How much notice does a landlord have to give before filing an eviction for unpaid rent in Rhode Island?

5 days. The five days are the cure period stated in the demand notice, and they run from the date of mailing rather than from receipt. Rhode Island bars the notice itself until the rent has been due and in arrears for fifteen (15) days, and filing must then wait until the sixth day after mailing.

How much notice is required to evict for a lease violation in Rhode Island?

21 days. The 21 days are the minimum termination period, not the cure window. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-36(a)(3) gives the tenant 20 days to remedy the breach but requires the termination date to fall at least 21 days after the notice is mailed.

How long does an eviction take in Rhode Island?

Best case is roughly 41 days from the missed rent payment to issuance of the execution, about 26 days from mailing the demand notice, plus whatever time the division of sheriffs or a certified constable takes to execute it. No statutory deadline governs that last step.

Can a landlord change the locks or shut off utilities instead of going to court in Rhode Island?

No — Rhode Island bars self-help eviction by statute; a landlord must go through the court process. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-44 bars a landlord from recovering or taking possession of the dwelling unit by action or otherwise, including by interrupting heat, running water, hot water, electric, gas, or other essential service. The only exceptions are abandonment, surrender, and the chapter's own judicial process.

What is the eviction process and timeline in Rhode Island?

Verified August 12, 2026 All Rhode Island topics →

To evict a residential tenant in Rhode Island a landlord serves one statutory written notice, then files an eviction complaint in the Rhode Island District Court, which has exclusive original jurisdiction over landlord-tenant cases: a five-day demand for payment that cannot even be mailed until rent is fifteen days in arrears (R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-35), a noncompliance notice giving twenty days to cure and terminating no less than twenty-one days after mailing (34-18-36), or a notice terminating a periodic tenancy - ten days week-to-week, thirty days month-to-month, three months year-to-year (34-18-37).

Cited to R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-35 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and 39 more Rhode Island statutes · Verified August 12, 2026

Rhode Island is a one-notice state: there is no separate notice to quit on any ground, and the same document that demands a cure also sets the termination date. Every period runs from the date of MAILING rather than receipt, and every period is in calendar days. Filing dates are set by bright lines rather than left to judgment - no earlier than the sixth day after mailing a rent demand, and no earlier than the first day after the termination date on a noncompliance notice, which on a minimum twenty-one-day notice means day twenty-two. Drug and violent-crime grounds under 34-18-24(8)-(10) need no notice at all and can be filed immediately. In a nonpayment case the clerk sets the hearing fourteen to twenty-four days after filing and the tenant must be served at least five days before it; on all other grounds the tenant gets twenty days from service to answer and the court sets the hearing. A tenant behind on rent can cure by paying in full any time before suit, and at the hearing with costs if no demand notice was sent in the previous six months. Judgment is followed by an execution issued on the sixth day after judgment and carried out by the division of sheriffs or a certified constable. Either side has five days to appeal to the Superior Court. Landlord self-help is flatly barred: locking a tenant out or cutting heat, water or utilities exposes the landlord to three months' rent or treble damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees.

