The Rhode Island Property Producer License
Property is the third line of authority at R.I. Gen. Laws section 27-2.4-9(a)(3), and in Rhode Island it is a licence you can actually hold alone. The state examines Property and Casualty as separate papers - codes 03 and 04 - and publishes no combined Property & Casualty examination at all, so "P&C" in Rhode Island is a pair of lines rather than a single credential.
The handbook is direct about what a first-timer should do with that. Its note beneath the Available Examinations table states that "first time candidates for (P&C) MUST register for both the Property Producer and Casualty Producer exam." Read alongside the fee column heading - "Test Center Exam Fees* (If scheduled back to back, buy one get one free)" - and the asterisk footnote "* Candidates can register for two exams in one session (i.e. Property & Casualty)," the practical instruction is to book both into one session: two papers, two lines of authority, one $80.
A standalone Property licence still has real work to do, though, and it is worth knowing what it does not reach. Personal Lines is a separate, narrower line at section 27-2.4-9(a)(6) covering property and casualty sold to individuals and families for primarily non-commercial purposes - so Property alone does not carry the casualty half of a homeowners package, and a producer writing homeowners needs both major lines or the Personal Lines line instead.
What makes the Rhode Island section of this paper distinctive is how much of it is prescribed text. The state writes its own standard fire policy and prints the policy language in the statute, so the clocks a candidate needs are not summarised in a code section - they are inside a contract Rhode Island happens to have enacted. And the state's catastrophe rules are unusually prescriptive for a small state: windstorm deductibles are banned outright in residential property policies, and the hurricane deductible is capped as a percentage of Coverage A.
The Rhode Island Property Exam: Format, Fees and the Two-Paper Route
Exam code 03, two hours, $80. Two content outlines feed it: a Property General Knowledge outline of "50 scoreable questions plus 5 pretest questions" and a Property Rhode Island Specific outline of "26 scoreable questions plus 6 pretest questions." That is 76 scored and 11 pretest, 87 items, at roughly 83 seconds an item across everything in front of you - the most generous pace of Rhode Island's five producer papers.
Note what that pace is bought with. Property carries the smallest scored total of the five papers at seventy-six, and the second-smallest Rhode Island section at twenty-six scored questions - only Personal Lines' twenty-five is smaller. It also carries six pretest items in the state section rather than five, which is why the item total is odd. The time allotment is the same one Life, Accident and Health and Casualty get, so the extra room comes from having fewer questions rather than more minutes.
The counts are sums, not quotations. Neither Pearson VUE document prints an exam-level total. The February 2026 candidate handbook carries exam codes, time allotments and fees, and reproduces the Rhode Island content outlines with their counts in its own Content Outlines section; the separate outlines publication #124001, stamped 05/2026 and effective 28 May 2026, carries the same counts and no time limits. Every figure here is the sum of printed sections, computed on all items - scored and pretest together - because that is what is on the screen.
| Route to property and casualty authority | Papers | Scored | Total fee | Sittings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Property alone | 03 | 76 | $80 | 1 |
| Casualty alone | 04 | 82 | $80 | 1 |
| Property and Casualty, one session, back to back | 03 + 04 | 158 | $80 | 1 |
| Property and Casualty, separate days | 03 + 04 | 158 | $160 | 2 |
| Personal Lines instead | 55 | 100 | $80 | 1 |
Passing is a scaled 70, not seventy percent. The handbook's Score Explanation is explicit: "The scaled score that is reported to you is neither the number of questions you answered correctly nor the percentage of questions you answered correctly." A pass report carries the word and no number; a fail report carries a diagnostic - though the handbook scopes it to the general half: "Candidates who fail the General (or national) section of Life, Accident & Health, Property, Casualty or Personal Lines receive diagnostic information relevant to each major area of the examination."
Most Tested Topics on the Rhode Island Property Exam
Twenty-six of the seventy-six scored questions come from the Rhode Island Specific outline, and the state's property law concentrates them unusually well. Most of the answers below are inside one enacted policy form, one weather regulation and one residual-market rule.
