A Rhode Island 5 Day Notice To Quit is a letter which complies with state legal requirements to begin eviction against a tenant for nonpayment of rent when any portion of the rent remains unpaid more than fifteen (15) calendar days after normally due. The tenant must pay the balance due or move out within five (5) calendar days of receiving notice.
When To Use a Rhode Island 5 Day Notice To Quit
A Rhode Island 5 Day Notice To Quit begins the eviction process when the tenant is late on rent. A landlord may deliver this notice when any portion of the rent remains unpaid more than fifteen (15) calendar days after it’s normally due.
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 5 Day Notice To Quit
To help ensure the legal compliance of a Notice To Quit:
- 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 payment 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 5 Day Notice To Quit
Rhode Island landlords may deliver a Notice To Quit by any method which adequately informs the other party. 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
Unlike other forms of notice in Rhode Island, the notice period for a 5 Day Notice To Quit begins immediately upon mailing.
Sources
- 1 RI Gen L § 34-18-35
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If any part of the stipulated rent is due and in arrears for fifteen (15) days, the landlord shall send a written notice, in a form substantially similar to that provided in § 34-18-56(a), specifying the amount of the rent which is fifteen (15) days in arrears, making demand for the rent, and notifying the tenant that unless he or she cures the breach within five (5) days of the date of mailing of the notice, the rental agreement shall terminate, and the landlord shall commence an eviction action in the appropriate district court or housing court.
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. Gen. Laws § 34-18-35(a)
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If any part of the stipulated rent is due and in arrears for fifteen (15) days, the landlord shall send a written notice, in a form substantially similar to that provided in § 34-18-56(a), specifying the amount of the rent which is fifteen (15) days in arrears, making demand for the rent, and notifying the tenant that unless he or she cures the breach within five (5) days of the date of mailing of the notice, the rental agreement shall terminate, and the landlord shall commence an eviction action in the appropriate district court or housing court.
Source Link