New Hampshire Homestead Exemption: $400,000 Protection and Property Tax Relief
New Hampshire has no statewide property-tax homestead exemption open to all owners. Its homestead statute, RSA 480:1, protects $400,000 of a home’s value from creditors under the version in force since January 1, 2026. Property-tax relief comes from chapter 72 exemptions and credits for specific groups, most of which a town must vote to adopt, applied for by April 15. The state also runs a low- and moderate-income rebate under RSA 198:57.
Chapter 72 once had a subdivision headed “Homeowners’ Exemptions.” It now reads “72:44 to 72:60 Repealed by 1983, 155:10.” What remains in chapter 72 for homeowners is aimed mostly at specific groups: people 65 and older, disabled residents, blind residents, deaf or severely hearing-impaired residents, and veterans. A town may also adopt exemptions for property equipped with a solar, wind-powered or wood-heating energy system (RSA 72:62, 72:66 and 72:70). Most of it applies only in a city or town that has adopted it, by town meeting vote or by the council in a charter city. RSA 72:27-a lists 72:28, 72:28-b, 72:35, 72:37, 72:37-b, 72:38-b and 72:39-a among the provisions “Any town or city may adopt.”
RSA 480: the $400,000 creditor homestead
Chapter 2025, 282 rewrote RSA 480:1, effective January 1, 2026. The current text reads: “Every person is entitled to $400,000 worth of his or her homestead, or of his or her interest therein, as a homestead.” The right covers manufactured housing the owner occupies. It “shall not exist in the land upon which the manufactured housing is situated if that land is not also owned by the owner.” It also reaches an ownership interest in “any mobile home, housing cooperative, and condominium, so long as the property is occupied as a dwelling.”
The 2026 text adds conditions and limits:
- Twelve months of use. “In order to claim this exemption, the residence must have been continuously used as a primary residence for the previous 12 months.” Sale proceeds, and the new residence, stay protected “if reinvested within 6 months in a new primary residence.”
- Household ceiling. “homestead exemptions, totaling not more than $550,000, may be held or claimed, or $400,000 for a single person.”
- Medical debt. “the full market value of the property may be claimed as a homestead right if the debt for which attachment or levy is sought resulted from unpaid medical bills or other debts directly resulting from terminal or catastrophic injury or illness.”
- Trusts. “The beneficiary of a qualifying trust may claim the exemption” when the trust owns the property and the rest of the chapter is met. A separate, older rule (RSA 480:9, in force since 1998) says deeding the house to a revocable trust does not forfeit the right unless the deed expressly releases it. The retained right cannot be enforced against anyone, including a lender, buyer or lien creditor, who acquired an interest in or lien on the property after the transfer “without having notice of the revocability of the trust.” Notice can be given by including “revocable” in the trust’s name as recited in the deed, or by stating in the deed or a later recorded document that the trust was revocable when the property was conveyed.
RSA 480:4 opens with “The homestead right does not cancel or erase any debt.” It then lists every case where the home can still be attached, levied on or sold:
- “In the collection of taxes;”
- “In the enforcement of liens to collect on forfeited bail bonds or domestic support obligations;”
- “In the enforcement of liens of mechanics and others for debts created in the construction, repair or improvement of the homestead;”
- “In the enforcement of mortgages which are made a charge thereon according to law;”
- “In the enforcement of liens filed by homeowner associations or by condominium associations under RSA 356-B, for unpaid assessments against the homestead, including collection costs;”
- “For debts existing at the time that the homestead was purchased, unless pursuant to RSA 480:1, II; and”
- “In the levy of executions as provided in this chapter.”
Chapter 480 has no declaration to record. When a creditor levies, the officer may “set off or sell said property in accordance with the provisions of RSA 529, subject to any such homestead right” (480:7). The superior court can appoint appraisers to set the right off, on petition of the owner, the surviving spouse or a judgment creditor (480:8-a). A deed can convey or encumber the homestead right only if it is executed by the owner and the owner’s spouse, if any, with the formalities required for conveying land. The exception is “a mortgage made at the time of purchase to secure payment of the purchase money” (480:5-a). A surviving spouse keeps the right for life (480:3-a).
