How much can a landlord charge to screen an applicant in Oregon?

Oregon does not set a flat statewide dollar cap on a tenant screening charge. Under Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.295, the applicant screening charge may not exceed the landlord's average actual cost of screening applicants or the customary amount charged by tenant screening companies or consumer credit reporting agencies for a comparable level of screening, whichever the landlord relies on. The landlord must give the applicant a receipt for the charge and, before accepting any payment, must give a written notice that states the amount of the charge, the screening or admission criteria, the process used, and the applicant's rights. A landlord may require only a single applicant screening charge from an applicant within any sixty-day period, no matter how many units the landlord owns or manages. Some cities go further, so verify the local rule and the current statute before you charge.

Does Oregon cap tenant screening fees at a dollar amount?

There is no flat statewide dollar cap in Oregon. Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.295 uses an actual-cost model: the screening charge is limited to the landlord's average actual cost or the customary amount a screening company or credit reporting agency charges for comparable screening. The city of Eugene is different. Eugene caps the applicant screening charge at the lesser of the amount allowed by section 90.295 or ten dollars, a limit upheld in Thorin versus City of Eugene and enforced beginning March 10, 2025. Portland sets no flat dollar figure, but Portland City Code section 30.01.086 D.7 caps the fee at what the screening company charged when the screening is fully outsourced, at 25% above that cost when the landlord does part of it in house, and at 10% above what a professional screening company serving the Portland-Metro area would charge when the landlord does all of it in house. Always confirm the current figure for the property's city before charging.

Can an Oregon landlord charge a separate screening fee for each unit?

No. Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.295 lets a landlord require only a single applicant screening charge from a given applicant within any sixty-day period, regardless of the number of rental units the landlord owns or manages that the applicant has applied to rent. The landlord must also refund the screening charge if the landlord fills the vacancy before screening the applicant, or if the applicant withdraws the application in writing before the landlord has ordered or conducted the screening. A landlord who collects a charge and neither screens nor refunds it can be liable for statutory damages.

Can an Oregon landlord reject an applicant for a criminal record?

Sometimes, but only within the limits of Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.303 and, since Senate Bill 291 took effect on January 1, 2022, only after an individualized assessment. A landlord may consider a conviction for drug crimes other than marijuana, person crimes, sex offenses, financial-fraud crimes such as identity theft or forgery, and other crimes whose conduct would adversely affect property or the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises. Before denying an applicant because of criminal history, the landlord must give the applicant an opportunity to submit supplemental evidence to explain or negate the record, and must weigh the nature and severity of the conduct, the number of incidents, the time that has passed, and the applicant's age at the time. HUD's 2016 criminal-records guidance was withdrawn effective September 25, 2025, so it is no longer authority to cite. A blanket criminal ban can still create Fair Housing Act exposure under the discriminatory-effects rule at 24 CFR section 100.500, which was reinstated effective May 1, 2023 and is currently the subject of a pending HUD proposal to remove it - a proposal only, so the rule remains in force. The Oregon requirement above is state law, not the FCRA and not HUD guidance.

What criminal history can an Oregon landlord not consider?

Under Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.303, a landlord evaluating criminal history may not consider an arrest that did not result in a conviction unless the charge is still pending, and may consider convictions or pending charges only for conduct that is presently illegal in Oregon and falls into one of the listed categories, which is why a marijuana possession or use conviction is off limits. A conviction that has been set aside is barred by a different statute: under ORS 137.225 a set-aside conviction, arrest, citation or charge is deemed not to have occurred and the applicant may answer accordingly any question about it. The landlord also may not consider an applicant's status as a medical-marijuana cardholder or patient, and may not consider a pending charge if the applicant is participating in a diversion, conditional-discharge, or deferral-of-judgment program on that charge. These limits are Oregon law, not the FCRA. Inside Portland, the Fair Access In Renting low-barrier criteria go further and bar reliance on a conviction that has been judicially dismissed, expunged, voided or invalidated. Do not cite HUD's 2016 criminal-records guidance for any of this - it was withdrawn effective September 25, 2025.

Does Oregon require an individualized assessment before a criminal denial?

Yes - under Oregon law, not federal law. Senate Bill 291 of the 2021 regular session, enacted as Oregon Laws 2021 chapter 577 and effective January 1, 2022, added Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.304(5), which requires an individualized assessment before a landlord denies an applicant on the basis of criminal history. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes no pre-denial step on a landlord at all: its pre-notice procedure, 15 U.S.C. section 1681b(b)(3), applies only to a consumer report used for employment purposes. The landlord must give the applicant an opportunity to submit supplemental evidence to explain, justify, or negate the relevance of the record, and must consider factors including the nature and severity of the incidents, the number of incidents, the amount of time that has elapsed, and the applicant's age when the incidents occurred. Inside the city of Portland, the Fair Access In Renting ordinance offers a landlord the alternative of adopting low-barrier screening criteria, which avoids the case-by-case individual assessment but forbids denials for arrests, for misdemeanor convictions sentenced more than three years ago, or for felony convictions sentenced more than seven years ago. Portland City Code section 30.01.086 E.2.b still requires the landlord to consider supplemental evidence submitted with the application before a criminal-history denial, and subsection D.8 gives a denied applicant a thirty-day appeal. Neither Oregon nor Portland fixes a number of days for the applicant to respond before the denial, so do not publish one.

