New Hampshire: LLC Registered-Agent and Registered-Office Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and terminology

RSA chapter 304-C is the New Hampshire Revised Limited Liability Company
Act. It uses the paired terms registered office and registered agent.
The agent receives service of process, notices, and demands for the LLC.

Continuous designation duty

RSA 304-C:36(I) requires every domestic LLC to have and maintain both a New
Hampshire registered office and a registered agent. The certificate of
formation must state the office address and the agent's name and address under
RSA 304-C:31(II)(b).

The office and agent are linked rather than independent: the qualifying
individual's residential or business office, or the qualifying entity's
business office, must be identical with the registered office.

Eligible individual

An individual agent must reside in New Hampshire. The person's residential or
business office must be the registered office. The Act states no separate age,
citizenship, professional-license, or quantified availability condition.

The Secretary of State expressly says an owner, manager, or employee may be
listed when the person can be located at the New Hampshire agent address.

Eligible entity and self-service

The entity-agent classes are a corporation organized or authorized under RSA
292, 293-A, or 294-A; an LLC formed or authorized under chapter 304-C; a
professional LLC formed or authorized under chapter 304-D; or an LLP formed or
authorized under RSA 304-A:44. Each entity's business office must be identical
with the registered office.

The LLC-agent category does not say “another” LLC and contains no express
self-agent exclusion. The Secretary's clearest self-service guidance addresses
individual owners, managers, and employees; those people qualify when they meet
the individual residency and location rules.

Registered office, address, and hours

The registered office may be the same as any LLC place of business. Change
filings must state its street address, and after a change the registered-
office street address and the agent's business-office street address must be
identical.

Current LLC-1 instructions call for a New Hampshire street or physical address
where the agent can be found for in-hand service and reject a P.O. box. The
Secretary's guidance says the agent generally should be available there
during regular business hours. That is useful filing guidance, but RSA
304-C:36 states no exact daily hours or enacted schedule.

Consent and initial filing

The certificate names the agent and supplies the registered-office address. RSA
304-C:28 ordinarily requires the filing signature of a manager, or a member if
there is no manager, while also recognizing the specified fiduciary and
authorized-person alternatives.

Neither RSA 304-C:31 or :36 nor current Form LLC-1 requires a separate agent
consent, acceptance statement, acknowledgment, or agent signature. LLC-1 uses
the manager/member filing-signature block.

Change, resignation, and replacement

The LLC changes its office, agent, or both by filing the current information,
the successor information, and an affirmation that the office and agent's
business-office street addresses will remain identical. Subject to a permitted
effective time, an accepted filing is effective on filing under RSA 304-C:29.

An agent moving elsewhere in New Hampshire may file the office-address change
itself; the statement is signed only by the agent and must recite that a copy
was mailed to the LLC.

To resign, the agent signs and files a written notice. The Secretary of State
mails a copy to the LLC's principal office. The appointment ends on the earlier
of a successor's appointment or 31 days after filing. The resignation may also
discontinue the registered office.

Agent duties and service

RSA 304-C:37(I) makes the registered agent the LLC's agent for any process,
notice, or demand required or permitted to be served on the company. The cited
Act sections state no separate private-agent forwarding deadline or damages
rule.

The Secretary describes the practical role as receiving official documents,
legal process, and court notices. That guidance does not create an additional
statutory forwarding timetable.

Lapse consequences and fallback service

If the LLC has no agent or reasonable diligence cannot serve the agent, RSA
304-C:37 permits registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the
principal office. Service is perfected at the earliest of company receipt, the
date on a return receipt signed for the company, or five days after correctly
addressed, postage-paid mailing. Other lawful service methods remain possible.

Being without the registered agent or registered office for at least 60
days is an administrative-dissolution ground. So is failing for 60 days to
notify the Secretary of an agent or office change, agent resignation, or office
discontinuance. Once the Secretary determines a ground exists, RSA 304-C:137
directs administrative dissolution by a mailed notice that states the ground
and effective date and encloses a reinstatement application. The Act does not
add a second pre-dissolution cure period after the 60-day threshold. The LLC may
seek reinstatement within three years after dissolution.

What trips people up

The office must be the agent's own office. New Hampshire does not merely ask
for any in-state company address. The agent's residential or business office
must be identical with the registered office.

The form's resident wording is individual-focused. LLC-1 says the agent
must reside in New Hampshire, but RSA 304-C:36 separately and expressly permits
the listed corporation, LLC/PLLC, and LLP entity agents with New Hampshire
business offices.

“Regular business hours” is guidance, not a numbered statute. The Secretary
says the agent generally should be available then, but chapter 304-C does not
state exact hours.

The 60 days come before dissolution, not after notice. The agent/office
lapse or reporting failure must persist for 60 days. Section 304-C:137 then
directs a notice of dissolution; it does not supply another 60-day cure window.

Common questions

Can an owner serve? Yes. The Secretary expressly permits an owner, manager,
or employee to be listed when the individual can be located at the qualifying
New Hampshire address.

Can the registered office be a P.O. box? No. Current Secretary guidance and
LLC-1 instructions require the physical street address where the agent can be
found.

Does losing the agent prevent service? No. Registered or certified mail to
the principal office is available when the agent is absent or cannot with
reasonable diligence be served, and other lawful methods remain available.

Statutes and sources

• RSA 304-C:28-:31 — filing signature/effectiveness and certificate agent-
  office fields. https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXVIII/304-C/304-C-28.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-27)
• RSA 304-C:36-:37 — office and agent duty, eligibility, identical-address
  rule, changes, resignation, and fallback service.
  https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXVIII/304-C/304-C-36.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-27)
• RSA 304-C:136-:138 — 60-day lapse/reporting grounds, dissolution notice,
  continuing agent authority, and reinstatement.
  https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXVIII/304-C/304-C-136.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-27)
• New Hampshire Secretary of State, registered-agent guidance and Form
  LLC-1 — physical-address, ordinary-hours guidance, owner/manager/employee
  self-service, and current formation fields.
  https://www.sos.nh.gov/corporations-0/registered-agents
  (accessed 2026-07-27)