Rhode Island Mobile Home Park Laws — Lot Rent and Evictions (2026)

✓ Law Verified August 2026

Rhode island mobile home park laws are their own world: you own the home, you rent the ground, and a separate set of rules, different from ordinary landlord-tenant law, decides what the park can charge, when it can evict, and what happens if the land is sold out from under the whole community.

This guide covers those rules in plain English, verified against official Rhode Island sources as of August 2026.

Rhode Island Mobile Home Park Laws at a Glance

Why Park Living Has Its Own Rulebook in Rhode Island

Rhode Island treats you as the owner of the home and only a tenant of the lot, so Chapter 31-44 governs instead of the ordinary residential Landlord and Tenant Act in Chapter 34-18. Park operators must be licensed by the RI Department of Business Regulation (R.I. Gen.

Laws 31-44-1.7), must offer you a written lease with a term of at least one year unless you ask in writing for something shorter or no written lease (31-44-7), must itemize every charge in the lease and in each bill, and may not deny you the right to sell your home in place in the park (31-44-4).

Eviction grounds are limited by statute, notice periods are far longer than for apartments (generally 60 days), and residents have park-sale and right-of-first-refusal rights that apartment tenants do not have.

Owning the home while renting the ground under it creates a kind of leverage no apartment landlord has: moving a manufactured home typically costs thousands of dollars, and many older homes cannot be moved at all without falling apart.

Lawmakers know that “just move” is not a real option for park residents, which is exactly why Rhode Island mobile home park laws give lot renters protections apartment tenants never get, limited eviction grounds, longer notice periods, and rules about what happens when the park itself changes hands.

Lot Rent Increases: Your Rights Before You Pay More

Required notice: 60 days written notice before a lot rent increase takes effect, and the notice must state the current rent, the proposed rent, and the effective date (R.I. Gen. Laws 31-44.1-2(a)). Section 31-44-3 separately requires 60 days notice of any change in rent or fees associated with a lot.

Is there a cap? NO CAP. Rhode Island sets no percentage ceiling on lot rent increases. Instead, if a majority of the home owners in the park believe an increase is “excessive,” they may demand binding arbitration through the American Arbitration Association, and the increase cannot take effect until the earlier of completion of arbitration or 120 days after the 60-day notice (R.I. Gen. Laws 31-44.1-2).

Arbitrator costs are split equally between the park owner and the home owners.

Whatever the number on the notice, read it against the rules above before paying. An increase served with short notice, or one that violates a cap where Rhode Island has one, is challengeable, and park residents who organize respond far more effectively than neighbors acting alone. Many states saw lot-rent fights turn into new legislation in the last two years for exactly this reason.

The Park Cannot Evict You for Just Any Reason

Under R.I. Gen. Laws 31-44-2 a park may terminate a lot tenancy only for: (1) nonpayment of rent, utility charges, or reasonable incidental service charges; (2) failure to comply with local ordinances or state or federal law or regulations relating to mobile/manufactured homes or parks, after written notice and a reasonable chance to comply; (3) damage by the tenant to the demised property, ordinary wear and tear excepted;

(4) repeated conduct on the park premises that disturbs the peace and quiet of other tenants;

(5) failure to comply with the park’s reasonable written rules and regulations, after written notice and a reasonable chance to comply; and (6) condemnation or change of use of the park. No other reason is a lawful ground, so if your park cites something outside this list you may be able to defend the eviction.

This list matters enormously: it means a park in Rhode Island cannot simply non-renew you to free up the lot the way an apartment landlord might. If an eviction notice arrives, check it against the legal grounds first, park evictions fail in court most often because the stated reason is not on the list, or the notice skipped a required warning step.

If the Park Sells or Closes

When the park is sold: Under R.I. Gen. Laws 31-44-3.1, residents who form an incorporated home owner households association with at least 51 percent of the home owner households as members, whose articles of incorporation give it power to negotiate for, acquire, and operate the park, and who send the owner a certified letter, gain a right of first refusal.

Before the park may be sold for any purpose, or leased for any purpose that would result in a discontinuance, the owner must notify the association by certified mail, return receipt requested, of any bona fide offer the owner intends to accept, and must give notice within 14 days of advertising the park for sale.

The association then has 45 days from notice of the offer to execute a purchase and sale or lease agreement, plus an additional 135 days to obtain financing or guarantees — 180 days total from receipt of notice.

The right of first refusal does not apply to eminent domain or negotiated government purchase, foreclosure sales, transfers by gift, devise, or operation of law, or a sale to someone within the table of descent and distribution of the park owner.

When the park closes: R.I. Gen. Laws 31-44-3.2 (“Mobile home parks — Discontinuance”) governs closure, and 31-44-3.1 requires the owner to give the qualified residents association certified-mail notice before leasing the park for any use that would result in a discontinuance, triggering the same 45-day/180-day right-of-first-refusal timeline.

Closure or conversion is also a “condemnation or change of use” eviction under 31-44-2, which requires at least 60 days written notice to each homeowner before removal.

The exact statutory notice period stated in months under 31-44-3.2 is UNVERIFIED, and Rhode Island has no verified state relocation-assistance fund or dollar relocation payment for displaced park residents — UNVERIFIED. Ask the RI Department of Business Regulation and check with your court before relying on any longer closure notice.

Fees the Park Can and Cannot Charge in Rhode Island

A prospective resident may not be charged an entrance fee for the privilege of leasing or occupying a lot, except as allowed by R.I. Gen. Laws 31-44-4; an entrance fee may be charged when a home is transported into the park, but no entrance fee may be charged if the park owner received a commission on the sale of the home (31-44-3).

A reasonable charge for the owner’s actual cost of obtaining, preparing, and maintaining a lot, or for services in placing a home on a lot, is not an entrance fee but must be disclosed as a hook-up or maintenance fee in the written fee schedule.

