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S 2305Real Estate

Property - Residential Landlord and Tenant Act

This bill allows tenants to request the sealing of eviction court records more frequently by removing the five-year waiting period.

Held for study
Population
Affected
25
Email Legislator
Introduced Jan 23, 2026Committee Senate Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation modifies the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act regarding the sealing of court files in eviction cases. Currently, individuals can only request to seal their court records once every five years. This bill removes that frequency limitation, allowing parties to file a motion to seal records whenever specific conditions—such as dismissal, settlement, or full payment of judgment—are met. Additionally, it eliminates the five-year waiting period previously required to seal cases dismissed for lack of prosecution. This makes it easier for tenants to keep their eviction history private after resolving the dispute.

For younger readers

Sometimes, when people rent a home, they might have a disagreement with the owner that ends up in court. This creates a public record that others can see. This bill changes the rules to help people keep those records private. Before this change, a person could only ask the court to hide a record once every five years. This bill takes away that time limit. Now, if the person pays what they owe or fixes the problem, they can ask the court to hide the record right away, even if they have done it before.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
TenantsLandlordsProperty ManagersCourt ClerksAttorneys
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
Amount unknown

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Reduces barriers to securing safe and affordable housing by preventing resolved eviction cases from haunting tenants indefinitely.
  • Prevents the "blacklisting" of low-income tenants who may have faced financial hardships but have since satisfied their debts or settled their disputes.
  • Promotes social equity by allowing individuals to seal records more frequently, acknowledging that financial instability can lead to multiple minor infractions that shouldn't result in permanent housing insecurity.
  • Does not mandate automatic sealing of records, meaning low-income tenants must still navigate the court system and potentially pay filing fees to access this relief.
  • Fails to address the root causes of eviction or provide legal representation for tenants during the initial eviction proceedings.
  • May not go far enough to protect tenants, as the records remain accessible until a motion is affirmatively filed and granted, leaving a window for data scraping companies to capture the information.
For Conservatives
  • Protects individual privacy by allowing citizens to keep their settled personal business disputes out of the public eye.
  • Encourages the full satisfaction of debts and judgments, as tenants are motivated to pay what they owe to qualify for record sealing.
  • Reduces government interference in an individual's future economic life once they have legally resolved their past obligations.
  • Interferes with the free market by preventing landlords from accessing complete history regarding a prospective tenant's reliability and past legal disputes.
  • Increases financial risk for property owners who may unknowingly rent to individuals with a history of repeated, but sealed, eviction proceedings.
  • Undermines the transparency of the judicial system by allowing public court records to be hidden more frequently, obscuring the truth of legal interactions.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 1 addition · 5 deletions

SECTION 1. Section 34-18-60 of the General Laws in Chapter 34-18 entitled "Residential Landlord and Tenant Act" is hereby amended to read as follows: 34-18-60. Sealing and unsealing of court files.

(a) Actions arising under §§ 34-18-35, 34-18-36, and 34-18-38 may be sealed by the court upon motion by any party or parties filed at least thirty (30) days after the expiration of the appeal period following the conclusion of the underlying civil action.

(b) In ruling on the motion to seal, the court shall grant the motion and seal the record of the civil action upon a finding that the underlying civil action was dismissed as a result of a motion to dismiss, the action was resolved by stipulation and the terms of the stipulation have been satisfied by the parties, any monetary judgment against the moving party has been satisfied in full, or the action has been dismissed for lack of prosecution after a five-year (5) period. The court shall also make a finding that the moving party notified all parties to the underlying civil action of their motion to seal the record and that motion is the only request made under this section by the moving party within the previous five (5) years.

(c) Any party to an action arising under §§ 34-18-35, 34-18-36, and 34-18-38 may file a motion to seal the record of the action upon satisfaction of the requirements set forth in subsections

(a) and (b) of this section. Parties requesting seal of their record under this section are limited to one request every five (5) years.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.