This chapter covers the New Hampshire-specific portion of the real estate salesperson exam. It supplements — it does not replace — the national real estate principles in the main manuscript. Where a rule involves a dollar amount, an hour count, a percentage, or a pass score, those figures change by legislative or Commission action; each is flagged so you verify the current number with the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission before you rely on it. The rules themselves — whether a recovery fund exists, whether New Hampshire taxes transfers, which recording act governs priority — are stable, knowable, and stated here affirmatively.
1. The licensing authority: the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission
Real estate licensing in New Hampshire is governed by the New Hampshire Real Estate Practice Act, RSA Chapter 331-A, and administered by the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission. The Commission is the body that licenses salespersons and brokers, adopts the administrative rules that fill in the statute (the "Rea" rules in the New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules), investigates complaints, and disciplines licensees.
Administratively, the Commission now sits within the state's Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC), which handles the back-office functions — applications, renewals, recordkeeping, and fee collection — for New Hampshire's occupational and professional boards. When you apply, renew, or file a form, you will do it through the OPLC; when a substantive licensing standard or a disciplinary decision is at issue, the authority is the Real Estate Commission. For the exam, remember the name: the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission is the licensing authority.
The Commission is composed of members appointed by the Governor, including licensed brokers and at least one public (non-industry) member. Its powers include issuing and renewing licenses, adopting rules governing practice and continuing education, examining and auditing broker trust accounts, and imposing discipline ranging from fines to suspension and revocation. Its enabling statute is a consumer-protection statute: its purpose is to protect the public in real estate transactions, and its rules are read with that purpose in mind.
2. License structure and the entry-license name
New Hampshire licenses real estate activity at two principal levels:
- Salesperson — this is the entry-level license. A salesperson may engage in licensed real estate brokerage activity only while affiliated with and supervised by a broker. The salesperson is the license you are studying for, and "Salesperson" is the exact statutory name New Hampshire uses (New Hampshire does not call its entry license an "agent" or a "provisional" license — it is a Salesperson license under RSA 331-A).
- Broker — the higher license. A broker may operate independently, own or manage a brokerage firm, hold escrow and trust funds, and supervise affiliated salespersons. New Hampshire law further identifies the broker who is responsible for a firm and its trust accounts (sometimes described in the statute and rules as the principal broker or managing broker) as the licensee who carries the firm-level responsibilities, including maintaining the required trust account and the surety bond discussed in Section 8.
The practical hierarchy to memorize: a Salesperson works under a Broker; a Broker may work independently and supervise salespersons; the principal/managing broker of a firm is accountable for the firm's trust funds and compliance. You cannot practice as a salesperson in New Hampshire without an affiliating broker who holds your license (see Section 3).
3. Getting licensed: pre-license education, examination, affiliation, and continuing education
New Hampshire builds its salesperson license on the familiar national sequence — education, examination, application, and affiliation with a broker — with New Hampshire-specific numbers layered on top.
Pre-license education. New Hampshire requires a prospective salesperson to complete an approved pre-license education course before sitting for the examination. The required number of classroom hours is a changeable figure — verify the current pre-license hour requirement with the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission. The rule (that pre-license education is mandatory and must be completed at a Commission-approved provider) is stable; the hour count is the moving part.
The licensing examination. New Hampshire requires passage of a licensing examination that is divided into a national (general) portion and a New Hampshire state-law portion — this chapter is your preparation for the second of those. The examination is delivered by the Commission's contracted testing vendor at approved test centers. The passing score, the number of questions, the time limit, and the examination fee are all changeable figures — verify each current value with the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission or its designated exam provider. What is stable: you must pass both portions, and the state portion tests the New Hampshire material in this chapter.
Application and affiliation with a broker. After passing, you apply to the Commission (through the OPLC) for the salesperson license. Because a New Hampshire salesperson may only act under a broker, your license is issued to be held and supervised by an affiliating broker. In practical terms, you must have a broker who will hold your license before you can activate it and begin practicing. A salesperson who leaves a firm does not carry an active, independent license into the street — the license must be placed with a new broker (or held inactive) according to Commission rules. Application, licensing, and any background-check or fingerprint fees are changeable figures — verify current amounts with the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission.
Renewal and continuing education. New Hampshire salesperson licenses are issued for a fixed term and must be renewed on a recurring cycle, and the Commission requires continuing education (CE) as a condition of renewal. That CE requirement, and the renewal cycle itself, are stable features of New Hampshire law. The length of the renewal term, the total number of CE hours required per cycle, the number of mandatory "core" hours within that total, and the renewal fee are all changeable figures — verify the current renewal period and CE hour requirements with the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission. Do not memorize a specific CE number from any secondary source as gospel; confirm it at renewal time.
4. New Hampshire agency law and the required brokerage-relationship disclosure
Agency is one of the most heavily tested New Hampshire topics, and New Hampshire has a specific, statutorily defined framework in RSA 331-A and the Commission's Rea 701 rules.
Recognized brokerage relationships. New Hampshire law affirmatively recognizes a menu of brokerage relationships, and every licensee must be able to identify them:
- Seller agency (the licensee represents the seller/landlord),
- Buyer agency (the licensee represents the buyer/tenant),
- Single agency (the firm represents only one side in a transaction),
- Subagency (an agent of another firm working for the listing side),
- Disclosed dual agency (the firm represents both seller and buyer in the same transaction, with informed written consent),
- Designated agency (within one firm, the principal broker designates one licensee to represent the seller and a different licensee to represent the buyer),
- Facilitator (a non-agency relationship in which the licensee assists parties without representing either as an agent).
