Updated November 2026 · Southern New Hampshire
Real estate office shredding in NH for brokerages and property managers
This page covers what a New Hampshire brokerage has to keep, for how long, and how to destroy the rest: closing files, credit reports, tenant applications and the annual purge. You get the statute and rule citations, a cost table by pickup zone, and a purge plan you can hand to your office manager.
99¢ per pound at our Tewksbury drop-off. Certificate of Destruction on every job.
- 99¢ per pound
- Since 2007
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- FACTA Disposal Rule ready
Quick answer
A New Hampshire principal broker must preserve records relating to any real estate transaction for 3 years after it closes, and escrow and trust account records for 3 years, under RSA 331-A:26, XVIII and XIX. After that, closing files, credit reports and tenant applications should be shredded, because the FACTA Disposal Rule (16 CFR 682.3) requires burning, pulverizing or shredding of consumer report information.
New Hampshire Document Shredding destroys brokerage files at 99 cents per pound at our Tewksbury drop-off, or by pickup from $129.95 transport, plus $34.90 in per-job fees, with a Certificate of Destruction for your compliance file. It is the business side of our document shredding service.
What a New Hampshire real estate office actually throws away
A single closing file can hold more identity data than anything else in the office. Purchase and sale agreements with signatures, proof-of-funds bank statements, pre-approval letters, copies of driver’s licenses, wiring instructions, the brokerage relationship disclosure, and the inspection and lender correspondence that piled up in between.
Rental files are worse. A tenant application often has a Social Security number, employer and income, prior addresses, and a credit report or tenant screening report stapled to the back. If your office manages rentals in Nashua or Manchester, you may have a drawer of those for applicants who never signed a lease.
Then there is the everyday paper: MLS printouts with buyer notes in the margin, showing schedules, commission statements and agent 1099s, offer drafts that never went anywhere, and the stack on the printer that nobody claims. None of it belongs in the office recycling bin or the dumpster behind the strip mall.
Brokers from Salem, Derry, Nashua and the Seacoast bring this paper to our Tewksbury counter every week. The question they ask first is always the same: how long do we have to keep it before we can shred?
How long a NH brokerage keeps transaction records
New Hampshire puts the core retention rule in the Real Estate Practice Act itself, as a list of prohibited conduct. RSA 331-A:26, XIX makes it a violation for a principal broker to fail “to preserve for 3 years following its consummation, records relating to any real estate transaction.” Paragraph XVIII adds escrow and trust account records for 3 years, available to the Commission on demand.
| Record | Minimum period | Where the rule is |
|---|---|---|
| Records relating to any real estate transaction (principal broker) | 3 years after the transaction closes | RSA 331-A:26, XIX |
| Escrow and trust account records: deposits, withdrawals, payees | 3 years | RSA 331-A:26, XVIII |
| Copy of a brokerage relationship disclosure the consumer would not sign | 3 years | N.H. Admin. Rules Rea 701.01(f) |
| Continuing education verification records (each licensee) | At least 4 years | N.H. Admin. Rules Rea 403.02(a) |
| Payroll and employment tax records for office staff | 4 years after the tax is due or paid | IRS, How long should I keep records |
| Business tax return support | Generally 3 years, 7 for a bad debt deduction | IRS, How long should I keep records |
These are minimums. Many offices keep closing files longer because their errors and omissions carrier, their lawyer or a pending dispute says so. A file under a litigation hold or a Commission complaint stays put no matter how old it is. The rules can also change, so before you finalize an office schedule, read the current Commission rules on the General Court site and check with your own counsel.
Notice where the clock starts. Paragraph XIX counts 3 years “following its consummation,” which in practice means the closing, not the day the listing was signed. A listing that expired without a sale has no closing date, so most offices count from the expiration and keep it on the same 3-year schedule to stay safe. Write down whichever rule your office picks so the whole team purges the same way.
If you want a starting template for the rest of the office, our record retention schedule template lays out HR, payroll and finance records by department with their sources.
