Free Rhode Island Residential Lease Agreement
A configurable Rhode Island residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 34-18 — the one-month deposit cap, the 20-day return, the 60-day rent-increase notice, and the fee, utility and insurance disclosures the lease itself must carry.
A Rhode Island residential lease agreement is the written contract governed by the Rhode Island Residential Landlord and Tenant Act at R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 34-18. Rhode Island reads like a plain uniform act until you notice how much has been bolted on since 2022. The security deposit is capped at one month’s periodic rent and must come back within 20 days of the latest of three events, with a closed list of deductions. There is no grace period and no late-fee cap — the fifteen days everyone quotes is when an eviction may start, not when rent stops being late. A rent increase needs 60 days, or 120 days for a month-to-month tenant over sixty-two. And the lease itself now has to carry things no imported template contains: every fee beyond the rent in the same section as the rent, the utility split, any renters-insurance requirement, and a copy of the landlord’s own liability insurance declaration page.
Rhode Island Lease Rules at a Glance
Security Deposit Cap
1 Month’s Rent
Deposit Return
20 Days
Entry Notice
2 Days
Rent Increase Notice
60 Days
Four Rhode Island Rules That Catch Landlords Out
First, there is no grace period. Every ranking template page says Rhode Island gives fifteen days of grace. Chapter 34-18 has no such provision; 34-18-15(c) makes rent payable without demand at the agreed time, and the fifteen days in 34-18-35(a) is simply when a landlord may start an eviction. Second, Rhode Island does not cap late fees at all — but since January 2025 the lease must disclose every fee beyond the rent in the same section as the rent, and an undisclosed fee is recoverable by the tenant. Third, the deposit clock starts from the latest of three events, not from move-out, and the deductions are a closed list that expressly includes reasonable cleaning and trash disposal. Fourth, an unregistered landlord cannot evict for nonpayment: 34-18-58(g) blocks the filing and requires evidence of registry compliance in court.
How to Fill Out This Rhode Island Lease Agreement
1. Name the owner, the manager and the agent for service
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-20(a) asks for the name, address and number of the person authorized to manage the premises and of an owner or the owner’s agent for service of process, disclosed in writing at or before the tenancy begins and kept current. Miss it and 34-18-20(c) turns whoever failed into the agent of every landlord for service and for performing the landlord’s obligations, spending collected rent to do it.
2. Describe the premises and record the registry reference
Enter the address, county, property type and year built. A pre-1978 year built switches on the Rhode Island lead regime in chapter 42-128.1 and chapter 23-24.6. The registry field records compliance with 34-18-58, which is not decorative: without it a nonpayment eviction cannot be filed.
3. State the rent and every fee in the same place
Since January 1, 2025, 34-18-15(a)(1) requires a lease to disclose every fee beyond the rent in the same section as the rent disclosure and to indicate that additional fees may apply. The rent section of this builder is drafted to satisfy that literally, because 34-18-15(a)(5) lets the tenant recover any fee paid that was not disclosed.
4. Set the deposit against the one-month cap
One month’s periodic rent, however the charge is denominated. If the apartment is furnished and the supplied furniture is worth five thousand dollars or more when the lease is executed, 34-18-19(e) permits a separate furniture security deposit of up to one further month — and the builder accounts for it separately, as 34-18-19(f) requires.
5. Allocate every utility
Section 34-18-15(a)(3) requires the lease to disclose which utility costs are included in the rent and which are the tenant’s responsibility. Each line in the utilities section is part of that statutory disclosure, which is why the generated lease labels it as such rather than treating it as housekeeping.
6. Check the disclosures Rhode Island requires
Eight state disclosures plus the federal lead-paint one. Four of the eight were created between 2022 and 2025, and two of them — the fee disclosure and the liability-insurance declaration page — are duties on the document, not on a separate addendum, which is exactly why an imported template fails them silently.
7. Generate, sign and attach the lead acknowledgment
Download the multi-page PDF and sign. No witnesses and no notary are required. But for a pre-1978 dwelling, 216-RICR-50-15-3 section 3.5.3(A)(3)(e) requires the lead disclosure acknowledgment to be a stand-alone document, or its own separate page when included in a written lease — so print it and attach it rather than folding it into the body.
Build Your Rhode Island Residential Lease Agreement
Complete the fields below to generate a Rhode Island residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, including the utility allocations, the liability-insurance carrier and each disclosure you check, and the generated lease cites the controlling Rhode Island section at each point. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening — and note that Rhode Island bans the application fee outright. Pair the signed lease with a Rhode Island move-in / move-out checklist, because the condition record is what decides which of 34-18-19(b)’s four permitted deductions you can actually prove.
Rhode Island Residential Lease Agreement Builder
1. Parties
R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-20(a) asks for the name, address and number of the person authorized to manage the premises and of an owner or the owner’s agent for service of process. A landlord who leaves it out becomes the agent of every landlord for service and for performing the landlord’s obligations.