Rhode Island § 5-65-27 - Contractors’ Registration and Licensing Board

§ 5-65-27. Elderly person in-home solicitation — Right to cancel.

(a) Definitions. For purposes of this section:

(1) “Consumer” means an individual who contracts with a person offering to undertake or submit a bid to do work as a contractor.

(2) “Elderly person” is defined in § 42-66-4.1.

(3) “Emergency” means an urgent and immediate need for services, assistance, or repairs that must be addressed without delay to avoid substantial harm to persons or property.

(4) “In-home solicitation” means any transaction made at the consumer’s primary residence, including telephonic or online, except those transactions initiated by the consumer. A consumer response to an advertisement is not an in-home solicitation.

(5) “Person” means an individual, partnership, corporation, limited-liability company, association, or other group, however organized.

(6) “Services” means work, labor, and services as a contractor pursuant to this chapter, as well as other disciplines governed by the board pursuant to statutory law.

(b) In addition to all other methods of consumer protection provided by federal or state law, any contract that originates from an in-home solicitation of an elderly person for the purposes of performing work as a contractor pursuant to this chapter, as well as other disciplines governed by the board pursuant to statutory law, shall provide that any consumer who is an elderly person shall, in the absence of an emergency as defined herein, have three (3) days within which to cancel the in-home solicitation contract for contractor services.

(c) The contractor shall, at the time of the agreement in accordance with § 5-65-3, give notice to the elderly person of all the rights that substantially comply with this section. The notice must:

(1) Appear in the agreement under the conspicuous caption: “Notice of Cancellation”; and

(2) Read as follows:

. . . (date of transaction) “You may cancel this agreement, without any penalty or obligation, within three (3) business days from the above date. If you cancel, your cancellation notice must state that you do not wish to be bound by the agreement and mailed by registered or certified mail not later than midnight three (3) days following the consumer’s signing the agreement, excluding Sunday and any holiday on which regular mail deliveries are not made. All cancellations must be mailed to:

(insert name and address of the seller).”

(d) Whenever the agreement fails to conform to the provisions of this section and the consumer or his or her agent has notified the seller of the consumer’s intent to cancel the agreement by registered mail, return receipt requested, the contractor shall, within twenty (20) days, return any deposit made by the consumer. Failure to return any deposit shall enable the consumer to recover from the contractor double damages in any subsequent legal proceeding.