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Sen. Rebecca Perkins Quoka backs raising AG condo-review threshold to 20 to ease development
Summary
At a House Housing Committee hearing, Sen. Rebecca Perkins Quoka introduced SB415 to raise the Attorney General review exemption for condominium developments from 10 to 20 units, arguing the change would reduce regulatory friction and help expand ownership options; developers and housing advocates urged the change while consumer-protection concerns were noted.
Sen. Rebecca Perkins Quoka introduced SB415 at a House Housing Committee hearing, proposing to raise the state Attorney General's review exemption for condominium projects from 10 units to 20. "My original piece of legislation proposed to move that threshold to 50," she said, "and through working with the Department of Justice . . . we struck a compromise at raising the threshold to 20 units." She framed the measure as a modest step to increase housing supply and expand access to homeownership.
Supporters said the current 10-unit threshold creates a disincentive to build for-sale housing. Robert Turney, executive director of NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire, recounted that his counsel advised cutting a planned 12-unit townhouse project to 10 units because the state approval process made a larger configuration impractical: "Oh, you should cut that back from 12 town houses to 10." Turney said that process costs and administrative burden can meaningfully reduce density and project feasibility.
Nick Taylor, director of Housing Action New Hampshire, added that condominium starts nationally are at historic lows and that condos can offer lower-priced ownership opportunities: "The median sales price on a condo is $105,000 less than the median single family home." Taylor said other safeguards exist (banks, FHA/HUD financing approval, criminal fraud statutes) and that the Attorney General's review, including requests for detailed financial materials, can deter qualified nonprofit and small-scale developers.
Committee members asked whether a lower compromise (for example, 15 units) would create problems; Sen. Perkins Quoka said she deferred to experts but that the data did not indicate harm at modestly higher thresholds. No Department of Justice witness testified in the hearing; the sponsor said she had negotiated the compromise with DOJ staff in the Senate.
The committee closed public testimony and did not vote on the bill that day; Chairman Alexander said he had an amendment and scheduled executive session on SB415 for two weeks. The bill will return to committee for further consideration.
