New Hampshire HOA Pet Restrictions

New Hampshire pet restrictions at a glance

Section 1: Overview — How pet restrictions work in New Hampshire

New Hampshire has no statute regulating pets in homeowners associations or condominiums. Pet restrictions come from the recorded declaration or CC&Rs and the rules an association adopts, and the main legal limit on them is fair housing law's assistance-animal reasonable-accommodation requirement.⁵

The source of rule-making authority splits by community type. Condominiums operate under the New Hampshire Condominium Act, RSA 356-B, where pet rules appear in the declaration and bylaws.¹ Planned-community HOAs have no comprehensive statute; the recorded CC&Rs serve as the primary source, backed for corporate formalities by the Voluntary Corporations and Associations Act, RSA 292.² New Hampshire has no comprehensive planned-community code and no dedicated HOA regulator.⁴

New Hampshire has enacted no statutory right to keep a pet, in contrast to California, where Civil Code § 4715 provides that "[n]o governing documents shall prohibit the owner of a separate interest within a common interest development from keeping at least one pet within the common interest development, subject to reasonable rules and regulations of the association."¹⁴ New Hampshire has also not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Pet-keeping is governed by the declaration or CC&Rs, constrained by fair housing law.

The fair housing overlay is the operative constraint. The federal Fair Housing Act and the New Hampshire Law Against Discrimination, RSA 354-A, both require reasonable accommodations for assistance animals, enforced by the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights and HUD.⁶

Nationally, New Hampshire sits with the lightly regulated, CC&R-primary states: a condominium statute, CC&R-based planned communities, no manager licensing, and a court structure with no intermediate appellate court, where the federal assistance-animal requirement is the main floor.¹³ What follows sets out the legal framework, the operational rules, and recent activity.

Section 2: The legal framework for pet restrictions

2A. The source of pet-restriction authority

Pet restrictions in New Hampshire carry no statutory basis. The recorded declaration or CC&Rs impose them, along with rules the board adopts under those documents. No New Hampshire statute creates, caps, or standardizes HOA or condominium pet rules.²

The rule-making structure differs by community type. For condominiums, the Condominium Act, RSA 356-B, supplies the framework: bylaws must provide for self-government by the unit owners' association, and the board exercises the powers the declaration and bylaws grant, which is where a pet rule sits.³ For planned-community HOAs, there is no comprehensive statute. The recorded CC&Rs are the substantive source of any pet restriction, and the Voluntary Corporations and Associations Act, RSA 292, supplies corporate formalities, since most associations are organized as nonprofit corporations.² A narrow 2024 provision, RSA 292:8-m, adds voting and dissolution guardrails for HOAs but does not address pets.⁴

Several points follow. New Hampshire is not a UCIOA state; it has a condominium statute plus CC&R-primary planned communities. The Condominium Act does not reach planned communities.¹⁵ New Hampshire has no dedicated HOA regulator and no community-association-manager licensing requirement.⁴ And New Hampshire has no statutory pet-keeping right.

For any pet question, the order of precedence runs: federal and state fair housing law, mandatory, first; then the declaration or CC&Rs; then the bylaws; then board rules. The rule that actually governs a given community is the declaration or CC&Rs, read against the fair housing floor — not a statute.

2B. Federal fair housing constraints: assistance animals

The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., bars disability discrimination in housing and requires reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, and services whenever necessary to give a person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, under 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B).⁵ Homeowners associations and condominium associations are covered.

Permitting an assistance animal despite a no-pet policy or a pet restriction counts as a reasonable accommodation. Assistance animals are not pets, so no-pet bans, breed limits, size and weight limits, number limits, and pet fees and deposits simply do not reach them.⁷

The FHA category "assistance animal" runs broader than the ADA category "service animal." It includes animals that do work or perform tasks and animals that provide disability-related emotional support, with no training requirement for a support animal.⁷ This is the point most often gotten wrong: the ADA's narrow definition — a dog, or in some cases a miniature horse, individually trained to perform tasks — does not control a residential accommodation request.

HUD issued guidance on January 28, 2020, FHEO-2020-01, describing best practices for assessing assistance-animal requests.¹⁶ HUD withdrew that notice effective September 17, 2025 as part of a deregulatory review, and the withdrawal was finalized in a Federal Register notice on April 6, 2026.¹⁷ The withdrawal removed a sub-regulatory best-practices document; it did not change the Fair Housing Act itself or the reasonable-accommodation regulation at 24 C.F.R. § 100.204, both of which remain in force. The substantive analysis that follows continues to reflect the statute and regulation.

For a disability or disability-related need that is not obvious, an association may request reliable documentation.⁸ It may not require registration, certification, or licensing of the animal, a specific breed, professional training for a support animal, detailed medical records, or any pet deposit, pet fee, or additional insurance for the assistance animal.⁹ Online "ESA registration" products carry no legal requirement and do not by themselves establish a disability or need.

An association may deny a specific assistance animal only on an individualized finding that it would impose an undue financial and administrative burden, fundamentally alter operations, or that the specific animal poses a direct threat or would cause substantial physical damage no other accommodation could reduce.¹⁸ Denial cannot rest on breed, size, or generalized fear. The owner remains responsible for the animal's conduct and any damage it causes.