| Concept | The Rhode Island rule | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Standard fire policy - does Rhode Island prescribe one? | Yes, and in three sections rather than one: 27-5-1 prescribes it, 27-5-2 requires compliance, and 27-5-3 prints the policy text | 27-5-1; -2; -3 |
| Proof of loss, fire policy | 60 days after the loss, and the proof must be "signed and sworn to by the insured" stating knowledge and belief as to time and origin | 27-5-3 |
| The insurer's time to pay a fire loss | 60 days after the proof of loss is received - the same number as the proof deadline, running from the other end | 27-5-3 |
| Appraisal - who can force it | Elective and bilateral. Triggered only where insured and insurer "shall fail to agree" as to actual cash value or the amount of loss, and then "on the written demand of either" | 27-5-3 |
| Fire policy cancellation notice | 30 days' written notice by the insurer, cut to 10 days for nonpayment of premium | 27-5-3 |
| Notice to a mortgagee | 10 days' written notice to a designated mortgagee not named as the insured | 27-5-3 |
| The section that looks like the cancellation rule and is not | 27-5-3.4 has three subsections, no day counts and no grounds. It governs service of notice, requires notice to both a payee and the named insured, and lets an insured cancel through "its producer who issued the policy" | 27-5-3.4 |
| Windstorm deductibles, residential | Prohibited outright: "Windstorm deductibles may not be included in residential property insurance policies" | 230-RICR-20-05-13 s.13.4 |
| Hurricane deductible cap | 5 percent of the insured value of the DWELLING - Coverage A - and not of the loss. Disclosure must include at least two practical examples of how it works | 230-RICR-20-05-13 s.13.4 |
| When a hurricane deductible may be applied | An asymmetric window: it commences with the issuance of a National Weather Service hurricane warning for the applicable part of the state, and concludes 24 hours after the termination of the last hurricane warning for ANY part of the state | 230-RICR-20-05-13 s.13.5 |
| Flood - what the insurer owes | A NOTICE duty, not an offer duty: clear and conspicuous notice, on issuance and at each renewal, that the policy may not cover flood, that NFIP cover may be available through FEMA, and that policyholders should contact their insurer or producer | 27-5-3.6 |
| Minimum claim payable to a mortgage holder | A holder is not entitled to payment for a loss to a covered building of "less than three thousand five hundred dollars ($3,500)" unless no liability exists as to the mortgagor | 27-5-3.2(b) |
| What a lender may require, and what it owes the producer | A lender may not require property insurance in excess of the replacement cost of the buildings; and on a transfer of servicing rights the holder must notify the producer and insurer in writing within 30 days, failing which "the holder shall indemnify and hold the insurance producer harmless" | 27-5-3.2(a) |
| Valued policy law | None appears in chapter 27-5, and section 27-5-3 settles loss on ACTUAL CASH VALUE. A total loss is not automatically paid at the face amount in Rhode Island | 27-5 |
| P&C claim-handling clocks | Written acknowledgement of a claim within 15 days; acceptance or denial within 21 days of receipt of properly executed proofs of loss; a status letter every 45 days thereafter if more time is needed | 230-RICR-20-40-2 ss.2.6(A), 2.7(A)-(B) |
| Are those claim clocks calendar or business days? | Calendar. The rule's definitions section defines "Days" outright, and uses calendar days throughout | 230-RICR-20-40-2 s.2.3 |
| FAIR Plan - what it can compel | Participation is compulsory for all domestic insurers and all insurers licensed to write the specified classes, with writings, expenses and losses distributed equitably. An insurer cannot opt out | 230-RICR-20-05-11 |
| Rate regulation | File-and-use: filed at least 30 days before the proposed effective date, usable at the end of that time "if no disapproval order or request for supporting information has been issued" - but a request for information restarts a 30-day clock | 27-44-6 |
The habit this paper rewards is remembering that Rhode Island's fire clocks are inside a contract, not inside a code section. Section 27-5-3 is the enacted text of the policy itself, so the sixty days for proof of loss and the sixty days to pay read as policy conditions rather than as statutory duties - and the appraisal clause is genuinely a clause, conditional on a failure to agree and triggered by written demand from either side. A candidate who looks for "Rhode Island's proof of loss statute" will not find one; the number is a line in a form the legislature happened to print.
The trap that costs marks is section 27-5-3.4. Its catchline is "Cancellation or nonrenewal of standard fire insurance policy," which is exactly what a cancellation question is about, and it contains no notice period and no list of grounds at all. Its three subsections cover service of notice - hand delivery, or first class mail with a USPS certificate of mailing, which "shall be sufficient proof of notice" - notice to both a mortgagee payee and the named insured, and the insured's own right to serve a cancellation on the company or on its producer. The day counts it refers to are the ones "provided by the policy," which sends you back to section 27-5-3 and its 30, 10 and 10.
And the weather rules are worth reading twice for their scope words. The windstorm prohibition and the five percent cap both apply to residential property insurance policies, so they say nothing about a commercial property risk. The hurricane deductible's trigger window is deliberately lopsided - it opens on a warning for the applicable part of the state and closes twenty-four hours after the last warning anywhere in the state, which means the window can stay open on a clear day in Providence because a warning is still running for Block Island.
