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S 2893Housing

Property - Residential Landlord and Tenant Act

This bill removes the ban on evictions for nonpayment of rent when landlords fail to comply with lead registry laws.

Held for study
Population
Affected
45
Email Legislator
Introduced Mar 4, 2026Committee Senate Housing & Municipal Government

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act concerning the statewide mandatory rental registry for properties built before 1978. While it maintains the requirement for landlords to register their properties and provide lead safety certificates to the Department of Health, the bill significantly changes enforcement. It removes a provision that previously prohibited landlords from evicting tenants for nonpayment of rent if the landlord was not compliant with the registry or lead safety laws. It retains civil penalties for failure to register and allows state authorities to seek legal action for repeated non-compliance.

For younger readers

There is a rule that people who own old houses (built before 1978) and rent them to families must tell the state about the house. They also have to prove the house is safe from lead paint, which can make kids sick. Before this bill, if the owner didn't follow this rule, they weren't allowed to kick a family out for not paying rent. This new bill changes that. Now, even if the owner completely ignores the lead safety rules, they are allowed to kick the family out if the rent isn't paid. The owners still have to pay a fine.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
LandlordsTenantsProperty ManagersReal Estate InvestorsDepartment of Health
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
Amount unknown

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Maintains the existence of the statewide mandatory rental registry for pre-1978 properties, ensuring that lead hazard data continues to be collected to help monitor public health risks.
  • Preserves the authority of the Attorney General and Department of Health to seek injunctive relief and civil penalties against landlords who repeatedly fail to comply with safety regulations.
  • Clarifies privacy protections for the public database, ensuring that specific landlord contact details like email addresses and phone numbers are collected for enforcement but not publicly exposed.
  • Eliminates the critical tenant protection that prevented non-compliant landlords from evicting tenants for nonpayment, removing the most effective leverage used to force landlords to fix lead hazards.
  • Prioritizes property rights over public health by allowing landlords to utilize the court system for evictions even when they are operating illegally by ignoring lead safety mandates.
  • Likely increases housing instability for low-income families living in older housing stock, who may now face eviction from unsafe units despite the landlord's negligence regarding lead safety.
For Conservatives
  • Restores the fundamental property right of landlords to evict tenants who fail to pay rent, regardless of the landlord's administrative registration status or lead certificate paperwork.
  • Removes a government-imposed barrier that weaponized the court system against property owners by preventing them from reclaiming their property from non-paying occupants due to regulatory technicalities.
  • Corrects a legislative overreach that unfairly punished landlords by conflating administrative health compliance with the contractual obligation of tenants to pay rent.
  • Continues to mandate a government-run rental registry, forcing private property owners to submit personal and business information to the state, infringing on privacy and business autonomy.
  • Maintains civil penalties and fines for administrative non-compliance, allowing the state to extract revenue from property owners for paperwork errors or delays.
  • Empowers the Attorney General to sue landlords for injunctive relief and penalties ($1,000 per violation), sustaining government overreach into the management of private rental businesses.

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.