New Hampshire Lease Non-Renewal Law 2026: 60 Days' Notice Required

A 2005 New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling required landlords to demonstrate good cause before evicting a tenant, even where a lease had simply reached its natural end date, effectively treating every residential tenancy as a continuing one absent proven cause.

[Cite: New Hampshire House Bill 60 (2025), legislative findings referencing 2005 New Hampshire Supreme Court precedent]

This law was introduced specifically to reverse that outcome for restricted property, giving landlords a defined, notice-based path to end a tenancy at lease expiration without litigating cause.

Restricted property is defined as all real property rented for residential purposes except the categories listed as nonrestricted, which include owner-occupied buildings of 4 or fewer units and certain foreclosed single-family homes.

[Cite: RSA 540:1-a]

That means this new non-renewal ground is aimed at larger residential rental operations, not the smallest owner-occupied properties, which fall under separate treatment.

The new ground applies to a lease of 12 months or longer; a shorter lease term doesn't fall under this particular provision.

[Cite: RSA 540:2, II(i), as amended by Chapter 263, Laws of New Hampshire 2025]

A landlord relying on this ground needs to confirm the lease in question actually meets that 12-month threshold before assuming this notice path applies.

A landlord must provide the tenant with written notice at least 60 days in advance of the termination date for this non-renewal ground to apply.

[Cite: RSA 540:2, II(i)(A), as amended by Chapter 263, Laws of New Hampshire 2025]

That's a firm minimum, not a target; a notice given with less than 60 days' lead time doesn't satisfy this specific ground, regardless of how clearly it communicates the landlord's intent not to renew.

RSA 540:2 already lists several grounds for termination on restricted property, including nonpayment of rent in arrears, lease violations, and conduct endangering others; this new lease-expiration ground is added alongside those, not in place of them.

[Cite: RSA 540:2, II]

A landlord dealing with an actual lease violation or nonpayment issue still has those established grounds available and isn't required to wait for lease expiration to act.

Unlike the cause-based grounds, this provision doesn't require the landlord to show any particular reason for declining to renew, only that proper written notice was given within the required timeframe.

[Cite: RSA 540:2, II(i)]

That's the central shift from the prior good-cause requirement: the landlord's motive for non-renewal isn't something the tenant can contest under this specific ground, so long as the 60-day notice was properly given.

Landlord and property-owner groups argued that leases should have a defined endpoint and that landlords need flexibility to address tenants who are difficult to prove violations against in court, while housing advocates and homelessness-prevention organizations warned the change could increase displacement given New Hampshire's existing apartment shortage.

[Cite: New Hampshire Public Radio, "End-of-lease evictions allowed under new Hampshire state law"]

That legislative history is useful context for understanding this as a genuinely contested policy choice, not a routine technical correction to existing law.

This provision doesn't take effect until July 1, 2026, so a landlord attempting to use lease-expiration non-renewal as a ground before that date is still operating under the prior good-cause standard established by the 2005 court decision.

[Cite: RSA 540:2, II(i), effective date provision, Chapter 263, Laws of New Hampshire 2025]

A landlord planning around a lease expiring in the months before July 2026 needs to confirm whether this new ground will actually be available by the time they intend to act on it.

Nonrestricted property, including owner-occupied buildings of 4 or fewer units, is defined and treated separately under RSA 540:1-a, and this specific 60-day non-renewal provision is written into the restricted-property grounds in RSA 540:2, II.

[Cite: RSA 540:1-a; RSA 540:2, II(i)]

A landlord of a smaller owner-occupied property should confirm their property's actual classification before assuming this specific notice provision is the relevant one for their situation.

Since this ground depends entirely on proper written notice and timing rather than proving a reason, keeping clear, dated proof of when the 60-day notice was delivered to the tenant is the practical safeguard against a dispute over whether the notice requirement was actually met.

[Cite: RSA 540:2, II(i)(A)]

A landlord relying on this ground without clear delivery documentation is in a weaker position if a tenant disputes the timing in court, since the entire basis for the termination rests on that notice having been properly and timely given.

This law was part of a broader set of New Hampshire landlord-tenant legislative changes in the 2025 session, alongside other eviction-process adjustments enacted around the same period.

[Cite: New Hampshire General Court, 2025 session legislative record]

A landlord reviewing this specific non-renewal change has good reason to check whether other 2025 or 2026 New Hampshire landlord-tenant updates also affect their current lease practices.

The practical starting point is confirming which of a portfolio's units qualify as restricted property under RSA 540:1-a, since this non-renewal ground only applies to that category.

For any lease of 12 months or longer expiring on or after July 1, 2026 that a landlord doesn't intend to renew, calendaring the 60-day notice deadline well in advance, and keeping documented proof of delivery, is what actually makes this ground usable rather than just theoretically available.