§ 28-43-20. Contributions as debt to state - Lien on real estate. (a) The amount of any contributions, interest, and penalties imposed upon any employer under the provisions of this chapter shall be a debt due from that employer to the state, shall be recoverable at law in the same manner as other debts, and shall until collected constitute a lien upon all the real property of that employer located in this state. That lien shall take precedence over any other lien or encumbrance on that property except as subsequently provided. The director may file a notice of that tax lien with the records of land evidence for the city or town where that property is located and it shall be the duty of the recorder of deeds or the city or town clerk having custody of those records to receive, file, and index that notice under the name of the employer. Notwithstanding any of the preceding provisions of this section to the contrary, the lien imposed by this section shall not be valid with respect to property in any city or town as against any bona fide purchaser, mortgagee, or lessee whose interest in that real property appears of record in the city or town prior to the time of filing of the notice of tax lien in that city or town.

(b) The notice of the filed tax lien shall be in writing, shall contain the name and last known address of the employer, and shall state that the employer is indebted to the state of Rhode Island under this chapter for which the director claims a lien; that notice need not describe the employer's property, or specify the amount of taxes owed, or the period of time covered by the delinquency. When a notice is filed in a city or town by the director, it shall, unless sooner discharged or released, also apply to property in the same city or town subsequently acquired by the employer during a period of six (6) years from the date of filing, and that filing need not be repeated for each successive delinquency of the employer. The notice shall expire six (6) years from the date of filing unless renewed by again filing a notice on or before that expiration date. The director shall discharge or release the notice of lien when the employer is no longer delinquent in the payment of any contributions, interest, or penalties, whether incurred prior or subsequent to the date of filing of the notice, or upon request, following the expiration of the statutory lien period, as set forth in this subsection.

(c) For the filing of a notice of lien or for its discharge, the recorder of deeds or the city or town clerk shall be paid out of any money appropriated for expenses, a fee of four dollars ($4.00) for a completed entry.

(d) The authority granted to the director to file a notice of lien shall not be held to repeal or amend in any other respect the provisions of § 28-42-38.

History of Section. (G.L. 1938, ch. 284, § 14; P.L. 1956, ch. 3665, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 28-43-20; P.L. 1958, ch. 184, § 1; P.L. 1985, ch. 280, § 1.)