Overview of Landlord-Tenant Laws in Oregon

What are my rights as a renter in Oregon? What are my rights as a landlord in Oregon? Understanding the basics of state law enables both landlords and tenants in Oregon to deal with many legal problems and answer many legal questions. Use this overview of key Oregon landlord-tenant law as a starting point.

Required Landlord Disclosures in Oregon

Under Oregon law, landlords must disclose specific information to tenants, usually in the lease or rental agreement. The list of required disclosures is long and includes information on topics such as:

• the owner and manager of the property, and who is authorized to receive notices such as service of process (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.305) (2025)
• pending legal actions, such as a pending foreclosure (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.310) (2025)
• responsibility for paying utility bills (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.315) (2025)
• recycling (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.318) (2025)
• smoking policies (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.220) (2025)
• carbon monoxide alarms (Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 90.316, 90.317) (2025)
• smoke alarms and detectors (Or. Rev. Stat. § 479.270) (2025)
• flood zones (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.228) (2025)
• renters' insurance (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.222) (2025), and
• payments for homeowners' association assessments. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.302) (2025).)

Federal law might require additional landlord disclosures. Nolo's chart of State Rules on Required Landlord Disclosures contains a list of each state's landlord disclosure statutes.

Can Oregon Landlords Charge an Application Fee?

Landlords in Oregon may charge an application fee to cover screening costs such as checking references and getting credit reports. The landlord must provide the applicant with a receipt for any applicant screening charge. Promptly after each screening conducted by a tenant screening company or consumer credit reporting agency for the landlord, the landlord must provide the applicant with confirmation of the screening, including a copy of a receipt from the company or agency. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.295) (2025).)

Oregon Security Deposit Limit and Return

Oregon landlords can require tenants to pay a security deposit. Here are the rules:

• Under Oregon law, a last month's rent deposit is considered to be a security deposit.
• Landlords must provide tenants with a receipt when they receive the deposit.
• Written rental agreements must include the amount of the security deposit.
• A security deposit can't be increased within the first year of the tenancy.
• Landlords have 31 days after the tenant delivers possession to return the deposit and provide an accounting of any amount applied towards rent or damages. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.300) (2025).)

Oregon Tenant Fees

Oregon landlords may not charge a fee at the beginning of the tenancy for an anticipated landlord expense. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.302 (2025).) Oregon landlords may only charge fees for specified events as they arise. For example, landlords may charge fees for acts such as:

• paying rent late
• paying utility bills late
• bouncing checks
• failure to clean up garbage and trash, including pet waste
• violating parking and vehicle rules
• violating smoking rules
• tampering with smoke detectors or carbon monoxide alarms, and
• violating a written pet agreement or a rule relating to pets. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.302 (2025).)

Fees must be listed in the rental agreement. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.302 (2025).)

Rent Rules

Oregon has a statewide rent control law that limits the amount of rent increases, bars landlords from raising rent more than once in any 12-month period, and requires landlords to give tenants proper notice before raising rent.

How much a landlord can raise the rent in Oregon. During any 12-month period, landlords can't raise the rent more than a percentage greater than the maximum calculated by the Oregon Office of Administrative Services, which will be the lesser of 10% or 7% plus the annual 12-month average change in the consumer price index for All Urban Consumers, West Region (All Items), as most recently published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor. The Office of Administrative Services publishes the maximum annual rent increase percentage for the following year no later than September 30th of each year. (Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 90.323, 90.324 (2025).)

How much notice is required for a rent increase. For week-to-week tenancies, landlords can raise the rent after giving seven days written notice. For all other tenancies, landlords can't raise rent within the first year of a tenancy. After the first year of a tenancy, landlords must give 90 days written notice before raising the rent. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.323 (2025).)

Penalty for violations. Landlords who illegally increase rent must pay tenants an amount equal to three months' rent, plus any damages the tenants suffered from the increase (such as interest on money they borrowed to cover rent). (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.323 (2025).)

Tenant Rights to Withhold Rent in Oregon

When a landlord fails to comply with a term of the lease or rental agreement or fails to maintain the premises in a habitable condition, tenants may notify their landlord of the breach and give a 30-day notice to terminate if the landlord doesn't fix the condition within seven days in the case of an essential service or 30 days in all other cases. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.360 (2025).)

Tenants may also repair a minor defect and deduct from rent the actual and reasonable cost of the repair work, not to exceed $300—but they must follow the statute's rules regarding notice to the landlord. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.368 (2025).)

Oregon Termination and Eviction Rules

In Oregon, the rules on how and when landlords can terminate a tenancy depend on the type of tenancy. Oregon's laws address week-to-week, month-to-month, and fixed-term tenancies (as well as tenancies located within a landlord's primary residence). (Note: Different rules apply if the landlord lives on the property and the property has only two units.) To put it bluntly, it's a lot of law. To learn the rules that apply to your tenancy, if not covered below, review the full text of Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.427 or talk to a lawyer.

