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.
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:
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.
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 landlords can require tenants to pay a security deposit. Here are the rules:
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:
Fees must be listed in the rental agreement. (Or. Rev. Stat. § 90.302 (2025).)
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).)
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).)
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.
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).)
Here are the rules for tenants with fixed-term leases.
Several other landlord-tenant laws in Oregon affect both property owners and renters, including:
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).
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.
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.
You can find more information on landlord-tenant issues in Nolo's landlord-tenant books.
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.
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