Delinquent Property Taxes in Rhode Island: A Fraction of the Land Is Auctioned, and the Superior Court Ends It
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Rhode Island · Last updated October 21, 2026
Rhode Island does not put the whole house on the block when a tax bill goes unpaid, it sells a slice of the land: the city or town collector auctions the smallest undivided part of the parcel that will bring the taxes and charges, and never less than one percent (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-8). Delinquent property taxes are taxes an owner did not pay by the date the taxing body fixed, after which charges are added and the property can be sold to collect them. The buyer leaves the auction with a collector's deed, but that deed conveys the land subject to the right of redemption and is held only as security for repayment of the purchase price (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-12). Title turns absolute only when the Superior Court, which has exclusive jurisdiction over it, enters a decree foreclosing the right of redemption (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-24). The deadline here is an event, not a date. You may redeem at any time prior to the filing of a petition for foreclosure, and the holder cannot bring that petition until one year has run from the sale (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19, 44-9-25). What you repay is a penalty rather than a yearly rate: ten percent of the purchase price inside six months of the sale, then one further percent of that price for each month after, plus any taxes the holder paid since, carrying one percent a month (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19). The money goes to your city or town treasurer (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19, 44-9-21). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
Find out where you stand in Rhode Island
Where are you with the unpaid property taxes?
DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.
How long do I have to redeem after a Rhode Island tax sale?
There is no fixed number of days. Any person having an interest in the land may redeem at any time prior to the filing of a petition for foreclosure in the Superior Court (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19), and the tax title holder cannot bring that petition until one year after the sale (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-25).
How much does it cost to redeem a Rhode Island tax title?
The sum the real estate was purchased for, plus a penalty of ten percent of that purchase price if you redeem within six months after the collector's sale, plus one further percent of the price for each succeeding month, plus intervening taxes paid to the municipality at one percent a month (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19).
Who owns the property after a Rhode Island tax sale?
The purchaser holds a collector's deed, but it conveys the land subject to the right of redemption, and the title is held as security for repayment of the purchase price until redemption or foreclosure (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-12). Ownership turns absolute only on a Superior Court decree (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-24).
When do Rhode Island property taxes become delinquent?
There is no single statewide date. Each city and town fixes the due dates in the resolution ordering the assessment and collection of the tax, and every one of them must offer an option to pay in equal quarterly installments, free of any charges, interest or penalties (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-7).
What a Rhode Island tax sale actually puts up for auction
A Rhode Island tax sale is run by your own city or town, and what it offers bidders is a fraction of the land rather than the house. Delinquent property taxes are taxes left unpaid past the date the taxing body set, after which charges accrue and the parcel can be sold to satisfy them. The collector auctions the smallest undivided part that will bring the taxes and charges, with one percent as the floor, and buys for the municipality itself if nobody bids that much (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-8, 44-9-14). Two consequences follow. The winning bidder's deed is security rather than ownership until the Superior Court forecloses redemption (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-12, 44-9-24). And the cost of getting the parcel back is a penalty on the price, ten percent for the first six months and one point a month after that (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19).
A Woonsocket two family where the winning bidder took four percent of the land
Four percent is the number that makes this one feel wrong. Say 4,860 dollars of city tax goes unpaid on a two family, the collector advertises it, and at the auction the best offer is to take a four percent undivided interest for the taxes and charges of roughly 5,290 dollars, that being the smallest share anyone will accept (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-8). The deed is recorded inside sixty days and is held as security, so the family stays in the house and the bidder draws no rent for a year (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-12). Redeeming in month five costs the 5,290 dollars plus a ten percent penalty of about 529 dollars. Waiting to month eight lifts the penalty to twelve percent, near 635 dollars (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19). The treasurer's written payoff figure is what controls.
