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Rhode Island Eviction Notice

Usually, the purpose of drafting a Rhode Island Eviction Notice is to communicate to renters about the legal action that will be taken if they are not willing to pay their past-due rent, comply with the agreed-upon terms of their signed rental contract, or vacate the premises as demanded. As a result of this essential legal notice, you can enforce your terms, while granting the tenant a chance to address the matter within a specified time frame. With that in mind, in some cases, there will be no solution, and going to court is unavoidable. Appropriate for any residential property, this Eviction Notice for Rhode Island can be used by any landlord with tenants in Warwick, Cranston, Providence, and in all of the other cities and towns across the Ocean State.

In general, the answer is yes, and you can use a Rhode Island Eviction Notice (specifically referred to as a 5-Day Demand Notice for Nonpayment of Rent) to kick off the process. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, several limitations have been established for tenants who can't pay rent. While the federal eviction moratorium has been struck down, the state of Rhode Island and individual municipalities have the authority to maintain their own rules for evictions. Keep up with the current guidelines for Rhode Island or talk to a lawyer for more specific insight.

If you want to remove tenants from a rental property, you are required to serve them a Notice of Eviction first. Some of the most common circumstances in which you might need one are:

• The tenant is behind on rent or they are habitually late
• The tenant is using their unit illicitly
• The tenant violates the no-pets policy of your lease agreement
• The tenant sublets your property in breach of the lease terms
• The tenant has caused excessive damage
• The tenant disturbs the quiet enjoyment of the other renters

Outside of these examples, a renter generally may be evicted by a landlord due to reasons unrelated to a fault of their own. For instance, when the landlord wants to move back in. Keep in mind that this list isn't absolutely exhaustive and that the lawfully permitted reasons for eviction are subject to change based on your particular city or municipality. If you have any concerns or questions about Rhode Island eviction laws, you can talk to a lawyer.

When ready, you can click on "Make document" to check out the Rhode Island Eviction Notice sample and preview the questions that you will need to answer to create your eviction letter. In general, the basic details needed for making a Notice to Vacate for Rhode Island are:

• The address and description of the property
• The contact information for the lessee
• Which policies in the lease have not been upheld
• How much time the tenant has to resolve the situation
• How many past due rent payments should be made (if appropriate)

Of course, if the tenants are not at fault for the eviction, you may wish to provide more context since the news may likely be unexpected. More custom modifications are possible, as needed. It will be very important to verify that any policies and terms that you make note of in the Eviction Notice are actually spelled out in your tenancy agreement.

Laws can change over time and the eviction process can be quite nuanced, especially for a first-timer. In some cases, there might be different requirements depending on why the tenant is being evicted and the length of their occupancy. Consequently, it's highly recommended that you talk to a local eviction attorney when planning to serve a Notice of Eviction on any tenant.

You can write your own RI Eviction Notice online for free with Rocket Lawyer. To begin the process, you can click on the button labeled "Make document." You will then answer some questions to help generate a Rhode Island Eviction Notice that is customized to fit your needs. This route, in many cases, will end up being notably less time-consuming than finding and hiring a traditional law firm.

The fees associated with hiring a legal provider to draft a Notice of Eviction can add up to anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands, depending on the complexity of your situation. Unlike many other websites you may come across, Rocket Lawyer offers more than an eviction template. If you do proceed with an eviction lawsuit, your Premium membership offers up to 40% in savings when you hire an attorney from our network. If you want to understand what the complete cost of an eviction might be, you will need to consider the cost of filing court documents, attorney fees, the value of unrecovered funds, storage and cleaning fees, and the time and money you will spend on finding new tenants.

The duration of the eviction process for Rhode Island tenants will depend on the notice period required, as well as the total volume of cases that are happening concurrently. Here's a basic overview of Rhode Island notice periods:

• Past-due rent: 5-day notice
• Violation of lease agreement: 20-day notice
• No direct fault: 30-day notice

Following the notice period, the actual eviction may still take from 1 to 4 months. Please note that with certain types of housing, for instance where rent payments are subsidized by the government, the mandatory notice period is often even longer.

While you can opt to produce a Notice to Vacate without support, many landlords who bring tenants to court have legal representation. Getting a second opinion on the document can take longer than you expect if you try to do it on your own. An alternate approach might be through Rocket Lawyer attorney services. Rocket Lawyer Premium members have the ability to request advice from an On Call attorney with landlord-tenant experience or ask additional legal questions. As a property owner or manager, you can work confidently with Rocket Lawyer by your side.

Upon completing your Rhode Island Eviction Notice with the help of Rocket Lawyer, you will be able to access it in your account anytime, anywhere. You also may engage with the document by making edits, saving it in Word or PDF format, printing it, and making a copy of it. You will need to sign and date the notice before serving it on the tenant(s). Your Rhode Island Eviction Notice includes a signature confirming that notice was mailed so that you'll have a record of its delivery. There are a few methods for serving a notice:

• Hire a process server
• Send the notice through certified mail with a return receipt
• Deliver it by hand

It is important to remember that "DIY" or "self-help" evictions are not legal in Rhode Island. Property owners cannot turn off utilities and services, replace locks, remove personal property, or threaten their tenants in any way in order to make them move. Acting lawfully before and throughout the eviction process is critical to removing tenants successfully with an official judgment from the court.