RI H7563

Property owners or contractors may hire licensed independent providers (building code administrators, engineers, or architects) to review development documents and perform building inspections instead of using municipal staff

Independent providers must maintain professional liability insurance of $1-2 million per occurrence depending on project size, and regulatory authorities must reduce fees by the cost savings realized when third parties are used

Regulatory authorities must approve or provide written deficiency notice on development documents within 10 business days; failure to respond results in automatic approval by operation of law

Certificates of occupancy must be issued within 7 business days (3 days for single/two-family homes) after receiving a certificate of compliance, or approval is automatically granted

Disputes over inspections, permits, or provider suspensions may be appealed to the Rhode Island Building Code Standards Commission or filed in court; municipalities are prohibited from imposing stricter standards on independent providers than those in the act