Rhode Island eviction process at a glance

Nonpayment notice (pay-or-quit)	5 days
Nonpayment notice rules (day counting, cure rights, service)	The five days are the cure period stated in the demand notice, and they run from the date of mailing rather than from receipt. Rhode Island bars the notice itself until the rent has been due and in arrears for fifteen (15) days, and filing must then wait until the sixth day after mailing. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-35(a) applies only 'If any part of the stipulated rent is due and in arrears for fifteen (15) days,' at which point the landlord 'shall send a written notice, in a form substantially similar to that provided in 34-18-56(a)' specifying the arrears, demanding payment, and telling the tenant that 'unless he or she cures the breach within five (5) days of the date of mailing of the notice, the rental agreement shall terminate.' The statutory form (34-18-56(a)) carries a landlord certification of first-class mailing, so no extra days are added for mail by the statute. Filing is fixed by a bright line: under 34-18-35(b) the action 'shall be filed no earlier than the sixth (6th) day after mailing of the written demand notice.' Only one notice is required on this ground; there is no separate notice to quit. Days are calendar days: R.I. Gen. Laws 43-3-13 excludes the day of the act ('the day, date, or the day when the act is done shall not be included in the computation'), and R.I. Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 6(a) extends only the last day if it falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday - intermediate weekends are never excluded (contrast 9-12-10, which says 'exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays' where the legislature meant that). Sunday is a general holiday under 25-1-1. Cure rights are broad: 34-18-35(e) gives the tenant an absolute right to cure 'by tendering the full amount of rent prior to commencement of suit,' and, if the tenant has not received a 34-18-35(a) notice in the preceding six months, a further right to cure 'after commencement of suit by tendering the full amount of rent in arrears, together with court costs, at the time of hearing.' A repeat notice within six months plus willful nonpayment also opens the door to a reasonable attorney's fee under 34-18-35(d). Acceptance of rent with knowledge of the default waives the right to terminate for that breach unless the landlord gives written notice within 10 days (34-18-41); acceptance of partial rent is not a waiver of the balance.
Lease-violation notice period	21 days
Lease-violation notice rules (cure vs. termination)	The 21 days are the minimum termination period, not the cure window. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-36(a)(3) gives the tenant 20 days to remedy the breach but requires the termination date to fall at least 21 days after the notice is mailed. The two numbers are not the same, and they differ by exactly one day, which is the trap. The notice must state 'That unless the breach is remedied within twenty (20) days of mailing of the notice the rental agreement shall terminate upon a specified date, which shall not be less than twenty-one (21) days after the mailing of the notice.' The figure shown here is 21 - the statutory minimum termination period - not the 20-day cure window. Filing is one further day out: 34-18-36(b) says the eviction action 'shall be filed no earlier than the first day following the termination date specified in the written demand notice,' so on a minimum-length notice the earliest filing day is day 22 after mailing. A landlord who counts the 20-day cure figure and files on day 21 files on the termination date itself and is early. The notice must be 'in a form substantially similar to that provided in 34-18-56(b)' and must specify the acts/omissions constituting the breach, what is required to remedy it, and the termination date. Ground: 'material noncompliance by the tenant with the rental agreement or a noncompliance with 34-18-24 materially affecting health and safety' (34-18-36(a)). Only one notice is required - the same document carries the cure demand and the termination date; there is no separate notice to quit. Timely remedy defeats termination ('if the tenant adequately remedies the breach before the date specified in the notice, the rental agreement shall not terminate,' 34-18-36(b)) except for violations of 34-18-24(8), (9) or (10). Repeat violations carry a different and shorter period: under 34-18-36(e), 'If substantially the same act or omission which constituted a prior noncompliance, of which good faith notice was given, recurs within six (6) months, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement upon at least twenty (20) days' written notice, specifying the breach and the date of termination of the rental agreement. No allowance of time to remedy noncompliance shall be required.' So the second time round it is a 20-day pure termination notice with no cure right - 20, not 21. The tenant then has 20 days from service to answer (34-18-36(c)); hearing assignment is left to court rules. All periods are calendar days (43-3-13; Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 6(a)).
