Rent Control Is Effectively Barred in New Hampshire

New Hampshire sets no statewide limit on how much rent may rise and has no rent-control statute. Crucially, its municipalities possess only the powers the Legislature expressly grants them, so they cannot act simply because no law forbids it. In Girard v. Town of Allenstown, 121 N.H. 268 (1981), the New Hampshire Supreme Court considered whether Allenstown's voter-enacted "fair rental ordinance" limiting rent increases was valid. The court answered no, holding that neither the town's general police powers under RSA 31:39 nor RSA 49-B:8 conveyed authority to adopt a rent-control ordinance, because the Legislature had not delegated that power. As a result, local rent control is effectively unavailable absent new enabling legislation. There is no express preemption statute; the bar arises from the absence of any enabling statute combined with the Girard ruling. No New Hampshire municipality currently operates a rent-control program.

Because there is no statewide rent cap and no enabling statute, a New Hampshire town that enacted rent control would have its ordinance struck down as ultra vires under Girard v. Town of Allenstown. There is no state-law penalty governing the size of a rent increase.