Sell Land in Rhode Island for Cash | Free Parcel Review

Direct purchases only in Rhode Island

Rhode Island is an active state for StraightAcre, and it is one of two states where our structure is fixed in advance: we make direct purchases only in Rhode Island unless a licensed broker is involved. We do not assign purchase contracts here. That decision follows the state’s licensing law, which treats a person who sells or buys real estate for a fee as a broker while exempting a bona fide owner dealing with its own property. It also anticipates the 2026 wholesaling act.

That act, Senate Bill 3136 Substitute A, removes the owner exemption for “the sale of an equitable interest in real estate.” It treats anyone who assigns an equitable interest for gain more than once in twelve months as a broker, and it adds a wholesaling chapter with written disclosure to the owner, a three-business-day cancellation right, and fines. It passed both chambers in June 2026, is recorded as signed by the Governor on June 23, 2026, and takes effect January 1, 2027. Our counsel review will confirm the public law number; our operating line does not depend on it.

Our offers are subject to the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Parcel lookup town by town

Rhode Island’s five counties have no assessor, collector, recorder, or planning offices. Each of the 39 cities and towns keeps its own assessor’s database, collects its own taxes, and records deeds in its own land evidence records. Planning and zoning boards are municipal too. The table lists one rural town with a large share of vacant land for each county that has one; the statewide links serve Bristol County.

Find the plat and lot number on a tax bill or in the town assessor’s online database.
Open the town’s land evidence records and match the deed book and page to the deed you hold.
Ask the tax collector whether any quarter is unpaid and whether the parcel has been through a tax sale.
Send us the plat and lot and the town name. Most vacant parcels have no street number.

Parcel lookup town by town
County (town)	Assessor	Tax collector	Town clerk (land evidence)	Planning	GIS	Flood
Providence (Glocester)	Tax assessor	Town departments	Town clerk	Town departments	RIGIS	FEMA maps
Kent (Coventry)	Tax assessor	Tax collector	Town clerk	Planning and development	Town GIS and maps	FEMA maps
Washington (Exeter)	Tax assessor	Tax collector	Town clerk	Planning board	MapGeo	FEMA maps
Washington (Richmond)	Tax assessment	Town clerk	Town clerk	Planning	Maps and related data	FEMA maps
Newport (Tiverton)	Tax assessor	Tax collector	Land evidence	Planning	GIS and maps	Floodplain

Statewide, RIGIS publishes parcel, wetland, and flood layers, the Division of Municipal Finance lists every town assessor, and many towns post land evidence through a shared land records portal.

Tax sales and the one-year redemption

Each city or town sets its own installment dates, and a missed installment makes the balance due with interest the town sets between six and eighteen percent a year. The collector enforces by tax sale: the purchaser receives a title that stays subject to your right to redeem. You can redeem from a private purchaser until a foreclosure petition is filed, and through the town treasurer only within one year of the sale. The redemption amount is the purchase price plus a ten percent penalty if you redeem within six months and one percent more for each later month. Add any taxes the purchaser paid, interest at one percent a month, and costs, with the recording fee for the certificate of redemption on you.

One year after the sale the tax title holder may petition the Superior Court to foreclose all rights of redemption. Whether any surplus from a tax sale comes back to the former owner is a question for the town and your attorney; this page does not claim it does.

A sale to us can redeem the parcel at closing if the price covers the amount, but a pending contract does not pause the collector’s calendar. Get the figure from the collector in writing and read our back taxes guide.

Estates, probate licenses, and nonresident sellers

Probate here is municipal: each town has its own probate court. The court that issued letters may license an executor or administrator to sell the decedent’s real estate on a petition that describes the property. The license stays in force for one year from the decree, and the deed may be delivered later. Whether the will itself grants a power of sale, who the heirs or devisees are, and what the title insurer will accept when real estate passed directly to them are questions for your attorney before we talk terms. Our inherited land guide lists what to gather.

If the seller lives outside Rhode Island, the buyer must withhold six percent of the net proceeds (seven percent for a nonresident corporation) and remit it to the Division of Taxation within three banking days of closing. The unpaid amount is a lien on the buyer’s property, so expect the closing agent to insist on it.

Who closes, who drafts the deed, and what it costs

The Rhode Island Supreme Court settled the closing question in 2020. Title insurance companies and their agents may conduct a residential closing and draft a residency affidavit or a limited power of attorney in connection with issuing title insurance. A title examination for marketability must be conducted by a licensed attorney. Drafting a deed is the practice of law, so an attorney must draft or review the deed. Ask who is examining title, who is drafting the deed, and whether an attorney or a title agent will run your closing.

