NH House bill would give tenants more time to deal with proposed rent increases
Measure would increase notice requirement to 45 days
Photo by Dan Tuohy/NHPR
New Hampshire renters would have more time to deal with proposed rent increases under a proposal up for debate at the State House in 2022.
Right now, New Hampshire landlords are supposed to give at least 30 days’ notice for proposed rent increases. If a tenant doesn’t agree to that increase and doesn’t have a lease, they could face eviction.
Rep. Casey Conley, a Democrat from Dover, is sponsoring a bill that would require at least 45 days’ notice. He says 30 days isn’t a realistic time frame to find a new home in the state’s tight housing market.
“Your home is sort of your home base,” he said. “It’s where you plan your life around; it’s where you plan your job around; it’s where you plan transit, finding schools for your kids, childcare for your kids. With a 30-day window, even if cost is no object, you might not be able to find something that’s convenient.”
This isn’t the first time Conley has tried to change New Hampshire’s rent increase notification rules.
Last session, he introduced a bill that would have required more notice if a landlord tries to raise the rent by more than 5 percent. That bill proposed 60 days’ notice for rent increases of more than 5 percent or 90 days’ notice for increases of more than 8 percent. It ran into pushback from the Apartment Association of New Hampshire, which argued it was a step toward more aggressive rent control reforms that would negatively affect the state’s rental market.
