A Narragansett rental permit is no defence to your covenant — the town says so in writing
A Narragansett rental permit is no defence to your covenant — the town says so in writing
2026-09-15 · Rhode Island · Regulation
Rhode Island municipal ordinances usually go silent on private covenants. Narragansett's short-term rental article does the opposite: it makes the host certify, in the application, that the town's permit gives them nothing against their association.
The provision is § 14-546(a)(7)(d) of the Narragansett Code of Ordinances, in Article XVII, “Short-Term Rentals” (§§ 14-540 to 14-554), adopted by Chapter 1123, § 3 on May 6, 2024 with a September 1, 2024 effective date. The applicant must certify:1
“The short-term rental permit is not intended to and shall not operate to allow any residential property owner to violate any private conditions, covenants, and restrictions applicable to the owner's property that may prohibit the owner from using his or her property as a short-term rental unit.”
That is not a disclaimer that the town will not enforce covenants. It is an affirmative statement that the permit does not displace them, signed by the host.
The rest of the article, for a unit owner working out what applies
The definition is condominium-neutral — it reaches any “dwelling unit”, with no carve-out and no special inclusion for condominiums. The substantive requirements:
- A seven-night floor. § 14-543(b)(2): “A short-term rental shall be for a period of more than six consecutive nights. Rentals of fewer than seven nights are prohibited.”
- Occupancy. § 14-547(a): “The maximum occupancy for the dwelling and short-term rental unit shall be two persons per bedroom.”
- Insurance. §§ 14-544(b)(5) and 14-546(a)(5): “proof of general liability insurance for short-term rental use with a minimum amount of $1,000,000.00 combined single limit.”
- A local representative available twenty-four hours a day. The response time is stated inconsistently in the code — § 14-549(a) requires a response “within four hours of notification” while the application provision at § 14-542(c) refers to the ability to respond within one hour. Both sentences are in the adopted text.
- A declining permit cap. § 14-545(a): 1,100 permits in 2024, 1,000 from September 2025, 900 from September 2026.
- Fees and penalties. § 14-553: $375 for a resident, $750 for a non-resident. Minor violations escalate $250, $500, $1,000; a major violation is $1,000 and automatic revocation under § 14-551(h).
The complication: the ordinance is not being enforced
This is the part that changes what all of the above means for a board. Narragansett's article has been the subject of Superior Court litigation since 2024, a preliminary injunction has blocked enforcement of the permit-cap and short-stay provisions, the town suspended registration under the ordinance in January 2025, and as of a December 2025 council session it was still not enforcing it and was publicly considering scrapping the freestanding article and rebuilding short-term rental regulation inside the zoning ordinance instead. Nothing has been adopted to replace it.2
So a Narragansett condominium or homeowners association sits in an unusual position: the municipal rule that would otherwise back up its own restriction is in abeyance, while its own restriction is not.
Why that makes the covenant the operative instrument, not the ordinance
Three consequences follow, and they run in the association's favour.
The covenant does not depend on the ordinance. An association's rental restriction derives from its declaration, not from the town. An injunction against municipal enforcement does nothing to it. A Rhode Island condominium's enforcement power comes from § 34-36.1-3.20 — fines after notice and a hearing, capped at $100 a day for a residential condominium, and a lien on the unit — and that power is unaffected by what Narragansett is or is not enforcing. Our Rhode Island fining authority page covers the mechanics.
The certification is a useful document. Where a host applied for a permit under § 14-546, they signed a certification acknowledging that the permit does not authorise a covenant violation. An association facing the “but the town licensed me” argument has the town's own form answering it.
The seven-night floor is a floor, not a ceiling. An association whose declaration prohibits rentals of less than thirty days, or prohibits transient rental altogether, is imposing something stricter than the town's rule, and nothing in the article purports to preempt it. Our Rhode Island short-term rentals page sets out how far an association's restriction reaches.
The state layer, and what changes in January
Two state-law facts belong alongside the municipal one, because owners routinely conflate all three.
Registration with the Department of Business Regulation is a separate, standing requirement. Section 42-63.1-14 requires any short-term rental listed on a third-party hosting platform doing business in Rhode Island to be registered with DBR, renewed annually on the anniversary of the original registration, and completed “prior to a listing by a hosting platform.” The state definition is thirty nights: “not to exceed thirty (30) nights at a time.” That is not the same as Narragansett's seven-night rule, and satisfying one does not satisfy the other.
And from January 1, 2027, a new disclosure applies. P.L. 2026, ch. 165 adds § 42-63.1-14(l), requiring an owner of shoreline property to give the occupant, before the short-term rental commences, a written shoreline access disclosure reciting that the public may use the shore “up to ten feet (10') landward of the recognizable high tide line”. It may be satisfied by displaying the disclosure conspicuously in the platform listing before booking. For a Narragansett waterfront community that is a real duty arriving on a fixed date, and it falls on the owner, not the association.
What a board in Narragansett should do now
Enforce your own document and stop waiting for the town. The ordinance's status is unresolved and may be rewritten. Your declaration is not in litigation.
Ask hosts for their permit application, not their permit. The certification is in the application.
Do not write the ordinance into your rules by reference. A rule that prohibits “rentals in violation of the town ordinance” is now a rule with no content while enforcement is suspended, and will change meaning again if the article moves into the zoning ordinance. State your own minimum stay in your own document.
Tell owners about the two registrations and the January disclosure. An owner who thinks a town permit is the whole compliance picture is going to be wrong about the state registry and, from January, about the shoreline notice.
What to watch next
Whether Narragansett adopts replacement rules inside its zoning ordinance, and on what terms — a zoning-based framework is what Newport uses and what Westerly's council directed its solicitor to draft in August 2025. And Rhode Island's House commission on short-term rental policy is due to report to the House on or before September 30, 2026; whether it recommends a statewide minimum stay would settle the current patchwork in one move.
Related Rhode Island HOA Topics
- Narragansett Code of Ordinances, Ch. 14, Art. XVII, Short-Term Rentals (§§ 14-540 to 14-554), adopted Ch. 1123 § 3, May 6, 2024, effective September 1, 2024 ↩
- Partridge Snow & Hahn, “Short-Term Rentals in Rhode Island: Municipality Restrictions and Subsequent Litigation” — on the injunction against enforcement ↩
- P.L. 2026, ch. 165 (H 8110 Substitute A) — adding R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-63.1-14(l), effective January 1, 2027 ↩
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