Laws §34-36.1), a modified Uniform Condominium Act that is comprehensive on liens, insurance, resale disclosure, and governance — but is silent on reserve funding. The state has no mandated reserve study and no required funding level, so reserve adequacy is a judgment call rather than a compliance check. Two risks dominate a Rhode Island document review. First is coastal insurance: an almost entirely shoreline state exposed to hurricanes, storm surge, and rising seas, where premiums in Newport and Washington counties have climbed 25–40% in five years and many associations have landed on the Rhode Island FAIR Plan (RIJRA). Second is the state's true super-priority lien — a six-month association lien that, under Twenty Eleven, LLC v. Botelho (R.I. 2015), can be foreclosed by non-judicial power of sale and extinguish a first mortgage entirely. The offsetting bright spot for condo buyers is a strong resale certificate with a statutory cancellation window. Note that non-condominium HOAs and planned communities fall outside §34-36.1 and have none of these protections.
Coastal insurance stress and the Rhode Island FAIR Plan
Rhode Island's coastal master-policy market is hardening sharply. Premiums in Newport County and across Aquidneck Island have risen roughly 25–40% over five years, carriers have exited or entered receivership, and Newport and Washington counties rank among the top US regions for non-renewals. The Rhode Island Joint Reinsurance Association (RIJRA) — the state's FAIR Plan — has absorbed thousands of displaced policies at premiums often 40–50% above the private market. A FAIR Plan placement usually means the standard market would not write the building. Read the carrier, the wind and storm-surge deductibles, any non-renewal history, and whether flood is carried separately, because the master policy here is both a risk document and a financing document.
True super-priority lien and non-judicial foreclosure
Rhode Island is one of a minority of true super-priority states. Under R.I. Gen. Laws §34-36.1-3.16, the association's lien for up to six months of common-expense assessments — plus attorney's fees up to $2,500 and foreclosure costs up to $5,000 — is prior to a recorded first mortgage. Under §34-36.1-3.21, that lien can be foreclosed by non-judicial power of sale, and in Twenty Eleven, LLC v. Botelho (R.I. 2015) the Rhode Island Supreme Court held the foreclosure can extinguish a first mortgage entirely. High association-wide delinquency or an active lien is far more consequential here than in judicial-only states. Special assessments, fines, and interest fall outside the priority amount but still create collection risk.
No reserve-study or funding mandate in a high-wear state
Rhode Island has no statute requiring a reserve study, an update schedule, or a minimum reserve balance. Section 34-36.1-3.02 lets the board fund reserves through the budget, and §34-36.1-3.15 requires an annual budget, but neither sets a target. A thin reserve is therefore legal — yet against aging Providence stock and salt-air coastal envelopes, seawalls, and decks that no law forces an association to fund, a weak reserve is a strong signal of future special assessments. The resale certificate (§34-36.1-4.09) must disclose reserve and capital-fund amounts, which gives buyers a data point even without a formal study.
Master-deductible pass-through to unit owners (2022 and 2025 amendments)
Two recent amendments to §34-36.1-3.13 shift coastal-storm cost onto owners. Since 2022, repair or replacement cost above insurance proceeds, after the master-policy deductible, is a common expense unless the declaration provides otherwise, and where the association insures individual units, owners must carry coverage up to the master deductible. Since 2025 (S0507 / Ch. 178), the association must give at least 30 days' written notice before increasing the master deductible. As wind and named-storm deductibles climb, more of each loss lands on owners — confirm your HO-6 loss-assessment limit covers the gap, and watch whether a high deductible could threaten conventional financing.
Two-act split, no HOA statute, and coastal building risk
Condominiums created before July 1, 1982 fall under the older Condominium Ownership Act (Ch. 34-36) unless they opted into 34-36.1, which matters for older Providence and Newport stock that may carry weaker statutory protections. Non-condominium HOAs and planned communities have no governing statute at all — only their CC&Rs and the Nonprofit Corporation Act (Ch. 7-6) — and none of the resale, lien, or disclosure protections of the Condominium Act. Layered on top is a coastal building-risk profile with no milestone-inspection backstop: salt-air corrosion, seawalls, historic envelopes in flood zones, and sea-level rise (about 11.6 inches at Newport since record-keeping began) are reserve and structural concerns no statute forces an association to inspect.
