R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-9-38 — Purchase by city or town at sale without foreclosure

If no person bids at a sale, or if no bid deemed adequate by the treasurer is made
at a sale, the treasurer shall then and there make public declaration of the fact,
and if no bid or no bid deemed adequate is then made, the treasurer shall give public
notice that the treasurer purchases the land for the city or town by which the tax
is assessed; or if the person to whom the land is sold does not within ten (10) days
pay to the treasurer the sum bid by him or her, the sale shall be void and the city
or town shall be deemed to be the purchaser of the land. If the city or town becomes
the purchaser, the treasurer shall execute to it a deed, which shall set forth the
fact that no bid or no bid deemed adequate was made at the sale, or that the purchaser
failed to pay the amount bid, as the case may be. The deed shall not be valid unless
recorded within sixty (60) days after the sale under this section, and the title of
the city or town to land conveyed shall be absolute upon the recording of the deed
in the proper registry of deeds within sixty (60) days (Form 14).