R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-23-1: Effect of unrecorded defeasance.

When a deed purports to contain an absolute conveyance of real estate but is made defeasible by a deed, bond or other instrument, the original deed shall not be thereby affected as against any person, other than the maker of the instrument of defeasance and his or her heirs and devisees and persons having actual notice of it, unless such defeasance is recorded in the records of land evidence in the town or city in which the real estate to which it relates is situated prior to the conveyance to such other person.