The New Hampshire Condominium Act is chapter 356-B of the Revised Statutes. Laws change, and your own declaration and bylaws can add to them; where it matters, check with the association's attorney.
No study requirement, as far as we can find
Some states tell associations to commission a reserve study every few years. New Hampshire does not, in any section of RSA 356-B we could find. Its rules are about the budget and about telling owners and buyers where the reserves stand. That leaves the question to each association's documents and its board.
In practice, plenty of New Hampshire associations still have one. Lenders reviewing a condominium for a mortgage often ask about reserves, buyers ask under RSA 356-B:58, and a board that has to explain a special assessment is in a better spot with a study behind it.
The budget: owners can reject it
Under RSA 356-B:40-c, the board adopts a proposed budget at least once a year. Within 30 days it sends every owner a summary, and that summary has to include reserves and the basis on which they are calculated and funded. The board also sets a meeting 10 to 60 days after the summary goes out.
The budget is ratified unless two-thirds of all owners, or a larger share if the declaration says so, reject it at that meeting. It stands even if there is no quorum. If owners do reject it, the last ratified budget carries on until a new one passes.
The phrase "the basis on which they are calculated and funded" is where a reserve study earns its keep. Without one, the honest answer is often "last year's number plus a bit".
Special assessments
A board may propose a special assessment at any time, but it goes through the same ratification process as the budget. The exception is an emergency: by a two-thirds vote of the board, an assessment can take effect at once if there is a discovered danger to structural integrity, to life or safety, a court order, or a legal action the board could not have foreseen when it made the budget. Owners must be told promptly, and the money can only be spent on the purpose stated.
What a developer discloses at the start
When a declarant first sells units, the public offering statement must include a projected budget for at least the first year and a statement of whether the budget provides for capital expenditures or major maintenance reserves (RSA 356-B:52, I(d)). A first-year budget with no reserve line is legal, but it leaves the owners' board to start from zero.
What a buyer can ask for on resale
Once units change hands, RSA 356-B:58 lets a prospective buyer ask the association for a set of statements, including planned capital spending, the reserve balance and three years of special assessments. The principal officer has 10 days to answer a written request. We go through each item on the resale certificate page.
Homeowners associations
RSA 356-B applies to condominiums. Many New Hampshire homeowners associations for single-family subdivisions are not condominiums; they are often nonprofit corporations under RSA 292, governed by recorded covenants and their own bylaws. We found no statewide reserve rule for them. Any requirement would be in those documents, so check with the association's attorney.
Questions
Does RSA 356-B require a reserve study?
Not in the sections set out here. The Act requires a budget that owners can reject, and disclosure of reserves to buyers, but it does not require a study or set an interval. Check your declaration and bylaws, or with the association’s attorney.
Do reserves have to be in the budget summary?
Yes. RSA 356-B:40-c, I says the summary sent to owners must include reserves and the basis on which they are calculated and funded.