Rhode Island Landlord-Tenant Laws
Local rent regulation in Rhode Island
No Rhode Island statute expressly addresses local rent control, either to authorize it or to prohibit it; the state's landlord-tenant law regulates only the notice a landlord must give before raising rent.
- New Shoreham (Block Island) — Rent Control (none exists)
- Providence — Rent Stabilization (none in force)
Verified August 12, 2026 · Full Rhode Island rent-increase rules →
Rhode Island Security deposits
Rhode Island caps security deposits at one month's rent, and the landlord must return the deposit with a written itemized statement within 20 days after the later of the tenancy ending, the tenant moving out, or the tenant providing a forwarding address.
Rhode Island Rent increase notice
Rhode Island landlords must give at least 60 days' written notice before any rent increase takes effect, and at least 120 days' written notice before raising the rent on a month-to-month tenant over age 62.
Rhode Island Late fees
Rhode Island sets no statutory cap on residential late fees and mandates no grace period, but since January 1, 2025 every fee beyond the rent — late fees included — must be disclosed in writing up front, in the same section of the lease as the rent (or in a written list if there is no lease), and a tenant can recover any fee that was not disclosed as required.
Rhode Island Entry notice
Rhode Island landlords must give the tenant at least two days' notice before entering a rental unit, and may enter only at reasonable times.
Rhode Island Eviction process
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).
Rhode Island Application fees
Rhode Island bans rental application fees outright and lets a landlord recover only the actual cost of an official state criminal background check or a credit report, and only where the applicant has not already supplied one issued within the previous ninety days.
Rhode Island mobile home park laws
Rhode Island's Mobile and Manufactured Home Act, chapter 31-44 of the General Laws, governs the tenancy of a resident who owns the home and rents the lot beneath it in a community of four or more occupied homes, and it is one of the more detailed such acts in the country: a change in lot rent or fees takes 60 days' written notice, a lot tenancy may be ended only on one of six listed grounds and never on less than 60 days' notice, and closing a community by selling or leasing it takes a full year's certified-mail notice plus relocation money of up to $4,000 a household.
Lot-rent, closure, park-sale and home-sale rules with statute citations →
Rhode Island Fair Market Rents (FY 2026) — HUD's benchmark rents for every Rhode Island metro area and county.
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.