Unconditional-quit grounds	Rhode Island's unconditional-quit category requires NO pre-filing notice at all, which is unusual and is the fact a generic template gets wrong. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-36(f): 'If the tenant has violated 34-18-24(8), (9), or (10) ... the landlord shall not be required to send a notice of noncompliance to the tenant and may immediately file a complaint for eviction.' The three grounds are 34-18-24(8) maintaining a narcotics nuisance under 21-28-4.06; (9) using the premises or adjacent public property for the manufacture, sale or delivery of a schedule I or II controlled substance, or possession with intent to do so; and (10) any 'crime of violence on the premises or on any public property adjacent to said premises,' defined to include murder, manslaughter, arson, rape, sexual assault, mayhem, kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault or battery involving grave bodily injury, and felony assault with intent. There is also no cure right for these grounds: 34-18-36(b) opens 'Unless it is a violation of 34-18-24(8), (9), or (10).' The same no-notice treatment in 34-18-36(f) extends to a defined class of SEASONAL tenants (written lease running no earlier than May 1 to no later than Oct. 15, or no earlier than Sept. 1 to no later than June 1 of the next year, with no renewal right) who have been charged with a municipal ordinance violation or have violated lease terms on legal occupancy, excessive noise, or other disturbance of the peace. Short of that, a repeat of substantially the same noncompliance within six months is a 20-day termination notice with no allowance of time to remedy (34-18-36(e)). Holdover after a tenancy expires or is terminated is not an unconditional-quit ground but needs no further notice: 34-18-38(a) permits filing 'no earlier than the first day following the expiration or termination of the tenancy,' and a willful bad-faith holdover exposes the tenant to up to three months' rent or treble damages plus fees (34-18-38(c)).
Court and action	The Rhode Island District Court has EXCLUSIVE original jurisdiction: R.I. Gen. Laws 8-8-3(a)(2) - 'The district court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of: ... All actions between landlords and tenants pursuant to chapter 18 of title 34 and all other actions for possession of premises and estates.' R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-9 phrases it as 'The district or appropriate housing court of this state shall exercise jurisdiction in both law and equity over any landlord or tenant with respect to any conduct in this state governed by this chapter.' The municipal 'housing courts' that exist in Rhode Island (Providence, Pawtucket, Warren, Portsmouth and others, under ch. 45-2 and 45-24.2) are minimum-housing / zoning code-enforcement courts - 8-8-3(a)(4) is the provision that carves minimum-housing-standards violations out to them - not eviction courts. There is no named summary-process writ: the action is simply the statutory eviction action, brought on one of two prescribed complaint forms - 'Complaint for Eviction for Nonpayment of Rent' in the form provided in 34-18-56(d) (34-18-35(b)) or 'Complaint for Eviction for Reason Other Than for Nonpayment of Rent' in the form provided in 34-18-56(e) (34-18-36(b), 34-18-38(a)). Summonses are likewise statutory forms (34-18-56(g) for nonpayment, (h) for other grounds), served with a blank answer form in the form of 34-18-56(j). Procedure is the District Court Rules of Civil Procedure (Feb. 2024 edition), which apply to landlord-tenant actions with special carve-outs: Rule 13(a) makes counterclaims non-compulsory 'in residential landlord/tenant actions,' Rule 62(a) gives a 5-day automatic stay of execution in 'residential landlord/tenant matters' (vs. 2 days generally), and Rule 73 sets a 5-day appeal period for a 'residential landlord/tenant matter' (vs. 2 days generally). Service in nonpayment cases is by the statute's own method (34-18-10(a)); in all other ch. 34-18 actions the 34-18-56(i) summons is served under Rule 4 of the district court civil rules (34-18-10(b)(2)).
Filing to hearing	Split by ground - nonpayment has a real statutory window, everything else is delegated. NONPAYMENT: R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-10(a)(1) - 'At the time of filing of the complaint, the clerk shall enter the date of hearing upon the summons, which shall be fourteen (14) to twenty-four (24) days after filing of the complaint,' with filing defined for this purpose as 'the date upon which the clerk assigns a case number to the action and the filing fee is paid to the clerk.' The window therefore runs from filing, is bounded at both ends, and is set by the clerk, not by the landlord. On the same day the complaint is filed the plaintiff must mail a copy of the summons, complaint and a blank answer form to the defendant by first-class mail and file proof of that mailing; the sheriff or constable then serves by hand delivery, delivery to a person of suitable age and discretion at the dwelling unit, or, 'if none be found, by posting them conspicuously on the door to defendant's dwelling unit,' and 34-18-10(a)(2) requires the return to 'show that the defendant was served no less than five (5) days before the hearing.' The tenant may answer 'prior to or at the time of hearing' and is defaulted for non-appearance (34-18-35(c)); the court may continue the hearing for discovery on good cause and may order interim rent (34-18-35(d)). ALL OTHER GROUNDS (34-18-36 noncompliance, 34-18-38 holdover): no statutory hearing window. The summons 'shall specify that the tenant has twenty (20) days from the date of service in which to file his or her answer to the complaint,' and 'The matter may be assigned for hearing in accordance with the rules of procedure of the appropriate court' (34-18-36(c); 34-18-38(b)) - so on this track only the 20-day answer deadline is statutory, measured from service, and the hearing date is delegated to the District Court.
