Rhode Island Real Estate Disputes FAQs

Preserve the evidence, identify any immediate safety or deadline concerns, and have the controlling documents reviewed before taking a step that changes the property or the parties’ relationship.

Create a dated chronology explaining what happened, when you learned of the problem, and what each person said or did. Keep the complete purchase agreement and amendments, deed, title policy, survey, seller’s disclosure, inspection reports, photographs, estimates, invoices, and relevant emails and text messages. Save original electronic files as well as readable copies. For a dispute about access or property use, collect older photographs and identify witnesses who can describe the history.

If a leak, structural problem, or other condition requires urgent attention, take reasonable steps to protect people and prevent additional damage. When it is safe and practical, document the condition before repairs and preserve removed materials or arrange an appropriate inspection. Avoid allowing a disagreement over responsibility to delay necessary emergency work.

Ask counsel to review contractual notices, insurance reporting obligations, and any litigation deadlines early. Before signing a release, authorizing distribution of a disputed deposit, moving a fence, or blocking an access route, understand how that action could affect your position. A useful first evaluation identifies both the legal claim and the result you need: repair, payment, access, a completed sale, or clarification of ownership.

Possibly. Discovering a serious problem after closing warrants investigation, but it does not by itself establish that the seller, agent, or inspector is legally responsible. Each person’s conduct and obligations must be evaluated separately.

For transactions covered by R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-20.8-2, the seller must disclose deficient conditions actually known to the seller before the agreement to transfer the property is signed. The statute also explains that the disclosure is not a warranty that no other defects exist and does not impose an affirmative inspection duty on the seller.

A home inspector’s responsibility presents a different inquiry. The statutory definition in § 5-65.1-2 generally concerns readily visible and accessible components and the conditions apparent on the inspection date, subject to the agreed scope and required standards. A condition concealed inside a wall raises different questions from visible warning signs omitted from the report.

Useful evidence includes prior repair records, photographs, disclosure answers, communications, and an independent assessment of the condition’s cause and likely age. Our home inspector negligence page explains inspection-related claims in more detail. For future purchases, we recommend that buyers independently research and select an inspector who has not been referred by either sales agent participating in the transaction. Review the inspector’s qualifications, insurance, sample reports, and written inspection scope. Recurring referral relationships can create competing business incentives; a referral alone does not establish that an inspection was negligent.

Start with the recorded documents and a reliable survey, then examine whether the history of ownership and use raises additional legal issues. A disagreement about who owns land differs from a disagreement about who may use it for access, utilities, or another purpose.

The relevant materials may include the current deed, earlier deeds in the chain of title, recorded easements, subdivision plans, surveys, and agreements between former owners. Photographs, maintenance records, and witness accounts can help explain how the disputed area has actually been used. Counsel may also need to evaluate whether use was permitted, whether the claimed access follows the recorded route, and whether the present use falls within the terms of an easement.

When an adverse claim creates uncertainty about ownership, a quiet title action may be appropriate. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-16-4 authorizes qualifying claimants to seek a judicial determination of title, removal of a cloud on title, and resolution of adverse interests.

Before removing an improvement or interfering with access, have the documents and available remedies reviewed. A negotiated boundary or access agreement may resolve some disputes, while others require court proceedings. Our easement practice page addresses disputes involving rights-of-way and permitted property use.

A co-owner may be able to seek partition, and a court may order a sale in an appropriate case. A sale is not automatic merely because one owner demands it; the form of ownership and the available relief must be examined.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-15-1 permits partition by civil action between the joint tenants, tenants in common, and other co-owners described in the statute. Under § 34-15-16, the Superior Court has discretion, on a party’s motion, to order the sale of the whole property or certain portions or interests through court-appointed commissioners.

Before filing suit, it is often useful to evaluate a negotiated buyout or an agreed sale. A workable agreement should address valuation, the listing or closing process, mortgages and liens, possession, ongoing carrying costs, and the treatment of disputed payments. Transferring an ownership interest should be coordinated with any necessary loan payoff, refinancing, or release from personal obligations.

Gather the deed, any co-ownership agreement, mortgage statements, tax records, insurance bills, repair and improvement invoices, and records of rent or other property income. Those documents help identify the parties’ positions and the financial issues that need resolution. Our Rhode Island partition practice addresses disputes involving shared property ownership.

The contract and the reason the transaction failed must be examined before deciding who is entitled to the deposit. A failed closing does not establish, by itself, which party breached or which remedy applies.

Review the signed agreement and amendments for financing and inspection contingencies, notice requirements, title obligations, closing extensions, default provisions, and any agreed limitation on remedies. The record of what the parties actually did also matters: whether notices were timely, funds were available, required documents were delivered, and an extension or other change was agreed upon.

In Quillen v. Cox, No. 2023-46-Appeal, slip op. at 8–14 (R.I. Jan. 16, 2024), the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed a judgment requiring the seller to complete the sale and rejected the seller’s demand for the deposit as damages. The decision rested on the record concerning the buyers’ performance and the seller’s conduct. The Court reiterated: “The grant of a request for specific performance is not a matter of right but rests within the sound discretion of the trial justice.”

Before signing an escrow release or treating the agreement as terminated, obtain advice about the available claims and defenses. If completing the purchase remains the objective, preserve evidence of the ability and willingness to perform and promptly address the risk of a transfer to someone else.

Begin with the condominium declaration, the legal classification of the affected area, and the statutes applicable to the condominium. The responsibility to arrange a repair and the allocation of its cost may require separate analysis.

For condominiums subject to R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.07, the association generally maintains, repairs, and replaces common elements, while owners generally maintain their units, subject to the declaration and the statutory exceptions. Section 34-36.1-3.15 addresses common-expense assessments and includes different rules for certain limited common elements, expenses benefiting particular units, and expenses caused by an owner’s misconduct.

An evaluation should include the declaration and amendments, bylaws, relevant plans, board notices and minutes, budgets, engineering or inspection reports, repair proposals, and applicable insurance information. Unit owners may request association records; § 34-36.1-3.18 requires financial and other records to be reasonably available for examination within thirty days of a request by an owner or authorized agent.

Older condominiums require attention to the Act’s applicability provisions; the entire modern statute does not automatically apply in the same way to every condominium created before July 1, 1982. Our condominium law practice addresses association governance, maintenance obligations, assessments, and related disputes.