If you own a condominium unit, RSA 356-B:37-e gives you one of the more specific financial-disclosure rights in this pillar. The association has to make a profit-and-loss statement available at least 30 days before the annual meeting, in a format that stays consistent year to year, breaking out all revenues and expenses by category — and if the annual meeting happens before the fiscal year ends, year-to-date figures have to be included, with a final year-end accounting sent to every owner within 90 days of the close of the fiscal year. Beyond the annual snapshot, each unit owner has the right to see all financial information — contracts, mortgages, loans and their terms, outstanding debts, and account balances — within 15 days of a written request. Your own individual account is excluded from what other owners can see, unless a lien for nonpayment has actually been recorded against it, in which case that specific account becomes disclosable too.
The statute also reaches personnel and governance transparency. Owners can see the names of all association employees and what they're paid with association funds (with an exception for time-share condominiums), and if an employee is related to a board member or is a former association officer, the board has to disclose that fact at the next meeting. The association can only charge a fee for records requests reaching back further than the last three fiscal years — everything within that window is supposed to come without a paywall. And meeting minutes have their own clock: the board must make copies available within 60 days of the meeting, or 15 days after the board approves them, whichever comes first, and a written request for minutes has to get a response within 15 days.
The paper trail behind the numbers, and the gap for non-condo HOAs
Two other provisions feed this same records right. RSA 356-B:37(VI) independently requires minutes of every meeting and sets the same 60-day/15-day availability rule, plus a three-year minimum retention period for both the minutes and the officer's affidavit confirming that meeting notice actually went out. And RSA 356-B:40-a requires a managing agent to disclose any referral fees it received on contract work, and any non-maintenance fees it collected from a unit owner, to the board before the board's next regularly scheduled meeting — a transparency duty that runs to the board, but that creates a paper trail you're entitled to ask the board about directly.
If your community isn't a legal condominium, none of this applies. RSA Chapter 292 — the general nonprofit-corporation chapter most single-family HOAs are organized under — doesn't include a member records-inspection right at all. There's no 15-day clock, no standardized profit-and-loss requirement, and no employee-disclosure rule for a standalone HOA the way there is for a condo. If you're being stonewalled on records by a non-condo HOA board, you're arguing from your declaration and bylaws (and whatever general expectations apply to nonprofit-corporation members under New Hampshire law more broadly), not from a records statute written for your kind of community.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
RSA 356-B:37-e
Gives condo unit owners a standardized profit-and-loss statement before the annual meeting, a 15-day right to financial records, employee salary disclosure, and rules on minutes availability and copy fees.
RSA 356-B:37
Independently requires minutes of every meeting, sets the same 60-day/15-day availability window, and requires the notice affidavit to be retained and available for at least three years.
RSA 356-B:40-a
Requires a managing agent to disclose referral fees and non-maintenance fees it collects to the board — a transparency duty owners can ask the board about directly.
Step by step
How to request HOA or condo records in New Hampshire
A clean, statute-anchored records request that invokes RSA 356-B:37-e and RSA 356-B:37 for a condo, and preserves your position if you're in a non-condo HOA with no equivalent statute.
- 01
Identify what you're asking for and its statutory clock
Financial information generally has a 15-day turnaround under RSA 356-B:37-e(II); meeting minutes have a 60-day (or 15-day-post-approval) turnaround under RSA 356-B:37-e(V) and RSA 356-B:37(VI).
- 02
Put the request in writing and date it
Email or mail a dated, written request. A documented request is what starts the statutory clock and what you'll need if the board misses its deadline.
- 03
Name the specific records and cite the statute
List the categories you want — the profit-and-loss statement, contracts, loan terms, outstanding balances, employee compensation, or minutes — and reference RSA 356-B:37-e or RSA 356-B:37 by section number.
- 04
Compare what you get against your assessments
Use the annual profit-and-loss statement and year-end accounting to check whether reserves and expenses match what you're actually being charged.
- 05
If it's a non-condo HOA, request under your declaration directly
Since RSA Chapter 292 has no records statute, frame your request around whatever access your declaration and bylaws promise, and document any refusal in writing for later use.
Straight answers
Common questions
How fast does a New Hampshire condo association have to hand over financial records?
Within 15 days of a written request, under RSA 356-B:37-e(II), covering contracts, mortgages, loans and their terms, and outstanding debts and account balances (excluding other owners' individual accounts unless a lien has been recorded).
Can I see what the association is paying its employees?
Generally yes. RSA 356-B:37-e(III) gives unit owners access to employee names and salaries paid with association funds, with confidentiality for employees at time-share condominiums unless the board and manager consent to disclosure.
Can the association charge me for old records?
Only for records reaching further back than the last three fiscal years. RSA 356-B:37-e(IV) allows a fee for that older material, implying records within the three-year window shouldn't come with a separate charge.
Do non-condo HOA owners get the same records rights?
No. RSA Chapter 292 doesn't include a records-inspection statute for homeowners' associations. Your access depends entirely on what your own declaration and bylaws provide.