i) allowing termination at lease expiration on conditions, and RSA 540:2, VIII providing that a no-fault termination under II(i) is not an eviction for rental application and tenant screening purposes.

Q3. What notice is required for a qualifying lease non-renewal?
Written notice at least 60 days before the termination date of the lease term, stating that the lease will not be renewed and that the tenant must vacate at the end of the term. If the tenant remains, RSA 540:2, II requires termination through a notice to quit complying with RSA 540:3 and RSA 540:5, and II(i) is not among the grounds carrying a seven-day period. Because RSA 540:2, II(i) is new and has not been interpreted in any reported decision, the conservative practice is to serve a specific post-expiration notice to quit before filing. Confirm the wording, service method and current court form with a New Hampshire attorney.

Q4. What is restricted property in New Hampshire?
All residential rental property except the categories in RSA 540:1-a, I: single-family houses where the owner owns no more than three at a time, rental units in an owner-occupied building of four dwelling units or fewer, and single-family houses acquired by banks or other mortgagees through foreclosure. Good cause is required only for restricted property.

Q5. Does buying a fourth rental house change anything?
Yes. The single-family exemption depends on the owner holding no more than three single-family houses at any one time. Acquiring a fourth moves all of them into restricted property, and every tenant gains good-cause protection.

Q6. What counts as "other good cause"?
RSA 540:2, V says it includes any legitimate business or economic reason and need not rest on tenant conduct. In JP Morgan Chase Bank, NA v. Grimes (2015) the Supreme Court accepted a desire to market, sell or convey the property vacant as a legitimate economic reason on those facts. Where the cause is based on tenant conduct, RSA 540:2, III requires a written warning before the eviction notice.

Q7. How long does a New Hampshire eviction take?
After the notice period expires, the Landlord and Tenant Writ is returnable seven days from sheriff's service, and a hearing follows within ten days of the tenant's appearance. The court may stay dispossession for up to three months under RSA 540:13-c if the tenant pays the former rent weekly in advance.

Q8. Can a tenant stop a nonpayment eviction by paying?
Yes. Under RSA 540:9, paying all rent due plus lawful charges, $15 liquidated damages, and the landlord's filing fee and service charges in guaranteed funds before the hearing on the merits requires dismissal. A tenant may use this no more than three times in a 12-month period.

Q9. Can a property manager or owner appear in court without a lawyer?
Under RSA 540:30, a member or employee of an LLC, corporation or partnership with five or fewer members may represent the entity in Circuit Court on RSA 540 matters with written authorisation, and a new authorisation is needed for each appearance.

Q10. Can a lease waive the good cause requirement?
No. RSA 540:28 makes any lease provision waiving a tenant's rights under RSA 540 null and void.

Q11. Will a non-renewal show up as an eviction on the tenant's record?
Under RSA 540:2, VIII, a no-fault termination under II(i) is not to be treated as an eviction for rental applications and tenant screening reports, and the court must note in the documentation that the termination was at no fault of the tenant.