Section 42-63.1-14 - [Effective 1/30/2025] Offering residential units through a hosting platform(a) For any rental property offered for tourist or transient use on a hosting platform that collects and remits applicable sales and hotel taxes in compliance with §§ 44-18-7.3(b)(4)(i), 44-18-18, and 44-18-36.1, cities, towns, or municipalities shall not prohibit the owner from offering the unit for tourist or transient use through such hosting platform, or prohibit such hosting platform from providing a person or entity the means to rent, pay for, or otherwise reserve a residential unit for tourist or transient use. A hosting platform shall comply with the requirement imposed upon room resellers in §§ 44-18-7.3(b)(4)(i) and 44-18-36.1 in order for the prohibition of this section to apply. The division of taxation shall at the request of a city, town, or municipality confirm whether a hosting platform is registered in compliance with § 44-18-7.3(b)(4)(i).(b) Any short-term rental property listed for rent on the website of any third-party hosting platform that conducts business in Rhode Island shall be registered with the department of business regulation. The registration shall provide the information necessary to identify the property pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. For purposes of this section, the term "short-term rental" means a person, firm, or corporation's utilization, for transient lodging accommodations, not to exceed thirty (30) nights at a time.(c) The department of business regulation shall contact all hosting platforms that list property in Rhode Island on their website for rent and that submit hotel taxes to the division of taxation and/or the city of Newport and shall provide notice of the registration requirement, pursuant to this section, instructing the hosting platforms to notify their listed properties to register with the department of business regulation annually or be subject to fines pursuant to subsection (i) of this section. Provided further, renewals of registrations pursuant to this section shall become due for renewal on the anniversary date of the original registration.(d) The state registration pursuant to this section shall include: (1) The principal place of business of the owner, or if outside the state, the agent for service of process or property manager for the owner;(2) The phone number of the owner of the property and/or property manager;(3) The email address of the property owner and/or property manager;(4) The address of the rental property;(5) The number of rooms for rent at the property;(6) Whether the registrant rents or owns; and(7) Intended use (entire space, private room, or shared space).(e) The assigned registration number shall consist of numeric and alpha characters, the alpha characters shall correspond to the city/town where the property is located and shall be uniform for the remaining properties in said city/town.(f) Registration forms and/or any registration materials required by the department shall be completed prior to a listing by a hosting platform. The registration number shall be valid for the year during which it is assigned, and if a listed property is not duly registered after the expiration of the annual registration period, the hosting platform shall remove the property listing from its website within fourteen (14) days of notification from the department.(g) The department of business regulation shall promulgate rules and regulations to correspond with and enforce this section and § 42-63.1-14.1 and may charge a registration fee to property owners registering with the department pursuant to this section.(h) The department of business regulation shall create an online database to store all registered short-term rental units, and each unit shall have an online identification number in said database to correspond with subsection (e) of this section.(i) Any owner of the property who or that fails to register with the department of business regulation as prescribed herein and lists the property as a short-term rental on a hosting platform website shall be subject to a civil fine as follows:(1) Two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for the first thirty (30) days of non-compliance;(2) Five hundred dollars ($500) for between thirty-one (31) and sixty (60) days of non-compliance; and(3) One thousand dollars ($1,000) for more than sixty (60) days of non-compliance.(j) Notwithstanding any other law or provision to the contrary, no person shall list any residence for short-term rental for tourist or transient use without the property's current, valid registration number, and its expiration date, which hosting platforms shall require to be displayed on the listing advertisement. Any hosting platform that offers short-term rental of residential property for tourist or transient use without requiring the owner to display the current, valid registration number of a property, and its expiration date, shall be subject to a civil fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) per day per violation, with each property listing constituting a separate violation.(k) A hosting platform shall provide to the department of business regulation, on a quarterly basis, an electronic report, in a format determined by the department of business regulation, of the listings maintained, authorized, facilitated or advertised by the hosting platform within the state for the applicable reporting period. The report shall include a breakdown of the municipality where the listings are located, whether the listing is for a room or a whole unit, the total number of short-term rentals listed on the platform, the registration number of each short-term rental listed on the platform, the URL link of each short-term rental listed on the platform. and shall include the number of nights each unit was reported as occupied during the applicable reporting period.R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-63.1-14
Amended by 2024 Pub. Laws, ch. 403,§ I-4, eff. 12/31/2024.Amended by 2024 Pub. Laws, ch. 413,§ 1, eff. 1/30/2025.Amended by 2024 Pub. Laws, ch. 437,§ 1, eff. 1/30/2025.Added by 2015 Pub. Laws, ch. 141, § 11-3, eff. 7/1/2015.This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.