New Hampshire’s home-buying process covers the same ground as most states — offer, inspection, financing, title, closing — but a few pieces are handled differently here. An attorney is customarily part of the closing rather than optional, the transfer tax hits both sides of the transaction, and the one thing state law specifically makes a seller disclose is the well and the septic system. This walks through where New Hampshire’s process diverges from the generic version.
New Hampshire closings are customarily run by an attorney
New Hampshire is one of the smaller group of states — alongside its New England neighbors Massachusetts and Connecticut — where a real estate attorney is a standard, expected part of a residential closing rather than an optional add-on. An attorney typically prepares or reviews the deed, handles the title search and opinion, and conducts or closely supervises the closing itself. Title insurance can only be sold in New Hampshire by an agent specifically licensed for that purpose by the state Insurance Department, which in practice is often the closing attorney’s office. Buyers generally have the right to choose their own closing attorney rather than simply using whoever the lender proposes — worth asking about explicitly if it isn’t offered.
Recording runs through the Registry of Deeds, valuation through the town
New Hampshire assesses property at the municipal level — there’s no county assessor, since towns and cities each run their own assessing function. Deeds, however, are recorded at the county level, through the Registry of Deeds. Your attorney or lender will have a title search run against that registry before closing to confirm the seller’s ownership is free of undisclosed liens or competing claims. RefPages’ County Records directory links to the Registry of Deeds covering your specific county.
The transfer tax — charged to both buyer and seller
New Hampshire’s Real Estate Transfer Tax, under RSA 78-B:1, is unusual in that it’s imposed on both parties to the sale, not just one: $.75 per $100 of the price is charged to the buyer, and a separate $.75 per $100 is charged to the seller — a combined 1.5% of the sale price split between the two sides. There’s a $20 minimum tax on transfers of $4,000 or less. This is one of the more direct, statutorily-set closing costs in the New Hampshire process, and unlike some states’ customary allocations, it isn’t really up for negotiation — it’s set by statute on both parties by default.
What sellers actually have to disclose: the well and the septic system
A large share of New Hampshire housing — well outside its handful of cities — runs on a private well and an on-site septic system rather than municipal water and sewer, and the state’s mandatory seller-disclosure law reflects that directly. RSA 477:4-c doesn’t require a general property-condition form; instead, before a purchase contract is signed, the seller must disclose specifics about the private water supply (type, location, installation date, date of the most recent water test, and any known problems) and the sewage disposal system (tank size, system type, location, age, most recent service date, and servicing contractor). If the seller doesn’t know something the statute asks about, they have to say so in writing rather than leave it blank.
State testing isn’t legally mandated for a sale, but it’s worth doing regardless of what the disclosure says: New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services recommends testing private wells for total coliform bacteria, E. coli, and nitrate at the point of sale, and most lenders will require some form of well and water testing before funding anyway. On the septic side, state rules set setback requirements (a 75-foot protective radius around wells serving homes up to 5 bedrooms) and require a separate waterfront septic inspection for any system within 250 feet of a qualifying lake, pond, or coastal water — worth asking about directly if the property is anywhere near water.
If the property needs permitted work
If an inspection turns up something needing a permit — electrical, a septic system repair or replacement, a prior unpermitted addition — RefPages’ Building Permit Departments directory links to the relevant city or town permitting office so you can check the property’s permit history before closing.