RELATING TO PROPERTY -- RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT
Summary
S3163 amends Rhode Island’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Act to expand when eviction-related court files may be sealed. Under current law, certain landlord-tenant actions can be sealed after the case is over if specified conditions are met. This bill adds two new situations in which the court must seal the record: when an eviction case is dismissed because the complaint was defective or the court lacked jurisdiction, and when the record concerns a minor or a young adult age 18 to 21 who was named in the eviction proceeding but did not sign the lease.
The bill also clarifies that sealing in these circumstances occurs after the appeal period ends and that these particular sealings do not count against a party’s ability to request sealing of one eviction record every five years. In practical terms, the measure is aimed at limiting the long-term public impact of eviction filings that were legally flawed or that involved non-tenant household members, especially younger people who may be affected by an eviction case despite not being lease signatories.
Impact
The bill would amend § 34-18-60 of the Rhode Island General Laws, changing court sealing procedures for eviction records under the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. It would require courts to seal records in cases dismissed for defective complaints or lack of jurisdiction, and to seal records for minors and certain 18- to 21-year-olds named in eviction proceedings who did not execute the lease. It also preserves the existing framework limiting most sealing requests to one every five years, while exempting these newly mandated sealings from that count.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes, the overall apparent sentiment is supportive and tenant-protective. The measure is framed as a targeted privacy and fairness reform, particularly for people who were included in eviction cases without being lease parties or where the case was procedurally defective. No contrary positions are documented in the provided materials.
Contention
The main policy tension is between tenant privacy and the public availability of eviction records. Supporters would likely emphasize reducing collateral consequences for minors, young adults, and people subject to legally flawed eviction filings, while landlords or court-administration interests could be concerned that broader sealing reduces transparency in housing litigation. Another possible point of contention is the automatic nature of sealing in the specified circumstances, which limits judicial discretion once the statutory conditions are met.
Removes the 5 year waiting period to seal court records where a civil action was dismissed, or there was a lack of prosecution, or the matter resolved and the terms of the resolution satisfied, removes the limit of 1 request to seal records every 5 years.
Requires landlords of residential properties built before 1978 to register lead hazard mitigation information with the department of health and the information would be private and only accessible by specific entities.
Requires landlords of residential properties built before 1978 to register lead hazard mitigation information with the department of health and the information would be private and only accessible by specific entities.
Removes the five (5) year waiting period for filing a motion to seal an eviction court file. It also deletes the numerical limitation on filing seal requests.