Rhode Island Eviction Notice
Rhode Island eviction notice: 5-day pay-rent demand after 15 days' arrears under R.I. Gen. Laws Section 34-18-35. Free template. Attorney review available.
Introduction
Rhode Island splits its nonpayment notice into two stages most states don't separate: rent must first sit unpaid for 15 days before a landlord can even send the demand, and once mailed, the tenant then gets 5 more days to pay in full. The notice below is the actual document a landlord fills out and serves, built to that 15-then-5 structure and to the state's other statutory notice forms, not a general walkthrough of how Rhode Island eviction law works. Every day count on this page runs from the date the notice is mailed, not the date it's received or personally handed over. A noncompliance notice (a lease violation, or a violation of the tenant's health-and-safety duties) gives the tenant 20 days from mailing to fix the problem, with the termination date set at least 21 days out. Two narrow categories skip pre-filing notice entirely: certain drug and violent-crime violations, and a few municipal-ordinance violations by a defined seasonal tenant, both under Section 34-18-36(f). Ending a periodic tenancy without cause scales by tenancy type: 10 days for week-to-week, 30 days for month-to-month, 3 months before year-end for year-to-year. Rhode Island's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Sections 34-18-1 through 34-18-62, also supplies actual sample notice language in Section 34-18-56.
Key Things to Know
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An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord must serve on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing an eviction action in the appropriate Rhode Island court.
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Nonpayment of rent has a two-stage structure: rent must be 15 days in arrears before the landlord can send a written demand, and the tenant then has 5 days from the date the notice is mailed to pay in full. The eviction complaint cannot be filed before the 6th day after mailing. (R.I. Gen. Laws Section 34-18-35)
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A material lease violation, or a violation of the tenant's health-and-safety maintenance duties, gets a notice of noncompliance: 20 days from mailing to fix the problem (cure), with a termination date set at least 21 days after mailing if it isn't fixed. (R.I. Gen. Laws Section 34-18-36)
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Two situations skip notice entirely and let the landlord file immediately: a narcotics nuisance, drug manufacture/sale/delivery, or a crime of violence on the premises, and certain municipal-ordinance violations by a defined seasonal tenant. (R.I. Gen. Laws Section 34-18-36(f))
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The governing law is the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Sections 34-18-1 through 34-18-62, which sets every notice rule on this page and the eviction procedure that follows.
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Rhode Island's notices are mailed, not personally served: the day count runs from the date of mailing, and the statutory notice forms build in a landlord certification of having placed the notice in regular U.S. mail, first class, postage prepaid. (R.I. Gen. Laws Section 34-18-56)
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Rhode Island supplies actual sample notice language by statute for the nonpayment demand, the noncompliance notice, and the periodic-tenancy termination notice. A landlord's notice must be in a form "substantially similar" to those templates, not necessarily word-for-word identical. (R.I. Gen. Laws Section 34-18-56(a)-(c))
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Eviction Notice in Rhode Island, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Eviction Notice guide walks through them.
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Rhode Island Requirements for Eviction Notice
Rent must be 15 days in arrears before the landlord may mail a written demand. The tenant then has 5 days from the date of mailing to pay the full amount in arrears, and the eviction complaint cannot be filed before the 6th day after mailing. The tenant may still cure by tendering full rent any time before suit, and (if no demand notice was received in the prior 6 months) may cure after suit is filed by paying the arrears plus court costs at the hearing.
Rhode Island supplies actual sample notice language by statute for the Five-Day Demand Notice for nonpayment (Section 34-18-56(a)), the Notice of Noncompliance (Section 34-18-56(b)), and the Notice of Termination of Tenancy (Section 34-18-56(c)). Each underlying notice statute requires the landlord's notice to be in a form substantially similar to the corresponding template, not necessarily verbatim.
The pre-filing notice is served by mailing, not personal delivery. All statutory day counts run from the date of mailing, not the date of receipt. The statutory notice forms in Section 34-18-56(a)-(c) each include a landlord certification of having placed the notice in regular U.S. mail, first class, postage prepaid, on a specific date.
