How to Get Your Security Deposit Back in New Hampshire
If your landlord did not return your New Hampshire security deposit, start with the timeline, interest, and deduction proof.
New Hampshire generally requires the landlord to return the deposit and any interest due within 30 days after the tenancy terminates.
If that did not happen, get your records in order, send a clear written demand, and escalate only if needed. New Hampshire gives renters leverage when the landlord misses the 30-day rule, gives no itemization, provides vague repair claims, skips repair evidence, charges reasonable wear, or omits interest that is due.
First: Check the Deadline
Confirm:
- when the tenancy terminated
- when you delivered possession
- whether 30 days have passed
- whether the landlord returned any deposit money or interest due
- whether you received a written itemized statement if deductions were taken
- whether damage deductions include repair detail and satisfactory repair evidence
- whether the rental is covered by the special deposit protections
See the full rule: New Hampshire Security Deposit Deadline
What It Means If They Missed the Deadline
If the landlord fails to comply with New Hampshire's deposit rule, you could win twice the deposit amount plus applicable interest, less lawful charges, along with attorney's fees and costs. That is leverage.
That makes a clean record especially important: the termination date, possession delivery, coverage, itemization, repair evidence, lawful charges, reasonable wear and tear, interest, and amount still owed.
Step-by-Step: What To Do
1. Get your documentation together
- lease
- deposit amount
- termination and possession-delivery proof
- coverage facts, such as rental type and owner-occupied or single-family issues if relevant
- move-in and move-out photos
- any written itemized statement
- repair evidence provided by the landlord
- refund and interest records
- messages and mailing records
2. Look at any deductions
If the landlord sent deductions:
- check if they were itemized in writing
- check whether the charges fit New Hampshire's allowed categories
- watch for reasonable wear and tear
- look for repair evidence if damages are claimed
Review here: What Can a Landlord Deduct in NH?
3. Send a demand letter
A clear demand letter:
- identifies the missed deadline
- asks for the refund balance and any interest due
- asks for a compliant itemized statement and evidence if deductions are claimed
- identifies repair-evidence gaps and reasonable-wear charges
- keeps the tone professional
- creates a written record before escalation
Use this: Security Deposit Demand Letter
You can work through the steps yourself. This puts the New Hampshire deadline, interest issue, itemization problem, repair-evidence gap, deduction challenge, and follow-up sequence in one place.
4. Escalate if needed
If there is still no response, you can consider small claims or another appropriate route.
TL;DR
If your New Hampshire security deposit was not returned after the 30-day deadline:
- confirm the termination date
- confirm possession delivery
- gather your documentation
- review any deductions, interest, itemization, and repair evidence
- send a clear demand letter
- escalate only if needed
One letter alone is not always enough. The value is the sequence: prevention, deadline notice, entitlement follow-up, and final demand.