New Hampshire HOA Assessment Limits

Section 1: Overview

New Hampshire sets no percentage cap on assessment increases. For condominiums, the board adopts an annual budget, and that budget is ratified—takes effect—unless two-thirds of all unit owners vote to reject it. Non-condominium homeowners associations are governed almost entirely by their recorded declarations.¹

Condominium governance in New Hampshire runs under RSA 356-B, the New Hampshire Condominium Act, enacted in 1977. The budget mechanism sits in RSA 356-B:40-c.² Regular assessment increases work through a two-step process: board adoption, then a ratification meeting. The budget is ratified whether or not a quorum shows up, unless two-thirds of all unit owners—or any larger number specified in the declaration—reject it. The statute sets no cap on the size of an increase.¹ Special assessments follow the same ratification procedure. The exception: the board can impose an emergency special assessment by a two-thirds board vote, bypassing owner ratification entirely.¹

On the national spectrum, New Hampshire occupies the middle band. The state controls assessment increases through an owner veto rather than a numeric ceiling—and requires two-thirds rejection rather than a simple majority, a higher bar than most comparable states. Non-condominium associations, by contrast, resemble declaration-driven states.³ The current condominium budget framework dates to the 2016 governance reforms, Chapter 311 / HB 353, effective August 1, 2016.⁴

The sections below cover the authority to levy assessments, the limits on raising them, the lien, recent legislative and judicial activity, and where New Hampshire fits nationally.

Section 2: The assessment framework

2A. Authority to levy and allocate assessments

For condominiums, the unit owners' association holds the assessment power, exercised through the board of directors. The board adopts the budget that produces the common expense assessment.¹

Common expense liability is allocated under RSA 356-B:45: the association specially assesses limited common area costs against the unit or units served; it specially assesses expenses benefiting fewer than all units where the instruments so provide; and it assesses all remaining common expenses—less common profits—against units in proportion to the number of votes each unit carries in the association.⁵

The ownership interest in common areas is allocated under RSA 356-B:17, which permits the declaration to assign each unit an undivided interest proportionate to either the unit's size or its value.⁶ The declaration controls the allocation formula.

For non-condominium homeowners associations, New Hampshire has no comprehensive statute. Assessment authority comes from the recorded covenants—the declaration or CC&Rs—and from the corporate power of the association, which is typically organized as a voluntary nonprofit corporation under RSA 292.⁷ A limited provision added in 2024, RSA 292:8-m, sets super-majority and dissolution-hearing guardrails for HOAs organized under that chapter, but it does not create a general assessment framework.⁷

2B. Limits on regular assessment increases

The condominium limit is procedural, not numeric. Under RSA 356-B:40-c, I, the board must adopt a proposed budget at least annually. No later than 30 days after adoption, it must provide all unit owners a summary of the budget—including any reserves and a statement of how reserves are calculated and funded—and simultaneously set a ratification meeting no sooner than 10 days and no later than 60 days after providing that summary.¹

Unless two-thirds of all unit owners—or any larger number specified in the declaration—reject the budget at that meeting, the budget is ratified, whether or not a quorum attends.¹ New Hampshire imposes no percentage cap on the size of a regular increase. The only statutory control is the owner veto at the two-thirds rejection threshold.¹ If owners reject a proposed budget, the last ratified budget continues until owners ratify a new one.¹

Non-condominium homeowners associations have no statutory ratification mechanism. Increases work as the recorded declaration directs. A condominium board that follows a defective process under RSA 356-B:40-c risks having an increase challenged as unratified.¹

2C. Special assessments, emergencies, and the lien

Special assessments for condominiums follow the budget procedure. Under RSA 356-B:40-c, II, a proposed special assessment is effective only if the board follows the ratification procedure in paragraph I and owners do not reject it.¹

The exception sits in RSA 356-B:40-c, III and IV: if the board determines by a two-thirds vote that a special assessment is necessary to respond to an emergency, the assessment takes effect immediately. The board must promptly notify all owners, and the funds may be spent only for the purposes described in the vote. An emergency is a situation requiring immediate action where a danger to the structural integrity of the common areas or to life and safety is discovered, or as required by a court order, or to respond to a legal or administrative proceeding that could not have been reasonably foreseen.¹