Relevant Laws
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-8 (what the auction actually sells)
Provides that if the taxes are not paid the collector shall, at the time and place appointed for the sale, sell by public auction for the amount of the taxes, assessments, rates, liens, interest and necessary intervening charges, the smallest undivided part of the land which will bring the amount, but not less than one percent, or the whole for the amount if no person offers to take an undivided part.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-12 (the collector's deed is security, not ownership)
Requires the collector to execute and deliver a deed stating the cause of sale, the price, where notices were posted, the newspaper used and the parties notified. The deed conveys the land subject to the right of redemption and the title is held as security for repayment of the purchase price with intervening costs and charges. It is not valid against intervening interests unless recorded within sixty days. No sale gives the purchaser possession, rents or profits until one year after the sale, and the purchaser is never entitled to rent for owner occupied single unit residential property.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19 (redemption from a city or town, and the penalty)
Lets any person having an interest in land sold for nonpayment of taxes redeem at any time prior to the filing of a petition for foreclosure under 44-9-25, where the city or town bought and has not assigned, by paying the treasurer the sum for which the real estate was purchased plus a penalty of ten percent of the purchase price if redeemed within six months after the date of the collector's sale, plus an additional one percent of the purchase price for each succeeding month, plus charges for intervening taxes paid to the municipality with interest at one percent per month, plus expenses assessed after the sale. The treasurer records the certificate of redemption within twenty days, and the redeeming party pays its recording cost.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-21 (redemption from a purchaser other than the city or town)
Lets any person redeem by paying a purchaser other than the city or town, at any time prior to the filing of the petition for foreclosure, the original sum and any intervening taxes paid to the municipality with interest at one percent per month and costs paid, plus the penalty provided in 44-9-19; or, from an assignee of a city or town tax title, the amount stated in the instrument of assignment plus that penalty. Payment may instead be made to the treasurer, who is constituted the agent of the purchaser or assignee until the expiration of one year from the date of sale and not thereafter.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-25 (the petition cannot be filed for a year)
Provides that after one year from a sale of land for taxes, whoever then holds the acquired title may bring a petition in the superior court for the foreclosure of all rights of redemption, setting out the land, its assessed valuation and the petitioner's source of title. No more than one foreclosure petition may be filed for each tax deed, and the court shall not award more than one attorneys' fee to the petitioners. Where the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation acquired the title under 44-9-8.3, no petition may be filed or entertained until after five years from the sale.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-24 (title turns absolute only on a Superior Court decree)
Provides that the title conveyed by a tax collector's deed shall be absolute after foreclosure of the right of redemption by decree of the superior court, that the superior court has exclusive jurisdiction of the foreclosure of all rights of redemption from titles conveyed by a tax collector's deed, and that no decree shall be vacated except in a separate action instituted within six months following entry of the decree, and only for inadequacy of notice amounting to a denial of due process or for invalidity of the sale because the taxes had been paid or were not due and owing.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-29 and 44-9-30 (court set redemption terms, then the decree)
Section 44-9-29 lets a person claiming an interest file an answer by the return day setting out the right in the land and an offer to redeem on terms the court fixes, and allows the court to require payment of the original sum, costs, penalties and all subsequent taxes, costs and interest, together with the costs of the proceeding and a counsel fee as the court deems reasonable, plus other terms justice warrants. Section 44-9-30 provides that where a default is entered, or redemption is not made on the terms and within the time the court fixed, a decree shall be entered which shall forever bar all rights of redemption.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-10 (the ninety day and forty day notices to the taxpayer)
Requires the collector to notify the taxpayer of the time and place of sale first by first class mail not less than ninety days before the date of sale, and again by certified mail not less than forty days before it, or to leave the notice at the last known address or serve it personally not less than thirty days before. Copies must go to the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation not less than forty days before the sale, and failure to notify that corporation shall nullify any tax sale of the property concerned. A person aged sixty five or over, or suffering from a disability, may designate a third party to receive notice. Where the records show an age based abatement the collector must also notify the office of healthy aging, and failure to do so likewise nullifies the sale.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-9 (posting, publication, and the redemption explanation)
