§ 45-24.3-5 - Definitions.
SECTION 45-24.3-5
§ 45-24.3-5 Definitions. – The following definitions apply in the interpretation and enforcement of thischapter:
(1) "Accessory structure" means a detached structure which isnot used or not intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants,and which is located on the same premises with a dwelling.
(2) "Appropriate authority" means the official department, oragency, designated by a local community to administer and enforce theseregulations pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
(3) "Approved" means approved by the local or state authorityhaving administrative authority.
(4) "Ashes" means the residue from the burning of combustiblematerials (and the noncombustible portion of refuse loaded into an incinerator).
(5) "Basement" means a portion of the building partlyunderground, but having less than half its clear height below the average gradeof the adjoining ground.
(6) "Cellar" means the portion of the building partlyunderground, having half or more than half its clear height below the averagegrade of the adjoining ground.
(7) "Central heating system" means a single system supplyingheat to one or more dwelling unit(s) or more than one rooming unit.
(8) "Corporate unit" means a city or town, as the case maybe, delegated with the powers to provide for the enforcement of this chapter.
(9) "Dormitory" means a room or group of rooms in a dwellingused for living and sleeping purposes by four (4) or more persons.
(10) "Dwelling" means any enclosed space which is wholly orpartly used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants;provided, that "temporary housing", as defined in this section, shall not beregarded as a dwelling.
(11) "Dwelling units" means any room or group of roomslocated within a dwelling and forming a single habitable unit with facilitieswhich are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking, and eating.
(12) "Enforcing officer" means the official charged with theadministration and enforcement of this chapter, or the officer's authorizedrepresentative.
(13) "Extermination" means the control and elimination ofinsects, rodents, or other pests by eliminating their harborages; by removing,or making inaccessible, materials that may serve as their food; and bypoisoning, spraying, fumigating, trapping, or by any other recognized and legalpest elimination methods approved by the health officer.
(14) "Family" means one adult person plus one or more personswho are legally related to the adult person and residing in the same dwellingunit with that person.
(15) "Garbage" means the animal and vegetable waste resultingfrom the handling, preparation, cooking, serving, and nonconsumption of food.
(16) "Guest" means any person who shares a dwelling unit in anonpermanent status for not more than thirty (30) days.
(17) "Habitable room" means a room or enclosed floor spaceused or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking, or eating purposes,excluding bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, furnace rooms,pantries, kitchenettes and utility rooms of less than fifty (50) square feet,foyers or communicating corridors, stairways, closets, storage spaces andworkshops, and hobby and recreation areas in unsealed or uninsulated parts of astructure below ground level or in attics.
(18) "Health officer" means the legally designated directorof health of this state, or the director's authorized representative.
(19) "Heated water" means water heated to a temperature ofnot less than one hundred twenty degrees (120°) fahrenheit.
(20) "Household" means a family and/or one or more unrelatedpersons, including servants, and not more than two (2) boarders, who share thesame dwelling and use some or all of its cooking and eating facilities.
(21) "Infestation" means the presence within or around adwelling or other structure in large numbers of insects, rodents, or otherpests.
(22) "Kitchen" means any room containing any or all of thefollowing equipment, or area of a room within three feet (3') of thatequipment: sink, and/or other device for dish washing, stove or other devicefor cooking, and refrigerator or other device for cool storage of food.
(23) "Lead hazard mitigation" means, for dwellingsconstructed prior to 1978, compliance with the lead hazard mitigation standardin chapter 128.1 of title 42, the Lead Hazard Mitigation Act.
(24) "Lead-based substances" means any paint, plaster, orother building material which contains lead at levels in excess of acceptableenvironmental lead levels established by department of health regulations.
(25) "Meaning of certain words." Wherever the words"dwelling", "dwelling unit", "rooming house", "rooming unit", "premises", and"structure" are used in this chapter they shall be construed as though theywere followed by the words "or any part thereof". Words used in the singularinclude the plural, and the plural the singular, the masculine gender includesthe feminine, and the feminine the masculine.
(26) "Multiple dwelling" means any dwelling containing four(4) or more dwelling units.
(27) "Occupant" means any person, over one year of age,living, sleeping, cooking, or eating in, or actually having possession of, adwelling unit or a rooming unit, and/or structure, except that in dwellingunits a guest will not be considered an occupant.
(28) "Operator" means any person who has charge, care, orcontrol of a building, or part thereof, in which dwelling units or roomingunits are let.
(29) "Owner" means any person who, alone or jointly orseverally with others:
(i) Has legal title to any dwelling, dwelling unit, orstructure with or without accompanying actual possession thereof; or
(ii) Has charge, care, or control of any dwelling, dwellingunit, or structure as owner or agent of the owner, or an executor,administrator, trustee, or guardian of the estate of the owner. Any personrepresenting the actual owner is bound to comply with the provisions of thischapter, and of rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter, to thesame extent as if that person were the owner.
(30) "Permissible occupancy" means the maximum number ofpersons permitted as a family or household to reside in a dwelling or roomingunit based on the square foot per person in habitable rooms.
(31) "Person" means and includes any individual, firm,corporation, association, or partnership.
(32) "Plumbing" means and includes all of the followingsupplied facilities and equipment: gas pipes, gas burning equipment, wastepipes, garbage disposal units, water closets, sinks, installed dishwashers,lavatories, bathtubs, shower baths, installed clothes washing machines, catchbasins, drains, vents, and any other similar supplied fixtures, together withall connections to water, sewer, septic tank, or gas lines.
(33) "Potential hazardous material" means any toxic material,including building material containing heavy-metal compounds in concentrationsdangerous to the public health as deemed by the department of health of thisstate.
(34) "Premises" means a platted lot or part of a platted lotor unplatted lot or parcel of land, or plot of land, either occupied orunoccupied by any dwelling or non dwelling structure, and includes anybuilding, accessory structure, or other structure on that land.
(35) "Privacy" means the ability of a person or persons tocarry out an activity commenced without interruption or interference, either bysight or sound, by unwanted persons.
(36) "Refuse" means all putrescible and non-putresciblesolids (except body wastes) including garbage, rubbish, ashes, and dead animals.
(37) "Rooming house" means any dwelling or that part of anydwelling containing three (3) or more rooming units in which space is occupiedby three (3) or more persons who are not members of a single family.
(38) "Rooming unit" means any room or group of rooms forminga single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping,but not for cooking or eating purposes.
(39) "Rubbish" means non-putrescible solid wastes (excludingashes) consisting of both:
(i) Combustible wastes such as paper, cardboard, plasticcontainers, yard clippings, and wood; and
(ii) Noncombustible wastes such as tin cans, glass, andcrockery.
(40) "Safety" means the condition of being free from dangerand hazards which may cause accidents or disease.
(41) "Septic tank" means a receptacle, usually underground,to which sewage is drained and retained to effect disintegration of the organicmatter by bacteria.
(42) "Space heater" means a self-contained, automaticallycontrolled, fuel burning appliance of either the circulating type or theradiant type.
(43) "Structure" means all structures used or intended to beused for commercial, business, or industrial use or occupancy.
(44) "Supplied" means paid for, furnished, provided by, orunder the control of the owner or operator.
(45) "Temporary housing" means any tent, trailer, mobilehome, or any other structure used for human shelter which is designed to betransportable, and is not attached to the ground, to another structure, or toany utility system on the same premises for more than thirty (30) consecutivedays.