No notice of noncompliance is required at all, and the landlord may immediately file an eviction complaint, for a narcotics nuisance, manufacture/sale/delivery of a controlled substance, or a crime of violence on the premises or adjacent public property (violations of Section 34-18-24(8), (9), or (10)); or for a defined seasonal tenant charged with a municipal ordinance violation or otherwise violating lease terms on legal occupancy or excessive noise/disturbance of the peace.
Distinct from the for-cause notices above: ending a periodic tenancy without cause requires written notice with a lead time set by tenancy type: at least 10 days for a week-to-week tenancy, at least 30 days for a month-to-month tenancy or any periodic tenancy of more than a month but less than a year, and at least 3 months before the end of the occupation year for a year-to-year tenancy.
The statutory basis for every notice type on this page and the eviction procedure that follows if the tenant does not comply: Rhode Island General Laws Title 34, Chapter 18, "Residential Landlord and Tenant Act," Sections 34-18-1 through 34-18-62.
20 days from the date of mailing to remedy a material lease violation, or a violation of the tenant's health-and-safety maintenance duties under Section 34-18-24. If unremedied, the rental agreement terminates on a date the notice must specify, no less than 21 days after mailing. If substantially the same violation recurs within 6 months of a prior good-faith notice, the landlord may terminate on at least 20 days' written notice with no cure opportunity required.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the reason. Nonpayment of rent requires rent to sit 15 days in arrears before the landlord can send a demand, and the tenant then gets 5 days from the date of mailing to pay. A lease violation or health-and-safety noncompliance gets 20 days from mailing to fix the problem, with the tenancy ending on a date at least 21 days after mailing if it isn't fixed. A no-cause end to a periodic tenancy needs 10 days (week-to-week), 30 days (month-to-month), or 3 months before year-end (year-to-year).
Almost always notice is required first, but two narrow exceptions let a landlord skip it and file immediately: a narcotics nuisance, drug manufacture/sale/delivery, or a crime of violence on the premises, and certain municipal-ordinance violations by a defined seasonal tenant. Outside those exceptions, nonpayment and noncompliance evictions both require the written notice described above before a case can be filed.
A nonpayment demand must state the amount of rent in arrears and the date it was mailed, since the 5-day cure period runs from that date. A noncompliance notice must describe the specific acts or omissions that breach the rental agreement, what the tenant must do to fix it, and the date the tenancy will terminate if it isn't fixed. Every notice should identify the landlord, the tenant, and the rental address, and carry the landlord's mailing certification.
Rhode Island supplies actual sample language in R.I. Gen. Laws Section 34-18-56 for the nonpayment demand, the noncompliance notice, and the termination notice, and each underlying statute requires the landlord's notice to be in a form "substantially similar" to that sample. A landlord doesn't have to copy the statutory language word for word, but the notice needs to track its structure and required content. This template is built to that structure.
Nonpayment is curable: paying the full amount in arrears stops the eviction, and a tenant may even cure at the court hearing if no demand notice was sent in the prior 6 months. A noncompliance violation is curable within the 20-day window, unless it's a repeat of substantially the same violation within 6 months of an earlier good-faith notice, or it falls under Section 34-18-24(8), (9), or (10) (narcotics nuisance, drug distribution, or violent crime), in which case no cure period applies at all.
Start counting from the date the notice is mailed, not the date the tenant actually receives it. For nonpayment, count 5 days from mailing; the complaint can't be filed until the 6th day after that. For noncompliance, count 20 days from mailing for the cure deadline, and set the termination date at least 21 days from mailing. For a periodic-tenancy termination, count backward from the intended end date using the applicable lead time for that tenancy type.
If the tenant hasn't paid, cured, or vacated by the stated deadline, the notice itself doesn't remove anyone; the landlord's next step is to file the applicable eviction complaint in Rhode Island District Court, using the statutory complaint form tied to the notice type. Keep the mailed notice and your mailing certification, since the complaint must attach a copy of the notice that was served.
Sign and date the notice, and complete the mailing certification built into the statutory form: a statement that the notice was placed in regular U.S. mail, first class, postage prepaid, on a specific date. Rhode Island's day counts run from that mailing date, not from personal delivery, so keeping an accurate, signed mailing record matters if the case is later challenged in court.