Free Rhode Island Residential Lease Agreement

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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.

Rhode Island R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18 20-Day Deposit Return Free PDF 2026 Edition

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.

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 recognises the usual range, and chapter 34-18 supplies the defaults for anything the parties leave open. A fixed-term lease runs for a stated period and expires on its own terms. A periodic tenancy renews until one side ends it, and R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-15(d) sets the fallback: unless the rental agreement fixes a definite term, the tenancy is week to week for a roomer who pays weekly rent and month to month in all other cases. A roomer is defined at 34-18-11 as a tenant occupying a room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit used for living and sleeping but not for cooking or eating.

Several arrangements fall outside the act altogether. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-8 excludes, unless the parties expressly agree otherwise: residence at an institution incidental to detention or to medical, geriatric, educational, counseling or religious service; occupancy under a contract of sale by the purchaser; occupancy by a member of a fraternal or social organization in a portion of a structure operated for the organization; transient occupancy in a hotel, motel or other lodging as defined under 44-18-7(11) that is subject to the sales and use tax or a lodgings tax; occupancy by a paid employee whose right to occupy is conditional on employment substantially for services, maintenance or repair of premises containing more than eleven units; occupancy by a holder of a proprietary lease in a cooperative; commercial letting and any estate governed by chapter 34-18.1; and residence at a transitional housing facility. Note the employee exclusion in particular — it is drawn by building size, which is unusual.

One drafting note matters more in Rhode Island than elsewhere. Nothing requires a residential lease to be witnessed or notarized, and R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-7 applies chapter 34-18 to an agreement wherever made for a dwelling unit located in the state. But 34-18-16 provides that where an agreement is given effect by acceptance of rent or possession rather than by signature, and it states a term longer than one year, it is effective for only one year. An unsigned three-year Rhode Island lease is, legally, a one-year lease.

One month’s periodic rent — however the charge is denominated. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-19(a) provides that a landlord may not demand or receive a security deposit, however denominated, in an amount or value in excess of one month’s periodic rent. Those two words do real work: renaming a charge a move-in fee, a redecoration deposit or a holding sum does not take it outside the cap. Rhode Island’s cap is among the tightest in the country, and unlike Connecticut it does not vary with the tenant’s age.

There is one addition, and almost no competing page carries it. Under 34-18-19(e), a landlord who rents a furnished apartment may demand a separate furniture security deposit of up to one further month’s periodic rent — but only where the replacement value of the furniture the landlord supplies, valued at the time the lease is executed, is five thousand dollars or greater. Section 34-18-19(f) then accounts for it on its own terms: on termination the tenant is due the entire furniture deposit less the amount due, if any, for reasonable cleaning expenses and repair, and less physical damage to the furniture other than ordinary wear and tear, delivered on the same twenty-day clock. So a properly furnished Rhode Island letting can lawfully hold two months in deposits, but only in two clearly separate buckets with separate accounting.

What may come out of the deposit is a closed list, and Rhode Island’s version is more generous to landlords than most. Section 34-18-19(b) permits deduction of unpaid accrued rent, the amount due for reasonable cleaning expenses, the amount due for reasonable trash disposal expenses, and physical damage to the premises other than ordinary wear and tear suffered by reason of the tenant’s noncompliance with 34-18-24. Naming cleaning and rubbish removal expressly is unusual; most URLTA states leave a landlord arguing that cleaning is damage. Set against that, 34-18-11 defines ordinary wear and tear broadly, as deterioration resulting from the tenant’s normal nonabusive living, including deterioration caused by the landlord’s own failure to prepare for expected conditions or to comply with the landlord’s obligations. The full treatment is in our Rhode Island security deposit laws guide.

20 days — running from the latest of three events, not from move-out. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-19(b) requires the landlord to deliver the itemized written notice together with the amount of the deposit due within twenty days after the later of (1) termination of the tenancy, (2) delivery of possession, or (3) the tenant providing the landlord with a forwarding address for the purpose of receiving the deposit. Twenty days is one of the shortest deadlines in the country, which is why the third limb matters so much in practice: until the tenant supplies a forwarding address, that limb has not begun.

The itemization is not optional and it is not a summary. The statute requires the deductions to be itemized by the landlord in a written notice delivered to the tenant, and the notice and the money travel together. A landlord who sends the balance now and the explanation later has not complied.