Keep, shred or ask: a brokerage file-by-file list
Office managers ask us for a plain list they can tape inside the file room door. This is the one we suggest, built on the state minimums above. It is a starting point for your own schedule, not legal advice, and anything under a hold beats every line on it.
| Item | While active | After the hold period |
|---|---|---|
| Closed transaction file: P and S, addenda, disclosures, correspondence | Keep in the file | Shred 3 years after closing unless held |
| Escrow deposit records and trust account ledgers | Keep with the escrow books | Shred after 3 years unless the Commission or your accountant needs them |
| Proof-of-funds statements and copies of IDs | Keep only what the file needs | Shred with the file, never recycle |
| Credit reports and tenant screening reports | Keep only while the decision is open | Shred under the FACTA Disposal Rule |
| Rejected rental applications | Keep briefly in case of questions | Shred, with any attached screening report |
| Unsigned brokerage relationship disclosure copy | Keep in the client folder | Shred after 3 years (Rea 701.01(f)) |
| Expired listings and dead offers | Keep until the listing ends | Shred on the office’s 3-year schedule |
| Commission statements and agent 1099 copies | Keep for the tax year | Ask your accountant, then shred |
| Anything tied to a dispute, complaint or claim | Keep | Ask counsel before it goes anywhere |
Two habits make this list work. First, keep credit and screening reports in a separate envelope inside each file, so they are easy to pull early. Second, never keep a second “just in case” copy of a closing file at an agent’s house. Duplicates are where purges miss paper.
Credit reports, tenant screening and the FACTA Disposal Rule
The federal Disposal Rule, 16 CFR Part 682, applies to anyone who keeps consumer report information for a business purpose. The FTC lists landlords, mortgage brokers and people who pull credit reports on prospective tenants among those who must comply. If your office screens tenants or keeps a lender’s credit summary in a file, the rule reaches your shred bin.
What the rule says
Section 682.3(a) requires “reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of the information in connection with its disposal.” Section 682.3(b)(1) gives the plain example: policies that require burning, pulverizing or shredding papers so the information cannot practicably be read or reconstructed.
Recycling a credit report whole does not meet that standard. Neither does a strip-cut office shredder that leaves readable ribbons, in our view.
The definition is wider than most offices think. Under section 682.1(b), consumer information includes any record that is a consumer report or is derived from one, in paper or electronic form. The agent’s handwritten note of an applicant’s score counts. So does the screening summary saved as a PDF.
Hiring a shredding company
Section 682.3(b)(3) allows you to contract the work out after due diligence. The FTC’s examples include reviewing the company’s security policies, getting references and reviewing an independent audit. At minimum, ask any vendor how material is locked between your office and the shredder and what the certificate records.
Our answer: sealed boxes, locked handling, cross-cut shredding at our Tewksbury office, and a Certificate of Destruction on every job.
Our longer guide to the FACTA Disposal Rule covers dealers, employers and lenders as well as landlords. For property managers, the short version: shred every screening report you no longer need, including those for applicants you turned down.
Old laptops, copier drives and New Hampshire’s breach law
New Hampshire’s breach notice law, RSA 359-C:19 to 359-C:21, defines a security breach as the unauthorized acquisition of computerized data. Personal information under RSA 359-C:19 means a name combined with a Social Security number, a driver’s license or other government ID number, or a financial account number together with the security code or password that would permit access to the account.
That definition points straight at the equipment in a brokerage. An agent’s retired laptop, the office desktop that ran the transaction software, the external drive with scanned closing packages, and the hard drive inside a leased copier that scanned every ID you ever copied. When a device leaves the office, the data on it should not.
Agent laptops and phones
Agents keep client texts, emails and photos of documents on personal devices. When an agent leaves or upgrades, have the device wiped or the drive destroyed before it is sold or traded in.
Copiers and scanners
Many office copiers store scanned images. When a lease ends, ask the leasing company what happens to the drive, or have it pulled and destroyed.
Old servers and backup drives
A closet server from a merger ten years ago can hold every file the old office ever made. Drives are quoted per item and physically destroyed.
The FACTA rule backs this up. Section 682.1(c) counts the sale, donation or transfer of computer equipment that stores consumer information as disposal, so handing an old tenant-screening laptop to a nephew is a disposal under the rule.
Bag media separately from paper. We quote it per item through our hard drive destruction service. For what to do if a breach does happen, our page on New Hampshire data breach law walks through the notice steps.
