Skip to main content
H8110AReal Estate

Property - Residential Landlord and Tenant Act

This bill requires landlords and short-term rental owners of shoreline properties to disclose public shoreline access rights to renters.

Introduced37 Yea1 Nay0 Not voting
Population
Affected
25
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 27, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This bill requires landlords and owners of short-term rentals located on shoreline properties to provide a written disclosure to their tenants and renters about shoreline access. The disclosure must explain that the public has the right to access and use the shoreline up to ten feet inland from the high tide line. Landlords must also inform tenants of any known public rights-of-way on the property and advise them to contact local authorities or organizations to verify if any exist. The disclosure for short-term rentals can be included directly in the online listing or rental agreement.

For younger readers

If someone rents a house or a vacation home right on the beach, the owner has to give them a special notice. This notice tells the renter that the public is allowed to walk and play on the beach near the water, up to ten feet away from where the high tide reaches. The owner also has to tell the renter if there are any public walking paths on the property that lead to the beach. This makes sure renters know that other people might be walking on the beach near the house.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Landlords of shoreline propertiesShort-term rental ownersTenants of shoreline propertiesVacation rentersShoreline visitors
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely. The bill mandates a factual disclosure in rental agreements and listings regarding state shoreline access laws. While this could be viewed as compelled commercial speech, courts typically uphold such requirements under the First Amendment if the information is purely factual, uncontroversial, and reasonably related to a legitimate state interest (like preventing property disputes).

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Enhances public access to natural resources by ensuring renters are aware that the shoreline is a public good, preventing the private hoarding of beaches.
  • Increases transparency in the housing and vacation rental markets by requiring landlords and corporate hosts to disclose public rights-of-way to tenants.
  • Promotes social equity by affirming that the shoreline belongs to everyone, regardless of whether they can afford expensive coastal real estate.
  • The legislation relies on landlords to voluntarily disclose public rights-of-way, which could lead to non-compliance by property owners who wish to keep beaches private.
  • Does not create any new public access paths or environmental protections, but merely mandates a disclosure of existing shoreline access laws.
  • Lacks strict, targeted enforcement mechanisms or specific penalties for landlords who fail to provide the required shoreline access documentation to long-term tenants.
For Conservatives
  • Protects private property owners by clearly defining the ten-foot boundary from the high tide line, helping to prevent public trespassing further inland.
  • Reduces potential conflicts between renters and the public by ensuring expectations regarding beach access are clearly established before a rental agreement is signed.
  • Provides flexible compliance options for short-term rental businesses, allowing them to easily meet the requirement by simply updating their online listings.
  • Imposes an unnecessary new regulatory mandate on private property owners and landlords, dictating exact language they must include in their rental agreements.
  • Forces property owners to actively advertise public access across their own land, which could be seen as an infringement on private property rights.
  • Creates additional bureaucratic red tape for the short-term rental industry, requiring them to update listings and documentation to satisfy government demands.

Votes

Loading votes...

Full Bill Text

2 versions
Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 34 additions

SECTION 1. Section 34-18-20 of the General Laws in Chapter 34-18 entitled "Residential Landlord and Tenant Act" is hereby amended to read as follows: 34-18-20. Disclosure.

(a) A landlord or any person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on his or her behalf shall disclose to the tenant in writing, at or before the commencement of the tenancy, the name, address and number of:

(1) The person authorized to manage the premises; and

(2) An owner of the premises or a person authorized to act for and on behalf of the owner for the purpose of service of process and receiving and receipting for notices and demands.

(b) The information required to be furnished by this section shall be kept current. This section extends to and is enforceable against any successor landlord, owner, or manager.

(c) A person who fails to comply with subsection (a) of this section becomes an agent of each person who is a landlord for:

(1) Service of process and receiving and receipting for notices and demands; and

(2) Performing the obligations of the landlord under this chapter and under the rental agreement and expending or making available for the purpose of all rent collected from the premises.

(d) A landlord who becomes delinquent on a mortgage securing real estate upon which the dwelling unit is located for a period of one hundred twenty (120) days shall notify the tenant that the property may be subject to foreclosure; and until the foreclosure occurs the tenant must continue to pay rent to the landlord as provided under the rental agreement. (e)(1) For any dwelling unit that constitutes shoreline property as defined in § 5-20.8-1, the landlord shall provide the tenant, prior to the commencement of the tenancy, with a written shoreline access disclosure, which shall include the following information:

(i) Shoreline Access – Members of the public shall have the right to access shoreline property as defined in § 5-20.8-1. The public’s rights and privileges of the shore may be exercised, where shore exists, on wet sand or dry sand or rocky beach, up to ten feet (10') landward of the recognizable high tide line, subject to the restrictions governed by § 46-23-26 and any general laws to the contrary;

(ii) The landlord is required to notify the tenant of any public rights-of-way on the real estate that are known to the landlord. Upon request, the landlord shall provide the tenant with a copy of any documentation evidencing such rights-of-way or conditions of public access that is in the landlord’s possession; and

(iii) The tenant is advised to contact the coastal resources management council, the municipality, or applicable nonprofit organizations to determine whether any public rights-of-way exist.

(2) The disclosure required by this subsection may be satisfied by incorporating it into any written rental agreement or provided in a separate written notice delivered to the tenant in the manner prescribed for delivery of written notices pursuant to § 34-18-14.