Rhode Island Test Centers, Scheduling and Changes
Rhode Island has one insurance test centre, and five of the six sites the handbook lists are in Massachusetts. The listing carries two columns, LOCATION and SCHEDULE, and prints no street addresses at all - so the days below are what the handbook publishes, and the exact address comes from the Pearson VUE scheduling system when you book.
| Site | State | Days published in the handbook |
|---|---|---|
| East Providence | Rhode Island | Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday |
| Worcester | Massachusetts | Thursday through Saturday |
| Boston | Massachusetts | 3 days per week |
| Woburn | Massachusetts | Tuesday through Saturday |
| Springfield | Massachusetts | 1 day per week |
| North Dartmouth | Massachusetts | Thursday through Saturday |
The footnote under the list is the one that changes plans. It reads: "Candidates may take the exam at any national test center at no additional charge," with "Locations and schedules are subject to change." So the six sites are a convenience list rather than a boundary - a Rhode Island candidate working in Connecticut or living near the New Hampshire line can sit the Rhode Island paper at a Pearson VUE centre there, at the same $80. That is genuinely useful in a state whose only in-state site tests four days a week.
Booking: at least twenty-four hours ahead, online or by phone. The handbook says candidates "must go to https://www.pearsonvue.com/us/en/ri/insurance.html to make an online reservation" and "must make an online reservation at least twenty-four (24) hours before the desired examination date." The phone line is (800) 274-3739, on the same twenty-four hour rule. The examination fee is taken at reservation, "by credit card, debit card, or voucher," and the handbook is blunt that "Fees will not be accepted at the test center."
Changing or cancelling: at least forty-eight hours ahead, and by phone. "Candidates should call (800) 274-3739 at least forty-eight (48) hours before the examination to change or cancel a reservation." With proper notice you "may either transfer the fee to a new reservation or may request a refund"; without it, "candidates who change or cancel their reservations without proper notice will forfeit the examination fee." Refunds to a card are immediate; voucher refunds take two to three weeks.
Notice the asymmetry, because it creates a window where a booking is already non-refundable. You may book up to twenty-four hours out. You must change or cancel forty-eight hours out. Any reservation made inside forty-eight hours of the exam is therefore unchangeable from the moment it is made - the money is committed before the appointment exists in any meaningful sense.
Missing it normally costs the fee outright. "Candidates absent from or late to an exam who have not changed or canceled the reservation according to the Change/Cancel Policy will not be admitted to the exam and will forfeit the exam fee." There is no grace window at the door - but the handbook's Absence/Lateness Policy does publish a way back: "Candidates who are late or absent from an exam may call Pearson VUE within 14 days of the exam date to request an excused absence," on enumerated grounds - illness of the candidate or an immediate family member, a death in the immediate family, a disabling traffic accident, a court appearance or jury duty, military duty, or a weather emergency. Call within fourteen days rather than writing off the $80. The Life and Health guide owns exam-day procedure, including the arrival window and what to bring.
Two exams in one visit, and why it is worth arranging. The handbook permits "two major lines or two limited lines or one major and one limited line exam in one test session," its asterisk footnote reads "* Candidates can register for two exams in one session (i.e. Property & Casualty)," and the Available Examinations fee column heading carries the price: "Test Center Exam Fees* (If scheduled back to back, buy one get one free)." For a property candidate this is the whole argument for taking Casualty at the same appointment. Book it as one session rather than two same-day reservations, and confirm on the phone that the sitting has been set up back to back.
Weather and accommodations. Rhode Island's testing season includes nor'easters, and the handbook addresses it: "If severe weather or a natural disaster makes the test center inaccessible or unsafe, the examination may be delayed or canceled. Pearson VUE will notify and reschedule candidates in the case of severe weather." Accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act are requested through Pearson VUE's accommodations portal for the Rhode Island Insurance programme before booking, not at the centre.
Rhode Island Property License Fees
$80 for exam code 03, $5 for the BCI background report and $120 to the state. No pre-licensing course, no fingerprint appointment, and no fee to add a line of authority - 230-RICR-20-50-5's schedule carries no such charge, only a $25 returned check fee and a $50 reinstatement fee.
The back-to-back rule matters here, because Rhode Island makes you sit two papers for what most states sell as one. Property and Casualty booked into a single session cost $80 between them. Booked on different days they cost $160. The licence fee is unaffected either way: $120 covers the licence, and both lines sit on it.
What the $120 is made of. 230-RICR-20-50-5 prints the arithmetic beside the figure - $55 a year under R.I. Gen. Laws section 27-2.4-4 plus a $5 a year continuing-education tracking fee, doubled for the two-year term. A non-resident pays $130, built from $60 a year plus a $5 a year retaliatory fee plus the $5 tracking fee.
A surplus lines broker licence is priced separately at $100, initial and biennial renewal, and it is a second licence rather than an endorsement on this one. The Casualty guide owns the surplus lines path in full.
Later: $120 to renew every two years, still $120 inside the thirty-day post-expiry grace period, $170 to reinstate from day 31 to day 365. The Property and Casualty guide owns those tiers.
