Health Clubs

General Information

Pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-50-3, those intending to open a health club with an initiation fee as a condition of a contract in the state of Rhode Island must submit a bond to the Department of Business Regulation.

The amount of the bond is contingent on the square footage of the facility.

• Ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for a facility with less than ten thousand (10,000) square feet of permanently covered, non-court sport exercise/aerobic/fitness area;
  
   
• Twenty thousand ($20,000) for facilities between ten thousand (10,000) square feet and twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet of permanently covered, non-court sport exercise/aerobic/fitness area;
  
   
• And thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for facilities with greater than twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet of permanently covered, non-court sport exercise/aerobic/fitness area.

This does not apply to:

• Nonprofit organizations, weight loss and control services that do not provide physical exercise facilities and classes and that do not obligate the customer for more than thirty (30) days, and do not require an initiation fee as a condition of the contract; or
  
   
• A seller that does not require an initiation fee as a condition of a health club contract and whose only type of membership does not exceed thirty (30) days and that posts a conspicuous notice, placed with or near its schedule of rates posted pursuant to § 5-50-8(b) or at its entrances, that the seller is not subject to the bonding requirements of this section.

Statutes

• Statutory authority RIGL 5-50