Rhode Island HOA Reserve Studies

Rhode Island HOA Reserve Studies
Reserve study factor Rhode Island treatment
Statutory reserve study required No. No Rhode Island statute mandates a reserve study for condominiums or homeowners associations. The recorded declaration and board fiduciary duty set reserve practice instead.1
Communities covered The Rhode Island Condominium Act governs condominiums created on or after July 1, 1982 (and pre-1982 condominiums that opt in); the Condominium Ownership Act governs condominiums created before July 1, 1982; recorded CC&Rs and, where incorporated, the Rhode Island Nonprofit Corporation Act govern non-condominium HOAs.2,3,4
Initial study deadline No statutory provision identified.
Study update interval Not required by statute.
On-site / physical inspection interval Not required by statute.
Preparer qualification Not required by statute. Because the state mandates no reserve study, it specifies no preparer qualification; the declaration may impose one.
Reserve funding required Not required by statute. The association may adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves, but funding stays discretionary and answers to the declaration and board judgment.5
Funding standard Not required by statute.
Component / useful-life scope Not required by statute for operating associations. A declarant's public offering statement must include a budget that reserves for specified components — exterior wood surfaces, roof shingles, roadways, decks — and itemizes their life-span.6
Annual member disclosure The association must adopt a budget at least annually, base assessments on it, and submit a budget summary to owners; the budget is ratified unless a majority of owners reject it. No reserve-specific annual disclosure applies beyond the budget.7,8
Resale / buyer disclosure Required for condominiums. The resale certificate must state the amount of any reserves for capital expenditures (and the portions designated for specific projects), anticipated capital expenditures for the current and two succeeding fiscal years, the most recent balance sheet and income statement, and the current operating budget. It applies to pre-1982 condominiums for events after July 1, 1982. The statute requires no such disclosure for non-condominium HOAs.9
Reserve account protections Not required by statute. No reserve-specific account-segregation rule exists. Surplus funds return to owners or get credited unless the declaration provides otherwise, and the association holds insurance proceeds in trust.10,11
Waiver or underfunding mechanism Not applicable. No statutory funding requirement exists to waive or to cure through an underfunding mechanism.
Enforcement / penalty No reserve-specific penalty. An association that fails to deliver a resale certificate within 10 days of a written request faces a civil penalty of $100 to $500 per occurrence; the board may impose fines to enforce the governing documents; and Superior Court enforces board fiduciary duty.9,12
Primary statutory citation(s) R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-1.01 et seq. (Rhode Island Condominium Act); § 34-36-1 et seq. (Condominium Ownership Act); § 7-6-1 et seq. (Rhode Island Nonprofit Corporation Act).1,3,4

Section 1: Overview — Reserve study requirements in Rhode Island

Rhode Island imposes no statutory reserve-study or reserve-funding mandate on its condominiums or homeowners associations. Instead, the recorded declaration and the board's fiduciary duty drive reserve practice, and the state adds one meaningful disclosure touchpoint at resale. The Rhode Island Condominium Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-1.01 et seq., governs condominiums, and it draws on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act — a model that predates the reserve-study provisions drafters later added to the 2008 Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA).1,13 Condominiums created before July 1, 1982 still answer to the older Condominium Ownership Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36-1 et seq., except where specific sections of the newer Act reach back to pre-1982 condominiums for events occurring after that date.2,3 Rhode Island wrote no comprehensive planned-community statute, so non-condominium HOAs answer to their recorded CC&Rs and, where incorporated, to the Rhode Island Nonprofit Corporation Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-6-1 et seq.4 Across the country, jurisdictions sort into three groups: hard-mandate states that fix study intervals and funding rules, disclosure-mandate states, and no-mandate states. Rhode Island sits firmly in the no-mandate group, with the resale certificate as its only statutory reserve touchpoint. The sections that follow lay out the statutory framework, the compliance obligations that do exist, and recent legislative activity.

Section 2: The reserve framework under Rhode Island law

2A. The Rhode Island Condominium Act and reserves

The Rhode Island Condominium Act applies to every condominium the state created after July 1, 1982, and to pre-1982 condominiums that voluntarily accept it.2 It rests on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, not the full 2008 UCIOA, and Rhode Island has never adopted full UCIOA. The condominium-law firm Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks describes the Rhode Island Condominium Act as "the most modern of the 3 acts," one "based on the 1980 Version of the Uniform Condominium and has been amended to contain additional protections."13 That lineage matters for reserves, because the reserve-study and reserve-funding provisions tied to later uniform drafting simply are not there. The Act treats reserves as a budgeting matter. It defines "common expenses" to include "any allocations to reserves," and it gives the unit owners' association the power to "adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves."5 The association must levy assessments at least annually, based on a budget it adopts at least annually.8 The Act's clearest reserve content sits in its consumer-protection provisions. At resale, a unit owner must furnish a certificate stating the amount of any reserves for capital expenditures and the portions designated for specific projects, the anticipated capital expenditures for the current and two succeeding fiscal years, the most recent balance sheet and income and expense statement, and the current operating budget.9 A declarant's public offering statement must include a budget that establishes a reserve for specified components and itemizes their life-span.6 Nothing in the Act, though, requires an operating association to commission a reserve study, fund reserves to any standard, or inspect components on a schedule. The text of the Act confirms that no reserve-study or reserve-funding mandate exists.