Requires notice of the time and place of sale posted in two or more public places at least three weeks before the sale, publication of a full statement including the parcels by plat and lot once at least three weeks before the advertised sale, and a weekly formal legal notice between the original advertisement and the sale. A postponed sale needs a fresh legal notice at least one week before the new date. Any notice of sale shall inform any party entitled to notice of its right of redemption, explain the manner in which that right is exercised, and state the penalties and forfeiture that may occur if it is not.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-11 (notice to mortgagees and other recorded parties)
Requires the collector to notify listed interested parties whose interest was of record at least ninety days before the sale, including the present owner of record, recorded mortgagees and assignees, former fee holders whose right to redeem has not been foreclosed, holders of tax title, federal lienholders and holders of life estates, by registered or certified mail not less than twenty days before the sale. Only a party that failed to receive proper notice may raise lack of notice to void the sale, and the sale is then void only as to that party.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-14 (what happens when nobody bids the tax)
Provides that if no person bids an amount equal to the tax and charges for the land offered, the collector shall make public declaration of the fact and then give public notice that the collector purchases the land for the city or town by which the tax is assessed, at the amount of the tax and the charges and expenses of the levy and sale, provided the deed is recorded within sixty days and delivered to the city or town treasurer.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-25.1 and 44-9-25.3 (the two expedited routes)
Section 44-9-25.1 lets the holder bring an immediate petition on a finding of abandonment, reached through a summons returned not found, a court appointed officer's personal inquiry into the taxpayer's whereabouts, and a hearing, with a misdemeanor penalty for misrepresenting the facts or pressuring a taxpayer to abandon. Section 44-9-25.3 lets the holder petition sixty days after the tax sale deed is recorded where the court finds the structures vacant and either vandalized or not code compliant, with a certificate from the local building official as prima facie evidence, and requires substantial rehabilitation to begin within six months of the final decree.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-8.3 (the housing agency's right of first refusal)
Gives the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation a right of first refusal to acquire the tax lien at a tax sale where the property is owner occupied residential and contains three or fewer units, and lets it either assist the owner to discharge the lien or take title in its own name. It must notify the collector by the later of thirty days from its receipt of the certified mail notice under 44-9-10 or ten days before the sale, and failure to do so extinguishes the right.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-36 and 44-9-37 (the one route that can leave a surplus)
Section 44-9-36 lets a treasurer, after one year from the municipality's purchase, auction parcels the treasurer considers of insufficient value to meet the taxes and the expense of a foreclosure, on published notice once a week for three successive weeks, with title absolute on recording the treasurer's deed within sixty days. Section 44-9-37 provides that where the amount received exceeds the taxes, interest, charges, subsequent taxes and assessments and the expenses of the sale, the balance shall be deposited with the city or town treasurer to be paid to the person entitled to it if demanded within five years, otherwise it enures to the city or town.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-8.1 and 44-9-8.2 (the alternative route, a taking)
Section 44-9-8.1 lets a municipality take the land for itself instead of selling it, but only on a determination that the property is necessary for redevelopment, revitalization or municipal purposes, where the tax is unpaid fourteen days after demand and remains unpaid at the date of taking, after fourteen days of notice of the intention to take and a posted notice in two or more public places. Section 44-9-8.2 provides that title to land taken vests in the city or town subject to the right of redemption and is held as security, and that the instrument of taking is invalid unless recorded within sixty days.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-17 (taxes assessed after the municipality's purchase)
Provides that where a city or town has purchased real estate for payment of taxes, its lien for all taxes assessed after the assessment for which the estate was purchased continues, that it need not sell again for those later taxes, and that on redemption or foreclosure the subsequent taxes, costs and interest shall be paid to the city or town and that payment is made a part of the terms of redemption.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-9 and 44-5-8 (the municipal penalty, inside a statutory band)
Section 44-5-9 lets any city or town provide for penalties by way of percentage on a tax not paid at the time appointed, not exceeding eighteen percent per annum, except that the city of Cranston may charge a penalty not exceeding twelve percent per annum. Section 44-5-8 sets the statutory form of the installment option, under which a missed installment accelerates the whole remaining balance and carries a penalty at a rate the municipality writes in, not less than six nor more than eighteen percent per annum, or twelve for Cranston, and lets a municipality instead require only the late installment and charge interest only on that installment.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-7 (the quarterly installment option every municipality must offer)
Requires every city and town to make provision for payment in installments of any tax levied under 44-5-1 by adding to the resolution ordering the assessment and collection of the tax an option permitting persons assessed to pay in equal quarterly installments if they so desire, free of any charges, interest, penalties or other assessments, with the amounts and dates specified in the resolution, and allows the option to be withheld from bills not exceeding one hundred dollars.