The ADA generally governs public accommodations and government programs, not an association's internal residential operations, and it does not displace the FHA's broader protections for residents. The ADA may reach association facilities open to the public, such as a clubhouse rented to non-residents.

2C. New Hampshire law overlay

The New Hampshire Law Against Discrimination, RSA 354-A, bars housing discrimination based on physical or mental disability under RSA 354-A:8 and makes it unlawful to refuse reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when necessary to give a person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, under RSA 354-A:11.⁶ It backs the same assistance-animal analysis as the FHA. The New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights administers complaints, with a 180-day filing window, alongside HUD.¹⁹

New Hampshire has a public-accommodations service-animal statute, RSA 167-D, Service Animals and Search and Rescue Dogs, defining a service animal as a dog individually trained to do work or perform tasks under RSA 167-D:1 and permitting service animals in housing accommodations under RSA 167-D:4.²⁰ It also has a misrepresentation statute: RSA 167-D:8 makes it a misdemeanor to misrepresent an animal as a service animal.¹¹ These provisions govern public-accommodations access and service-animal fraud; they do not displace the FHA and RSA 354-A reasonable-accommodation standard, which is broader and covers support animals with no training requirement. New Hampshire has no separate assistance-animal-in-housing documentation statute that operates above the FHA floor — the documentation practice is governed by the FHA and RSA 354-A framework and Commission guidance.⁸

New Hampshire regulates dogs by statute under RSA 466. Owner liability is strict: RSA 466:19 makes an owner or keeper liable for damage a dog causes, without proof the owner knew the dog was dangerous.²¹ The New Hampshire Supreme Court confirmed the breadth of that liability in Bohan v. Ritzo, 141 N.H. 210 (1996), holding that "[n]othing in the plain language of RSA 466:19 limits its application to situations where there is an actual bite or other direct physical contact" and upholding recovery where the plaintiff fell from his bicycle while fleeing a dog.²² Behavior-based control runs through RSA 466:31, dogs that are a menace, a nuisance, or vicious, with penalties at RSA 466:31-a.¹² New Hampshire has no statewide breed-specific statute and, unlike states with breed-neutrality preemption laws, has not barred municipalities from enacting breed-specific ordinances; regulation is generally behavior-based, but local breed ordinances are not preempted.¹⁰ Municipal dog regulation is analyzed separately from a private CC&R breed limit, which is a matter of contract subject to the assistance-animal override.

On court structure: a litigated pet-restriction matter that is appealed proceeds from the Superior Court directly to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. New Hampshire has no intermediate appellate court.¹³

Section 3: Operational rules and compliance obligations

A. Enforceable pet restrictions (what holds up)

When properly adopted in the declaration or CC&Rs, restrictions on the number, size, weight, and type of pets, and leash and waste rules in common areas, generally hold up as covenants or valid board rules — RSA 356-B for condominiums, the CC&Rs for planned communities.³ Each is bounded by reasonableness and by consistent, non-arbitrary enforcement. Every such restriction yields to the assistance-animal accommodation requirement under the FHA and RSA 354-A.⁷

B. Handling an assistance-animal request

The association should treat a request as an interactive process and respond promptly and in good faith. Where the disability or disability-related need is not obvious, it may request reliable documentation of the disability and the need for the animal, under the FHA and RSA 354-A.⁸ It may not demand certification, registration, an ID card, a specific breed, or proof of training for a support animal, and it may not require detailed medical records.⁹ A denial is defensible only on an individualized direct-threat or substantial-damage finding, or a genuine undue-burden or fundamental-alteration finding, that no other accommodation could resolve.¹⁸ It is not defensible when based on breed, size, or generalized fear.

C. Pet fees, deposits, and insurance

For ordinary pets, an association may charge a pet fee or deposit if the declaration or CC&Rs authorize it. For an assistance animal, the association may not charge any pet deposit, pet fee, or extra insurance premium, under the FHA and RSA 354-A.⁹ The owner remains liable for actual damage the animal causes beyond normal wear.

D. Enforcement and disclosure

Pet violations are enforced by the board through the remedies in the governing documents: for condominiums, non-compliance with the instruments is grounds for an action for damages or injunctive relief under RSA 356-B:15, plus the bylaws; for planned communities, enforcement flows from the CC&Rs.²³ An appealed matter proceeds from the Superior Court directly to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.¹³ On disclosure, condominium declarants must furnish material information to buyers under RSA 356-B, and pet restrictions in the recorded declaration or CC&Rs bind buyers as recorded covenants; New Hampshire has no separate statute mandating a standalone pet-rule disclosure to resale buyers of planned-community homes.²⁴

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

New Hampshire has low HOA-specific legislative activity, and pet-specific activity is sparse. No New Hampshire bill in the past 24 months created, amended, or repealed an HOA or condominium pet rule, an assistance-animal housing provision, or the service-animal misrepresentation statute. The one dog-law change in the window appears below. No qualifying New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling on pet restrictions or assistance-animal accommodation turned up in the past 36 months. In the absence of state activity, the federal Fair Housing Act assistance-animal framework controls.

