East Providence, RI Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

East Providence regulates short-term rentals through Chapter 19 of the Code of Ordinances (Zoning), as amended in May 2020. Under Section 19-103, any rental of a single-family, two-family, three-family, semi-detached, or multi-family dwelling for a period of less than 28 days requires an annual Temporary Use Permit, and the property must be owner-occupied with the owner living there full time. East Providence has not adopted a separately codified per-bedroom occupancy formula, so the enforceable guest cap is the maximum occupancy the operator declares on the Temporary Use Permit application. Two state-law layers also apply. First, Section 19-1 of the East Providence Zoning Ordinance defines a household as a person or group of no more than four unrelated persons living together as distinguished from persons occupying a boardinghouse, lodginghouse, club, motel, or hotel, which limits how many unrelated guests can occupy a single dwelling unit. Second, the Rhode Island State Building Code (SBC-1, currently based on the 2018 IRC) sets minimum sleeping-room dimensions and emergency-egress requirements that effectively cap occupancy. The Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation Short-Term Rental Registry (R.I. Gen. Laws 42-63.1-14) also asks operators to declare bedroom count when registering listings hosted on third-party platforms.