R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-8.1 and 44-5-88 (interest waiver and tax amnesty by ordinance)
Section 44-5-8.1 lets a city or town, by ordinance, waive the interest on one quarter's overdue property tax payment and allow the balance to be paid quarterly, where the property has been the taxpayer's residence for the five preceding years, the request is in writing, signed and dated, the taxpayer paid on time for those five years, and the overdue bill issued less than two years before the request, with the waiver capped at five hundred dollars. As amended by P.L. 2026, ch. 161 the provision also reaches commercial property. Section 44-5-88 lets a municipality authorize one tax amnesty period every three years waiving interest and penalties on overdue real estate payments, on a written request made by July 1 of the amnesty year, excluding the current tax year.
P.L. 2026, ch. 161 (the enacted 2026 amendment to the interest waiver)
The enrolled act, H 7568, enacted June 18, 2026 and effective upon passage, amending 44-5-8.1 so that the quarterly interest waiver reaches the residence or commercial property of the taxpayer. It is recorded here because the posted General Laws copy of 44-5-8.1 has not yet absorbed it, which is the clearest available check on how current the posted code is.
City of Providence collector's sale notice, May 21, 2026
An official municipal notice showing the chapter running in practice. The City Collector gave notice of a public auction on Thursday, May 21, 2026, from 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M., of parcels or so much thereof as may be necessary to pay the taxes which constitute a lien thereon, assessed December 31, 2024 and prior years, with the costs and charges incident to the sale. The notice also states that a person with an interest may redeem within one year after the sale and thereafter prior to the filing of a petition to foreclose the right of redemption, under 44-9-19 or 44-9-21, and that once a petition is filed the court may also require costs of the proceeding and counsel fees under 44-9-29.
City of Warwick Tax Collector: quarterly due dates
A municipal tax collector page showing what a locally fixed tax calendar looks like in practice. It states that quarterly tax payments are due July 15th, October 15th, January 15th and April 15th respectively, and that the Tax Collector's Office collects all property, motor vehicle and tangible taxes and issues municipal lien certificates. Dates and any late charge are set by each city or town, so an owner should confirm their own municipality's calendar.
Regional Variances
Rhode Island delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Sale mechanism
A city or town collector's public auction of an undivided fraction of the land. The collector sells for the amount of the taxes, assessments, rates, liens, interest and necessary intervening charges, taking the smallest undivided part that will bring that amount and not less than one percent, or the whole if nobody offers to take a part (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-8). If no bid matches the tax and charges, the collector buys for the municipality (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-14).
What the buyer actually holds
A collector's deed that is security rather than ownership. It conveys the land subject to the right of redemption and is held, until redemption or foreclosure, as security for repayment of the purchase price with intervening costs and charges (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-12). Title turns absolute only after a Superior Court decree foreclosing redemption, and that court has exclusive jurisdiction (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-24).
Who is on the other side
Your own city or town, not a county office. The collector runs the sale, the treasurer takes redemption money and releases the municipality's interest (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19, 44-9-20), and the assessor holds the notice designations. A private bidder or an assignee of a municipal tax title may hold the paper instead (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-18, 44-9-21).