Writ of possession and lockout	The possession writ is called an EXECUTION. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-48: 'If no appeal is claimed, and if the judgment has not been satisfied, execution shall be issued on the sixth (6th) day following judgment.' The District Court rules state the same interval as a stay: R.I. Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 62(a) - 'In residential landlord/tenant matters, no execution shall issue upon a judgment until the expiration of five (5) days after its entry' (two days in ordinary civil cases). The five-day gap is not accidental: it matches the 5-day landlord-tenant appeal window in 9-12-10.1, and 34-18-48 conditions issuance on 'If no appeal is claimed.' Executions 'shall be issued to the division of sheriffs or certified constable,' who executes them; every execution 'shall continue in full force and effect for one year after the date thereof' and is returnable under 9-25-21. No statute sets a deadline for the sheriff or constable to carry the execution out, and none sets a notice-before-lockout period, so lockout timing after issuance is operational rather than statutory. Costs of the move, including reasonable moving costs, may be added to the execution by the clerk on court approval (34-18-48), and under 34-18-50 the tenant must pay the mover's costs and any prepaid storage charges to the sheriff, constable or other person who moved the goods before the property is released, with that sum reimbursed to the landlord. Where issuance or service of an execution is stayed by court order or by operation of law, the stay is conditioned on the tenant paying sums equal to rent as it would fall due (34-18-49), and on proof of nonpayment the court 'shall, on motion of the landlord and after hearing thereon ... enter an order for the issuance of such execution and the prompt service thereof, and from this order there shall be no appeal' (34-18-51). The equivalent rule during an appeal is 34-18-52 and 34-18-53, the latter directing entry of judgment and issuance of execution without trial on the merits, again with no appeal from that order. Under 34-18-60 (added by P.L. 2023, ch. 362, eff. Jan. 1, 2024) a party may move to seal the case file no earlier than 30 days after the appeal period expires.
Appeal window	5 days
Best-case uncontested timeline (derived from statutory minimums — contested cases run longer)	Best case is roughly 41 days from the missed rent payment to issuance of the execution, about 26 days from mailing the demand notice, plus whatever time the division of sheriffs or a certified constable takes to execute it. No statutory deadline governs that last step. The figure is derived by adding the statutory minimums cited on this page for the nonpayment track, all in calendar days (43-3-13; Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 6(a)). Day 0 rent due and unpaid; the 34-18-35(a) demand notice cannot be mailed until the rent has been 'due and in arrears for fifteen (15) days' = day 15 at the earliest; 34-18-35(b) forbids filing before 'the sixth (6th) day after mailing' = day 21; 34-18-10(a)(1) puts the hearing 'fourteen (14) to twenty-four (24) days after filing,' minimum 14 = day 35, with service required no less than 5 days before the hearing; judgment at that hearing on default; 34-18-48 issues the execution 'on the sixth (6th) day following judgment' = day 41. The other track is longer and only partly bounded: a 34-18-36 noncompliance notice takes 21 days to terminate and filing waits one further day (day 22), the tenant then has 20 days from service to answer, and the hearing date is set by court rules rather than statute, so no honest minimum can be computed past the answer deadline; add the same 6-day post-judgment execution interval. Contested cases, discovery continuances under 34-18-35(d), and appeals to the Superior Court under 9-12-10.1 run substantially longer.
Self-help eviction (lockout, utility shutoff) barred	Yes
Self-help scope and tenant remedies	R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-44 bars a landlord from recovering or taking possession of the dwelling unit by action or otherwise, including by interrupting heat, running water, hot water, electric, gas, or other essential service. The only exceptions are abandonment, surrender, and the chapter's own judicial process. The section is headed 'Self-help recovery of possession prohibited' and reads: 'A landlord may not recover or take possession of the dwelling unit by action or otherwise, including willful diminution of services to the tenant by interrupting or causing the interruption of heat, running water, hot water, electric, gas, or other essential service to the tenant, except in case of abandonment, surrender, or as permitted in this chapter.' The bar therefore covers both lockouts and utility shutoffs on its face. The tenant's remedy is 34-18-34: if a landlord 'unlawfully removes or excludes the tenant from the premises or willfully diminishes services ... the tenant may recover possession or terminate the rental agreement and, in either case, recover an amount not more than three (3) months periodic rent or threefold the actual damages sustained by him or her, whichever is greater, and reasonable attorney's fees,' plus return of all security recoverable under 34-18-19 and all prepaid rent if the agreement is terminated. Injunctive relief including temporary restraining orders is expressly available to an aggrieved party (34-18-5(a)), with the ex parte TRO procedure in 34-18-6. A separate remedy, 34-18-31, covers willful or negligent failure to supply heat, water, hot water or other essential services short of an ouster (rent deduction for self-procured service, diminution damages, substitute housing, attorney's fees). Retaliatory conduct is separately prohibited by 34-18-46.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Rhode Island Eviction Process Laws (verified August 12, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/eviction-process/rhode-island/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Rhode Island statute in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