Every charge for services, lot rent, unit rent, or anything else must be specifically itemized in the rental agreement and in each bill (31-44-3), and before you sign a lease the licensee must disclose in writing all charges, including service charges, plus the rent and charges in effect for the preceding three years or the length of the licensee’s operation, whichever is shorter (31-44-7).

Guest parking must be governed by reasonable rules clearly stated in the park rules (31-44-7). Any change in rent or fees requires 60 days notice.

The park’s side of the bargain: Under R.I. Gen.

Laws 31-44-3 and the DBR mobile and manufactured home regulations (230-RICR-30-15-1), the park licensee must keep every road within the licensee’s control in good condition — graded, plowed in winter, and substantially free of potholes, snow accumulation, and other obstructions — provide parking space for at least one car per lot, and is responsible for damage to a vehicle caused directly by an unrepaired or poorly maintained park access road.

The licensee must maintain all electrical, plumbing, gas, and other utilities it provides in good working condition, maintain all utilities up to and including the connection at each individual home, keep all water and sewage lines and connections in good working order, and supply clean and potable water at adequate pressure for ordinary day-to-day needs.

If your park is not meeting these duties you may be able to file a complaint with the DBR Division of Commercial Licensing and Regulation.

The Trapped-Equity Problem and How to Protect Yourself

The economics of a mobile home park in Rhode Island are unlike any apartment: you own the home, but moving it typically costs thousands of dollars, often more than an older home is worth, and many parks will not accept a home past a certain age. That is why lot-rent disputes feel so different here: walking away is rarely a real option, and park owners know it.

The law is what balances that power gap, which makes knowing the exact notice rules, fee limits, and eviction grounds in Rhode Island worth more to a park resident than to almost any other kind of tenant.

Protect yourself the way the long-time residents do: keep every rent notice and rule change in writing, photograph the condition of your lot and the park’s common areas a couple of times a year, and read the community rules before signing anything, in most states the written rules you were given are what a court will hold both sides to.

Selling Your Home Without Losing Its Value

When it is time to leave, most residents sell the home in place rather than move it, and this is where park rules matter most.

Many states limit a park’s power to block an in-place sale: the park can usually screen the buyer the way it screens any new resident, but it generally cannot force you to remove a home just because you are selling, and it cannot demand a cut of your sale price unless it actually acted as your sales agent.

Get the park’s buyer-approval requirements in writing early, keep the lot rent current through the sale, and never sign a rule change mid-sale without reading it, a home that can stay on its lot is worth far more than one that has to be moved.

The Strongest Protection Is the Lot Next Door

Everything about park life is shared, the roads, the water lines, the rent schedule, the fate of the land itself. That is why the single most effective move a park resident in Rhode Island can make is joining or forming a residents association. A park owner can ignore one complaint about a rent increase; ignoring a letter signed by sixty households is a different decision.

Associations are also how residents use park-sale rights in the states that grant them, organized communities have bought their own parks across the country, usually with help from nonprofit lenders who specialize in exactly this.

Keep your own records the same way any tenant should: the lease for your lot, every rent notice, every rule change, photos of anything the park fails to maintain. Rhode island mobile home park laws reward the resident who can show a judge dates and documents, and most disputes never reach a judge once the park realizes you have them.

Recent changes in Rhode Island: Rhode Island still has no percentage cap on lot rent increases as of August 2026, relying instead on the 60-day notice plus majority-triggered binding arbitration in Chapter 31-44.1, unlike New Jersey’s 3.5 percent and Oregon’s roughly 6 percent caps.

Chapter 34-18.2 (Leased Land Dwellings) provides a parallel arbitration process for site-built homes on leased land, where an increase is “excessive” if it unreasonably exceeds fair rental value and cannot take effect until arbitration ends or 90 days pass.

No 2024-2026 Rhode Island enactment changing the park-sale notice or adding a lot-rent cap was verified — check the General Assembly’s current session for pending bills.

Rhode Island Mobile Home Park Laws: Quick Answers

Can the park raise lot rent whenever it wants? The Rhode Island mobile home park laws above set the notice rules, and any cap, that apply before an increase is valid.

Can the park make me remove my home? Only for the legal grounds listed in the Rhode Island mobile home park laws, and only through the court process, never by padlock or tow truck.

Do apartment tenant rights apply to me? Partly. The Rhode Island mobile home park laws are their own chapter, and this page plus the state guides linked below cover both layers.

Official Rhode Island Sources & Resources

• Rhode Island State Agency: dbr.ri.gov/real-estate-and-commercial-licensing/mobile-manuf…
• Rhode Island Park Act Statute: webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE31/31-44/INDEX.htm
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
• Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex

Making Rhode Island Mobile Home Park Laws Work for You

The Rhode Island mobile home park laws only protect residents who use them, and parks count on most residents never reading the act. Read your lot lease against this page, calendar every notice deadline the moment a letter arrives, and talk to your neighbors, nearly every protection in the Rhode Island mobile home park laws gets stronger when residents act together.

If the park ignores the rules, the state agency and local legal aid both handle park disputes, and a written complaint citing the act gets a very different response than a phone call. Under the Rhode Island mobile home park laws, the resident with documents and neighbors is never as trapped as the park hopes.

This guide to rhode island mobile home park laws was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Lot-rent caps and park-sale laws are moving fast in many states, re-check before acting on a deadline.

More Rhode Island Tenant Rights Guides

• Rhode Island Tenant Rights
• Rhode Island Eviction Process
• Rhode Island Security Deposit Law
• Rhode Island Rent Increase Laws
• Rhode Island Repairs & Habitability
• Breaking a Lease in Rhode Island
• Eviction Timeline Calculator
• All 50 States

Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.