Committee hears testimony on raising condominium-exemption threshold from 10 to 50 units

Senate Bill 415 would raise the threshold in New Hampshire's condominium statute that exempts small condominium projects from attorney general review, increasing the exemption from 10 units to 50. Proponents said the change would make it easier for small developers to build for-sale condo projects and help address the state's housing shortage. "This legislation revitalizes condo construction in New Hampshire by reducing the barriers which prevent the construction of small condominium complexes," Jennifer Gallagher told the committee.

Housing advocates and developers testified that the current AG review process was created decades ago and can add months and substantial transaction costs. Nick Taylor of Housing Action New Hampshire said delays of "up to 6 plus months" had been reported and that developers sometimes trimmed projects to 10 units to avoid the review.

The attorney general's consumer protection chief warned the committee that raising the exemption to 50 would largely eliminate attorney general review: his office's two-year snapshot showed 79 certificates of approval for 2,127 units would have been exempted, leaving only nine certificates and 50 units subject to review under the proposed threshold. He and industry witnesses urged a narrower change — for example raising the exemption to 20 — or targeted amendments to lighten specific burdens rather than a near-repeal of review.

Builders and community-association attorneys described risks that insufficient oversight can leave buyers with unrealistic budgets, missing infrastructure or contractual "poison pills" in condominium documents. Several testifiers recommended refining the bill's language so it clearly lists which condominium-act provisions would be exempted.

The committee closed the hearing after receiving written testimony and multiple stakeholder statements; no committee-level vote was recorded during this session.