The penalty is sharp. Under 34-18-19(c), a landlord who fails to comply with subsection (b) exposes themself to the amount due, plus damages equal to twice the amount wrongfully withheld, plus reasonable attorney fees. Section 34-18-19(d) preserves every other damages claim either party has under the chapter, so the doubling is a floor rather than a ceiling on exposure. Two structural rules close the loop: 34-18-19(g) binds whoever holds the landlord’s interest in the premises at the time the tenancy terminates, so selling the building does not shed the obligation; and 34-18-19(h) provides that no rental agreement shall contain any waiver of the section at all. Build the itemization with our Rhode Island security deposit itemization form and send the balance with a Rhode Island security deposit return letter.

Neither. And this is the single most common error on Rhode Island lease pages. A section-by-section read of chapter 34-18 returns no grace-period provision and no late fee, late charge or late payment provision of any kind. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-15(c) makes rent payable without demand or notice at the time and place agreed, so rent is late the day after it is due.

What every ranking page calls a fifteen-day grace period is 34-18-35(a), which says something quite different: the landlord may not send the statutory demand notice until any part of the stipulated rent has been due and in arrears for fifteen days. That is a floor on when an eviction may begin. It does not make the rent timely, it does not suspend the tenant’s obligation, and it says nothing whatever about fees. One ranking page goes further and tells landlords they may only “impose late fines if rent has been delayed for 15 days” — a rule that exists in no Rhode Island statute.

The five per cent charge after a seven-day grace period that circulates as Rhode Island law is real, but it belongs to a different act binding different parties. R.I. Gen. Laws 31-44-2(a)(1) sits in the mobile and manufactured home park chapter and provides that no action for possession is maintained if, before a notice to quit expires, the tenant tenders all arrears including a late charge of five per cent of the monthly rent due after a seven-day grace period has elapsed. It governs a park owner and a manufactured-home lot. Importing it into an apartment lease is the same class of error as citing another state’s reporter.

So what does constrain a Rhode Island late fee? Two things. Since January 1, 2025, 34-18-15(a)(1) requires the lease to disclose every fee beyond the rent in the same section as the rent disclosure and to indicate that additional fees may apply — and 34-18-15(a)(5) lets the tenant recover any fee paid that was not disclosed as required. Second, 34-18-13 lets a court, as a matter of law, refuse to enforce an unconscionable provision, enforce the remainder without it, or limit its application. See our Rhode Island late fee laws guide, and serve arrears with a Rhode Island late rent notice.

60 days — and 120 days for a month-to-month tenant over sixty-two. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-16.1 is titled “Rent increases — Notice requirements”, and it is worth naming the title because the section is sometimes mis-cited as a late-fee cap. Subsection (a) requires written notice to the tenant at least sixty days before the effective date of any increase. Subsection (b) requires at least one hundred twenty days’ notice to month-to-month tenants over the age of sixty-two before raising the rent. The current figures were set by P.L. 2024 ch. 243 and ch. 244, effective June 24, 2024.

Two qualifications sit on the face of the section. Both subsections exclude an independent living facility, an assisted living facility and a congregate care facility. And subsection (c) provides that nothing in the section requires a landlord to give notice on a timeframe exceeding what any other state or federal law, regulation or applicable housing programme already requires — so a subsidised tenancy follows the longer of the two rules rather than the shorter.

Rhode Island has no rent control and no fair-rent commission scheme, so the notice is the whole of the protection outside a fixed term. Within a fixed term, the rent is what the lease says it is. Our Rhode Island rent increase laws guide covers the mechanics, and the Rhode Island rent increase notice generates the document with the right period on its face.

Fewer than most states, and two categories are banned outright. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-59, effective January 1, 2024, provides that no landlord, lessor, sub-lessor, real estate broker, property management company or designee shall be allowed to require or demand that any prospective tenant pay a rental application fee. The section then regulates what remains: a landlord may still require an official state criminal background check from the Bureau of Criminal Identification, the Department of Attorney General, the state police or the local police, and a credit check — but where the applicant supplies one issued within ninety days, no fee may be charged for it; where the applicant does not, the charge may not exceed the actual cost of obtaining it and the applicant must be given a copy of the report; and the landlord may always run an independent check at the landlord’s own expense.

Second, 34-18-61, effective January 1, 2025, provides that a landlord shall not charge a convenience fee on a tenant’s rental payment. The single exception in subsection (b) is a landlord who accepts a form of rent payment that requires no convenience fee — so keeping one genuinely fee-free channel open is what makes a surcharge on the others lawful. This is a narrower rule than it first appears and it is worth reading twice before configuring a payment portal.