What real estate office shredding costs in NH
A brokerage pays the same rates as everyone else. What changes the total is the box count and whether you drive the boxes to Tewksbury or have them picked up. A standard banker’s box of files weighs about 30 pounds.
| Purge size | Drop-off | Pickup Zone 1 | Pickup Zone 2 | Pickup Zone 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 boxes (solo agent, about 120 lb) | $153.70 | $283.65 | $313.65 | $353.65 |
| 12 banker’s boxes (small office) | $274.90 | $404.85 | $434.85 | $474.85 |
| 30 banker’s boxes (multi-agent brokerage) | $634.90 | $764.85 | $794.85 | $834.85 |
Every job includes the $14.95 HIPAA filing fee and the $19.95 environmental fee, which together cover the certificate paperwork and the recycling of the shred. Zone 1 covers the border towns such as Salem, Pelham, Windham and Plaistow, Zone 2 greater Nashua and Manchester, and Zone 3 the Seacoast and points farther north. Your exact zone is confirmed at booking. The full breakdown is on our shredding rates page.
Our honest advice: a solo agent with four boxes should drive them down on a weekday. A brokerage with thirty boxes on the second floor of a converted house should book the pickup and let a driver carry them. No long-term contract is required for either.
Brokerages with more than one office can save by consolidating. Each pickup is its own job with its own transport and per-job fees, so moving the boxes from a branch to the main office first and booking one pickup there usually costs less than two separate visits. The certificate then covers the whole purge in one document.
Pickup for brokerages, title offices and property managers
Pickup is by appointment. A driver loads your sealed boxes, the material travels to our Tewksbury office, and it is shredded there after it arrives. Pricing assumes ground-level or elevator access, and a handling fee for stairs or restricted access is quoted up front. Here is how different offices tend to use it.
Solo agents and small teams
One purge a year, usually in January after the last year’s closings are filed. Most drive to the counter instead of booking a pickup.
Multi-agent brokerages
A yearly purge of closing files past the 3-year mark, plus a second pickup when an agent leaves and clears a desk.
Property management offices
Tenant applications, screening reports, old leases and ledgers. Some book a pickup each quarter so screening reports do not pile up.
Closing attorneys and title offices
Larger volumes and client confidentiality rules. Our page on off-site shredding for NH law firms covers that side.
Before the driver arrives, run through our shredding pickup checklist: box count, access, who signs, and where the boxes wait. The full process, from booking to certificate, is on the off-site shredding page.
Running the annual purge at a real estate office
The cleanest offices we see treat the purge as a calendar event, not a cleanup when the file room overflows. January works well for most brokerages: the market is slow, last year’s files are complete, and the 3-year line is easy to draw.
- Draw the line Any transaction that closed more than 3 years ago is a candidate. Write the cutoff date on the whiteboard so everyone pulls the same files.
- Check for holds Ask the principal broker and counsel for a list of open disputes, complaints or claims. Those files come out of the purge pile and stay.
- Pull and box Pull eligible closing files, expired listing files, old screening reports and dead offers. Leave staples and folders in, take out binder hardware.
- Log what goes A one-page list of the file years or addresses in each box is enough. It pairs with the certificate if anyone asks later.
- Seal and send Tape the boxes, then drive them to Tewksbury or book the pickup. Paper dropped off on a weekday is shredded the same business day.
- File the certificate Keep the Certificate of Destruction with the purge log in the compliance binder. That pair is your record that the office followed its own schedule.
For a fuller walkthrough that also fits a home office or another kind of business, read our post on the annual document purge.
Agents on the road: the car, the kitchen table and the home printer
Most New Hampshire agents work half their week out of a car and a home office. That is where brokerage paper leaks. An offer printed at home for a client to sign, a pre-approval letter left on the passenger seat, a showing sheet with a buyer’s phone number and budget in the trunk for six months.
Set one office rule
Client paper that leaves the office comes back to the office. Agents drop it in a locked console or a sealed box at the brokerage, not in their kitchen recycling. The office then shreds it with everything else in the annual purge or the next drop-off.
Make it easy
Give each agent a lidded banker’s box for the car and a habit of emptying it on Fridays. A box costs nothing and saves a phone call from a client whose bank statement ended up in a recycling truck. Our page on home office shredding has more tips for agents who work from home.
- Shred printed offers and counteroffers once the signed version is in the file.
- Shred showing sheets with buyer notes when the deal closes or the buyer moves on.
- Never put copies of IDs or bank statements in household recycling.
- Return retired phones and laptops to the office for wiping or destruction.
- Bring personal papers too. The same counter takes household boxes at the same price.
When an agent leaves, an office merges or a brokerage closes
Transitions are where real estate offices lose track of paper. An agent moves to another brokerage and takes a box home “to sort later.” Two offices merge and nobody owns the old file room. A principal broker retires and the files sit in a rented storage unit in Hooksett for years.
