General Background:  The AHJs throughout the country are reporting a growing trend in the utilization of what would traditionally be considered one- or two-family dwelling units now being rented on a short-term transient basis, i.e., for less than thirty (30) consecutive days. 
 
Chapter 24 of the Rhode Island Life Safety Code [RILSC] provides that [o]ne- and two-family dwellings shall be limited to buildings containing not more than two dwelling units in which each dwelling unit is occupied by members of a single family with not more than three outsiders, if any, accommodated in rented rooms.  (Emphasis added). 
 
Chapter 26 of the RILSC defines a lodging or rooming house as [a] building or portion thereof that does not qualify as a one- or two-family dwelling, that provides sleeping accommodations for a total of 16 or fewer people on a transient or permanent basis, without personal care services, with or without meals, but without separate cooking facilities for individual occupants.  (Emphasis added). 
 
Accordingly, past (and current) practice has been to classify these dwelling units that do not qualify as a one- or two-family dwelling unit as lodging or rooming houses in accordance with RILSC Chapter 26. 
 
Determination of the Board:  The Board finds that in order to address the need for these non-traditional rental arrangements, that certain relief may be warranted due to unanticipated and unreasonable hardship upon the general public and that it does not conflict with the general objectives of the Rhode Island State Fire Safety Code. 
 
Blanket Variance: The Board hereby approves the following amendments to the Rhode Island Life Safety Code: 
 
8.1.26	CHAPTER 26 - LODGING OR ROOMING HOUSES 
(Amd) 26.1.1.1 
The requirements of this chapter shall apply to buildings that provide sleeping accommodations for 16 or fewer persons on either a transient or permanent basis, with or without meals, but without separate cooking facilities for individual occupants, except as provided in Chapter 24 and/or except as modified by  26.1.1.1.1 through 26.1.1.1.10 (Bed and Breakfast Homes, Congregate Family Living Facilities, Seasonal Camp Cabins and Short-Term Rental Units), as outlined below. 
 
 
(Add) 26.1.1.1.10  For the purposes of this chapter, a "short-term rental unit" shall mean an existing dwelling unit that contains sleeping rooms where residents share the entire dwelling under a single rental agreement. A short-term rental must further have originated as a private one- or two-family dwelling unit and shall be limited to no more than three (3) stories in height and shall not exceed three thousand six hundred (3,600) gross square feet square feet of livable area. For purposes of calculating height and livable square footage under this paragraph, each dwelling unit shall be treated as its own short-term rental. A short-term rental shall be for a period of time not exceeding thirty (30) consecutive days. 
 
(Add) 26.1.1.1.10.1  All short-term rentals shall meet the following requirements: 
 
1.	Interconnected smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms shall be installed in accordance with NFPA 72. 
2.	Portable fire extinguishers shall be provided on each occupied level and shall have a minimum rating of 2-A:10-B:C. 
3.	Any occupied livable space above the second floor shall have two (2) primary means of escape or one (1) primary means of escape and one (1) approved secondary means of escape from each sleeping room in accordance with Chapter 24.