The assessment lien sits in RSA 356-B:46. As a general rule, the perfected lien is junior to institutional first mortgages, real estate tax liens on the unit, and encumbrances recorded before the declaration.⁸ New Hampshire does, however, grant a narrow conditional priority over the first mortgage: under RSA 356-B:46, I(c), up to six months of unpaid regular monthly common assessments on a residential unit—together with costs of collection and reasonable attorney's fees—can take priority over the first mortgage, but only if the association sends the required certified and first-class notices to the owner and the institutional first mortgagee within the statutory timeframes. The priority does not extend to special assessments, late charges, fines, penalties, or interest, and does not apply to mortgages executed before the section's January 1, 2011 effective date.⁹ The association may also collect up to six months of common expense assessments in advance, held in escrow to cure defaults, and the board may terminate a delinquent unit's common privileges and services after 30 days' written notice to the owner and the owner's first mortgagee.⁸

Section 3: Assessment limits and procedures in practice

A. Regular assessment increase procedure

For condominiums, the board adopts the proposed budget, provides a budget summary including reserves within 30 days, and holds a ratification meeting 10 to 60 days later. The budget is ratified unless two-thirds of all unit owners reject it (RSA 356-B:40-c, I).¹ For non-condominium HOAs, the declaration defines the process. No statutory ratification rule applies, and the recorded covenants govern how and when increases take effect.⁷

B. Special assessment procedure

For condominiums, a special assessment uses the same ratification procedure as the budget and is effective unless owners reject it (RSA 356-B:40-c, II), with an emergency exception allowing immediate effect on a two-thirds board vote (RSA 356-B:40-c, III).¹ For non-condominium HOAs, the declaration controls; no statutory special-assessment procedure applies.⁷

C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

New Hampshire supplies no percentage cap or dollar ceiling on condominium regular or special assessments. The override mechanism is the ratification-by-rejection structure at the two-thirds threshold (RSA 356-B:40-c, I and II), and the emergency special assessment is the board's path around owner ratification (RSA 356-B:40-c, III).¹ For non-condominium HOAs, any cap exists only if the declaration creates one.⁷

D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

For condominiums, the board must furnish a budget summary that includes reserves and the basis for reserve funding within 30 days of adoption and must give notice of the ratification meeting (RSA 356-B:40-c, I).¹ The association may collect up to six months of common expense assessments in advance and hold them in escrow (RSA 356-B:46, X), and a unit owner or purchaser is entitled on request to a recordable statement of unpaid assessments (RSA 356-B:46, VIII), supporting assessment disclosure on resale.⁸ For non-condominium HOAs, disclosure obligations are declaration-defined, with no parallel statutory rule.⁷

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

C. Active legislative debates

Recent sessions have sent proposals to the floor touching condominium governance and HOA transparency. No recent bill has changed the two-thirds rejection threshold, the reserve-disclosure rule, or created a comprehensive statutory framework for non-condominium HOAs.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

New Hampshire occupies the middle band of a three-part national spectrum on assessment limits. Statutory-cap states such as California limit increases by formula: Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) provides that "the board may not impose a regular assessment that is more than 20 percent greater than the regular assessment for the association's preceding fiscal year or impose special assessments which in the aggregate exceed 5 percent of the budgeted gross expenses of the association for that fiscal year without the approval of a majority of a quorum of members."³

Ratification-mechanism states—including Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Vermont, Washington, and New Hampshire for condominiums—control increases through an owner veto on the board-adopted budget rather than a numeric cap. New Hampshire stands out for requiring two-thirds rejection rather than a simple majority.¹ Declaration-driven states such as Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia leave assessment limits almost entirely to the recorded declaration—just as New Hampshire's non-condominium HOAs do.⁷

For a multi-state operator entering New Hampshire, the two-thirds rejection threshold makes a condominium budget hard for owners to overturn, while non-condominium HOAs require a close reading of the declaration. New Hampshire's current budget framework dates to the 2016 governance reforms, and the state has no intermediate appellate court; trial matters go to the Superior Court and appeals go directly to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.⁴

HOA Weekly updates this coverage quarterly as the General Court and the New Hampshire Supreme Court act. Federal frameworks—including the FDCPA, the SCRA, and the bankruptcy treatment of assessments—bear on New Hampshire assessment practice regardless of the state framework.