An agent leaves
Transaction files belong with the principal broker, who carries the 3-year duty. On the agent’s last week, walk the desk and the car with them. Files go to the office file room, personal notes with client details go to the office shred box, and any office laptop or phone comes back before the last paycheck.
Agents changing offices should not take copies of closed files with them. If a past client calls, the old office can pull the file.
A merger or a closing
Make one person responsible for the old records before the lease ends. Sort into files still inside the 3-year window, which move to the surviving or successor office, and files past it, which go to the shredder after a hold check. Media from the old office goes in its own bag.
A closing office with a full file room is a good case for a pickup. One appointment, one certificate, and the keys can go back to the landlord.
Moving offices instead of closing? Our guide to office cleanout shredding covers box counts and moving-day logistics for any small business.
Frequently asked questions
How long must a NH real estate broker keep transaction records?
RSA 331-A:26, XIX makes it a violation for a principal broker to fail to preserve records relating to any real estate transaction for 3 years following its consummation. Escrow and trust account records also carry a 3-year requirement under paragraph XVIII. Those are minimums. Files tied to a dispute, a complaint or a claim stay until counsel releases them, and your E and O carrier may ask for longer.
Do real estate offices have to follow the FACTA Disposal Rule?
If the office keeps consumer report information for a business purpose, yes. The FTC lists landlords, mortgage brokers and people who pull credit reports on prospective tenants among those covered. Section 682.3 of 16 CFR requires reasonable disposal measures, and its first example is burning, pulverizing or shredding paper so the information cannot practicably be read or reconstructed.
What should a property manager shred?
Tenant applications and screening reports once you no longer need them, including those for applicants you turned down. Also old leases and ledgers past your retention period, copies of IDs and pay stubs, and bank information for rent payments. Keep anything tied to an open dispute or a security deposit question until it is settled.
How much does a brokerage purge cost?
Twelve banker’s boxes come to $274.90 at our Tewksbury drop-off: $20 per box at 10 or more boxes plus $34.90 in per-job fees. A pickup adds $129.95 in Zone 1, $159.95 in Zone 2 or $199.95 in Zone 3, confirmed when you book. Under 10 boxes, paper is weighed at 99 cents per pound.
Do you come to our office to pick up the boxes?
Yes, by appointment. A driver loads the sealed boxes at your office and brings them to our Tewksbury office, where they are shredded after they arrive. Pricing assumes ground-level or elevator access. If the files sit up a flight of stairs, we quote a handling fee up front. We do not shred at your address.
What does the Certificate of Destruction show?
It is your written record that New Hampshire Document Shredding received and destroyed the material from your job, and it comes with every job at no charge beyond the per-job filing fee. Brokerages keep it with a short purge log listing the file years or addresses in each box. Together they show that the office followed its own retention schedule.
Can agents bring their own client paper?
Yes. An agent can walk in Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no appointment. Most brokerages prefer that agents bring client paper back to the office so it goes out in one documented purge, but a solo agent with a few boxes often just drives down. Household papers can ride along at the same rate.
Is paper covered by the New Hampshire breach law?
RSA 359-C:19 defines a security breach as unauthorized acquisition of computerized data, so the statute is written around electronic records. That makes old laptops, copier drives and backup drives a real concern for a brokerage. Paper still falls under the FACTA Disposal Rule when it holds consumer report information, so shred both. Ask your lawyer about any specific incident.
Sources
- RSA 331-A:26, Prohibited Conduct (NH General Court) (checked November 2026)
- N.H. Admin. Rules Rea 100 to 700, Real Estate Commission (NH General Court) (checked November 2026)
- 16 CFR Part 682, Disposal of Consumer Report Information and Records (eCFR) (checked November 2026)
- FTC: Disposing of consumer report information? Rule tells how (checked November 2026)
- RSA 359-C:19, Definitions, notice of security breach (NH General Court) (checked November 2026)
- IRS: How long should I keep records (checked November 2026)
Clear the file room before the spring market
Drive your boxes to Tewksbury on any weekday or book a pickup at the brokerage. Every job comes back with a Certificate of Destruction for the compliance binder.
New Hampshire Document Shredding
1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876. Route 38 near I-495, about 15 minutes south of the NH line.
Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pickups and witnessed sessions by appointment.
- Drop-off at 99¢ per pound
- Pickup from $129.95 transport
- Witnessed at $1.99 per pound
New Hampshire Document Shredding · 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876 · (978) 636-0301 · Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.