Rhode Island Property License Eligibility
Four findings and nothing else - section 27-2.4-8(a) requires the Commissioner to find that the individual is at least eighteen, has committed no act that is a ground for denial, suspension or revocation under section 27-2.4-14, has paid the section 27-2.4-4 fees, and has passed the examinations for the lines applied for.
No pre-licensing hours, and Rhode Island got there by repeal rather than by never having had them. Chapter 27-3.3, "Mandatory Prelicensing Education Requirements for Property and Casualty Insurance Producers," is marked [Repealed] in the official Title 27 index, as is its life and health twin at chapter 27-3.1. Section 27-2.4-7 imposes no course of study. DBR states the current position affirmatively - "Rhode Island does not require pre-licensing education" - and its licensing instructions put it as "There is no statutory pre-licensing requirement."
The examination itself is defined by statute rather than left to the vendor. Section 27-2.4-7(a) requires a resident individual to "pass a written examination unless exempt pursuant to section 27-2.4-11," and specifies what it must test: the lines of authority for which application is made, the duties and responsibilities of an insurance producer, and the insurance laws and regulations of Rhode Island. That last element is why the state section exists and why it is worth more per question than its size suggests.
Fail or fail to appear, and the statute is unsentimental about it. Section 27-2.4-7(d) requires a candidate who fails to appear or fails to pass to reapply and re-remit all fees before scheduling another sitting - which is the statutory backstop behind Pearson VUE's non-refundable fee and its twenty-four hour wait before a new reservation may be made.
Errors and omissions insurance is a live condition of holding the licence, not a condition of getting it. Section 27-2.4-23 requires resident producer licensees to carry at least $250,000 per claim and $500,000 in the annual aggregate, to maintain records and keep copies of all E&O policies, and makes failure to maintain cover a ground for suspension or revocation of the resident licence. Nothing is filed with the Department and no form exists.
Rhode Island Property Continuing Education
Important CE details: Five dollars of every year of your licence fee is a continuing-education tracking fee, and it is worth knowing that the two systems are wired together. 230-RICR-20-50-5 builds the $120 resident fee as "$55 per year fee of R.I. Gen. Laws 27-2.4-4 and the $5 per year Continuing Education tracking fee" - so you have already paid for the transcript that gates your renewal. That transcript lives in the NAIC's State Based Systems, and it is the record the Department checks; a completion certificate in your inbox is not. Check the transcript, not the certificate.
Twenty-four credits per biennial licence period, three of them ethics - 230-RICR-20-50-2 section 2.6(A), which sets "a minimum of twenty-four (24) accumulated credit hours including three (3) hours of ethics."
For a property producer the education question that actually comes up is flood, and Rhode Island answers it in a bulletin rather than in the CE rule. Bulletin 2006-7 is titled "Flood Insurance Training Requirements for Insurance Producers with a Property Line of Authority Selling Through the National Flood Insurance Program," is dated 6 October 2006, and does not appear on DBR's amended and revoked bulletins list. Its operative sentence is permissive: a producer who sells flood insurance "may satisfy the minimum training and education requirements by completing a course related to the NFIP, which may be approved for three hours of continuing education credit by the Rhode Island Insurance Division."
Two things follow from that wording and one does not. It follows that the requirement being satisfied is the federal NFIP one rather than a separate Rhode Island mandate, and that the three hours can count toward the twenty-four. Rhode Island says that expressly about two of its gates and not the third: the flood bulletin here, and section 27-34.2-21, which provides that the long-term care training "may be approved as continuing education courses." No source says it about the annuity best-interest course. What does not follow is any statement about repetition: the bulletin does not say whether the course must be taken again, and no Rhode Island rule supplies a cycle. Treat it as a one-off unless FEMA or the Department says otherwise, and confirm with the Division before relying on it.
A property producer holding no other lines has no other course to buy. Long-term care training attaches to long-term care sales and annuity training to annuity sales; neither reaches a property-only licensee. DBR publishes no page named for special or product-specific education - the Insurance Professionals page and its licensing FAQ are the index, and between them they surface three gates the licensee completes: annuity, long-term care and flood. A fourth gate arrived on 1 January 2026 and works the other way round. DBR's licensing FAQ carries the question "I heard Rhode Island requires Pet Insurance product training as of January 1, 2026, what do I do?" and answers: "The law requires insurance companies to train all insurance producers on their products. The Rhode Island licensing team has received many inquiries on how to find this training. Insurers are responsible for providing this training directly and are not required to file those courses with our department." You do not go and buy that one - the carrier delivers it before you write the product.
Reporting is the provider's job, not yours. Section 2.8(A)(5) requires providers to submit rosters electronically "within ten (10) days of completion of the course," and NIPR warns that it takes up to seventy-two hours from the compliance date for a status to update. Finish courses a fortnight before your renewal date rather than the week of it.
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