Third, since July 2, 2025, 34-18-62 forbids a landlord or any agent of the landlord to make any inquiry regarding or based on the immigration or citizenship status of a tenant, prospective tenant, occupant or prospective occupant, or to require any statement, representation or certification concerning it. No municipality or housing agency may compel a landlord to do so either. The carve-outs are narrow and practical: complying with federal law, and requesting what is necessary to verify a prospective tenant’s financial qualifications or identity. Our Rhode Island tenant screening laws guide covers the screening side in full.

Four things, since January 1, 2025, that most template leases simply do not contain. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-15(a) was rewritten by P.L. 2024 ch. 308 and ch. 309 and now imposes drafting duties on the document itself rather than on a separate notice.

Subsection (a)(1): if there are fees beyond the rent that apply to the rental of a unit, the lease shall disclose those fees in the same section as the rent disclosure and shall indicate that additional fees may apply. Placement is part of the rule — a fee schedule on the last page is not compliance. The requirement does not apply where the tenant or the unit receives a state or federal subsidy requiring a different lease format. Subsection (a)(2) covers the unwritten tenancy: the landlord must give the same list in writing, and any change in required fees must be disclosed in writing at least thirty days before it takes effect.

Subsection (a)(3): in any lease agreement the landlord shall disclose which utility costs are included in the rent and which utility costs are the tenant’s responsibility. Subsection (a)(4): if a tenant is required to obtain renters insurance, that requirement must be stated in the lease. And subsection (a)(5) supplies the remedy for all four: if the landlord fails to comply, the tenant may recover any fees paid for the unit that were not disclosed as required.

Two more in-document duties sit alongside them. 34-18-22(a)(7), in force since January 1, 2022, requires the landlord to obtain and keep in force a general liability insurance policy of at least one hundred thousand dollars for persons injured on the premises through the landlord’s negligence, and to provide a copy of the declaration page from the carrier to the tenant with the written lease at the beginning of the tenancy and a new copy with each policy renewal. And 34-18-22.1(b) requires the landlord, prior to entering into any residential rental agreement, to inform a prospective tenant of any outstanding minimum housing code violations on the building. Its companion, 34-18-22.1(a), then runs through the tenancy: a landlord cited by a code enforcement agency must deliver a copy of the notice of violation to each residential tenant of the affected building within thirty days, unless every violation is corrected to the agency’s satisfaction inside that window.

At least two days, at reasonable times. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-26(c) provides that, except in case of emergency or unless it is impracticable to do so, the landlord shall give the tenant at least two days’ notice of intent to enter and may enter only at reasonable times — and in the same sentence forbids the landlord to abuse the right of access or use it to harass the tenant. Section 34-18-26(a) lists the purposes a tenant may not unreasonably refuse: inspection, necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations or improvements, necessary or agreed services, and showings to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workers or contractors.

Two entry routes need no consent at all. Under 34-18-26(b) the landlord may enter in an emergency, or during any absence of the tenant in excess of seven days if reasonably necessary for the protection of the property. That seven-day rule pairs with 34-18-27, which lets the rental agreement require the tenant to notify the landlord of any anticipated extended absence in excess of ten days, no later than the first day of the absence. Section 34-18-26(d) closes off everything else: no other right of access exists except under a court order, as 34-18-39 permits where the tenant has failed to remedy a health-and-safety noncompliance after twenty days’ written notice, or where the tenant has abandoned or surrendered.

The remedy is the part nobody quotes. 34-18-45 is symmetrical: if the tenant refuses lawful access the landlord may obtain injunctive relief to compel it or terminate the agreement; and if the landlord makes an unlawful entry, a lawful entry in an unreasonable manner, or repeated demands for entry that are otherwise lawful but have the effect of unreasonably harassing the tenant, the tenant may obtain injunctive relief or terminate. In any action under either limb, the prevailing party may recover actual damages and shall be awarded costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. That mandatory fee award is the only true prevailing-party provision in the whole chapter. A dated Rhode Island notice to enter is how a landlord proves the two days; see Rhode Island landlord entry laws for the full picture.

The landlord’s list is at 34-18-22 and it names two things most states leave out. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-18-22(a) requires the landlord to comply with applicable building and housing codes affecting health and safety; make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises fit and habitable; keep common areas clean and safe; maintain in good and safe working order all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied; provide waste receptacles as 45-24.3-6 requires and arrange removal; and supply running water, reasonable hot water and reasonable h