The real estate conveyance tax is $3.75 for each $500 of consideration. A second tier at the same rate applies only to residential property above $824,000 in 2026, so vacant land pays the first tier alone. The grantor pays unless the contract says otherwise. The tax is paid to the city or town when the deed is recorded, and the recorder marks the deed with a stamp. Deeds go to the town clerk, not a county office. Our closing guide walks through the order of events.

Wetlands, the coast, substandard lots, and farm or forest land

Rhode Island’s vacant-land disclosure form is where most of these questions surface. State law defines real estate for disclosure purposes to include vacant land, so the seller delivers a written disclosure before signing any transfer agreement. The form covers sewage disposal, water supply, taxes, easements, deed type and number of parcels, zoning, restrictions, permits, floodplain status, wetlands, hazardous waste, right-to-farm, and shoreline access.

The Department of Environmental Management’s freshwater wetland rules, in effect since July 1, 2022, regulate a jurisdictional area that includes the wetland, its buffer, floodplains, and contiguous land 200 feet from rivers, streams, and drinking water reservoirs and 100 feet from other wetlands. A new project inside it needs a permit unless exempt. Within 200 feet of a coastal feature the Coastal Resources Management Council has jurisdiction and its assent is required for regulated work. Start every flood check at the FEMA map service center, then the town or RIGIS layers, then our flood zone guide.

A substandard lot of record may be built on without zoning relief for size, frontage, width, or depth alone, with setbacks reduced in proportion. Towns may merge contiguous substandard lots in common ownership unless the lot is at least half the area of lots within 200 feet, so two small adjoining lots may be one lot in the town’s eyes. Land classified as farm, forest, or open space that changes use owes a land use change tax on its fair market value: ten percent in years one through six, falling one point a year to one percent in year fifteen, and nothing after that.

Questions Rhode Island land sellers ask

Will StraightAcre assign my contract to another buyer in Rhode Island?

No. We make direct purchases only in Rhode Island unless a licensed broker is involved, and the contract says so. The 2026 wholesaling act, effective January 1, 2027, adds disclosure and cancellation rules for anyone who does assign contracts here.

Do I have to give a disclosure form for vacant land in Rhode Island?

Yes. The seller disclosure law defines real estate to include vacant land, and the written form must be delivered before any agreement to transfer is signed. It covers water, sewage, zoning, wetlands, floodplain status, easements, and shoreline access among other items.

How long can I redeem after a tax sale?

You may redeem from a private purchaser until a foreclosure petition is filed, and through the town treasurer within one year of the sale. The amount includes the purchase price, a ten percent penalty within six months plus one percent for each later month, taxes the purchaser paid, interest, and costs.

Where do I record a deed if there is no county recorder?

With the city or town clerk, in the land evidence records of the town where the land sits. The conveyance tax of $3.75 per $500 is paid there at recording and stamped on the deed.

Does an executor need a court license to sell inherited land?

The municipal probate court that issued letters may license the executor or administrator to sell real estate on a petition, and the license runs one year. Whether the will already grants a power of sale is a question for your attorney and the title insurer.

Will money be withheld because I live out of state?

Yes. The buyer must withhold six percent of the net proceeds from a nonresident individual, estate, partnership, or trust, seven percent from a nonresident corporation, and remit it within three banking days of closing.

Can a non-attorney run my closing in Rhode Island?

A title insurance company or its agent may conduct the closing in connection with issuing title insurance, but a licensed attorney must examine title for marketability and must draft or review the deed. Ask who is doing each job.

Sources and statutes

The free review for a Rhode Island parcel

For a Rhode Island parcel we pull the plat and lot and owner of record from the town, the assessed value and any farm, forest, or open space classification, the collector’s status, FEMA and RIGIS flood and wetland layers, visible recorded access and easements, and whether we would make a direct offer. Daniel Michael Newland signs off on each review, which is a public-record summary and not an appraisal, survey, title opinion, or approval to build.

We buy directly or assign our purchase contract to a vetted buyer, and we tell you in writing which before you sign. In Illinois and Rhode Island we make direct purchases only, unless a licensed broker is involved. You receive your proceeds at closing through a licensed title or escrow company. Direct purchases use lender or transactional funding; any financing condition belongs in the purchase agreement. TechStack Consulting LLC, a Texas LLC, is the contracting entity.

See the parcel review page for what we deliver. The form below shows the current schedule.

Tell us about your land in Rhode Island

Send the town, the plat and lot if you have them, and anything about taxes, the estate, or wetlands you already know. A plat and lot is optional, and an inquiry does not commit you to sell.