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H 7559Real Estate

Property - Residential Landlord and Tenant Act

This bill removes the rule that prevented landlords from evicting tenants for unpaid rent if the landlord hadn't registered the property.

Held for study
Population
Affected
72
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 6, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends the "Statewide mandatory rental registry" in Rhode Island. It modifies the contact information landlords must provide to the Department of Health for residential properties built before 1978 and limits the personal contact information displayed in the public online database. Most significantly, the bill repeals a provision that previously prohibited landlords from filing for eviction for nonpayment of rent if they were not in compliance with the registry or lead hazard mitigation laws. It also clarifies registration timelines for new property owners.

For younger readers

In Rhode Island, people who own houses and rent them to others (landlords) have to put their names on a list with the government. This helps make sure houses are safe from lead paint, which can make kids sick. Before this bill, if a landlord didn't put their name on the list or check for lead, they were not allowed to kick a family out for not paying rent. This new bill changes the rule. Now, a landlord can kick a family out for not paying rent, even if the landlord hasn't finished their safety paperwork.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
LandlordsTenantsProperty ManagersReal Estate InvestorsFamilies with Children
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
Amount unknown

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Maintains the requirement for a rental registry and the collection of fines, which are directed into a restricted account to fund lead hazard mitigation and poisoning prevention programs.
  • Increases data privacy for small-scale landlords by removing their home addresses and personal phone numbers from the publicly accessible online database.
  • Clarifies the registration timeline for new owners, ensuring that the Department of Health maintains an up-to-date database for monitoring housing stock.
  • Eliminates the most powerful enforcement mechanism for lead safety by allowing non-compliant landlords to evict tenants, thereby removing the incentive to fix lead hazards to protect their income stream.
  • Disproportionately harms low-income tenants living in older housing stock, who may now face eviction from landlords who have failed to ensure the property is safe from lead poisoning.
  • Prioritizes the property rights and revenue collection of landlords over the health and housing stability of vulnerable families and children.
For Conservatives
  • Restores the fundamental property right of landlords to evict tenants for nonpayment of rent, removing a bureaucratic barrier that prevented owners from collecting income.
  • Protects the privacy of property owners by limiting the personal contact information (such as home addresses) exposed in the government's public database.
  • Reduces the ability of the government to weaponize administrative non-compliance as a tool to block legal court proceedings regarding private contracts.
  • Continues to mandate a government-run registry for private property owners, maintaining state surveillance over residential housing.
  • Empowers an unelected administrative agency (Department of Health) to levy civil fines against private citizens for paperwork violations.
  • Allows the government to keep the revenue generated from fines within the agency, potentially incentivizing aggressive enforcement to fund their own budget.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 12 additions · 11 deletions

SECTION 1. Section 34-18-58 of the General Laws in Chapter 34-18 entitled "Residential Landlord and Tenant Act" is hereby amended to read as follows: 34-18-58. Statewide mandatory rental registry.

(a) All landlords who lease a residential property constructed prior to 1978 shall register the following information with the department of health for the sole purposes of enforcement of lead hazard mitigation laws and promotion of lead safety by the department of health:

(1) Names of individual landlords or any business entity responsible for leasing to a tenant under this chapter;

(2) An active business address, PO box, or home address;

(3) An active email address;

(4) An active telephone number that would reasonably facilitate communications with the tenant of each dwelling unit;

(5) Any property manager, management company, or agent for service of the property, along with the business address, or PO box, or home address of the property manager, management company, or agent and including:

(i) An active email address; and

(ii) An active telephone number, for each such person or legal entity, if applicable, for each dwelling unit; and

(6) Information necessary to identify each dwelling unit.

(b) All landlords who lease a residential property constructed prior to 1978 and that is not exempt from the requirements of chapter 128.1 of title 42 (“lead hazard mitigation”) shall, in addition to the requirements of subsection (a) of this section, for each dwelling unit, provide the department of health with a valid certificate of conformance in accordance with chapter 128.1 of title 42 (“lead hazard mitigation”) and regulations derived therefrom, or evidence sufficient to demonstrate that they are exempt from the requirement to obtain a certificate of conformance.

(c) Contingent upon available funding, the department of health, or designee, shall create a publicly accessible online database containing the information obtained in accordance with subsections (a)(1), (a)(5)(i), and (a)(5)(ii) and (b) of this section, but excluding subsections (a)(2), (a)(3), (a)(4), (a)(5), and (b) of this section, no later than nine (9) months following the effective date of this section [June 20, 2023]. The department of health shall not share the data with any other governmental agency.

(d) All landlords subject to the requirements of subsections (a) and (b) of this section as of September 1, 2024, shall register the information required by those subsections no later than October 1, 2024. A landlord who acquires a residential rental property constructed before 1978, or begins leasing a rental property that was constructed before 1978 to a new tenant, after September 1, 2024, shall register the information required by subsections (a) and (b) of this section within thirty (30) days after the acquisition or lease to a tenant, whichever date is earlier. All landlords subject to the requirements of subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall, following initial registration, re-register by October 1 of each year in order to update any information required to comply with subsections

(a) and (b) of this section, or to confirm that the information already supplied remains accurate.

(e) Any person or entity subject to subsections (a) and (b) of this section who fails to comply with the registration provision in subsection (d) of this section, shall be subject to a civil fine of at least fifty dollars ($50.00) per month for failure to register the information required by subsection (a) of this section, or at least one hundred and twenty-five dollars ($125) per month, for failure to register the information required by subsection (b) of this section.

(f) All civil penalties imposed pursuant to subsection (e) of this section shall be payable to the department of health. There is to be established a restricted receipt account to be known as the “rental registry account” which shall be a separate account within the department of health. Penalties received by the department pursuant to the terms of this section shall be deposited into the account. Monies deposited into the account shall be transferred to the department of health and shall be expended for the purpose of administering the provisions of this section or lead hazard mitigation, abatement, enforcement, or poisoning prevention. No penalties shall be levied under this section prior to October 1, 2024.

(g) Notwithstanding the provisions of § 34-18-35, a landlord or any agent of a landlord may not commence an action to evict for nonpayment of rent in any court of competent jurisdiction, unless, at the time the action is commenced, the landlord is in compliance with the requirements of subsections (a), (b), and (d) of this section. A landlord must present the court with evidence of compliance with subsections (a), (b), and (d) of this section at the time of filing an action to evict for nonpayment of rent in order to proceed with the civil action.

(h) The department of health may commence an action for injunctive relief and additional civil penalties of up to fifty dollars ($50.00) per violation against any landlord who repeatedly fails to comply with subsection (a) of this section. The attorney general may commence an action for injunctive relief and additional civil penalties of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation against any landlord who repeatedly fails to comply with subsection (b) of this section. Any penalties obtained pursuant to this subsection shall be used for the purposes of lead hazard mitigation, abatement, enforcement, or poisoning prevention, or for the purpose of administering the provisions of this section. No penalties shall be levied under this section prior to October 1, 2024.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.