Month-to-Month Tenancies

Landlords may terminate a tenancy without cause for month-to-month tenants with 30 days notice, but only during the first year of occupancy. (Local laws might require more notice.)

After that, landlords must have cause, such as nonpayment or the tenant's violation of a lease term, or a qualifying reason ("just cause" or "landlord cause"), as enumerated in the law (such as demolishing the building, moving immediate family members into the unit). (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.427(3) (2025).)

Tenants With Leases

Here are the rules for tenants with fixed-term leases.

• A landlord may terminate the tenancy during a fixed term (such as when the tenant has a lease or other written rental agreement for one year) only with cause and proper notice. (Ore. Rev. Stat. § 90.427(4)(a) (2025).)
• In cases where the tenancy expires within the first year of occupancy, the landlord may terminate at the end of the term without cause by giving 30 days written notice. (Ore. Rev. Stat. § 90.427(4)(b) (2025).) (In some places in Oregon, local laws require more notice.)
• If the tenancy terminates on a date after the first year of occupancy, the fixed-term tenancy becomes a month-to-month tenancy upon the expiration of the fixed term, unless the landlord and tenant agree to a new fixed-term tenancy, the tenant gives 30 days notice, or the landlord has a qualifying reason to terminate and gives proper notice. (Ore. Rev. Stat. § 90.427(4)(c) (2025).)

Landlord Access to Rental Property, Tenant Protection Against Retaliation, and Other State Laws in Oregon

Several other landlord-tenant laws in Oregon affect both property owners and renters, including:

• restrictions on landlord's right to access rental property (Oregon landlords must provide 24 hours notice of entry in non-emergency situations) (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.322 (2025))
• tenant protections against landlord retaliation for a tenant exercising a legal right, such as complaining about an unsafe living condition (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.385 (2025))
• special protections for tenants who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or bias crime (Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 90.449, 90.453, 90.456, and 90.459 (2025))
• procedures for how landlords must handle abandoned property left behind by tenants (Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 90.425, 105.165 (2025)), and
• fair housing rights (discrimination is also prohibited by federal and, often, local law—see the Housing Discrimination section of the Nolo site for details).

Oregon Landlord-Tenant Statutes

If you want to read the text of a law itself, such as state security deposit rules, you'll find citations in this article and many of the articles and charts included in the State Landlord-Tenant Laws section of the Nolo site. The Oregon State Legislature website contains links to state statutes.

In addition to accessing state laws via Nolo's website, Oregon statutes are available in many public libraries and in most law libraries that are open to the public (typically found in a county courthouse, at the state capitol, or in a publicly-funded law school).

Local Ordinances Affecting Oregon Landlords and Tenants

Cities and counties often pass local ordinances, such as health and safety standards, noise and nuisance regulations, and antidiscrimination rules that affect landlords and tenants. Many municipalities have websites—just search for the name of a particular city in Oregon and then do a search when you're on the site. For example, the City of Portland's website contains a link to the Portland Housing Bureau, which in turn provides many resources for renters and landlords.

Federal Landlord-Tenant Laws and Regulations

While most landlords and tenants will primarily be concerned with state law in Oregon, several federal laws also affect landlords and tenants. Congress has enacted laws, and federal agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have adopted regulations covering discrimination and landlord responsibilities to disclose environmental health hazards, such as lead-based paint.

The U.S. Code is the starting place for most federal statutory research. It consists of 50 separate numbered titles, each covering a specific subject matter. Most federal regulations are published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), also organized by subject into 50 separate titles.

The Cornell Legal Information Institute provides the entire U.S. Code as well as the Code of Federal Regulations. Finally, USA.gov, the official U.S. website, has lots of government information.

Resources for Landlord-Tenant Laws in Oregon

You can find more information on landlord-tenant issues in Nolo's landlord-tenant books.

For Tenants:

• Renters' Rights
• Every Tenant's Legal Guide

For Landlords:

• Every Landlord's Legal Guide
• Leases & Rental Agreements
• Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide
• First-Time Landlord
• Every Landlord's Guide to Managing Property

Other Resources

Oregon Law Help provides general information covering rent increases, lease violation fees, evictions, and other rental information. Also, the Oregon courts website has information, FAQs, and eviction forms for both landlords and tenants on its Residential Eviction webpage.

If you have further questions about landlord-tenant laws in Oregon or need legal assistance, consider talking to a lawyer. If you need help but can't afford a lawyer, consider asking a legal aid organization for assistance. Visit the Legal Services Corporation and LawHelp.org websites to learn more about legal aid.