Navigate RI Condo Law

“I am an actively involved President of a HOA. We have recently been challenged by events which brought us to focus on the language of our Declaration Amendments. We found that the language of our Declaration wasn’t protective enough of the interests of the HOA treasury and the Unit owners. Our property manager referred the Board to Attorney Ray Harrison for Condo Law advice. His experience as a longstanding advocate in Condominium Law along with his expertise in Insurance Reform Amendments was exactly what we needed. We now feel confident that we have better protected our HOA treasury and Unit owners, and as we move forward, we will be certain to turn to Ray for professional guidance we know we can trust.”

“Ray and I bought Tamarac condos from the developer and we both served on the executive board in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Ray was the first association president we elected and I also served as president later. When the cost of private trash pick up went sky high, Ray came up with the idea for the Smithfield Condominium Association and lead the political battle to include residential condo associations in the Town trash pick up program. Since the Town agreed to our request in 1988 all owners have been paying lower condo fees. Ray is the original Rhode Island Condo Crusader.

Ray also had good ideas to improve our association from within. He quickly recognized that we had no reserve funding in our budget. The developer had advertised artificially low monthly condo fees to help sell units. Ray created a reserve study and persuaded the unit owners in budget meetings that we needed reserves. As a result the association was able to stain all condo buildings regularly and pay for all reserve expenses with no special assessments while we were board members. Because of his leadership ability he was able to accomplish a lot for us at our condo and for all the condos in Smithfield.”

We always seem to have plenty of challenging issues in our condo on Newport Harbor. It's great to have Ray to turn to because while solving a problem he educates us so that we can do our best to avoid the problem in the future. His objectives are harmony among unit owners and safeguarding the association treasury which are achieved by running the association lawfully and prudently. He's done it all and helps all of us.

“I have been practicing law in RI for decades with a concentration in Residential and Commercial Real Estate. I have known Ray Harrison for many years and have relied upon him for advice dealing with Condominium Law in RI and it’s practical application to real time situations. I recommend Ray without hesitation to all associations that look to me for the best referral available. Ray has authored many important sections of the RI Condominium Act and is the go-to Condominium attorney for professionals as well as associations. As President of my 91 unit condominium association I rely on Ray for advice and written legal opinions needed to properly manage our beautiful development in Western Cranston.”

“The Declaration of our condo developer stated that development rights were good for 10 years but the developer wanted to keep building units after the rights expired. Our condo road construction was still not finished by the developer after 10 years and cars were being damaged driving into big potholes. We had to take the developer to court and by following Ray's advice we were able to settle our case receiving payment for development rights and the cost of completing the paving of condo roads and parking areas. Ray was able to explain everything about our rights so we could understand what we were entitled to and he was there for us all the way until the end of the process.”