R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-9-8.1 — Taking for taxes

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of § 44-9-8, upon a determination that the property is necessary for redevelopment, revitalization,
or municipal purposes by the redevelopment agency of a municipality or, if there is
no redevelopment agency and the city or town council makes that determination, then
the municipality may take the land for the city or town.
(b) If a tax on land is not paid within fourteen (14) days after demand for the tax and
remains unpaid at the date of taking, the collector may take the land for the city
or town, first giving fourteen (14) days’ notice of his or her intention to exercise
the power of taking, the notice may be served in the manner required by law for the
service of civil cases or may be published. The notice shall contain a substantially
accurate description of the lots or divisions of land to be sold, which shall be furnished
to the collector by the assessors upon demand of the collector, the amount of tax
assessed on each, and the names of all owners known to the collector. The notice of
the sale of the undivided real estate of a deceased person assessed to his or her
heirs or devisees or assessed in general terms to his or her estate shall contain
the names of all the heirs or devisees interested in the real estate, if the probate
records of the county where the land lies disclose their identity. The collector shall
also, fourteen (14) days before the taking, post a conforming notice in two (2) or
more convenient and public places.
(c) Whenever the collector of taxes of a city or town shall have taken land in the city
or town he or she may, in the name and on behalf of the city or town, take immediate
possession of the land and, until the tax title acquired is redeemed, collect the
rent and other income from the land, this rent and income, after the payment of all
necessary expenses in the care, repair, and management of the land shall be applied
on account of the taxes, assessments, rates, charges, interest, and costs due the
city or town on the land, with any balance remaining being paid to the person entitled
to this rent and income.
(d) Upon petition of any person having a right to redeem the tax title, the superior court
for the county where the land lies, if it adjudges justice and the circumstances warrant,
may, upon any terms that it deems equitable, enjoin a taking of possession under this
section or command the surrender of a possession taken. A city or town must designate
a detailed purpose and plan for any land it takes at a tax sale within one year, or
that land will be offered at the next tax sale.
(e) Neither the city or town nor any of its officers, agents or employees is 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 is liable for injury or damage caused
by the possession of land under this section to the land or to the person or property
of any person.