Chapter 72 exemptions and credits, town-adopted and statewide
Elderly exemption (RSA 72:39-a and 72:39-b)
Each town that adopts it picks its own exemption amounts for three age bands: 65 to 75, 75 to 80, and 80 and older. The statute sets floors only:
- the exemption may not be “less than $5,000”;
- the income limit cannot be set below “$13,400 for a single person or $20,400 for married persons”;
- the asset limit cannot be set below $35,000, excluding the home and up to “the greater of 2 acres or the minimum single family residential lot size.”
The applicant must have “resided in this state for at least 3 consecutive years preceding April 1.” The home must be owned by the applicant, owned jointly with a spouse either of whom meets the age test, owned jointly with a non-spouse if the applicant meets it, or owned by a spouse to whom the applicant has been married “for at least 5 consecutive years.” RSA 72:40-a bars the exemption if the applicant received the property within the past 5 years from a relative under 65.
Disabled homeowners (RSA 72:37-b)
This one is local-option too. It covers a person eligible for Social Security disability benefits under Title II or Title XVI, with the same statutory income floors ($13,400 single, $20,400 married) and a $35,000 asset floor. The applicant needs “at least 5 years” of New Hampshire residence, and the home must be the principal place of abode. Ownership must fit one of the four patterns in 72:37-b, IV.
Blind residents, veterans and accessibility improvements
- Blind (RSA 72:37). This one needs no town vote: every legally blind inhabitant “shall be exempt each year” on the assessed value of his or her residential real estate “to the value of $15,000.” A town may exempt more “to address significant increases in property values” by a vote under RSA 72:27-a.
- Veterans (RSA 72:28). A town applying 72:28 gives either the standard $50 credit or an optional credit “from $51 up to $750.” That ceiling becomes “$1,000” under the version effective April 1, 2027. Three groups qualify under 72:28, IV:
- a resident veteran with at least 90 days of active service in a qualifying war or armed conflict listed in 72:28, V, who is still serving or was honorably discharged or separated, and that veteran’s spouse or surviving spouse; training for active duty by a member of the national guard or reserve counts as service;
- a resident “terminated from the armed forces because of service-connected disability,” and that resident’s surviving spouse;
- the surviving spouse of a resident “who suffered a service-connected death.”
Where a town has adopted it, the all veterans’ credit in 72:28-b pays the same amount to any other resident veteran with at least 90 days of active service who is still serving or was “discharged of a character outlined in RSA 21:50” (or an officer who is still serving or was honorably separated), and to that veteran’s spouse or surviving spouse. Training for active duty or state active duty by a national guard or reserve member counts as service. It is available only if the person “is not eligible for and is not receiving a credit under RSA 72:28 or RSA 72:35.” For these credits, “resident” means living in New Hampshire for at least one year preceding April 1 of the year the credit is claimed (RSA 72:29, I).
- Total service-connected disability (RSA 72:35). This credit covers a person “discharged of a character outlined in RSA 21:50,” or an officer honorably separated from the military service of the United States, who has “total and permanent service-connected disability” or is “a double amputee or paraplegic because of service-connected injury,” and the surviving spouse of such a person. The applicant must furnish a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs certification of the total and permanent rating. The standard credit is “$700 of property taxes” on the principal residence. A town may adopt an optional credit “from $701 up to $5,000.” That optional credit replaces the credits under RSA 72:28, 72:28-b and 72:28-c and the 72:36-a exemption “in its entirety.”
- Specially adapted homes (RSA 72:36-a). No town vote is needed. A veteran who owns a home specially adapted through a VA Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) or Special Home Adaptation (SHA) grant, or a specially adapted home bought with the proceeds of selling such a home, is “exempt from all taxation on said homestead” if the veteran is 100 percent permanently and totally disabled, a double amputee or paraplegic as the result of service connection, or blind in both eyes with visual acuity of 5/200 or less as the result of service connection, and furnishes satisfactory proof of the service-connected disability. The exemption also covers the veteran’s surviving spouse.
