§ 45-24.3-17 - Notice of violation.
SECTION 45-24.3-17
§ 45-24.3-17 Notice of violation. –(a) Whenever the enforcing officer determines that any dwelling, dwelling unit,rooming unit, or structure, or the premises surrounding any of these, fails tomeet the requirements established in this chapter or in applicable rules andregulations issued pursuant to this chapter, he or she shall issue a noticestating the alleged failures and advising the owner, occupant, operator, oragent that the failures must be corrected. This notice shall:
(1) Be in writing;
(2) State the alleged violations of the chapter or ofapplicable rules and regulations issued pursuant to it;
(3) Describe the dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming unit, orstructure where the violations are alleged to exist or to have been committed;
(4) Provide a reasonable time, not to exceed thirty (30)days, for the correction of any alleged violation; and
(5) Be served upon the owner, occupant, operator, or agent ofthe dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming unit, or structure personally, or bycertified or registered mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the lastknown place of residence of the owner, occupant, operator, or agent.
(b) The owner of any dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming unit orstructure who is a nonresident of the state of Rhode Island shall have andcontinuously maintain with the city or town clerk where the property is locateda registered agent, which agent may be either an individual who resides in thisstate or corporation authorized to do business in this state. The landlord'sdesignation shall be in writing, shall include the name and address of theagent, and shall include the street address of each property designated to theagent. The agent so appointed shall be the agent of the owner upon whom anynotice process or demand required or permitted by law to be served may beserved. Any person who fails to maintain a registered agent shall be subject toa fine of one hundred dollars ($100).
(c) If one or more persons to whom the notice is addressedcannot be found after diligent effort to do so, service may be made upon theperson or persons by posting a notice in or about the dwelling, dwelling unit,rooming unit, or structure described in the notice, or by causing the notice tobe published in a newspaper of general circulation, for a period of three (3)consecutive days.
(d) At the end of the period of time allowed for thecorrection of any alleged violation, the enforcing officer shall reinspect thedwelling, dwelling unit, rooming unit, or structure described in the notice.
(e) If upon reinspection the alleged violations aredetermined by the enforcing officer not to have been corrected, he or she shallissue a second notice of violation on which constitutes an order requiring thatthe then existing failures to meet the requirements of this chapter, or ofapplicable existing rules or regulations issued pursuant to it, shall becorrected within a reasonable time allowed, but not to exceed thirty (30) daysafter the date of the reinspection, if the person served with the notice doesnot petition for a hearing on the matter in the manner provided by this chapter.
(f) The enforcing officer shall cause a copy of the secondnotice to be posted in a conspicuous place in or about the dwelling, dwellingunit, rooming unit, or structure where the violations are alleged to exist, andshall serve it in the manner provided in this section.
(g) The enforcing officer, after the expiration of timegranted the person served with the second notice to seek a hearing in themanner provided by this chapter, or after final decision by the housing boardof review or by a court of competent jurisdiction to which an appeal has beentaken, shall cause the second notice to be recorded in the land registry of thecorporate unit.
(h) The notice shall state that a cumulative civil penaltyhas been imposed. Except as otherwise provided in this section, no notice andlien recorded under this chapter shall be released until the violation has beenabated and the penalty imposed, as provided for in § 45-24.3-18, has beenpaid.
(i) All subsequent transferees of the dwelling, dwellingunit, rooming unit, or structure in connection with which a second notice hasbeen so recorded, are deemed to have notice of the continuing existence of thealleged violations, and are liable to all penalties and procedures provided bythis chapter and by applicable rules and regulations issued pursuant to it tothe same degree as was their transferor.
(j) It is unlawful for the owner of any residential ornon-residential building upon whom a notice of violation or order has beenserved to sell, transfer, mortgage, lease, or dispose of the building toanother until the provisions of the notice or order have been complied with oruntil the owner first furnishes to the grantee, lessee, or mortgagee prior tothe transfer, lease, or mortgage, a true copy of any notice or order issued bythe enforcing officer, and, at the same time, notify the enforcing officer, inwriting, of the intent to transfer, lease, or mortgage either by delivering thenotice of intent to the enforcing officer and receiving a receipt for thenotice, or by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, givingthe name and address of the person to whom the transfer, lease, or mortgage isproposed. A transferee, lessee, or mortgagee who has received actual orconstructive notice of the existence of a notice or order is bound by thenotice or order as of the date of the transfer, mortgage, or lease withoutservice of further notice upon him or her.
(k) The notice, once recorded in the land registry, iseffective for a period of three (3) years from the date of recording, and, inthe absence of an intervening renewal by the enforcing officer or by theenforcing officer for the corporate unit taking other action as provided bythis chapter, shall cease to be a notice of violation at the expiration of thethree-year term. Notices already of record as of June 18, 1985 will, in theabsence of an intervening renewal by the enforcing officer or by other actiontaken by the enforcing officer for the corporate unit under this chapter, ceaseto be a notice of violation at the expiration of three (3) years.