Bill Text - SB519 (2024)

Relative to evictions based on the owner's intent to renovate the property.


Revision: Nov. 19, 2023, 1:26 p.m.

 

2024 SESSION

24-3123.0

12/10

 

SENATE BILL [bill number]

 

AN ACT relative to evictions based on the owner's intent to renovate the property.

 

SPONSORS: [sponsors]

 

COMMITTEE: [committee]

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill adds evidentiary requirements to evictions based upon renovation and permits a discretionary stay of eviction for up to 6 months.

 

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

24-3123.0

12/10

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four

 

AN ACT relative to evictions based on the owner's intent to renovate the property.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  New Section; Evictions Based on Owners Intent to Renovate the Property.  Amend RSA 540 by inserting after section 2 the following new section:

540:2-a  Evictions Based on the Owner's Intent to Renovate.

I. Except in cases brought pursuant to RSA 540:2, II (f), whenever an eviction notice is based on the owner's intention to repair, renovate, or rehabilitate a dwelling unit in restricted property, the eviction notice shall:

(a) Provide the tenant with no less than 60 days notice to vacate the premise; and

(b)  Describe with specificity the work that the owner intends to have done on the dwelling unit, and the approximate time frame during which the work will be performed.

II. To prevail at the hearing on the merits of the possessory action, the owner shall establish that:

(a)  The work cannot be safely performed while the unit is occupied;

(b)  The work on the unit is expected to take more than 30 days; and

(c)  The tenant has been offered a dwelling unit with the same number of bedrooms as are in the unit from which he or she is being evicted, at a rent that does not exceed the tenant's current rent. This provision shall not apply if no such unit is available.

2  New Paragraph; Eviction; Discretionary Stay.  Amend RSA 540:13-c by inserting after paragraph I the following new paragraph:

I-a.  Notwithstanding paragraph I, in cases based on the landlord's intention to repair, renovate, or rehabilitate the premises, or the landlord's intention to remove the dwelling from the residential rental market, the court shall have the authority to grant a discretionary stay of up to 6 months.

3  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect upon its passage.