Where these figures come from, and the source's own caveat — Every figure on this page comes from the codified sections on the Rhode Island General Assembly's own statute server, which labels itself the '2026 General Laws' and is updated daily by Legislative Data Systems. That site carries its own disclaimer that the text is 'provisional' and that the printed official publication governs for matters affecting legal rights.
Currency proved by content, not by the site's label — § 34-18-62 on the code site carries 'P.L. 2025, ch. 395, sec. 1, effective July 2, 2025,' so the codified pages have absorbed the 2025 session. No 2025 or 2026 act amends any section these answers rest on; the most recent substantive changes to chapter 34-18 are P.L. 2024, ch. 409/410 (effective June 28, 2024, adding the post-death grace-period tenancy in § 34-18-38(d)) and P.L. 2023, ch. 362 (effective January 1, 2024, adding the sealing provision in § 34-18-60).
Enacted but not yet effective: the appeal statute changes in 2027 — P.L. 2026, ch. 282 (2026-S 3047) and ch. 283 (2026-H 7642), both enacted June 26, 2026, amend § 9-12-10.1 effective January 1, 2027. They do not change the five-day figure — they add the words 'inclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays' after 'within five (5) days,' and replace the cost and attorney-fee proviso with a seventy-five dollar filing fee. The addition confirms rather than alters the reading that the five days are calendar days.
Court fees rose in June 2026 — P.L. 2026, ch. 70 and ch. 71 (identical companion acts, effective on passage June 11, 2026) raised the District Court fee schedule in § 9-29-1: the entry fee for a civil action — the fee an eviction complaint under chapter 34-18 pays — went from $80 to $100, and the fee for every writ of execution from $20 to $40. Small-claims entry rose separately from $55 to $75, and the Superior Court schedule in § 9-29-18, where a landlord-tenant appeal lands, rose in the same acts: civil entry $160 to $180, execution $50 to $70.
The code site lags two 2026 acts — The codified pages have not yet absorbed P.L. 2026, ch. 147/148 (amending the § 34-18-11 definitions, Rhode Island Survivor Early Lease Termination) or ch. 165/166 (amending the § 34-18-20 disclosure). Neither touches eviction notice periods or timelines, but the code site therefore trails the 2026 session by a few weeks.
Every period on this page is in calendar days — § 43-3-13 excludes the day of the act, and District Court Rule 6(a) (Feb. 2024 ed.) extends only the last day when it falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday — intermediate weekends are never excluded. The legislature says so expressly when it means otherwise: § 9-12-10 gives ordinary district-court civil appellants two days 'exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays,' while the landlord-tenant provision § 9-12-10.1 says only 'within five (5) days.' Sunday is a general holiday under § 25-1-1; Saturday is not, but Rule 6(a) covers it.
Mailing days: the notice periods run from the mailing — The five-day and 20/21-day notice periods are measured from 'the date of mailing,' so the statute itself adds nothing for mail transit. District Court Rule 6(d) adds a day to a period that runs after service of a notice or paper by mail or electronically, but whether it reaches a pre-suit statutory demand notice — as opposed to papers served in a pending case — is not resolved by the text; the safer reading, and the one used here, is that § 34-18-35(b)'s 'no earlier than the sixth (6th) day after mailing' and § 34-18-36(b)'s 'no earlier than the first day following the termination date' are self-contained bright lines. Nothing on this page depends on resolving the point.
The lease-violation notice carries two numbers, one day apart — § 34-18-36(a)(3) gives the tenant 20 days to cure but requires a termination date not less than 21 days after mailing; the figure recorded here is the 21-day minimum termination period. Rhode Island then separates the termination date from the first lawful filing day — § 34-18-36(b) permits filing 'no earlier than the first day following the termination date,' so on a minimum-length notice the earliest filing day is day 22. A landlord who counts the 20-day cure figure and files on day 21 files on the termination date itself and is early.
The 15-day arrears precondition sits on top of the five days — The recorded nonpayment figure of five days is the cure period stated in the notice. The separate requirement that rent be 'due and in arrears for fifteen (15) days' before the notice may be sent is an additional precondition, carried in the rules and the timeline rather than folded into that number — a landlord who reads only '5 days' and mails on day 2 of the arrears has an invalid notice.
The five-day appeal window is eviction-specific — § 9-12-10.1 applies 'In any civil action pursuant to chapter 18 of title 34,' so it displaces the general two-day district-court civil window of § 9-12-10, and District Court Rule 73 restates the same five days for a 'residential landlord/tenant matter.' The window runs from entry of judgment, with the day of entry excluded under § 43-3-13, and the appellant must pay costs at the time of claiming the appeal.
