Landlord/tenant laws

  • Evictions During The COVID-19 State of Emergency

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    The COVID-19 pandemic has created very difficult situations for many people. In the context of landlord/tenant relationships, it has created significant concerns among both landlords and tenants about what their rights are.Before the pandemic and emergency orders, evictions were conducted through the process outlined in RSA 540. While this process is still the law of New Hampshire, it has been modified significantly by Governor Sununu’s emergency orders. The first modification was Emergency Order #4 (found here: https://www.governor.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt336/files/documents/emergency-order-4.pdf). This provides that any attempt to begin or prosecute eviction actions would likely be deemed a violation of RSA 540-A, New Hampshire’s prohibited practices statute for landlord/tenant relationships. These violations could result in a fine of $1,000, attorney’s fees, and double or treble damages. This was designed to…

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    Landlord and Tenant Law: The Eviction Process

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    Often clients, especially tenants, are confused by the eviction process. The first step in any eviction is to serve a “Notice to Quit” or Eviction Notice. The Eviction Notice spells out the basis for the eviction and specifies the time period the tenant has to leave. If the eviction is based on failure to pay rent, a Demand for Rent should accompany the Notice to Quit. Both the Notice to Quit and Demand for Rent forms are available online at the NH State website. If you are a landlord and are not sure what you should put on the form, and what you should be evicting your tenant for, you should contact an attorney to help you. Our firm handles Landlord and Tenant matters and…

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    Landlord and Tenant Law: Things Landlords Need To Know About Evictions

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    The most common problem we run into for our clients who are landlords is where a landlord is confused, or not aware of, the strict eviction process required in the State of New Hampshire. They end up attempting to evict a tenant in the wrong way, which causes them to open themselves up to liability to the tenant, their own attorney’s fees, the tenant’s attorney’s fees, and the costs that they did not anticipate. The question is always asked, in the future, how do I avoid this problem? First, it is important to understand the nature of a tenancy. There are three general forms of tenancies that we should start with. The first is when a tenant has a written lease with a landlord for…

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    Landlord/Tenant Law In New Hampshire: Things To Know As A Tenant

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    Our firm has taken on a wide variety of various landlord/tenant cases, from statutory violations to personal injuries from premises liability cases to preventing a person from unlawfully being ejected from their home, among others. We often find that a lot of tenants are completely unaware of many of the basic rules that apply to them as renters of real estate. One of the biggest is the law as it relates to security deposits. Often, a landlord decides to keep a security deposit unjustifiably, fails to follow the statutory procedure, and ends up unlawfully taking the security deposit of a tenant. RSA 540-A:7 governs the return of security deposit to tenants. Generally, the security deposit must be returned within thirty (30) days from the termination…