Free New Hampshire Room Rental Agreement Template

A New Hampshire room rental agreement is the contract for renting one bedroom in a shared home. New Hampshire is unusual in giving that exact arrangement its own chapter of the Revised Statutes: RSA 540-B, Rental of Shared Facilities.

Most states leave a rented room to be squeezed into general landlord-tenant law. Here the question is whether your arrangement meets the statutory definition, because if it does, a different set of rules applies.

It turns on sharing space with the owner. A shared facility means real property rented for residential purposes which has separate sleeping areas for each occupant, and in which each occupant has access to and shares with the owner of the facility one or more significant portions of the facility in common, such as a kitchen, dining area, bathroom, or bathing area, for which the occupant has no rented right of sole personal use.

The chapter expressly does not cover facilities rented to transient guests intended for use of less than 90 days, rooms in hotels, motels, inns, tourist homes and other dwellings rented for recreational or vacationing use, or rooms provided ancillary to other primary purposes such as jails, student dormitories, nursing homes, hospitals, group homes, and emergency shelters.

Where the definition is met, every tenancy is deemed to be at will with rent payable as agreed, unless a written contract defines the terms differently. A verbal rental agreement is permitted, which is exactly why writing one down is worth the effort.

The notice rules in a New Hampshire room rental agreement under this chapter are shorter than most people expect, and they run in place of the ordinary eviction process.

Three Notice Periods

The owner may end any tenancy without stating a reason on a written 30-day notice. For nonpayment of rent, a written 7-day notice is required. For damage to the premises, or behavior by the occupant or a guest that adversely affects the health or safety of other occupants or the owner, or a material breach of the rental agreement, a written 72-hour notice is required. An occupant may end an at-will tenancy by a written 30-day notice, or in line with any notice requirement in a written agreement.

The Eviction Process Does Not Apply

The chapter states that this termination process applies in place of the eviction process in RSA 540, and that shared facilities governed by the chapter are not subject to it. The statute also provides that an occupant has no possessory rights to any portion of a shared facility, and that the owner may take possession of the separated areas at the end of the notice period. Both sides should understand that before signing.

How Notice Is Given

The owner gives the notice of termination personally to the occupant or attaches it to the primary entrance to the occupant’s separated area. The occupant gives notice by the same method used to pay rent, or in accordance with any written rental agreement.

Belongings Left Behind

The owner must retain and exercise reasonable care in storing the personal property of an occupant who has vacated, for three days after the date they vacated. After that period the owner may dispose of the property without notice.

It is short, and the threshold is thirty days’ rent. The owner may require a security deposit in an amount the owner determines. Where the deposit is more than the equivalent of 30 days’ rent, there must be a written instrument acknowledging receipt and explaining where the deposit will be held and when it will be returned.

Where there is no written agreement, the deposit must be returned within 20 days after the occupant has vacated.

That is a good reason to put the arrangement in writing even when the deposit is small. A written instrument settles where the money sits and when it comes back, and removes the argument entirely. Statutory requirements change from time to time, so confirm the current text before relying on any of this.

For a New Hampshire room rental agreement, the terms worth adding are:

• Which spaces are shared with the owner, and which sleeping area is the occupant’s
• The deposit amount, where it is held, and when it is returned
• The notice each side must give, and how it will be delivered
• House rules for the kitchen, bathroom, and other common areas
• How utilities are divided between the people living there