A. Recent bills

B. Recent rulings

No New Hampshire Supreme Court decision between roughly July 2023 and July 2026 addresses condominium or HOA pet restrictions, assistance-animal accommodation, or enforcement of a no-pets covenant. Practitioners should note that assistance-animal disputes in New Hampshire are more often resolved administratively before the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights or in federal court under the FHA than through published state appellate opinions.

C. Active legislative debates

HB 1523, 2026, "relative to disclosure requirements for condominium associations," would add records-retention, member-access, and open-meeting requirements to RSA 292:8-m for HOAs, administered by the Department of Justice Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau; it was introduced in 2026, referred to committee, and does not address pets.²⁷ No pending New Hampshire bill targets HOA pet rules or assistance animals.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Among the states, a small group grants a statutory right to keep a pet, and California's Civil Code § 4715 is the clearest example.¹⁴ New Hampshire belongs to the large majority where pet authority is declaration- or CC&R-based, with no pet statute. Every state shares the same federal floor: the Fair Housing Act's assistance-animal reasonable-accommodation requirement. For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is that in New Hampshire, the binding rules for planned communities come from the CC&Rs and the federal assistance-animal analysis, not a state HOA code, and the state does not license managers or run a mandatory administrative dispute-resolution program. New Hampshire's distinctive features are a condominium statute paired with CC&R-primary planned communities, the absence of a statewide breed-neutrality preemption law, and a court structure with no intermediate appellate court.

HOA Weekly's New Hampshire Pet Restrictions coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the New Hampshire Supreme Court act. The federal Fair Housing Act's assistance-animal framework applies to New Hampshire associations regardless of the state framework.

1. New Hampshire Condominium Act, RSA 356-B (New Hampshire General Court) ↩
2. New Hampshire HOA Laws (Homeowners Protection Bureau): condominiums under RSA 356-B; nonprofit HOAs governed by RSA 292 and recorded covenants ↩
3. RSA 356-B:35, Contents of the Bylaws (New Hampshire General Court, chapter table of contents) ↩
4. RSA 292:8-m, Homeowners' Associations (New Hampshire General Court) ↩
5. Fair Housing Act reasonable-accommodation requirement, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) (U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division) ↩
6. RSA 354-A:11, Disability (New Hampshire General Court): duty to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services ↩
7. New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights: Service & Emotional Support Animals (assistance animals are not pets; breed/size limits and pet deposits do not apply) ↩
8. Disability Rights Center – NH: Know Your Housing Rights: Assistance Animals (documentation from a medical professional may be requested; no proof of training or certification required) ↩
9. New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights: no additional deposit may be required even where pet deposits are normally required; no certification or proof of training required ↩
10. Connecticut General Assembly, "States That Prohibit Breed Specific Ordinances" (AVMA list of 13 preemption states does not include New Hampshire) ↩
11. RSA 167-D:8, Prohibited Acts (misrepresentation of a service animal), New Hampshire Revised Statutes ↩
12. RSA 466:31, Dogs a Menace, a Nuisance or Vicious (New Hampshire General Court) ↩
13. New Hampshire Judicial Branch, Appeal Process: appeals from the Superior and Circuit Courts go directly to the New Hampshire Supreme Court (no intermediate appellate court) ↩
14. California Civil Code § 4715 (California Legislative Information) ↩
15. Community Associations Institute, New Hampshire Legislative Resources: "Condominium Act (Does not apply to HOAs), Chapter 356B" ↩
16. HUD Fact Sheet on the Assistance Animals Notice (FHEO-2020-01), January 28, 2020 ↩
17. National Apartment Association: "On April 6, 2026, HUD finalized its withdrawal" of FHEO guidance documents, including FHEO-2020-01, effective September 17, 2025 ↩
18. HUD FHEO-2020-01 (full text): a provider may refuse an accommodation if the specific animal poses a direct threat that cannot be reduced to an acceptable level ↩
19. RSA 354-A:21, III: complaint must be filed with the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights within 180 days of the discriminatory act ↩
20. RSA 167-D:1 (definition of service animal) and RSA 167-D:4 (housing accommodations), Animal Legal & Historical Center compilation ↩
21. RSA 466:19, Liability of Owner or Keeper (New Hampshire General Court) ↩
22. Bohan v. Ritzo, 141 N.H. 210 (1996), applying RSA 466:19 strict liability where no bite or direct contact occurred ↩
23. RSA 356-B:15, Compliance With Condominium Instruments (action for damages or injunctive relief by the unit owners' association) ↩
24. New Hampshire Department of Justice, Condominium and Subdivision Registration: declarant must present all material facts to buyers under RSA 356-B ↩
25. RSA 466:31-a, Penalties (2025 amendment; source note "2025, 203:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2026"), New Hampshire Revised Statutes ↩
26. New Hampshire HB 670 (2025): "Signed by Governor Ayotte 07/15/2025; Chapter 203; eff. 01/01/2026" (LegiScan) ↩
27. New Hampshire HB 1523 (2026), relative to disclosure requirements for condominium associations, amending RSA 292:8-m (LegiScan) ↩