Statutory forms exist, and substantial compliance is the standard — § 34-18-56 prescribes the language of every notice and pleading in the process — the five-day demand notice (a), the notice of noncompliance (b), the notice of termination of tenancy (c), the two complaints (d) and (e), the summonses (g)-(i), and the answer (j). The operative sections require a notice 'in a form substantially similar to that provided in' the matching subsection, and § 34-18-56 provides that a notice 'in substantially the following language shall suffice' — a form the landlord must substantially follow, not one he must copy verbatim, with the statutory language as a safe harbour.
What a non-conforming notice does is an open question — The demand notice is a precondition to filing — the right to file is expressly measured from it in § 34-18-35(b) and § 34-18-36(b) — but no statutory sentence says a non-conforming notice is fatal, and no official case-law source establishing that was located, so the question is left open here rather than asserted. The Rhode Island Judiciary publishes fill-in versions of the same notices and complaints in the District Court appendix of forms (District Court Rule 84).
'Housing court' in § 34-18-9 does not mean a different court — § 34-18-9 speaks of 'the district or appropriate housing court,' which reads as if evictions might be filed elsewhere. They are not: § 8-8-3(a)(2) gives the District Court exclusive original jurisdiction over all chapter 34-18 actions, and § 8-8-3(a)(4) is the provision that routes minimum-housing-standards violations to a municipal housing court where one exists. The municipal housing courts under chs. 45-2 and 45-24.2 are code-enforcement courts.
Filing to hearing is a split, not a single figure — Nonpayment cases have a real, doubly bounded statutory window — the clerk sets the hearing 14 to 24 days after filing (§ 34-18-10(a)(1)), with service required no less than five days before it (§ 34-18-10(a)(2)). Noncompliance and holdover cases have only a 20-day answer deadline running from service, with the hearing 'assigned ... in accordance with the rules of procedure of the appropriate court' — delegated scheduling, no number. Both are stated here rather than one being chosen.
Out of scope: tenancies chapter 34-18 does not reach — Unless the parties opt in, the chapter excludes institutional residence incidental to detention or to medical, geriatric, educational, counselling or religious service; occupancy under a contract of sale; fraternal or social organization housing; transient hotel, motel and lodging occupancy taxed under § 44-18-7(11); employee occupancy conditioned on service in a building of more than eleven units; proprietary cooperative leases; commercial letting governed by ch. 34-18.1; and residence at a transitional housing facility (§ 34-18-8).
Manufactured-home parks run on a separate eviction scheme — Mobile and manufactured home parks are governed by R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 31-44: § 31-44-2(a) allows termination 'pursuant to chapter 18 of title 34' but only for enumerated reasons and subject to 'limitations which shall take precedence over any conflicting state statute or local ordinance,' including a seven-day grace period and a right to defeat the action by tendering arrears before a notice to quit expires. None of chapter 31-44's figures are blended into the numbers on this page.
Foreclosed rental property adds an overlay, not a separate track — § 34-18-38.2 requires just cause and a posted, mailed or hand-delivered notice, adds a 30-day wait for several just-cause grounds, and then routes the eviction back through § 34-18-35, § 34-18-36 or § 34-18-37 depending on the ground (§ 34-18-38.2(d)).
Related periods that sit outside the numbers shown here — Rent increases take 60 days' written notice, or 120 days for month-to-month tenants over 62 (§ 34-18-16.1). A landlord waives the right to terminate by accepting rent with knowledge of a default unless he gives written notice within 10 days (§ 34-18-41). Counterclaims are not compulsory in residential landlord-tenant actions (District Court Rule 13(a)).
Local overlays: nothing authorizes them, nothing forbids them — No statute in chapter 34-18 authorises municipalities to lengthen the statutory notice periods or impose just-cause requirements, and none expressly preempts them. The chapter's own local provisions are narrow and registration-related — § 34-18-57, the Providence and Warwick Absentee Landlord Enforcement Act, and § 34-18-58, the statewide mandatory rental registry. No official state registry of local eviction ordinances exists, so none is published here.
Immigration-status inquiries are barred — § 34-18-62 (added by P.L. 2025, ch. 395 and ch. 396, effective July 2, 2025) bars landlords from inquiring into immigration or citizenship status, and bars municipalities and housing agencies from compelling such inquiries.
What the two notice sections say — As of July 25, 2026 the two notice sections read as stated here — § 34-18-35(a)'s five-day cure running from the date of mailing, with its fifteen-day arrears precondition, and § 34-18-36(a)(3)'s twenty-day cure with a termination date not less than twenty-one days after mailing.

