Which statement is true regarding a holdover tenant?

The statement regarding a holdover tenant being able to be evicted by the landlord is accurate. A holdover tenant is someone who remains in possession of a rental property after their lease has expired without the landlord's consent. In such cases, the landlord has the right to initiate eviction proceedings to regain possession of the property. This is critical for landlords who need to manage their properties effectively and ensure that they can re-rent or make necessary improvements.

In many jurisdictions, including Rhode Island, holdover tenants do not have any automatic rights to continue staying in the property beyond the original lease term unless a new lease is explicitly created or the landlord permits them to stay. Because the original lease has ended, landlords must typically follow legal eviction processes to remove holdover tenants, ensuring compliance with property laws.

The other options do not accurately reflect the legal status of holdover tenants. They do not automatically renew their lease without landlord consent; they have no standard entitlement to request a rent decrease just by staying beyond the lease term, and while there may be some legal protections against wrongful eviction, those protections vary by situation and do not grant them blanket immunity from eviction.