Recommendations

1. For condominium boards and managers, treat the two-thirds rejection threshold as the operative control, not a cap. Budget and plan capital projects on the assumption that any board-adopted increase will take effect unless two-thirds of all owners affirmatively reject it. The benchmark that changes this approach: a bill amending RSA 356-B:40-c to lower the threshold to a simple majority or to add a numeric cap. None has been enacted as of June 9, 2026; monitor each session.
2. Run the RSA 356-B:46, I(c) notice sequence precisely if priority over a first mortgage matters. The six-month residential priority is conditional and is lost if the certified and first-class notices to the owner and the institutional first mortgagee are not sent within the statutory windows. Where priority is not perfected, the lien is junior to the first mortgage, as confirmed in the Pinewood Estates line of authority. The threshold that changes this step: legislation reworking the priority or its notice rules (HB 178 in 2023 proposed lien-enforcement changes but died).
3. For non-condominium HOAs, read the declaration first. No statutory ratification procedure, cap, or special-assessment rule exists; the recorded covenants and RSA 292 corporate authority govern. The benchmark that changes this: enactment of a comprehensive HOA statute, which does not exist and is not pending.
4. Document the emergency finding before levying an emergency special assessment. RSA 356-B:40-c, III and IV require a two-thirds board vote and a defined emergency; a record tying the assessment to structural integrity, life-safety, a court order, or an unforeseeable proceeding protects the levy from challenge.
5. Reconcile any declaration language purporting to make a buyer liable for a prior owner's assessments against the statute. The Condominium Act controls over conflicting declaration provisions, so collection strategies should not rely on declaration text that exceeds RSA 356-B:46.

Caveats

• The lien framework departs from a flat "no priority" description. The verified current text of RSA 356-B:46, I(c) (source line: 2010, 142:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2011) and the New Hampshire Supreme Court's opinion in New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority v. Pinewood Estates Condominium Association (Sept. 20, 2016, modified Nov. 10, 2016) both confirm a narrow, conditional six-month priority over a first mortgage for residential units' regular monthly assessments. This page reports that priority because it is established in primary law; readers should not treat the New Hampshire lien as categorically junior in all cases.
• The official statute text was confirmed through New Hampshire General Court (gc.nh.gov) section pages and the Community Associations Institute reproduction of RSA 356-B:46; gc.nh.gov blocks automated retrieval, so quotations were cross-checked against multiple mirrors of the same official text.
• The homestead exemption dollar figures in HB 617 (Chapter 282) appeared inconsistently across secondary trackers (figures cited ranged from $350,000/$500,000 to $1,000,000); this page does not state a specific exemption amount because the conflict could not be resolved against the enrolled text, and the amount does not affect the assessment-lien exception in RSA 480:4, V, which is the operative point.
• No New Hampshire Supreme Court opinion decided 2023 through June 2026 squarely interprets the RSA 356-B:46 assessment lien or RSA 356-B:40-c budget ratification; Spinnaker Cove (2023) is the most directly relevant recent decision and addresses assessment use and association authority rather than the lien or the ratification threshold.

1. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 356-B:40-c, Adoption of Budgets and Special Assessments (2016, 311:2, eff. Aug. 1, 2016; 2018, 186:1) ↩
2. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. ch. 356-B, Condominium Act (Title XXXI) (enacted 1977, 468:1) ↩
3. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b), Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (20% regular / 5% special assessment limits) ↩
4. 2016 N.H. Laws ch. 311 (HB 353), governance reforms eff. Aug. 1, 2016, codified at N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 356-B:40-c and related sections ↩
5. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 356-B:45, Liabilities for Common Expenses ↩
6. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 356-B:17, Allocation of Interests in the Common Areas (1977, 468:1; 1989, 149:1) ↩
7. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. ch. 292, Voluntary Corporations and Associations; id. § 292:8-m, Homeowners' Associations (2023, 114:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2024) ↩
8. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 356-B:46, Lien for Assessments ¶¶ I, VIII, IX, X (1977, 468:1; 1994, 163:1; 2010, 142:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2011) ↩
9. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 356-B:46, I(c)–(e), conditional six-month priority for residential common assessments over first mortgage (eff. Jan. 1, 2011); see also N.H. Hous. Fin. Auth. v. Pinewood Estates Condo. Ass'n, No. 2015-0514 (N.H. Sept. 20, 2016, modified Nov. 10, 2016) ↩
10. 2025 N.H. Laws ch. 282 (HB 617), An Act Relative to the Homestead Right, signed Aug. 1, 2025, eff. Jan. 1, 2026, amending N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 480:4, V ↩
11. AZNH Revocable Trust & a. v. Spinnaker Cove Yacht Club Ass'n, Inc., No. 2021-0385 (N.H. Aug. 3, 2023) ↩
12. H.B. 383, 2025 N.H. Reg. Sess., An Act Relative to the Authority of Condominium Boards and Unit Owners to Create and Amend Condominium Instruments (Inexpedient to Legislate, Mar. 6, 2025) ↩
13. H.B. 1523, 2026 N.H. Reg. Sess., An Act Relative to Disclosure Requirements for Condominium Associations, amending N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 292:8-m ↩