Free New Hampshire Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A New Hampshire commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a storefront, an office, a warehouse, a workshop — to a tenant who will run a business from it. RSA Chapter 540 governs actions against tenants, and it separates nonresidential from residential tenancies inside the notice section itself.

That structure is unusual and helpful. Rather than excluding business tenants from a residential scheme, New Hampshire gives them their own paragraph.

Two provisions do the work: how a tenancy is terminated and how long the notice must run.

Terminating the Tenancy

RSA 540:2, I provides that the lessor or owner of nonrestricted property may terminate any tenancy by giving the tenant or occupant a notice in writing to quit the premises, in accordance with RSA 540:3 and RSA 540:5.

Note what that paragraph does not do. Unlike RSA 540:2, II, which limits a landlord of restricted property to an enumerated list of reasons, paragraph I attaches no good-cause requirement.

The Nonresidential Notice Period

RSA 540:3, I is written for business tenants. Where a nonresidential tenant neglects or refuses to pay rent due and in arrears, upon demand, seven days’ notice is sufficient. Where the rent is payable more frequently than once in three months — whether the rent is due or not — a notice equal to the rent period is sufficient. And three months’ notice is sufficient in all cases.

Paragraph III adds a content requirement that applies across the section: the eviction notice must state with specificity the reason for the eviction.

It depends on the rent cycle, not on the reason. Under RSA 540:3, I a nonresidential tenant in arrears on rent gets seven days after demand. For any other termination, the notice matches the rent period where rent is payable more often than quarterly, with three months sufficient in every case.

Monthly rent therefore produces a month’s notice; quarterly rent produces three months. The rent schedule agreed at signing sets the exit period for both sides.

Demand matters separately for rent. RSA 540:4 provides that a demand for rent is sufficient if made on the tenant or occupant at any time after the rent becomes due and either before or simultaneously with service of the eviction notice.

1. Pin the rent, its escalation, the length of the term, and the split of insurance and repair duties.
2. Set the rent period knowing it fixes the notice period for most terminations under RSA 540:3, I.
3. Build a demand step into your default process, since the seven-day route runs from it.
4. Draft the default clause so the reason for any eviction can be stated with specificity.
5. Execute the lease and keep the rent schedule and notice provisions together.

Chapter 540 addresses termination rather than the bargain, so a New Hampshire commercial lease agreement should cover:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the premises, including any shared entrances or parking.
• Rent, the rent period, the due date, and how increases are set.
• The term, renewal rights, and holdover consequences.
• A default clause specific enough to support a notice stating the reason precisely.
• Which party pays rates, insures the building, and answers for each repair.
• The permitted trade, the consent needed to transfer, and each party’s notice address.