2B. Older condominiums and the absence of a planned-community statute

Condominiums Rhode Island created before July 1, 1982 fall under the Condominium Ownership Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36-1 et seq., the state's first-generation condominium statute.3 The two acts are not interchangeable. The newer Condominium Act says plainly that the Condominium Ownership Act does not govern condominiums created after July 1, 1982, and it names the specific newer sections — including the resale-certificate section — that reach back to pre-1982 condominiums, and only for events and circumstances occurring after July 1, 1982.2 To pin down which act controls, a board or its counsel should identify the condominium's creation date and check whether the association ever recorded an agreement opting into the newer Act. Neither act mandates reserves. Rhode Island also wrote no comprehensive planned-community statute. Non-condominium HOAs — single-family subdivisions and similar developments — take their shape from their recorded CC&Rs and, where incorporated, from the Rhode Island Nonprofit Corporation Act, which supplies the corporate governance defaults.4

2C. The declaration, corporate law, and fiduciary backstop

For every association type in Rhode Island, the recorded declaration is the primary source of any reserve obligation. Where the declaration requires a reserve study, a funding level, or a dedicated reserve account, that requirement binds the board as a matter of contract. The order of precedence runs from the Condominium Act, for covered condominiums, to the declaration, to the bylaws; in a condominium, the declaration prevails over the bylaws except where it conflicts with the Act.1 At the corporate level, the Rhode Island Nonprofit Corporation Act governs the association entity — board procedure, records, and meetings — for the many associations organized as nonprofit corporations.4 Board members owe a fiduciary duty to the association, and that duty takes in prudent financial management and planning for major repairs. The operational implication is direct: in Rhode Island, the declaration and prudent board judgment set reserve practice, not statute. A board that funds reserves and commissions a study does so to meet its declaration and fiduciary obligations, not a state mandate.

Section 3: Compliance obligations

A. Study and inspection obligations

No statute requires a reserve study or a periodic physical inspection of components — not for condominiums, not for older condominiums, not for non-condominium HOAs. Any such obligation is contractual, arising from the recorded declaration, or it flows from board fiduciary duty; it is never statutory.1 The only inspection-style requirement falls on the declarant, who must provide an architect's or engineer's condition report in a conversion-building public offering statement — and that duty attaches at the initial sale, not on an ongoing basis.6

B. Funding obligations

No statute requires reserve funding to any standard. For condominiums under the Condominium Act, the association may budget for reserves as a common expense, but it sets funding levels at its own discretion, guided by the declaration and board judgment.5 For older condominiums and non-condominium HOAs, any funding obligation arises from the recorded governing documents.

C. Disclosure obligations

For condominiums under the Condominium Act — and for pre-1982 condominiums as to post-July 1, 1982 events — the resale certificate must disclose reserves for capital expenditures, anticipated capital expenditures, the balance sheet, and the operating budget.9 Every covered association must adopt an annual budget, distribute a budget summary, and submit it for ratification.7 Non-condominium HOAs carry no equivalent statutory resale disclosure; any disclosure obligation they hold is contractual.

D. Account and governance obligations

No statute requires an association to segregate reserve funds into a protected account. For condominiums, surplus funds return to owners or get credited to them unless the declaration provides otherwise, and the association must hold insurance proceeds in trust for owners and lienholders.10,11 The Condominium Act governs the association entity — records, meetings, board duties — for covered condominiums, and the Nonprofit Corporation Act governs it for incorporated associations.4

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Rhode Island enacted no reserve-study or reserve-funding mandate in the past 24 months. Its most relevant recent enactment touches disclosure rather than reserves.

Status Signed
⌾ Last verified June 22, 2026
Docket

S 0507 · P.L. 2025, ch. 178 · 2025 Regular Session

Effective
Jun 24, 2025
Sunset
N/A
An Act Relating to Property — Condominium Law
Synopsis

Rhode Island signed S 0507 into law on June 24, 2025, and it took effect the same day. The act amended R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.13 to make a unit owner's insurance responsible for the association master-policy deductible that applies to the owner's unit, to require associations to disclose the deductible amount and any changes to it, and to give owners access to insurance damage appraisals on request.14,15

