General Provisions

Right of Entry

Your landlord must give you 48 hours notice of any intent to enter your living space. You may not unreasonably withhold consent for him/her to enter for such legitimate purposes as

  • Inspections
  • Repairs
  • Showing the unit to potential tenants or buyers

Your landlord may enter without your consent in an emergency or after seven days of your continuous absence if entry is reasonably necessary for the protection of the property.

Subleasing

Your lease should contain a clearly-stated agreement about subleasing: whether it is permissible at all and, if so, under what conditions.

If you sublease your apartment to others, you are not thereby relieved of the liabilities of a tenant. For example, if the person you sublet to (the “sublessee”) doesn’t pay the rent, you are responsible for paying it.

The sublessee is responsible solely to you, and the landlord will hold you responsible for all damages to the apartment caused by willful acts of the sublessee.

Noise and Disturbance

City ordinances set limits to the number of people who can legally occupy an apartment or building. Violations of these ordinances, such as overcrowding an apartment during a party, are classified as a type of disturbing the peace. Any act of disturbing the peace may result in:

  • Fines, which begin at $200 and increase with repeated violations
  • Eviction
  • The University’s revoking your off-campus permission

The tenant is responsible for keeping noise at a level that will not disturb other tenants or neighbors. Providence ordinances regulating noise and large gatherings are available here. Your landlord can be held responsible for the behavior of his or her tenants; therefore, making unreasonable disturbing noise may be grounds for your eviction.

To avoid conflict over the noise:

  • Be certain not to make noise at times that might disturb others
  • Meet your neighbors
  • Give neighbors your phone number
  • Tell them in advance if you plan to have a party so that they can call you directly, rather than your landlord or the police, should the noise get too loud.

Evictions

You can be evicted only if you:

  • Fail to fulfill one or more of the basic contractual obligations stated in your lease. You can then be evicted during the term of your lease.
  • Don’t move out at the end of your lease period
  • Give your landlord a legal cause to do so, such as disturbing the peace

The most common causes of eviction are:

  • Failure to pay rent
  • Violations of the rental agreement, such as deliberate acts of destruction, neglecting the premises, or repeatedly disturbing neighbors
  • Violations of tenant responsibilities under state or local municipal minimum housing codes

In order to evict you, your landlord must:

  • Give you proper written notice that s/he intends to terminate your tenancy
  • Obtain a court judgment against you if you do not move voluntarily
  • Obtain a sheriff’s writ of execution and have the sheriff remove you and your personal property from the premises

If you receive any kind of eviction notice, make a note of how, when, and from whom you received it. If it is a personal or form letter from your landlord, you:

  • Have five days to pay overdue rent
  • Have 20 days to remedy a breach of your rental agreement
  • Should make every attempt to take care of the situation, or your landlord may proceed with a court eviction action against you

If you receive an eviction complaint or summons-and-answer form from the local district court, you should:

  • Fill out and return the answer form, stating your major defense against the eviction action
  • Follow through by attending the court session on the appointed date
  • You may wish to contact an attorney to represent you

For more information regarding evictions, refer to the State of Rhode Island Landlord-Tenant Handbook.