Rhode Island General Laws 34-36-20. Common expenses – Payment
(a) It shall be the duty of every unit owner to pay his or her proportionate share of the common expenses. Payment shall be in amounts and at such times as determined by the management committee in accordance with the terms of the declaration or the bylaws.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 34-36-20
- Common expenses: means and includes:
(i) All sums lawfully assessed against the unit owners;
(ii) Expenses of administration, maintenance, repair, or replacement of the common areas and facilities;
(iii) Expenses agreed upon as common expenses by the association of unit owners;
(iv) Expenses declared common expenses by provisions of this chapter, or by the declaration or the bylaws. See Rhode Island General Laws 34-36-3
- Declaration: means the instrument by which the property is submitted to the provisions of this chapter, as it from time to time may be lawfully amended. See Rhode Island General Laws 34-36-3
- Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Management committee: means the committee as provided in the declaration charged with and having the responsibility and authority to make and to enforce all of the reasonable rules and regulations covering the operation and maintenance of the property. See Rhode Island General Laws 34-36-3
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Person: means individual, corporation, partnership, association, trustee or other legal entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 34-36-3
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Property: means and includes the land, the building, all improvements and structures thereon, all easements, rights, and appurtenances belonging thereto, and all articles of personal property intended for use in connection therewith. See Rhode Island General Laws 34-36-3
- Unit: means a part of the property intended for any type of independent use, including one or more rooms or spaces located in one or more floors (or part or parts of floors) in a building. See Rhode Island General Laws 34-36-3
- Unit owner: means the person or persons owning a unit in fee simple and an undivided interest in the fee simple estate of the common areas and facilities in the percentage specified and established in the declaration. See Rhode Island General Laws 34-36-3
(b) The amount of common expenses assessed against each unit shall be a debt of the owner at the time the assessment is made and shall be collectible as such. Suit to recover a money judgment for unpaid common expenses shall be maintainable without foreclosing or waiving the lien securing the same. If any unit owner shall fail or refuse to make any payment of the common expenses when due, the amount thereof shall constitute a lien on the interest of the owner in the property, and upon the recording of notice thereof by the manager or management committee shall be a lien upon the unit owner’s interest in the property prior to all other liens and encumbrances, recorded or unrecorded, except only:
(1) Tax and special assessment liens on the unit in favor of any assessing unit, and special district, and
(2) Encumbrances on the interest of the unit owner recorded prior to the date the notice is recorded which by law would be a lien prior to subsequently recorded encumbrances.
(c) The manager or management committee shall, upon the written request of any unit owner or any encumbrancer or prospective encumbrancer of a unit, upon payment of a reasonable fee not to exceed ten dollars ($10.00), issue to a person so requesting a written statement setting forth the unpaid common expenses with respect to the unit covered by the request, which shall be conclusive upon the remaining unit owners and upon the manager and management committee in favor of all persons who rely thereon in good faith. Unless the request for a statement of indebtedness shall be complied with within ten (10) days, all unpaid common expenses which became due prior to the date of the making of the request shall be subordinate to the lien held by the person requesting the statement. Any encumbrancer holding a lien on a unit may pay any unpaid common expenses payable with respect to the unit and upon the payment the encumbrancer shall have a lien on such unit for the amounts paid of the same rank as the lien of his or her encumbrance.
(d) The lien for nonpayment of common expenses may be enforced by sale or foreclosure of the unit owner’s interest by the manager or management committee, the sale or foreclosure to be conducted in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to the exercise of powers of sale or foreclosure in deeds of trust or mortgages or in any manner permitted by law. In any foreclosure or sale, the unit owner shall be required to pay the costs and expenses of the proceedings and reasonable attorney’s fees. If so provided in the declaration or bylaws, in the case of foreclosure, the owner shall be required to pay a reasonable rental for the unit, and the plaintiff in the foreclosure action shall be entitled to the appointment of a receiver to collect the rental without regard to the value of the mortgage security.
(e) Unless otherwise provided in the declaration, the manager or management committee shall have power to bid in the unit at foreclosure or other sale and to hold, lease, mortgage, and convey the unit.
History of Section.
P.L. 1963, ch. 181, § 1.