Rhode Island: Eviction Notice Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Rhode Island's eviction-notice rules are in the Residential Landlord and Tenant
Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Title 34, chapter 18 — a version of the Uniform Residential
Landlord and Tenant Act. Nonpayment of rent is handled in § 34-18-35; other
lease noncompliance in § 34-18-36; ending a no-fault periodic tenancy in
§ 34-18-37; holding over after a tenancy ends in § 34-18-38; and § 34-18-56
supplies the exact statutory language every one of these notices must
substantially follow.

Notice for unpaid rent

Rhode Island has a distinctive two-step clock. The landlord cannot send a
pay-or-quit notice the moment rent is late: "If any part of the stipulated rent
is due and in arrears for fifteen (15) days, the landlord shall send a written
notice... notifying the tenant that unless he or she cures the breach within
five (5) days of the date of mailing of the notice, the rental agreement shall
terminate" (§ 34-18-35(a)). So the rent must be 15 days overdue before the
5-day demand can even go out, and those 5 days run from the date the notice is
mailed. The landlord may then file "no earlier than the sixth (6th) day after
mailing of the written demand notice" (§ 34-18-35(b)).

Notice for a lease violation

For a material lease breach — or a breach of the tenant's health-and-safety
duties under § 34-18-24 — the landlord must mail a written demand that names the
breach and what will cure it, and states "that unless the breach is remedied
within twenty (20) days of mailing of the notice the rental agreement shall
terminate upon a specified date, which shall not be less than twenty-one (21)
days after the mailing of the notice" (§ 34-18-36(a)). If the tenant "adequately
remedies the breach before the date specified in the notice, the rental
agreement shall not terminate" (§ 34-18-36(b)).

Unconditional quit (no cure allowed)

A short list of serious conduct gets no notice and no cure at all. If the tenant
violates § 34-18-24(8), (9), or (10) — maintaining a narcotics nuisance,
manufacturing/selling/delivering a controlled substance, or committing a crime
of violence on or next to the premises — "the landlord shall not be required to
send a notice of noncompliance to the tenant and may immediately file a
complaint for eviction" (§ 34-18-36(f)). Separately, a repeat offense pulls the
cure right: if "substantially the same act or omission which constituted a prior
noncompliance... recurs within six (6) months, the landlord may terminate the
rental agreement upon at least twenty (20) days' written notice... No allowance
of time to remedy noncompliance shall be required" (§ 34-18-36(e)).

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

To end a periodic tenancy with no fault, the notice length depends on the rent
period. A month-to-month tenancy (or any periodic tenancy "for more than a month
or less than a year") takes "at least thirty (30) days" written notice before
the date specified (§ 34-18-37(b)). A week-to-week tenancy takes "at least ten
(10) days" (§ 34-18-37(a)), and a year-to-year tenancy takes "at least three (3)
months" (§ 34-18-37(c)). Either the landlord or the tenant may use this notice.

Just cause to evict required?

For ordinary tenancies, no. Rhode Island has no statewide just-cause
requirement; a landlord may end a month-to-month tenancy for any reason (or no
reason) on the § 34-18-37 notice, subject to the retaliation and fair-housing
rules. There is one narrow statutory exception: after a foreclosure, "a
foreclosing owner shall not evict a tenant except for just cause" (§ 34-18-38.2),
a protection for tenants who were renting a property that was foreclosed on.
Cities and counties may impose their own rules, which are outside this survey's
state-law scope.

How the notice must be served

The two demand notices are built around the mail. Both the 5-day nonpayment
demand and the 20-day noncompliance demand run their clocks from "the date of
mailing," and the statutory forms in § 34-18-56 each end with a landlord's
certification that a copy was placed "in regular U.S. mail, first class postage
prepaid." More generally, a person "receives" a notice when it is "delivered in
hand or sent by first class mail" to the address held out for receipt or, if
none, the last-known residence (§ 34-18-14(b)). The notice is only good if it is
"substantially similar" to the matching § 34-18-56 form — the nonpayment demand
must state the amount in arrears, and the noncompliance demand must specify the
breach and how to cure it.

