Leah Fagen and Andrew Mason know when you live in a place for six years, you collect stuff. A lot of stuff. 

They learned this the hard way, after unexpectedly packing up and moving out of their two-bedroom Concord apartment on short notice because their landlord wanted to renovate their unit.

Last October, they were served a notice that their lease would not be renewed and they had to vacate within 30 days. They were able to negotiate to stay until the end of January, but they still had to pack up all their belongings and go.

Fagen and Mason had about 90 days to accomplish what seemed like an impossible feat – finding a new apartment, within the same $ 1,200 price range of their previous unit, in a safe neighborhood, with all the charm they adored for six years. 

The hot real estate market led to a flood of new landlords wanting to renovate their new buildings and raise rents, which forced out existing tenants in the process. It’s become a common pattern New Hampshire Legal Assistance has seen time and time again in the last year.

It’s perfectly legal, but in a tight housing market, with steep prices and limited availability, finding a new place to live in 30 days or less can be next to impossible.

In an attempt to finding a happy medium between landlords who want to improve their properties and tenants who need a roof over their heads, 10 Democrat lawmakers have sponsored a bill, HB 401, that would give renters 60 days notice of an intent to renovate in order to give them a better chance to find a new place to live. 

An unexpected move

Fagen and Mason knew their two-bedroom unit needed numerous renovations. They talked about the need for a shower repair, a cracked window and the leaky fridge with their landlord just over a year ago. 

The landlord had just purchased the building and conducted a walk-through of each unit with the current tenants. They agreed to a monthly rent increase of $200, but were grateful to remain in the building despite an ownership change, said Fagen. 

“We were nervous when they first bought the building that they would kick us out,” she said. “I was just going to go along with whatever they wanted in hopes that that would keep us in the building.”

The new landlord also asked them to sign a month-to-month lease, as opposed to their previous year-long contract. Essentially, this means either the landlord or tenant can give the other 30 days’ notice to terminate the rental agreement.  

That’s what happened to Fagen and Mason. 

After almost a year of living under the new landlord’s ownership, they asked the landlord to repair a cracked window in their unit. With it being an old Concord home and with the possible risk of lead paint, they asked the landlord if any precautions would be taken to keep themselves, and their pets safe. 

That seemed to be the breaking point, said Mason. After they asked about lead precautions, the landlord informed them the next day that the lease would not be renewed, and renovations would be conducted on the unit vacant.

“Their response was, ‘we’re done, actually. Here’s 30-days notice’,” said Mason. “We were freaking out. We had no idea what to do.”

HB 401: Renovation evictions

If passed, HB 401, would help people like Fagen and Mason. The legislation aims to add protections for tenants if a landlord orders them to vacate a unit for renovations. 

An extended vacate notice of 60 days along with a description and timeframe for the work, will help tenants from unexpected eviction notices, said sponsor Cam Kenney, a Durham Democrat. 

“If there’s going to be a renovation, housing is a human right. There needs to be adequate notice if someone is going to be deprived of their housing,” he said. 

The bill adds a new section to RSA 540, the section of New Hampshire law that focuses on actions against tenants. 

In addition to a 60 days notice, landlords would have to establish that the proposed renovations would take more than 30 days.

This clause would prevent landlords from completing a simple paint job and then relisting the unit at a higher rent – a pattern that Sofia Hyatt, an attorney for New Hampshire Legal Assistance, has seen time and time again. 

In 2022, New Hampshire Legal Assistance saw a 43 percent increase in intake requests for cases pertaining to renovation evictions. The legal aid office was unable to help 17 cases that came to them, said Hyatt. 

“We just don’t have the capacity which should hopefully show you that there’s not just enough resources in the state to deal with this problem,” she said. 

Fagen and Mason tried to get legal help, but since their lease was terminated at the end of their agreed contract, which is a non-renewal rather than an eviction, they were out of luck.  

Market forces 

In the last six years, the Concord-area rental market has boiled like a tea kettle.

The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment has increased by almost 26 percent in the last five years. The process of applying for units, which used to be phone calls or casual conversations with landlords, is now one of crowded viewings with third-party entities that weed out applications before a landlord is even reached, said Fagen. 

“It used to be about personality, talking to the landlord and having a conversation, human to human. There's a lot less of that,” she said. 

They quickly realized that their previous rent of $1,225 for a two-bedroom was out of the picture.

Trying to find an available unit was a challenge. And when you add in other factors like a price range and pet friendly, it only got harder, they said.

“The list gets filtered quickly, it seems,” said Mason. 

At some listings, four couples crowded a small apartment at once, all jockeying to talk with the landlord. At others, questions of credit scores and cosigners dominated the discussion, despite the pair having a clean rental history. 

It took them two months to find a new place to live in East Concord. They now have a wood stove in their living room and big windows that look out onto a pond. Their two cats and dogs are welcome, and there’s a canoe they can share with neighbors. But it also came with a price tag. 

They now pay $1,800, not including utilities. 

In the end, the timing came down to the wire. Their former lease ended the day before this new one began. “Relief” is the word that comes to mind when they think about what their housing situation could have spiraled into. 

And even though the duo knows they’ll have to adjust to make ends meet, they now have a place to hopefully call their own for a long time to come.

“We're very fortunate that we did find a place, granted, we have to be working harder. But we can do that,” said Mason. “We’ve got to count our blessings.” 

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