New Hampshire Security Deposit Demand Letter — Force Your Landlord to Pay Up

New Hampshire landlords must return the deposit plus any interest due within 30 days of termination (RSA 540-A:7).

Miss that obligation and the law has teeth: Double damages. Violations of the handling and return rules can draw an order to pay double damages — roughly twice the deposit plus interest, with legitimate deductions still credited (RSA 540-A:8).

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Your Rights Under N.H. RSA 540-A:7, 540-A:8

New Hampshire's deposit law is specific. The rights worth knowing before you write:

• The deadline: 30 days. New Hampshire landlords must return the deposit plus any interest due within 30 days of termination (RSA 540-A:7).
• The penalty: Double damages. Violations of the handling and return rules can draw an order to pay double damages — roughly twice the deposit plus interest, with legitimate deductions still credited (RSA 540-A:8).
• Itemization is mandatory. A written itemized list stating each repair with particularity, plus satisfactory evidence the repairs have been or will be completed — receipts, labor estimates, bills, or invoices. The evidence requirement is New Hampshire's distinctive feature: bare assertions don't cut it.
• Worth knowing. Deposit cap: one month's rent or $100, whichever is greater. Deposits sit in an interest-bearing New Hampshire account whose bank must be disclosed within 30 days of receipt.

What Your Landlord Can — and Can't — Keep

Legitimate deductions

• Unpaid rent you actually owe
• Cleaning needed to return the unit to its condition at move-in (minus ordinary wear)
• Repair of damage beyond normal wear and tear — holes in walls, broken fixtures, pet damage

NOT legitimate deductions

• Normal wear and tear — faded paint, minor scuffs, small nail holes, worn carpet from ordinary use
• Repainting or re-carpeting due simply to age
• Pre-existing damage that was there when you moved in
• Charges with no itemization or receipts where N.H. RSA 540-A:7, 540-A:8 requires them

How to Write a New Hampshire Security Deposit Demand Letter

An effective letter does four things: states the facts, cites N.H. RSA 540-A:7, 540-A:8 by name, makes a specific dollar demand with a firm deadline, and spells out the consequences if the landlord doesn't comply. Demand the receipts. New Hampshire requires documentary proof behind every deduction, so a letter that asks for the § 540-A:7 evidence puts an undocumented landlord in an impossible spot. Delays are excused if you gave no forwarding address — the letter supplies it. Here's how the opening of a strong one reads:

If the Letter Doesn't Work: New Hampshire Small Claims

Small claims court

Most deposit cases that get this far are filed in small claims court in the county where the rental sits — no attorney required. Bring the lease, move-in/move-out photos, your dated demand letter, and proof of delivery. The demand letter matters in court: it shows the judge you gave the landlord every chance to comply with N.H. RSA 540-A:7, 540-A:8, and it anchors the penalty math — double damages.

Your county's tenant resources

Many New Hampshire counties run free tenant help lines, legal-aid clinics, or court self-help centers that will review a deposit case at no charge. Search your county name plus “tenant legal aid” — and bring the same paper trail.

Already hearing from a collection agency?

Landlords hand move-out balances to a small set of specialist collectors. If the letter is from National Credit Systems, Hunter Warfield, IQ Data International, or Source RM, we have a company-specific response guide for each — and the demand letter on this page still applies, because a landlord who missed the statutory deadline may owe you money regardless of who is calling. Any other collector: see the collection agency index and your state’s rules in the debt statute of limitations guide.