Landlords have until Tuesday to register their apartments with the state and, if the homes are in older buildings, produce proof that they are lead-free.
The state Department of Health has been working to build Rhode Island’s first statewide rental registry, a priority for tenants’ advocates and Attorney General Peter Neronha, since it was approved by the General Assembly in summer 2023.
All rented living spaces, including short-term rentals, are supposed to be registered under the law, with $50-per-month penalties for landlords who fail to do so. Apartments in buildings constructed before lead was banned in 1978 also have to provide a “lead certificate,” proof that they were deemed safe by a certified lead inspector.
The state, however, is not going to be issuing any fines for failure to register at this time.
The Department of Health “is currently focused on educating landlords about this new requirement and allowing landlords enough time to schedule [and receive] an inspection from a licensed lead inspector,” agency spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth wrote in an email that explains why fines are not being issued.
Is there any consequence of not registering?
While landlords, for now, won’t be cited for ignoring the registration deadline, they could still be fined eventually.
The law requires properties to be registered and in lead compliance for their owners to evict a tenant for not paying rent.
The Department of Health has not given any indication of when it might start issuing fines for noncompliance.
How many landlords have registered so far?
As of Sept. 26, 2,923 properties had been registered and another 3,648 had begun the process but had not completed it, Beardsworth said.
There is no fee to register but obtaining a lead certificate for a building built before 1978 isn’t always easy.
Although the Department of Health won’t state it publicly, the delay in issuing fines appears to stem in large part from a shortage of personnel to do the required inspections and lead remediation.
At a meeting of the state House study commission on housing affordability, commission chairwoman June Speakman relayed information a Department of Health official gave to a webinar, which suggested professional licensing requirements are getting in the way of lead remediation.
“It is a solvable problem, but we impose a requirement and there aren’t enough lead inspectors,” Speakman said. “To get a a lead inspectors’ license, you need not only 40 hours of training, but you need to be an apprentice and the lead inspectors are too busy doing all these lead inspections that we have required them to do that they can’t be mentoring new lead inspectors.
“So, it is an impossible situation, which is why they are not imposing fines on the Oct. 1 deadline.”
Last year, Gov. Dan McKee proposed delaying the registration deadline until fall 2025 but lawmakers didn’t go for it.
McKee also wanted to remove requirements that landlords provide a current address, email address and telephone number on the registry but that didn’t happen.
What is next?
The owners of rental properties have been required to remediate lead and obtain lead certificates since 2002, but without knowing where all apartments are and who is renting them, enforcement has been lax.
In Rhode Island, lead is estimated to harm as many as 1,000 children per year and the registry is seen as a key tool for pushing landlords toward cleaning up old units.
But, when the registry bill was passed, opponents and proponents noted that having a database of all apartments could also be used in the future to enforce other tenant protections.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI rental registry deadline Tuesday; no fines for noncompliance — yet
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