State Resources
New Hampshire
Online criminal conviction check for $25, statewide deeds search, one combined business and UCC search you can run by registered agent, and a Right-to-Know ombudsman who can order compliance. Court records are the weak point.
At a glance
| Record | Held by | Cost | Online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business and entity search | Department of State — QuickStart | Free to search | Yes |
| Professional licenses | Office of Professional Licensure and Certification | Free | Yes |
| Property and land records | 10 county Registries of Deeds, most on NHDeeds | Free to search | Yes |
| Court records | New Hampshire Judicial Branch | Free at courthouse terminals; copy fees apply | Very limited |
| Criminal records | NH State Police, Criminal Records Unit | $25 · $10 for qualifying volunteers | Yes |
| Vital records | Division of Vital Records Administration, or any city or town clerk | $15 first copy · $10 each additional | Yes |
| Unclaimed property | NH State Treasury, Abandoned Property Division | Free | Yes |
| Voter and resident records | Department of State; town and city clerks | Fee set by statute | By request |
Worth knowing about New Hampshire
The notarization everyone gets wrong
Search for how to get a New Hampshire criminal record and you’ll be told you need form DSSP-256 with a notary seal. That’s true — but only for one of the two things you can ask for, and probably not the one you want.
The public NH Criminal Conviction check does not require notarization. State Police say so plainly on their own page. You can run it online, walk into the counter at 33 Hazen Drive in Concord, or send it by post without a notary anywhere near it.
The notary requirement attaches to a request for your own full confidential record by mail. Different request, different form, different answer.
Either way the fee is $25. And note the payment trap: cards are only accepted at the public counter. A mailed request needs cash, a check or a money order in the exact amount, payable to State of NH – Criminal Records.
The Right-to-Know ombudsman can actually order compliance
New Hampshire created an Office of the Right-to-Know Ombudsman, sitting under the Secretary of State, and it has teeth. The Ombudsman issues orders, not suggestions.
Filing a complaint costs $25. The alternative is petitioning the Superior Court directly. You must choose one — the statute makes them mutually exclusive, and picking one closes the other off.
The Ombudsman route is faster and vastly cheaper, and the finding carries weight afterwards: on appeal, the Superior Court treats the Ombudsman’s decision as prima facie lawful and reasonable unless the appealing party can tip the balance of probabilities against it. Either side has 30 days to appeal, and a citizen-initiated appeal carries no filing fee.
Record by record
Business and entity search
Open QuickStart →- Held by
- Department of State — QuickStart
- Cost
- Free to search
QuickStart is the Department of State’s single public search. Business entities, UCC filings and securities registrations are all in it — there is no separate UCC search to run.
Search by business name, business ID, filing number, or — usefully — by registered agent name.
The registered agent search is the one to reach for. In a small state a handful of agents cover an enormous share of the entities, and running a person as an agent returns everything they front. There’s also a sounds-like option on both business and agent names, which catches the misspellings.
For the UCC side, a UCC-1 names the debtor, the secured party and the collateral — which frequently names the bank.
Professional licenses
Open license lookup →- Held by
- Office of Professional Licensure and Certification
- Cost
- Free
The OPLC consolidated most of the state’s licensing boards into one office, so trades, health professions and most regulated occupations verify in a single place — better than the scattered arrangement in a lot of states.
License records carry a business address and disciplinary history.
Property and land records
Open NHDeeds →- Held by
- 10 county Registries of Deeds, most on NHDeeds
- Cost
- Free to search
NHDeeds carries most of the ten county registries through a single front door, free, with grantor and grantee name searching.
Search the person, not the parcel. Mortgages, discharges, liens, attachments and homestead filings all index against a name, and that’s where an asset picture comes from.
Assessed values and parcel maps come from the town, not the registry.
Court records
Open judicial branch →- Held by
- New Hampshire Judicial Branch
- Cost
- Free at courthouse terminals; copy fees apply
New Hampshire is weak here. There’s no free statewide public case search of the kind Massachusetts offers, and case access is largely a courthouse exercise.
Public access terminals at the courthouse are the practical route. Know the county and the division before you go.
Criminal records
Open online conviction check →- Held by
- NH State Police, Criminal Records Unit
- Cost
- $25 · $10 for qualifying volunteers
- Turnaround
- Allow 15 business days by mail; immediate at the counter
- Authority
- NH Admin. Rule Saf-C 5703
Three ways in: the online NH Criminal Conviction Check, the public counter at 33 Hazen Drive in Concord (Room 106A), or by post.
No notary is needed for the public conviction check. That requirement belongs to a request for your own full confidential record by mail.
The fee is $25. Volunteers with a non-profit serving the elderly, the disabled or children pay $10, on a separate reduced-fee form, with the organization attesting to it.
Results now come back on a standard Criminal History Record Dissemination Document rather than the old stamped release form.
Vital records
Open vital records →- Held by
- Division of Vital Records Administration, or any city or town clerk
- Cost
- $15 first copy · $10 each additional
New Hampshire runs a networked system, which is a genuine advantage: any city or town clerk in the state can produce a record of an event that happened anywhere in New Hampshire. You don’t have to go to the town where it occurred.
Records aren’t fully open. Access requires a direct and tangible interest, so you generally need standing or a signed authorization from the subject.
Unclaimed property
Open search →- Held by
- NH State Treasury, Abandoned Property Division
- Cost
- Free
Free name search over dormant accounts, uncashed cheques and insurance proceeds.
The address on a reported item is the one the holder had on file when they reported it — a free, dated address on a subject who has gone quiet.
Voter and resident records
- Held by
- Department of State; town and city clerks
- Cost
- Fee set by statute
The statewide voter database is restricted. Access runs to political committees, parties and candidates rather than to the general public, and commercial use is barred.
New Hampshire has no annual municipal census, so there’s no equivalent of the Massachusetts street list to fall back on.
Public records requests in New Hampshire
- Statute
- Right-to-Know Law, RSA 91-A
- Response deadline
- 5 business days to produce, deny in writing, or acknowledge with a timeline
- Appeal to
- Right-to-Know Ombudsman ($25) or Superior Court — not both
- Appeal window
- 30 days to appeal an Ombudsman ruling to Superior Court
An agency must respond within five business days: produce the record, deny it in writing with reasons, or acknowledge the request and state how long it will take. Silence past five business days is a violation you can act on.
Two routes when they say no, and they’re mutually exclusive. Petition the Superior Court, or file a signed written complaint with the Ombudsman for $25. Choosing one forecloses the other, so decide before you file.
The Ombudsman is usually the better first move. It’s cheaper, it’s quicker, and the office issues orders rather than opinions. If the other side appeals to Superior Court, the Ombudsman’s decision is treated as lawful and reasonable unless they can outweigh it on the evidence — so a win there is worth having. A citizen-initiated appeal carries no filing fee.
What New Hampshire will not give you
- Driver and vehicle records. Closed under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
- Vital records. Not open to the general public. You need a direct and tangible interest or the subject’s authorization.
- The statewide voter database. Restricted to parties, committees and candidates. No commercial use.
- Court records online. There’s no free statewide public case search. Courthouse terminals only.
- Annulled records. New Hampshire annuls rather than seals, and an annulled record won’t appear on a conviction check.
Related
- Massachusetts — a very different set of answers next door
- Maine — the third New England comparison
- UCC filings name the lender
- Finding the owner of record on a property
- Appealing a public records denial
Fees and procedures verified August 2026. Clerks change their counter rules more often than the statutes change — call before you drive.