Does the FCRA require a pre-adverse action notice before denying a rental applicant in Oregon?

No. The Fair Credit Reporting Act's pre-adverse action procedure - give the applicant a copy of the report and a summary of rights, then wait before acting - is 15 U.S.C. section 1681b(b)(3), and by its own terms it applies only in using a consumer report for employment purposes, which 15 U.S.C. section 1681a(h) defines as evaluating a consumer for employment, promotion, reassignment or retention as an employee. Renting a home is none of those. In housing the federal duty is the adverse action notice under 15 U.S.C. section 1681m(a), which is given after the decision and carries no waiting period, no duty to enclose a copy of the report, and no duty to enclose a summary of rights; the applicant's route to the report is a free copy from the reporting agency on request within sixty days. Any five-business-day waiting period attached to a housing denial has no federal source at all. Oregon does impose a genuine pre-denial duty, but it is state law: under Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.304(5) a landlord must, before denying an application on the basis of criminal history, give the applicant an opportunity to submit supplemental evidence and conduct an individualized assessment. Inside Portland, the Fair Access In Renting ordinance adds its own pre-denial steps.

Must an Oregon landlord give a reason for denying an application?

Yes. Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.304 requires a landlord who denies an application to give the applicant a written statement of one or more reasons for the denial within fourteen days of the denial. The statement may be a form that checks the applicable reasons, such as insufficient rental history, unacceptable criminal history, insufficient income, negative credit information, or a prior possession action - the last only where section 90.303(1) does not bar the landlord from considering it. It must also name any tenant screening company or consumer credit reporting agency that supplied a report if that was not already disclosed, address any supplemental evidence the applicant submitted and why it was insufficient, and note any right to appeal. An applicant may recover one hundred dollars from a landlord who fails to comply, under section 90.304(6). This statement of reasons is a post-denial duty. It is separate from the federal section 1681m(a) adverse action notice, and separate again from Oregon's pre-denial duty in section 90.304(5), which applies only to a criminal-history denial.

Can an Oregon landlord refuse a Section 8 or Housing Choice Voucher holder?

No. Source of income is a protected class in Oregon under Oregon Revised Statutes section 659A.421. House Bill 2639, enacted in 2013, removed the old exclusion for federal rent assistance, so source of income now expressly includes the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program and other federal, state, or local housing assistance. A landlord may not refuse to rent, advertise a no-voucher policy, or apply harsher screening because an applicant intends to pay part of the rent with a voucher. The landlord may still apply neutral, consistent criteria, but should measure any income standard against the tenant's own share of the rent, not the full contract rent. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries enforces this protection, and a complaint may be filed within one year.

What are the protected classes under Oregon fair housing law?

All seven federal protected classes under the Fair Housing Act apply in Oregon: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability. Whether the federal word sex reaches sexual orientation and gender identity is a question of statute and case law rather than of agency guidance, because HUD's February 9, 2021 memorandum applying Bostock versus Clayton County to the Fair Housing Act was withdrawn effective September 25, 2025 under Docket Number FR-6617-N-01 - but that does not change the answer in Oregon. Oregon Revised Statutes section 659A.421 adds source of income, marital status and, listed separately in its subsection (2), sexual orientation and gender identity. Separately, Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.449 protects a tenant or applicant who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, so a landlord may not deny an application solely because the applicant is or has been such a victim. Since 2025 a landlord also may not inquire about the immigration or citizenship status of an applicant, a tenant or a household member, may not reject an applicant for lacking a Social Security number or proof of lawful presence, and must accept an ITIN, an expired government-issued identification, or other reasonable identification - Oregon Revised Statutes sections 90.303(6) and 90.306, with disclosure-based harassment barred by section 90.388 and remedies running through sections 90.390 and 659A.885. Screening criteria must be facially neutral, predictive of tenancy success, applied consistently, and free of disparate impact on any protected class.

What is the Portland Fair Access In Renting ordinance?

