New Hampshire Increases Homestead Exemption Amount
By Margaret Wright, J.D.
The New Hampshire Legislature has enacted House Bill 147 amending RSA 480:1 and RSA 529:20 to reflect an increase in the homestead exemption amount for every person from $100,000 to $120,000. This amendment is effective as of January 1, 2016.
A homestead is a dwelling owned and used as the principal place of residence by the person claiming the homestead. Under the amendment to RSA 480:1 every person is “entitled to $120,000 worth of his or her homestead, or of his or her interest therein, as a homestead.”
The homestead right also exists in manufactured housing which is owned and occupied as a dwelling by the same person, however does not also extend to the land if the land is not owned by the same person. For the purposes of this section manufactured housing is defined as “any structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is 8 body feet or more in width and 40 body feet or more in length, or when erected on site, is 320 square feet or more, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to required utilities, which include plumbing, heating and electrical heating systems contained therein.”
The homestead right is exempt from attachment from levy or sale on execution, and from liability to be encumbered or taken for the payment of debts, except as outlined in RSA 480:4:
- Collection of Taxes
- Enforcement of mechanics liens or others created as a result of construction, repair or improvement of the homestead
- Enforcement of mortgages which are made a charge thereon according to law
- In the levy of executions as provided in RSA 480
The Notice of Homestead Exemption required by RSA 529:20-a to be provided to any person who resides or appears to reside on real estate that is to be sold as the result of having been taken by execution has been revised to reflect the increased homestead exemption amount. The portion of the notice that has been updated appears below:
NOTICE
IF YOU OR YOUR SPOUSE OWNS AND RESIDES IN THIS PROPERTY, YOU AND/OR YOUR SPOUSE MAY BE ENTITLED TO A HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION PURSUANT TO RSA 480:1. THIS EXEMPTS $120,000 FOR A SINGLE PERSON AND $240,000 FOR A MARRIED COUPLE.
View the amendment in its entirety at the below link: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2015/HB0147.html
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Margaret Wright, JD, is regulatory compliance director with CLA. She is a graduate of Stonehill College and earned her juris doctor at Suffolk University Law School. She is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.
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