Rhode Island eviction law

Once any rent is 15 days in arrears, mail the tenant a written demand, substantially in the statutory form, stating the amount 15 days overdue and that the lease ends unless the tenant pays within five days of the date of mailing. If the tenant does not pay, you may file for eviction no earlier than the sixth day after mailing.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-35 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-56

• The tenant may cure by paying the full rent before you file. If the tenant has not received a demand in the six months before filing, the tenant may also cure at the hearing by paying the rent in arrears plus court costs. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-35(e)
• If the tenant got a demand within the prior six months and the nonpayment was willful, you may also recover a reasonable attorney's fee. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-35(d)
• The statutory demand includes a certificate that it was placed in first class mail. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-56(a)
• You may not file a nonpayment eviction unless you are registered in the state rental registry when you file, and you must show the court proof of it. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-58(g) See Required disclosures on the Rhode Island page

For a material breach of the lease or a breach of the tenant's duties that materially affects health and safety, mail a written notice, substantially in the statutory form, saying what the breach is, what the tenant must do to fix it, and that unless it is fixed within 20 days of mailing the lease ends on a stated date at least 21 days after mailing. If the tenant fixes it in time, the lease continues.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-36 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-56

• If substantially the same breach recurs within six months after a good faith notice, you may end the lease on at least 20 days' written notice with no chance to cure. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-36(e)
• For drug nuisance, drug dealing or a crime of violence on or next to the premises, no notice is needed and you may file at once. The same applies to certain seasonal tenants charged with a municipal violation or breaking occupancy or noise terms. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-36(f) R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-24(8) to (10)
• If the breach is not fixed, you may file no earlier than the day after the termination date in the notice. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-36(b)
• You may recover possession and actual damages, plus attorney's fees if the tenant's breach was willful. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-36(d)

Evictions are filed in the District Court, or a housing court where one has jurisdiction, on the statutory complaint forms. For nonpayment, the clerk sets a hearing 14 to 24 days after filing, you mail the summons, complaint and blank answer on the day you file, and a sheriff or constable serves the tenant at least five days before the hearing. For a lease violation or a holdover, the tenant has 20 days after service to answer.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-9 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-10 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-35 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-36 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-38

• A holdover case may be filed no earlier than the day after the lease expires or the periodic tenancy ends. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-38(a)
• If no appeal is taken and the judgment is unpaid, execution issues on the sixth day after judgment. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-48
• While execution is stayed or an appeal is pending, the tenant must keep paying amounts equal to the rent, and missing them lets the court order execution or dismiss the appeal. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-49 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-51 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-52 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-53
• A nonpayment case needs proof that you are registered in the state rental registry. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-58(g)
• An eviction record may be sealed on motion in the cases the statute lists, such as a dismissal or a satisfied judgment, no more than once every five years. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-60
• A foreclosing owner of a building with four or fewer units generally needs just cause to evict a tenant with a bona fide lease. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-38.2

A landlord may not take back the unit by self-help, including by willfully interrupting heat, running water, hot water, electricity, gas or another essential service, except after abandonment or surrender or as chapter 34-18 allows. Possession comes through the court.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-44 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-34

• A tenant who is unlawfully removed or excluded, or whose essential services are willfully cut, may recover possession or end the lease and recover the greater of three months' rent or three times actual damages, plus attorney's fees; if the lease ends, the landlord returns the deposit and prepaid rent. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-34
• Distraint for rent is abolished, and a landlord's lien on a tenant's household goods is not enforceable. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-42

A unit is abandoned when the tenant has left without notice and does not intend to return, shown by rent unpaid for more than 15 days and removal of substantially all belongings. Send a certified letter, return receipt requested, to the last known address saying you will re-rent unless you hear back within seven days. If the letter comes back or the tenant does not reply in seven days, make reasonable efforts to re-rent at a fair rent.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-11(1) R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-40

• A new tenancy that starts before the old lease would have ended terminates the old lease on that date. If you do not try to re-rent, or you accept the abandonment as a surrender, the lease is treated as ended on the date you learned of the abandonment. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-40
• Chapter 34-18 sets no storage period or sale procedure for belongings left behind. R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 34-18
• After a court-ordered removal, the tenant pays the moving costs and any prepaid storage before the belongings are released. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-50

You may not raise the rent, cut services, or bring or threaten an eviction because the tenant complained to a code enforcement agency about a health and safety violation, complained to you about a maintenance violation, organized or joined a tenants' union, or used any other lawful right.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-46

• A retaliating landlord faces the lockout remedies: the greater of three months' rent or three times actual damages, plus attorney's fees, and the tenant has a defense to the eviction. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-46(b) R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-34
• A complaint made within six months before the landlord's action creates a presumption of retaliation, unless the complaint came after notice of a proposed rent increase or cut in services. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-46(b)
• You may still seek possession if the tenant's lack of care caused the violation, the tenant is behind on rent, or code compliance or public action requires work that would displace the tenant and the city's relocation rules are met. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-46(c)