AMM Land Sales (815) 384-6153

New Hampshire · NH

Sell your land in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire has no income tax and no sales tax, so towns fund schools and services almost entirely from property tax — and vacant land carries that load without producing anything. Current use assessment under RSA 79-A is the relief valve, and leaving it costs 10 percent of full market value.

Tax sale type
Tax lien
Redemption period
2 years
Rate on redemption
14% annual interest
Closings handled by
Attorney

Figures describe New Hampshire generally. Counties administer their own sales and their own calendars — your county treasurer is the only source for a payoff figure or a sale date you can act on.

Local detail

What actually matters about land in New Hampshire

The Land Use Change Tax is 10 percent

RSA 79-A assesses qualifying open space land at its current use value rather than market value, and RSA 79-A:7 charges a land use change tax when the land is changed to a non-qualifying use. The rate is 10 percent of the full and true value of the land subject to the change, determined without regard to current use value and without any municipal or county equalization factor. That is 10 percent of market value, not 10 percent of the tax savings, and it is in addition to the ordinary property tax. It is due when the use changes, and it falls on whoever owns the land at that moment.

No income tax means high property tax

New Hampshire funds local government without a general sales tax and without a broad-based personal income tax; the interest and dividends tax, the last state tax on individual income, has been repealed. What is left is property tax, and New Hampshire's effective rates are among the highest in the country. Towns and school districts set the rate, so it varies enormously between one town and its neighbor. For a vacant parcel this is the whole carrying cost — no rent, no crop, no depreciation deduction, just a bill every year. The state does collect a real estate transfer tax under RSA 78-B at 75 cents per $100 of consideration, owed separately by the buyer and by the seller.

Subdivision needs two approvals, local and state

A split in New Hampshire clears two desks. Local planning boards hold subdivision authority under RSA 674:35 and 674:36, applying regulations the board itself adopted, with procedure governed by RSA chapter 676. Separately, RSA 485-A:29 requires anyone proposing to subdivide land to submit the locally approved plans and the plans and specifications for any sewage disposal systems to the Department of Environmental Services for state approval. That second review is about whether the soils will actually take a septic system, and it is where rural lots fail. DES rules exempt some large-lot divisions, so ask before assuming. Neither approval is a county function.

Towns collect and towns take the deed

New Hampshire property tax is billed and collected by the town or city tax collector, not by the county. Counties keep the registry of deeds; they do not chase your arrears. When taxes stay unpaid, the municipality executes a tax lien against the property under RSA chapter 80, and if the lien is not redeemed the collector executes a tax deed to the municipality under RSA 80:76. No court judgment is required. After the deed, RSA 80:89 gives the former owner a defined chance to repurchase before the municipality resells, and RSA 80:88 governs how proceeds above what was owed are handled. Small unpaid balances have taken whole parcels here.

Questions

Selling land in New Hampshire

My land is in Current Use. What happens when I sell?

A sale by itself does not trigger the land use change tax. RSA 79-A:7 taxes a change to a non-qualifying use, not a change of owner, so classification follows the land and the new owner inherits it. What triggers the tax is development — building, or otherwise putting the land to a use that no longer qualifies. The bill is 10 percent of the full and true market value of the land subject to the change, and it falls on whoever owns the parcel when the use changes, not on whoever put it in Current Use.

Do I have to give a disclosure form for vacant New Hampshire land?

Possibly, and New Hampshire is unusual here. RSA 477:4-d requires notification before the execution of a contract for the purchase and sale of any interest in real property to be used or proposed to be used as a one-to-four-family dwelling. It is keyed to intended use rather than to an existing house, so a residential building lot can fall inside it even with nothing built. The required items are water supply, sewage disposal, insulation and whether the property sits in a federally designated flood hazard zone. Ask your closing attorney.

Can I split my New Hampshire acreage into lots?

Only with planning board approval, and usually state approval too. RSA 674:35 gives the local planning board authority over subdivision, and the board applies its own written regulations, so the answer differs town to town. On top of that, RSA 485-A:29 requires plans for the subdivision and for any sewage disposal systems to go to the Department of Environmental Services, which reviews whether the soils can support septic. A parcel with wet or ledgy soil can pass the town and fail the state. Start with the town office, then DES.

Sources for the figures above

These are secondary references, accurate enough to orient you and not a substitute for the statute or your county. Tax procedure changes; nothing here is legal advice.

Get an offer

Tell us about your New Hampshire parcel

The state is filled in already. County and parcel number is enough to start, and AMM Land Sales replies within one business day.

No listing agreement and no obligation. We reply within one business day.