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Rent Regulations

N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540: § 540:16-a

Hearsay Exception.

In Force
Verified 10/20/2026 · Next check 10/27/2026
effective 10/20/2026New HampshireTenant Defenses

Operative Text

N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540: § 540:16-a
In any possessory action based on allegations concerning the behavior of the defendant or his family or guests, records of complaints made by other tenants to the landlord or his agent concerning such behavior shall be competent evidence if:
I. The landlord or other qualified witness testifies to its identity and the mode of its preparation;
II. It was made at or near the time of the receipt of the complaint; and
III. In the opinion of the court, the sources of information, method and time of preparation, and proximity in time of the complaint to the alleged tenant behavior, were such as to justify its admission.
Source: Legislative text reproduced verbatim
Plain English

New Hampshire § 540:16-a creates a hearsay exception in eviction proceedings that involve allegations about a tenant's conduct, or the conduct of that tenant's family members or guests. Under this rule, written records of complaints that other tenants made to a landlord or the landlord's agent can be admitted as evidence in court, provided certain conditions are met. Those conditions include testimony about how and when the records were created, and a judicial finding that the records are sufficiently reliable to warrant admission.

Written by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6 · Reviewed on October 20, 2026

Plain English — not legal advice.

For Property Managers

Under N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:16-a, landlords who document tenant-behavior complaints from other residents may be able to introduce those records as evidence in a possessory action. Compliant operators generally maintain contemporaneous, organized logs of complaints—noting the date received, the nature of the complaint, and who recorded it—so that a qualified witness can later testify to the record's identity and preparation. Keeping records close in time to when complaints are received is central to satisfying the conditions the statute sets out.

General guidance for property managers — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult an attorney for advice on your case.

For Tenants

N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:16-a governs when a landlord's complaint records can be used against a tenant in an eviction case, and it requires the court itself to evaluate whether those records are reliable enough to be admitted. Tenants facing eviction based on behavior allegations have the opportunity to challenge whether the landlord's complaint records meet the statute's requirements—such as whether they were made near the time of the alleged incident and whether a qualified witness can properly authenticate them. Tenant-rights organizations and legal aid services in New Hampshire can help individuals understand how this evidentiary rule may apply in a particular proceeding.

General guidance for tenants — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult a tenant-rights organization or attorney for advice on your case.

Generated October 20, 2026 — auto-generated, not yet human-reviewed. See /transparency for methodology.

Effective Timeline

Current
Oct 20, 2026
Click on timeline segments to view historical versions.

References Out

No outbound references recorded yet for this provision.

References In

Rules and statutes that cite this regulation

N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:2
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:14
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:4
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:2
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:5
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:13-d
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:13-a
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:1-b
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:3
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:11-b
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:13-a
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:5
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:2
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:1-a
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:2
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:20
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:13-a
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:2
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:1-a
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:5
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:14
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:2
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:9
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:2
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540:3
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 540

Related Rules

§ 8A
Rent withholding; grounds; amount claimed; presumptions and burden of proof; procedures
§ 47a-14c
(Formerly Sec. 19-347m). Tenement receivership: Defense.
§ 47a-14e
(Formerly Sec. 19-347o). Tenement receivership: Owner's right to collect rent moneys.

Source Information

Source:https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LV/540/540-16-a.htm
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