Delinquency date
Municipal, not statewide. Valuations are assessed as of December 31 at midnight (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-1), and each city and town then fixes due dates and installment amounts in the resolution ordering the assessment and collection of the tax, with a quarterly option that every municipality must offer free of charges or interest (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-7). The City of Warwick, for example, publishes due dates of July 15, October 15, January 15 and April 15.
Penalty and interest before any sale
A local percentage inside a statutory ceiling. A city or town may set penalties by percentage on an unpaid tax not exceeding eighteen percent per annum, with the city of Cranston limited to twelve percent (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-9). The statutory installment form carries a written in rate of not less than six nor more than eighteen percent per annum, and a municipality may charge interest on the late installment alone (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-8). Ask your own municipality for its figure.
Time before sale
No minimum number of delinquent years appears in the chapter. The collector may advertise and take or sell real estate liable for taxes in the manner directed (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-7), and what the statute fixes is a notice calendar instead (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-9, 44-9-10). In practice the sale trails the assessment by about eighteen months: the May 21, 2026 Providence sale was for taxes assessed December 31, 2024 and prior years. On the alternative taking route the tax must be unpaid fourteen days after demand (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-8.1).
Redemption period and clock
Open ended, closed by an event. Redemption runs from the collector's sale until a petition for foreclosure is filed in the Superior Court (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19, 44-9-21), and no petition may be brought until one year after the sale (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-25). Three variations: an immediate petition on a finding of abandonment (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-25.1), a petition sixty days after the deed is recorded where the structure is vacant and vandalized or not code compliant (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-25.3), and five years where the state housing agency holds the title (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-25).
Redeemer's charge
A flat penalty on the purchase price that then steps monthly, not an annual rate, not a bid down rate and not a minimum return. Ten percent of the purchase price if redeemed within six months after the date of the collector's sale, plus an additional one percent of the purchase price for each succeeding month (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19). Separately, intervening taxes paid to the municipality carry interest at one percent per month. The same penalty applies to a redemption from a private purchaser (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-21).
Other redemption costs
Expenses assessed after the collector's sale, the recording cost of the certificate of redemption, which the redeeming party pays (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19), reimbursement of the purchaser's deed recording fee (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-12), and subsequent taxes, costs and interest owed to a municipality that holds the title (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-17). After a petition is filed the court may add the costs of the proceeding and a counsel fee it considers reasonable (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-29).
Notice to the owner
First class mail not less than ninety days before the sale, certified mail not less than forty days before it, or personal service not less than thirty days before (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-10). Posting in two or more public places and newspaper publication at least three weeks out, with the notice having to explain the redemption right (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-9). Recorded parties in interest get mail twenty days out (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-11). Missing the copy to the state housing agency, or to the office of healthy aging where an age based abatement is on file, nullifies the sale (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-10).
Where to redeem
The city or town treasurer where the municipality bought and has not assigned the title, who records a certificate of redemption within twenty days of full payment and releases the municipality's interest (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-19, 44-9-20, 44-9-23). Where a private bidder or assignee holds it, pay that holder, or pay the treasurer as the holder's agent until one year from the date of sale and not after (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-21). A holder from outside the municipality must file a resident agent who can be paid instead (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-13.1).
Surplus proceeds
Only on one route, because the ordinary sale is for the taxes and charges and so produces nothing extra (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-8). Where a treasurer sells a municipally held parcel without foreclosure under 44-9-36, any balance above the taxes, interest, charges, subsequent assessments and expenses of sale is deposited with the city or town treasurer and paid to the person entitled to it if demanded within five years, after which it enures to the municipality (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-37). Attorney review of a surplus question is available.
Payment plan
Municipal levers rather than a statutory redemption plan. A quarterly installment option on every tax bill, free of charges or interest (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-7), a missed installment that a municipality may treat as only that installment (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-8), an ordinance waiver of interest on one overdue quarter capped at five hundred dollars (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-8.1), and one tax amnesty period every three years by ordinance (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-5-88). The chapter also assumes written payment plans approved by a collector exist (R.I. Gen. Laws 44-9-13).
Frequently Asked Questions
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