Operational impact
What this means, by role
Property managers Track every change to the master-policy deductible, send owners the required notices, and update resale and budget disclosures to reflect the new deductible exposure.
HOA board members Make sure the association puts deductible amounts and changes in writing, because the cost now lands on owners.
Community association attorneys Review declarations for deductible caps and align the insurance and disclosure language with the amended § 34-36.1-3.13.
Homeowners Carry unit-owner (HO-6) coverage large enough to absorb the master-policy deductible for losses that hit your unit.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No Rhode Island Supreme Court decision in the past 36 months squarely addresses reserves, budget adequacy, or board fiduciary duty in the reserve context. Rhode Island maintains no intermediate appellate court, so any such appeal would travel directly from the Superior Court to the Rhode Island Supreme Court.16

C. Active legislative debates

Lawmakers have introduced reserve-study mandates, but none has passed. A 2025 House bill (H 5824) and a 2026 Senate bill (S 2692) would each add a new § 34-36.1-3.22 requiring certified reserve studies and reserve funding, yet both stalled in committee and neither became law.17 Boards and managers should keep an eye on this proposed section in future sessions.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Rhode Island sits among the no-mandate states, and three groups define the national landscape. Hard-mandate states fix study intervals and funding rules. California, under Civil Code § 5550(a), requires that "at least once every three years, the board shall cause to be conducted a reasonably competent and diligent visual inspection of the accessible areas of the major components" as part of a reserve study, reviewed annually, wherever the major components' replacement value reaches at least half the gross budget.18 Florida offers another clear example: Senate Bill 4-D, signed May 26, 2022, requires milestone structural inspections for condominium and cooperative buildings three or more stories tall and a Structural Integrity Reserve Study every 10 years that associations can no longer waive or fully underfund.19 Disclosure-mandate states, such as Colorado, compel no study but require associations to adopt a reserve policy: under C.R.S. § 38-33.3-209.5, every association must adopt a responsible-governance policy that addresses when it prepares a reserve study and how it funds reserves.20 No-mandate states impose neither requirement, and Rhode Island sits in this group alongside Maine, New Hampshire, and the other northern New England states. Rhode Island's roots in the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, paired with the absence of an intermediate appellate court — appeals run directly to the Rhode Island Supreme Court — leave its reserve framework statutory only at the margins and slow to change. For a multi-state operator entering Rhode Island, the practical implication is plain: the declaration and board policy must drive reserve discipline, not a compliance checklist tied to a state mandate.

HOA Weekly updates its Rhode Island Reserve Studies coverage quarterly as the General Assembly and the Rhode Island Supreme Court act, so boards and managers can rely on a current reference. Federal frameworks — the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD — also reach Rhode Island associations regardless of the state framework.

  1. R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 34-36.1, Rhode Island Condominium Act (§ 34-36.1-1.01, short title) ↩
  2. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-1.02, Applicability (condominiums created after July 1, 1982; pre-1982 opt-in; enumerated sections, including § 34-36.1-4.09, apply to pre-1982 condominiums for events after July 1, 1982) ↩
  3. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36-1, short title, "Condominium Ownership Act" ↩
  4. R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 7-6, Rhode Island Nonprofit Corporation Act (§ 7-6-1 et seq.) ↩
  5. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.02(a)(2), Powers of unit owners' association (adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves) ↩
  6. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-4.03, Public offering statement — General provisions (budget reserve for specified components and life-span itemization); see also § 34-36.1-4.06, conversion buildings ↩
  7. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.03(c), Executive board (budget summary to owners; ratified unless rejected by a majority of all unit owners) ↩
  8. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.15(a), Assessments for common expenses (assessments made at least annually based on a budget adopted at least annually) ↩
  9. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-4.09, Resale of units (certificate must state reserves for capital expenditures, anticipated capital expenditures, balance sheet, operating budget; 10-day deadline; $100–$500 civil penalty) ↩
  10. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.14, Surplus funds ↩
  11. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.13, Insurance (proceeds held in trust by the association or insurance trustee) ↩
  12. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.20, Enforcement of declaration, by-laws and rules (board fine authority; caps) ↩
  13. Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, P.C., comparison of MA, RI, and NH condominium acts (Rhode Island Condominium Act based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act) ↩
  14. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.13 (as amended P.L. 2025, ch. 178) ↩
  15. 2025 — S 0507, An Act Relating to Property — Condominium Law (bill text) ↩
  16. Rhode Island Supreme Court Rules of Appellate Procedure, Article I (appeals from Superior Court to the Supreme Court) ↩
  17. 2025 — H 5824, An Act Relating to Property — Condominium Law (proposed § 34-36.1-3.22 reserve study; not enacted) ↩
  18. Cal. Civ. Code § 5550 (reserve study with visual inspection at least every three years; annual review) ↩
  19. Fla. SB 4-D (2022D), signed May 26, 2022 (milestone inspections and Structural Integrity Reserve Studies; Fla. Stat. §§ 553.899, 718.112) ↩
  20. C.R.S. § 38-33.3-209.5 (Colorado responsible governance policies, including reserve study and funding policy) ↩
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