SECTION 2. Section 42-63.1-14 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-63.1 entitled "Tourism and Development" is hereby amended to read as follows: 42-63.1-14. Offering residential units through a hosting platform.

(a) For any rental property offered for tourist or transient use on a hosting platform that collects and remits applicable sales and hotel taxes in compliance with §§ 44-18-7.3(b)(4)(i), 44- 18-18, and 44-18-36.1, cities, towns, or municipalities shall not prohibit the owner from offering the unit for tourist or transient use through such hosting platform, or prohibit such hosting platform from providing a person or entity the means to rent, pay for, or otherwise reserve a residential unit for tourist or transient use. A hosting platform shall comply with the requirement imposed upon room resellers in §§ 44-18-7.3(b)(4)(i) and 44-18-36.1 in order for the prohibition of this section to apply. The division of taxation shall at the request of a city, town, or municipality confirm whether a hosting platform is registered in compliance with § 44-18-7.3(b)(4)(i).

(b) Any short-term rental property listed for rent on the website of any third-party hosting platform that conducts business in Rhode Island shall be registered with the department of business regulation. The registration shall provide the information necessary to identify the property pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. For purposes of this section, the term “short-term rental” means a person, firm, or corporation’s utilization, for transient lodging accommodations, not to exceed thirty (30) nights at a time.

(c) The department of business regulation shall contact all hosting platforms that list property in Rhode Island on their website for rent and that submit hotel taxes to the division of taxation and/or the city of Newport and shall provide notice of the registration requirement, pursuant to this section, instructing the hosting platforms to notify their listed properties to register with the department of business regulation annually or be subject to fines pursuant to subsection (i) of this section. Provided further, renewals of registrations pursuant to this section shall become due for renewal on the anniversary date of the original registration.

(d) The state registration pursuant to this section shall include:

(1) The principal place of business of the owner, or if outside the state, the agent for service of process or property manager for the owner;

(2) The phone number of the owner of the property and/or property manager;

(3) The email address of the property owner and/or property manager;

(4) The address of the rental property;

(5) The number of rooms for rent at the property;

(6) Whether the registrant rents or owns; and

(7) Intended use (entire space, private room, or shared space).

(e) The assigned registration number shall consist of numeric and alpha characters, the alpha characters shall correspond to the city/town where the property is located and shall be uniform for the remaining properties in said city/town.

(f) Registration forms and/or any registration materials required by the department shall be completed prior to a listing by a hosting platform. The registration number shall be valid for the year during which it is assigned, and if a listed property is not duly registered after the expiration of the annual registration period, the hosting platform shall remove the property listing from its website within fourteen (14) days of notification from the department.

(g) The department of business regulation shall promulgate rules and regulations to correspond with and enforce this section and § 42-63.1-14.1 and may charge a registration fee to property owners registering with the department pursuant to this section.

(h) The department of business regulation shall create an online database to store all registered short-term rental units, and each unit shall have an online identification number in said database to correspond with subsection (e) of this section.

(i) Any owner of the property who or that fails to register with the department of business regulation as prescribed herein and lists the property as a short-term rental on a hosting platform website shall be subject to a civil fine as follows:

(1) Two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for the first thirty (30) days of noncompliance;

(2) Five hundred dollars ($500) for between thirty-one (31) and sixty (60) days of noncompliance; and

(3) One thousand dollars ($1,000) for more than sixty (60) days of noncompliance.

(j) Notwithstanding any other law or provision to the contrary, no person shall list any residence for short-term rental for tourist or transient use without the property’s current, valid registration number, and its expiration date, which hosting platforms shall require to be displayed on the listing advertisement. Any hosting platform that offers short-term rental of residential property for tourist or transient use without requiring the owner to display the current, valid registration number of a property, and its expiration date, shall be subject to a civil fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) per day per violation, with each property listing constituting a separate violation.

(k) A hosting platform shall provide to the department of business regulation, on a quarterly basis, an electronic report, in a format determined by the department of business regulation, of the listings maintained, authorized, facilitated, or advertised by the hosting platform within the state for the applicable reporting period. The report shall include a breakdown of the municipality where the listings are located, whether the listing is for a room or a whole unit, the total number of short- term rentals listed on the platform, the registration number of each short-term rental listed on the platform, the URL link of each short-term rental listed on the platform, and shall include the number of nights each unit was reported as occupied during the applicable reporting period. (l)(1) For any dwelling unit that constitutes shoreline property as defined in § 5-20.8-1, the owner shall provide the occupant, prior to the commencement of the short-term rental, with a shoreline access disclosure, which shall include the following information: "Shoreline Access – Members of the public shall have the right to access shoreline property as defined in § 5-20.8-1. The public’s rights and privileges of the shore may be exercised, where shore exists, on wet sand or dry sand or rocky beach, up to ten feet (10') landward of the recognizable high tide line, subject to the restrictions governed by § 46-23-26 and any general laws to the contrary."

(2) The disclosure required by subsection (l)(1) of this section may be made by:

(i) Including the disclosure in the listing on a hosting platform, provided that the listing clearly and conspicuously displays the disclosure before the booking is completed; or

(ii) Incorporating the disclosure into a written rental agreement or providing it in a separate written notice delivered to the occupant prior to the commencement of the rental in the manner prescribed for delivery of written notices pursuant to § 34-18-14.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2027.