A Rhode Island 20 Day Notice To Comply or Vacate is a letter which complies with state legal requirements to begin eviction against a tenant for a lease violation, such as failing to maintain the premises in a clean and sanitary manner. The tenant must take appropriate corrective action or move out within twenty (20) calendar days of receiving notice.
When To Use a Rhode Island 20 Day Notice To Comply or Vacate
A Rhode Island 20 Day Notice To Comply or Vacate begins the eviction process for the following tenant violations:
- Failure to maintain the rental unit in a clean and sanitary manner
- Occupancy violations
- Damage to the premises
- Other lease violations
Some types of Rhode Island lease termination notice may allow different reasons for termination, or different notice periods. This may also apply to an eviction notice issued because of a lease or legal violation.
How To Write a Rhode Island 20 Day Notice To Comply or Vacate
To help ensure the legal compliance of a Notice To Comply or Vacate:
- Use the full name of the receiving party, and address of record, if known
- Specify the termination date of the lease or tenancy
- Specify the basis for terminating the tenancy, and the corrective action(s) necessary to avoid termination
- Fill in the full address of the rental premises
- Provide updated/current address and phone number information
- Print name and sign the notice
- Complete the certificate of service by indicating the date and method of notice delivery, along with printed name and signature
It is easy to lose an otherwise justified legal action because of improper notice. Check carefully to ensure enough time after notice is delivered, not when it’s sent.
How To Serve a Rhode Island 20 Day Notice To Comply or Vacate
Rhode Island landlords may deliver a Notice To Comply or Vacate by any method which adequately informs the tenant. The law recognizes these methods as having a presumption of legal validity:
- Hand delivery to the tenant
- Mailed delivery via first class mail, to the tenant’s address of record or last known residence
By default, notice is considered complete when it is received. Mailed notice extends the notice period by one (1) calendar day, to account for variable delivery times.
Sources
- 1 RI Gen L § 34-18-24
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Tenant to Maintain Dwelling Unit
A tenant shall:
(1) Comply with all obligations primarily imposed upon tenants by applicable provisions of building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety;
(2) Keep that part of the premises that he or she occupies and uses as clean and safe as the condition of the premises permit;
(3) Dispose from his or her dwelling unit all ashes, garbage, rubbish, and other waste in a clean and safe manner;
(4) Keep all plumbing fixtures in the dwelling unit or used by the tenant as clean as their condition permits;
(5) Use in a reasonable manner all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, in the premises;
(6) Not deliberately or negligently destroy, deface, damage, impair, or remove any part of the premises or knowingly permit any person to do so;
(7) Conduct himself or herself, and require other persons on the premises with his or her consent to conduct themselves, in a manner that will not disturb his or her neighbors’ peaceful enjoyment of the premises.
Source Link - 2 R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-14
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(a) (1) A person has notice of a fact if:
(i) He or she has actual knowledge of it;
(ii) He or she has received a notice or notification of it; or
(iii) From all the facts and circumstances known to him or her at the time in question he or she has reason to know that it exists.
(2) A person “knows” or “has knowledge” of a fact if he or she has actual knowledge of it.
(b) A person “notifies” or “gives” a notice or notification to another person by taking steps reasonably calculated to inform the other in ordinary course whether or not the other actually comes to know of it. A person “receives” a notice or notification when:
(1) It comes to his or her attention; or
(2) It is delivered in hand or sent by first class mail to him or her at a place held out by him or her as the place for receipt of the communication, or in the absence of such designation, to his or her last known place of residence.
(c) “Notice,” knowledge or a notice or notification received by an organization, is effective for a particular transaction from the time it is brought to the attention of the individual conducting that transaction, and in any event from the time it would have been brought to his or her attention if the organization had exercised reasonable diligence.
Source Link - 3 R.I. Super. Ct. R. Civ. P. 6(D)
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Additional Time After Electronic Service or Service by Mail. Whenever a party has the right or is required to do some act or take some proceedings within a prescribed period after the service of a notice or other paper upon the party, and the notice or paper is served upon the party electronically or by mail, one (1) day shall be added to the prescribed period.
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