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HB65 • 2026

directing landlords to offer tenants the option of reporting rental payments to consumer reporting agencies.

directing landlords to offer tenants the option of reporting rental payments to consumer reporting agencies.

Elections Housing
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Loren Selig (D), Efstathia Booras (D), Jennifer Mandelbaum (D), Allan Howland (D), Christal Lloyd (D), Rebecca Perkins Kwoka (D), Alissandra Murray (D)
Last action
2026-01-07
Official status
HOUSE
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how the bill will affect tenants' credit scores and rental history reporting.

Landlord Tenant Rental Payment Reporting Act

This bill requires landlords to offer tenants the option of reporting their rental payments to consumer reporting agencies.

What This Bill Does

  • Requires landlords to offer tenants the choice of having their rent payment information reported to a nationwide or other consumer reporting agency.
  • Specifies that this offer must be made at lease signing and annually thereafter.
  • Provides details on how the tenant can opt in or out of rent reporting, including instructions for submitting written elections.
  • Limits fees charged by landlords for rent reporting services to $10 per month or actual costs, whichever is lower.
  • Sets conditions under which a landlord may stop reporting if a fee remains unpaid for 30 days.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Landlords who own more than 14 dwelling units
  • Tenants renting from landlords covered by the bill

Terms To Know

Consumer Reporting Agency
A company that collects and provides information about individuals' credit history, rental payment history, etc.
Nationwide Consumer Reporting Agency
A consumer reporting agency that operates on a national scale

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not apply to landlords who own 14 or fewer dwelling units unless they are certain types of entities like real estate investment trusts, corporations, or LLCs with corporate members.

Bill History

  1. 2026-01-07 H

    Refer for Interim Study: MA VV 01/07/2026 HJ 1 P. 73

  2. 2025-11-12 H

    Executive Session: 09/23/2025 10:00 am GP 231

  3. 2025-11-12 H

    Committee Report: Refer for Interim Study 09/23/2025 (Vote 16-0; CC) HC 51 P. 12

  4. 2025-08-28 H

    Full Committee Work Session: 09/23/2025 10:00 am GP 231

  5. 2025-01-31 H

    Retained in Committee

  6. 2025-01-09 H

    Public Hearing: 01/21/2025 11:30 am LOB 210-211

  7. 2024-12-23 H

    Introduced 01/08/2025 and referred to Housing HJ 2 P. 4

Official Summary Text

directing landlords to offer tenants the option of reporting rental payments to consumer reporting agencies.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HB 65 - AS INTRODUCED

2025 SESSION
25-0045
06/05

HOUSE BILL
65

AN ACT
directing landlords to offer tenants the option of reporting rental payments to consumer reporting agencies.

SPONSORS: Rep. Selig, Straf. 10; Rep. Howland, Straf. 20; Rep. A. Murray, Hills. 20; Rep. Booras, Hills. 8; Rep. Lloyd, Hills. 8; Rep. Mandelbaum, Rock. 21; Sen. Perkins Kwoka, Dist 21

COMMITTEE: Housing

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ANALYSIS

This bill provides tenants an option to have rental payments to their landlords reported to nationwide consumer reporting agencies.

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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.
25-0045
06/05

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Five

AN ACT
directing landlords to offer tenants the option of reporting rental payments to consumer reporting agencies.
f
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 New Section; Election to Have Rental Payments Reported to Consumer Reporting Agencies. Amend RSA 359-B by inserting after section 4-a the following new section:
359-B:4-b Election to Report Rental Payments to Consumer Reporting Agencies.
I. In this section:
(a) "Landlord” means a person and their employees, property managers, or officers or agents, who rent or leases to another person a rental unit, including space in a manufactured housing park as regulated by RSA 205-A and in manufactured housing, for other than vacation or recreational purposes.
(b) "Tenant" shall have the same meaning as RSA 540-A:5, III.
(c) "Rental unit" shall have the same meaning as RSA 540-A:5, IV.
(d) "Consumer reporting agency" shall have the same meaning as 15 U.S.C.A. Section 1681a(f).
(e) "Nationwide consumer reporting agency" shall have the same meaning as 15 U.S.C.A. Section 1681a(p).
II. Landlords shall offer their tenants the option of having the tenant’s rental payment information reported to at least one nationwide consumer reporting agency or any other consumer reporting agency so long as the consumer reporting agency resells or otherwise furnishes rental payment information to a nationwide consumer reporting agency.
III. The offer of rent reporting shall be made at the time of the lease agreement and at least once annually thereafter. For lease agreements made prior to January 1, 2026, the offer of rent reporting shall be made no later than April 1, 2026, and at least once annually thereafter.
IV. The offer of rent reporting shall include a written election of rent reporting that includes all of the following:
(a) A statement that reporting of the tenant’s rental payment information is optional.
(b) Identification of each consumer reporting agency to which rental payment information will be reported.
(c) A statement that all of the tenant’s rental payments will be reported, regardless of whether the payments are timely, late, or missed.
(d) The amount of any fee charged pursuant under this section.
(e) Instructions on how to submit the written election of rent reporting to the landlord by mail.
(f) A statement that the tenant may opt into rent reporting at any time following the initial offer by the landlord.
(g) A statement that the tenant may elect to stop rent reporting at any time, but that they will not be able to resume rent reporting for at least six months from the same landlord after their election to opt out.
(h) Instructions on how to opt out of reporting rental payment information.
(i) A signature block that the tenant shall date and sign in order to accept the offer of rent reporting.
V. When the offer of rent reporting is made, the landlord shall provide the tenant with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to return the written election of rent reporting.
VI. The written election to begin rent reporting shall not be accepted from the tenant at the time of the offer. A tenant may submit their completed written election of rent reporting at any time after they receive the offer of rent reporting from the landlord. A tenant may request and shall obtain additional copies of the written election of rent reporting form from the landlord at any time.
VII. If a tenant elects to have that tenant’s rental payments reported to a consumer reporting agency under paragraph II, the landlord may require that tenant to pay a fee not to exceed the lesser of the actual cost to the landlord to provide the service or $10 per month. The payment or nonpayment of this fee by the tenant shall not be reported to a consumer reporting agency.
VIII. If a tenant fails to pay any fee required by the landlord pursuant to paragraph VII, all of the following shall apply:
(a) The failure to pay the fee shall not be cause for termination of the tenancy.
(b) The landlord shall not deduct the unpaid fee from the tenant’s security deposit.
(c) If the fee remains unpaid for 30 days or more, the landlord may stop reporting the tenant’s rental payments and the tenant shall be unable to elect rent reporting again for a period of 6 months from the date on which the fee first became due.
IX. A tenant who elects to have rent reported under this section may subsequently file a written request with their landlord to stop that reporting with which the landlord shall comply. A tenant who elects to stop reporting shall not be allowed to elect rent reporting again from the same landlord for a period of at least 6 months from the date of the tenant’s written request to stop reporting.
X. A tenant who elects to have rent reported does not forfeit any rights under New Hampshire law. If a tenant makes deductions from rent or otherwise withholds rent as authorized by those sections, the deductions or withholding of rent shall not constitute a late rental payment. A tenant invoking the right to withhold rent under RSA 540:2, VI or another provision of law shall notify their landlord of the deduction or withholding prior to the date rent is due. This section shall not be construed to relieve a housing provider of the obligation to maintain habitable premises.
XI. This section shall not apply to any landlord who owns 14 or fewer dwelling units, unless the landlord is one of the following:
(a) A real estate investment trust, as defined in 26 U.S.C.A. Section 856.
(b) A corporation.
(c) A limited liability company in which at least one member is a corporation.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2026.