- Accessibility improvements (RSA 72:37-a). No town vote is needed. An owner who lives in the home is entitled each year to have the value of improvements made to assist a resident with a disability (a person who permanently requires special aids to move about) deducted from the assessed value, in each year that person lived there on April 1.
One application, April 15
The deadline is set by state statute, not by the town. RSA 72:33 requires “a permanent application” filed “with the selectmen or assessors, by April 15 preceding the setting of the tax rate.” The application is signed under penalty of perjury on the state form. You must have been qualified “upon April 1 of the year in which the exemption or tax credit is first claimed.” A late filing is accepted only if officials are satisfied you were “prevented by accident, mistake, or misfortune.” Even then, nothing is received “after the local tax rate has been approved for that year.” There is no yearly refiling: the permanent application carries forward “so long as the applicant does not change residence.” After a move, file an amended application “on or before December 1 immediately following the change of residence.” Officials may ask for income or asset documentation once a year. If they deny the application, you can appeal “on or before September 1 following the date of notice of tax” to the Board of Tax and Land Appeals or the superior court (72:34-a).
Deferral for owners 65 and older or disabled (RSA 72:38-a)
Assessing officials “may annually grant” a deferral of all or part of the tax, “plus annual interest at 5 percent,” in cases of “undue hardship or possible loss of the property.” The owner must live in the home. An owner 65 or older must have owned it for “at least 5 consecutive years.” An owner eligible for Social Security disability benefits needs one year. The deferral is capped at 85% of equity, and if the property is mortgaged, the mortgage holder must approve it. The application is due “by March 1 following the date of notice of tax.” It is a permanent application, but a town may require an annual one; after a move, an amended application is due on or before December 1 following the change of residence. The deferred tax must be paid in full when the property is sold. If heirs do not redeem within 9 months of the owner’s death, the town can move to collect.
The state rebate: RSA 198:57
Unlike the town-adopted chapter 72 programs, this rebate does not depend on a town vote. It refunds part of the state education property tax, not local taxes. For the program, a homeowner’s household income may not exceed “$37,000 or less if a single person” or “$47,000 or less if a married person or head of a New Hampshire household.” The current limits were set by the 2021 amendment (Chapter 95, Laws of 2021). The owner must have lived in the home on April 1 of the claim year, unless on active duty in the U.S. armed forces or temporarily away while keeping the home as a primary domicile. The rebate is computed on the lesser of the homestead’s assessed value or $220,000 times the local equalization ratio, multiplied by the education tax rate. The claimant then receives 100%, 60%, 40% or 20% of that figure, depending on income. Claims go to the Department of Revenue Administration “between May 1 and June 30 following the due date of the final tax bill,” on Form DP-8 or through Granite Tax Connect. The commissioner may accept a late claim through November 1 for accident, mistake or misfortune, or when a federal return was on extension.
New Hampshire homestead FAQ
I moved into my New Hampshire house last spring. Is my equity protected today?
Not until the 12-month mark. Since January 1, 2026, RSA 480:1, II requires that the residence “must have been continuously used as a primary residence for the previous 12 months.” Proceeds from a qualifying home you sold are covered if you reinvest them in a new primary residence within 6 months.
Does the $400,000 homestead lower my tax bill?
No. RSA 480:4, I lets the home be taken “In the collection of taxes.” Tax relief comes from the chapter 72 exemptions and credits, most of which apply only where your town has adopted them, plus the state rebate in RSA 198:57.
Do I reapply for the elderly exemption every year?
No. The April 15 application under RSA 72:33 is permanent while you stay at the same address. Your town may still ask for current income and asset information once a year, and at their discretion, failing to provide it can cost you that year’s exemption.
Can a lender foreclose on a homestead?
Yes. RSA 480:4, IV excepts “mortgages which are made a charge thereon according to law.” Association liens for unpaid assessments and contractors’ liens are excepted as well.