When lands covered by this chapter are held by lease of a person who has an estate therein determinable on a life or on a contingency, and such estate determines before the end of a period for which rent is payable, or when an estate, created by a written lease or by operation of the provisions of this chapter, is determined before the end of such a period by surrender, either expressed or by operation of law, by notice to quit, or for nonpayment of rent, or by the death of any party, the landlord, or his or her executors and administrators, may recover a proportional part of such rent according to the time expired, at such determination, of the last period for which such rent was growing due.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18.1-13