Tenant's right to cure/reinstate

Rhode Island gives a generous nonpayment cure. Paying the full arrears within
the 5 days stops termination, and even after that "the tenant shall have the
right to cure... by tendering the full amount of rent prior to commencement of
suit" (§ 34-18-35(e)). If the landlord did not send a demand notice in the prior
6 months, the tenant can cure even after the case is filed, "by tendering the
full amount of rent in arrears, together with court costs, at the time of
hearing" (§ 34-18-35(e)). For a lease breach, remedying it before the date in
the notice keeps the tenancy alive (§ 34-18-36(b)). A tenant also has a
retaliation defense: a landlord "may not retaliate... by bringing or threatening
to bring an action for possession" after the tenant complains to a code agency
or the landlord or joins a tenants' union, and "a complaint within six (6)
months before the alleged act of retaliation creates a presumption" of
retaliation (§ 34-18-46). And self-help is costly: an unlawful lockout or utility
shutoff lets the tenant recover possession plus "not more than three (3) months
periodic rent or threefold the actual damages... whichever is greater"
(§ 34-18-34).

What trips people up

The nonpayment clock is really "15 + 5," not 5. Rhode Island's headline
number is a 5-day demand, but the landlord cannot send it until the rent has
been unpaid for a full 15 days, and the 5 days then run from the date the demand
is mailed — so the earliest a landlord can be in court is around three weeks
after the rent was first due. Tenants sometimes panic at "5-day notice" without
realizing how much runway the 15-day precondition builds in.

"20 days" and "21 days" are both in the lease-violation rule, and they mean
different things. The tenant gets 20 days from mailing to fix the problem, but
the termination date named in the notice must be at least 21 days after mailing
(§ 34-18-36(a)). A notice that sets the termination date too early is defective.

Some grounds skip notice entirely. Drug activity that rises to a narcotics
nuisance, manufacturing or dealing a controlled substance, or a crime of
violence on or next to the property (§ 34-18-24(8)–(10)) lets the landlord file
for eviction with no notice and no cure period (§ 34-18-36(f)). This is a narrow
list — an ordinary lease violation is not on it.

Common questions

My rent is three days late and I already got a 5-day demand — is that valid?
No. Under § 34-18-35(a) the rent has to be "due and in arrears for fifteen (15)
days" before the landlord may mail the 5-day demand. A demand sent before the
15th day of arrears is premature.

If I pay everything I owe, can the landlord still evict me for the back rent?
For a first nonpayment, no — paying "the full amount of rent... prior to
commencement of suit" cures it (§ 34-18-35(e)), and if you hadn't received a
demand in the prior 6 months you can even pay the arrears plus court costs at the
hearing and stop the eviction. Pay by the deadline, keep proof.

Can my landlord end my month-to-month lease without giving a reason? Yes, on
at least 30 days' written notice (§ 34-18-37(b)). Rhode Island has no statewide
just-cause law for ordinary tenancies — but the notice cannot be retaliation for
a recent code complaint or tenant-organizing (§ 34-18-46), and a tenant in a
foreclosed property is protected by a just-cause rule (§ 34-18-38.2).

Can my landlord change the locks or shut off the utilities to force me out?
No. A landlord "may not recover or take possession of the dwelling unit by action
or otherwise," including cutting off heat, water, or power (§ 34-18-44). If they
do, you can recover possession and "not more than three (3) months periodic rent
or threefold the actual damages... whichever is greater" (§ 34-18-34). Only a
court can order an eviction.

Statutes and sources

• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-35(a) — rent 15 days in arrears, then a mailed 5-day demand to pay; 5 days run from mailing.
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-35.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-35(b), (e) — suit no earlier than the 6th day after mailing; right to cure by paying before suit (and after suit if no notice in prior 6 months).
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-35.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-36(a), (b), (e) — 20-day mailed cure demand, 21-day minimum termination date; cure before that date; 20-day no-cure notice for a repeat within 6 months.
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-36.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-36(f) — no notice required and immediate eviction filing for § 34-18-24(8)–(10) violations.
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-36.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-24(8)–(10) — narcotics nuisance, controlled-substance manufacture/sale/delivery, and crimes of violence.
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-24.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-37 — no-cause periodic-tenancy notice: 10 days week-to-week, 30 days month-to-month, 3 months year-to-year.
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-37.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-38.2(a) — foreclosing owner may not evict a tenant except for just cause.
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-38.2.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-46(a), (b) — retaliatory-eviction bar and 6-month presumption of retaliation.
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-46.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-44 — self-help recovery of possession and utility shutoffs prohibited.
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-44.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-34 — tenant recovers possession plus up to 3 months' rent or treble damages for unlawful ouster.
  https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE34/34-18/34-18-34.htm (accessed 2026-07-11)