The required Brokerage Relationship Disclosure. New Hampshire requires the licensee to provide the buyer or seller with the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission Brokerage Relationship Disclosure Form and to explain the available relationships. This is an affirmative, mandatory step — it is not optional and it is not merely customary. Under the Commission's rule (Rea 701.01), the disclosure must be made in writing at the first substantive meeting — that is, at the outset of the relationship, when the licensee first sits down to discuss a specific property or the party's real estate needs, and before the consumer discloses confidential information. The purpose is to make sure a member of the public understands, up front, whether the licensee across the table is working for them, for the other side, or as a neutral facilitator. Providing this form is a licensee's duty; the form is signed or acknowledged and retained.
Dual agency and designated agency — the consent rule. New Hampshire permits disclosed dual agency only with the informed written consent of both parties. A firm cannot silently represent both sides; it must disclose the conflict and obtain consent. Within a firm, New Hampshire also permits designated agency, where the principal broker assigns one licensee to the seller and another to the buyer so each consumer has a designated advocate. Note the crossover rule the statute makes explicit: if the same designated licensee ends up designated for both the seller and the buyer in one transaction, that licensee becomes a dual agent, which then requires the separate informed consent to dual agency (RSA 331-A:25-d). The takeaway for the exam: dual agency is legal in New Hampshire but only with informed written consent from both sides, and designated agency is the firm-level device that lets a single brokerage serve both parties without every licensee becoming a dual agent.
5. Required property disclosures and federal lead paint
New Hampshire's disclosure posture is a mix that trips up test-takers: New Hampshire does not impose a single, comprehensive, standardized "seller's property condition disclosure statement" mandated by statute for all residential resales the way some states do. Instead, New Hampshire imposes specific, statutorily required notifications and disclosures for identified hazards and systems, and it layers a common-law duty on licensees to disclose known material defects. State these affirmatively:
- Radon, arsenic, lead, PFAS, and flood notification — RSA 477:4-a. Before executing a purchase-and-sale contract for real property that includes a building, the seller or the seller's agent must give the buyer the statutory notification covering radon (which can enter a structure from the ground or from well water), arsenic (a common New Hampshire groundwater contaminant that appears at unhealthy levels in well water in many parts of the state), lead in older housing, PFAS contamination, and flood risk. This notification is affirmatively required; it is not caveat emptor. It advises buyers that testing by qualified professionals can establish the presence and levels of these hazards.
- Private water supply and sewage disposal — RSA 477:4-c. Before executing a purchase-and-sale contract for real property that includes a building, the seller must disclose information about any private water supply system (its type, location, malfunctions, date of installation, and most recent water-test date and results) and the sewage disposal system (tank size, system type, location, age, malfunctions, and date last serviced). This matters enormously in New Hampshire, where a large share of homes rely on private wells and on-site septic systems rather than municipal utilities.
- Common-law duty to disclose known material defects. Separate from any form, a New Hampshire licensee may not misrepresent or conceal a known material defect. New Hampshire's overall posture is often summarized as leaning toward "buyer beware," but that summary is incomplete and dangerous on the exam: the statutory notifications above are mandatory, and a licensee who knows of a material defect must not hide it.
- Federal lead-based paint disclosure. For residential housing built before 1978, the federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (Title X) applies in New Hampshire as it does nationwide: the seller or landlord must disclose known lead-based paint and hazards, provide any records/reports, deliver the EPA lead pamphlet, and give buyers the opportunity for a lead inspection/assessment period. This is federal law, tested on the national portion, but it operates in every New Hampshire transaction involving pre-1978 housing.
The pre-1978 threshold, the RSA section numbers, and the specific list of statutory hazards (radon/arsenic/lead/PFAS/flood) are stable rules; confirm the current statutory text and any newly added categories with the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission or the statute, since the legislature periodically expands the required notifications — a flood-notification requirement, for example, was added by amendment.
6. Escrow and trust-account rules
A cornerstone of New Hampshire practice — and a favorite exam subject — is the handling of other people's money. Under RSA 331-A:13, a broker who receives money belonging to others (earnest-money deposits, rents, and similar funds) in connection with a real estate transaction must hold those funds in a separate trust or escrow account and must not commingle them with the broker's own operating funds. Key rules to state affirmatively:
- Trust funds are held separately. Client and customer money goes into a designated trust/escrow account, kept apart from the broker's business and personal money.
- No commingling and no conversion. A broker may not mix trust funds with personal or business funds, and may not use trust funds for the broker's own purposes.
- The broker is accountable. The responsible (principal/managing) broker is answerable for the account. The Commission has authority to examine and audit broker trust accounts, and recordkeeping must allow the Commission to verify that every dollar is accounted for.
- Prompt handling and proper disbursement. Deposits must be handled and disbursed according to the terms of the transaction and Commission rules; disputes over deposits are resolved per contract and law, not by the broker unilaterally pocketing funds.
As a salesperson, deposits you receive are turned over to your broker for deposit into the firm's trust account — you do not hold client funds personally. Any specific interest-handling rules, timing deadlines for deposit, and minimum recordkeeping retention periods are matters to verify in the current RSA 331-A:13 text and Commission rules; the core prohibition on commingling is a stable rule.