Common questions: Rhode Island eviction process

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 much notice does a landlord have to give before filing an eviction for unpaid rent in Rhode Island?: 5 days. The five days are the cure period stated in the demand notice, and they run from the date of mailing rather than from receipt. Rhode Island bars the notice itself until the rent has been due and in arrears for fifteen (15) days, and filing must then wait until the sixth day after mailing.
How much notice is required to evict for a lease violation in Rhode Island?: 21 days. The 21 days are the minimum termination period, not the cure window. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-36(a)(3) gives the tenant 20 days to remedy the breach but requires the termination date to fall at least 21 days after the notice is mailed.
How long does an eviction take in Rhode Island?: Best case is roughly 41 days from the missed rent payment to issuance of the execution, about 26 days from mailing the demand notice, plus whatever time the division of sheriffs or a certified constable takes to execute it. No statutory deadline governs that last step.
How long does a tenant have to appeal an eviction judgment in Rhode Island?: 5 days.
Can a landlord change the locks or shut off utilities instead of going to court in Rhode Island?: No — Rhode Island bars self-help eviction by statute; a landlord must go through the court process. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-44 bars a landlord from recovering or taking possession of the dwelling unit by action or otherwise, including by interrupting heat, running water, hot water, electric, gas, or other essential service. The only exceptions are abandonment, surrender, and the chapter's own judicial process.

Statute citations

R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-35 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-36 (a)(3), (b), (c), (e), (f) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-37 (a), (b), (c) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-38 (a), (b), (c) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-38.2 (a), (b), (c), (d) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-24 (8), (9), (10) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-56 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (g), (h), (i), (j) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-10 (a)(1), (a)(2), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-9 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-8 (1)-(8) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-14 (b) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-16.1 (a), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-31 (a), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-34 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-41 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-43 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-44 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-46 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-47 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-48 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-49 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-50 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-51 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-52 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-53 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-60 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 8-8-3 (a)(2), (a)(4) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 9-12-10.1 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 9-12-10 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 43-3-13 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 25-1-1 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 31-44-2 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 6 Rule 6(a), 6(d) (Feb. 2024 ed., p. 12-13) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 13 Rule 13(a) (Feb. 2024 ed.) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 62 Rule 62(a) (Feb. 2024 ed.) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 73 Rule 73 (Feb. 2024 ed., p. 71) (verified 2026) Official source
P.L. 2026, ch. 70 (2026-H 7644) and ch. 71 (2026-S 2725), enacted 06/11/2026 — court-fee increases (§§ 9-29-1, 9-29-18) sec. 1 (entry of every other action $100; writ of execution $40); effective upon passage (verified 2026) Official source
P.L. 2026, ch. 282 (2026-S 3047), enacted 06/26/2026 sec. 1 (amending 9-12-10.1); sec. 2 (effective Jan. 1, 2027) (verified 2026) Official source
P.L. 2026, ch. 283 (2026-H 7642), enacted 06/26/2026 sec. 1 (amending 9-12-10.1); sec. 2 (effective Jan. 1, 2027) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-62 (added P.L. 2025, ch. 395 and ch. 396, eff. July 2, 2025) (a), (b) (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, session adjourned sine die 2026-06-11) was swept — 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 died at sine-die adjournment (absent from the enacted-laws sweep); 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 in May 2026 — no rent control is in force anywhere in Rhode Island.