By: Amy Copperman
MLPB Executive Director
February 22, 2024
In January, a new law went into effect in Rhode Island which states that landlords cannot charge rental application fees from prospective tenants. We applaud the RI Legislature for taking a key step to protect tenants in an especially virulent affordable housing shortage. The rule seems so simple on paper, but implementation of this new law will require education of both landlords and tenants, a clear complaints process, and enforcement protocols.
Changes in the law like this take time for the practical implementation to get baked into daily life, and that process is not without its pitfalls. For example: a quick glance at Facebook or Craigslist today shows that there are landlords out there who still advertise apartments for rent with the disclaimer “No Section 8.” This is particularly alarming since income-based discrimination has been illegal in Rhode Island since April 2021 (these struggles are not unique to RI–a class action was recently filed against numerous landlords and property management companies in Massachusetts for income discrimination).
So, let’s not let this new law eliminating rental application fees become the latest example of a beneficial law that exists in name only. We need lots of eyes on implementation, and we need tenants, housing seekers, landlords, property management companies and realtors all invested to make this work. We at MLPB are doing our part to get the word out to our Rhode Island-based health and social care partners about this new law, because we know that health care teams come into contact with a wide range of Rhode Island residents. We have also created a summary available publicly in our Rhode Island Digital Digest. In the short term, we encourage anyone who notices an application fee to submit a complaint with the Rhode Island Attorney General. And over time, we hope applications fees really do become a thing of the past.
