R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-9-18 — Management and sale of land purchased by city or town — Assignment of tax title

(a) Cities or towns may make regulations for the possession, management, and sale of land
purchased or taken for taxes not inconsistent with law or with the right of redemption.
The treasurer of any city or town holding a tax title, upon payment to the city or
town of a sum not less or more than the amount necessary for redemption, may assign
and transfer the tax title to any person, and may execute and deliver on behalf of
the city or town any instrument necessary for this purpose. The treasurer shall send
notice of the intended assignment to the owner of record at the owner’s last known
address, by registered or certified mail, at least ten (10) days prior to the assignment,
but failure to receive the notice shall not affect the validity of the assignment.
The instrument of assignment shall be recorded within sixty (60) days from its date
and if recorded shall be prima facie evidence of all facts essential to its validity.
Except as provided, all provisions of law applicable in cases where the original purchaser
at a tax sale is other than the city or town shall after this apply in the case of
an assignment, as if the assignee had been a purchaser for the original sum at the
original sale and had paid to the city or town the subsequent taxes and charges included
in the sum paid for the assignment (Forms 1 and 2).
(b) Neither a city or town nor any of its officers, agents or employees shall be liable
or accountable to the owner or to any other person having an interest in the land
for failure to collect rent or other income from the land; and neither the city or
town nor any of its officers, agents or employees shall be liable for injury or damage
caused by the possession of land or to the person or property of any person.