We've been looking to buy our first home (duplex) in the Southern NH for close to a year now. Nothing affordable in a good neighborhood.
Just had the idea to search for Single Family Homes and include "in-law apt" in my search preferences. Coming up with a ton of affordable houses in great areas. They all have kitchens, full baths, and at least one bedroom.
I know zoning laws are diff in each town - anyone have experience with this?
Rental Property Investor · Milford, NH · Member since 2017 · 62 posts · 30 votes
7y
Hi Samantha,
NH can be VERY tough when it comes to zoning laws. I actually just went to the zoning board for a property I recently purchased in Southern NH to add additional dwelling units to existing building square footage and was denied. You have to prove a hardship against that municipalities zoning ordinance unless it's an allowed use. In my case, I was asking for an increase in the allowable density and don't have the required property acreage.
When you are looking at properties, google that town name and GIS, for example, "Nashua NH GIS". Turn on the zoning map and figure out what zone the property is in. Then google "Nashua NH zoning ordinance" and find that zone and see if two family is an allowed use.
I believe they did recently pass legislature in NH for accessory dwelling units or "in-law apartments" that you are allowed by right to do so no matter what local by-laws say, but you still have to go through the town/City and I believe it only applies to owner occupied situations.
Hope that's helpful! I'm a civil engineer and deal with zoning/planning by-laws every day so I'm pretty familiar with how the processes and rules work.