How much notice must a landlord give before entering in Rhode Island?

The two-day notice yields in an emergency or when giving notice is impracticable, and no consent is needed at all in an emergency or when the tenant has been absent more than seven days and entry is reasonably necessary to protect the property. Permitted purposes are inspection, necessary or agreed repairs and improvements, supplying services, and showing the unit to prospective buyers, lenders, tenants, workers, or contractors — and the tenant may not unreasonably refuse. The statute expressly forbids using the right of access to harass the tenant. A landlord who enters unlawfully, enters unreasonably, or harasses with repeated entry demands can be enjoined, and the tenant may terminate the lease; the prevailing party in an access dispute recovers actual damages plus costs and attorney's fees. Tenants who unreasonably refuse lawful access face the mirror-image remedies.

Rhode Island entry notice at a glance

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Rhode Island Landlord Entry Notice Laws (verified October 1, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/entry-notice/rhode-island/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

• The statute says two days, not 48 hours — § 34-18-26(c) requires 'at least two (2) days' notice.' The figure is stored here as 48 hours for comparability, but the requirement is written in days — read it as two days.
• Notice yields for emergencies and when it is impracticable — The escape valve is 'except in case of emergency or unless it is impracticable to do so' (§ 34-18-26(c)) — the broad URLTA formula, not an emergency-only exception.
• Two grounds need no consent at all — Under § 34-18-26(b) the landlord may enter without the tenant's consent in an emergency, and during any tenant absence exceeding seven days where entry is reasonably necessary to protect the property. The seven-day-absence ground is a URLTA feature many charts omit.
• Access remedies run both ways — § 34-18-45 offers an injunction or lease termination, and the prevailing party — landlord or tenant — recovers actual damages plus mandatory costs and reasonable attorney's fees. There is no statutory minimum dollar recovery.
• The entry section has not changed since 1986 — § 34-18-26 is unamended since its enactment by P.L. 1986, ch. 200, confirmed from the section's own history line.
• The 2026 Survivor Act governs lock changes, not entry — § 34-18-65 (in force since July 1, 2026, not yet shown on the code site) sets the lock-change procedure for victims of abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking: within two business days of a proper request the landlord must make a good faith effort to change the locks or let the tenant do so, and if the landlord does not, the tenant may change them. A landlord who blocks the tenant's lock change, or changes the locks without a good faith effort to give the tenant a key, is liable for two months' rent plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees, unless the court finds the landlord acted in good faith. It does not alter the entry-notice rules.
• § 34-18-26 carries the entry rule — Section 34-18-26 is the chapter's access section and carries the whole notice rule. The only other provisions on landlord entry are the repair entry it points to (§ 34-18-39, entry to do repairs a tenant fails to make after written notice, incorporated by § 34-18-26(d)(2)) and the remedies for abuse of access (§ 34-18-45).

Common questions: Rhode Island entry notice

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How many hours' notice must a landlord give before entering in Rhode Island?

2 days.

What reasons allow a landlord to enter a rental in Rhode Island?

A Rhode Island landlord may enter for inspection; necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations, or improvements; necessary or agreed services; and showings to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workers, or contractors. For each of these the tenant may not unreasonably withhold consent to entry (§ 34-18-26(a)).

Can a landlord enter without notice in an emergency in Rhode Island?

Yes — Rhode Island recognizes an emergency exception to the entry-notice requirement.

Are there time-of-day limits on when a landlord can enter in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island sets no clock hours for entry. The statute requires only that entry be at 'reasonable times' (§ 34-18-26(c)).

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (October 1, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).

• Correction, October 2, 2026 — Notice periods now print in the unit each statute uses (correction). Entry notice: the statutes of Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Washington say two days and Oklahoma's says one day, and those pages show days; Delaware's and Vermont's say 48 hours, and their pages, which had shown 2 days, now show 48 hours. Eviction notice for unpaid rent: California, Florida and Utah give three days that leave out Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and their pages now show 3 business days, as does California's lease-violation notice; Nevada's shows 7 judicial days; Alabama's two notices show 7 business days. Each statute was read on its official site on October 1, 2026. No period changed.

Citations

• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-26 · (a)-(d) (verified 2026) Official source
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-45 (remedies for abuse of access) · (a)-(c) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Rhode Island General Assembly site (webserver.rilegislature.gov): sections 34-18-19, 34-18-16.1, and 34-18-26 each read twice independently, verbatim, with every key figure matching (one-month deposit cap; $5,000 furniture threshold and separate one-month furniture deposit; 20-day return after the later of termination, delivery of possession, or forwarding address; twice-the-amount-wrongfully-withheld penalty plus attorney fees; 60-day rent-increase notice and 120-day notice for month-to-month tenants over 62; two days' entry notice). The 60/120 rent-increase figures were additionally reconciled against the enacted chapter text of P.L. 2024, ch. 243 (H 7304A, effective upon passage 2024-06-24), which shows the strike-through amendment from the former 30/60. Supporting sections read once (34-18-8, 34-18-11, 34-18-15, 34-18-35, 34-18-37, 34-18-45, 34-18-58, 34-18-59, 34-18-61, 34-18-62) plus the full ch. 34-18 section index as the sweep basis for verified negatives (no deposit interest or escrow requirement, no late-fee cap or grace statute, no rent-increase frequency limit, no preemption statute). Session-law sweeps: 2025 confirmed absorbed into the code (34-18-62, P.L. 2025 ch. 395/396, eff. 2025-07-02, is live); the full 2026 public-laws-by-subject table (Law Revision office; the General Assembly recessed on 2026-06-11) was read — the only on-topic enactments are P.L. 2026 ch. 147/148 (Survivor Early Lease Termination Act, new secs. 34-18-63 to 34-18-67 plus amended 34-18-11 definitions, EFFECTIVE 2026-07-01 and in force but not yet displayed on the code site; no change to any field in this record) and ch. 165/166 (shoreline rental disclosure, out of scope). Rent control: 2025 bills S0580/H5264 (4% cap), H5676 (10%+CPI), and H5954 (Providence enabling) all died; 2026 refile S2271 was not passed before the June 11, 2026 recess (absent from the enacted laws); Providence's 4% rent-stabilization ordinance passed the city council 2026-04-16, was vetoed by Mayor Smiley 2026-04-17, and the override failed on May 15, 2026 — no rent control is in force anywhere in Rhode Island. October 1, 2026: every section named above, with 34-18-38, 34-18-39 and 23-24.6-28, was read again on the General Assembly's statute server, which has absorbed the 2025 session and not the 2026 session; P.L. 2026, ch. 147/148 was read in its enacted text; every 2025 and 2026 public law was searched for these sections; and the published codes of all 39 cities and towns were checked for a rent control ordinance, with none found.