The Portland Fair Access In Renting ordinance, in Portland City Code section 30.01.086, governs how a landlord may screen applicants for rentals inside the city - but subsection G exempts five categories of unit from it entirely, including a unit not rented or advertised to the general public, a unit shared with a landlord who uses it as a primary residence, one unit of a duplex where the landlord's principal residence is the other unit, and an accessory dwelling unit where the owner lives on the lot, so check the exemptions first. A landlord may either adopt the ordinance's low-barrier screening criteria, which avoid a case-by-case individualized assessment but forbid rejecting an applicant for arrests, for misdemeanor convictions sentenced more than three years ago, or for felony convictions sentenced more than seven years ago, or perform an individualized assessment with the applicant's supplemental evidence. The ordinance caps the income-to-rent ratio at two times the rent, or two and one-half times the rent when the rent is below the maximum monthly rent for a household earning no more than 80% of median household income as published annually by the Portland Housing Bureau, requires a landlord to accept, conditionally accept, or deny applicants in the order of receipt, and, through the companion Portland City Code section 30.01.087 A.3, lets a landlord require an additional security deposit equal to one-half of one month's rent from a conditionally approved applicant, payable in installments over up to three months. Under subsection F a landlord using its own criteria must conduct an individual assessment for any basis on which it intends to deny, before issuing the denial; under subsection D.8 a denied applicant gets a thirty-day appeal, and an approved appeal prequalifies the applicant for three months and waives the screening fee. The written acceptance, conditional acceptance or denial is due within two weeks after the evaluation is complete under subsection D.5, and a notice of denial following an individual assessment is due within two weeks of the denial under subsection F.2.c. The current version took effect January 1, 2025 under Ordinance 191973. These are city duties, not Fair Credit Reporting Act duties. Confirm the current ordinance before screening a Portland unit.

What is Eugene's screening-fee cap?

The city of Eugene caps the applicant screening charge at the lesser of the amount allowed by Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.295 or ten dollars per applicant. The cap survived a legal challenge in Thorin versus City of Eugene, and the city began enforcing it on March 10, 2025. Eugene also requires applications to be processed on a first-come, first-served basis with the unit offered to the first qualified applicant, and requires a landlord to hold an applicant's place in line for up to twenty-four hours when the applicant needs more time because of a language barrier. A landlord who overcharges can face a city complaint. Verify the current Eugene rule before charging.

How far back can an Oregon tenant screening report reach?

Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, most negative items on a consumer report have a seven-year reporting window, while a bankruptcy may be reported for ten years. Civil judgments, paid tax liens, and most collection accounts fall under the seven-year rule. On top of that federal window, Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.303 bars a landlord from considering an arrest that did not lead to a conviction and permits consideration only of convictions and pending charges for conduct presently illegal in Oregon, while ORS 137.225 makes a set-aside conviction one that is deemed not to have occurred, and Portland's low-barrier criteria bar reliance on misdemeanor convictions older than three years or felony convictions older than seven years. Two Oregon bars are absolute regardless of the federal window: section 90.303(1) bars considering an eviction judgment entered five or more years before the application, and sections 90.303(1) and 90.303(5) together bar anything arising from the April 1, 2020 to March 1, 2022 window - an eviction judgment on claims from that period, and unpaid rent that accrued then, including rent reflected in a judgment or referred to a collection agency. A landlord should never base a decision on information older than the law allows, and an applicant can dispute stale or inaccurate items with the reporting agency, which must investigate, generally within thirty days.

Where can an Oregonian file a fair-housing or screening complaint?

An applicant who believes a screening decision was discriminatory can file with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries Civil Rights Division at the state level, generally within one year of the act, or with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development at the federal level. Both agencies investigate housing discrimination complaints. For a screening-charge or statement-of-reasons violation under Oregon Revised Statutes sections 90.295 and 90.304, an applicant can also pursue the statutory damages the landlord-tenant act provides. Portland goes further than a complaint process: Portland City Code section 30.01.086 H makes a landlord liable to the applicant for up to two hundred fifty dollars per violation plus actual damages, reasonable attorney fees and costs, and gives an applicant materially harmed by intentional noncompliance a private cause of action in any court of competent jurisdiction. Eugene offers a local complaint process for its ordinance. Keep written records of the application, the criteria, the fee receipt, and any communications.

What penalties apply for tenant screening violations in Oregon?

The exposure is layered. Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. section 1681n gives a consumer who proves a willful violation either actual damages or statutory damages of one hundred to one thousand dollars per violation - the statute is disjunctive, so it is one or the other and not both - plus any punitive damages the court allows and the costs of the action together with reasonable attorney fees. A negligent violation falls under 15 U.S.C. section 1681o: actual damages plus costs and reasonable attorney fees, with no statutory-damages floor. The fee shifting is what drives class actions. Under Oregon law, section 90.295 allows an applicant to recover damages for an improper or unrefunded screening charge, section 90.304 allows one hundred dollars for a missing statement of reasons, and a fair-housing violation under section 659A.421 enforced by the Bureau of Labor and Industries can bring compensatory damages, civil penalties, and attorney fees. Because the attorney-fee provisions shift the cost to the landlord, a single dropped consent form or missing notice can become expensive.

Home › Tenant Screening Laws › Oregon

Oregon Tenant Screening Laws: The Landlord and Applicant Guide

FCRA Section 1681m(a) Adverse Action · ORS 90.304(5) Pre-Denial Assessment · Section 90.295 Actual-Cost Fee · Senate Bill 291 of 2021 · Portland FAIR and Eugene Rules

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Applies Oregon ~16 min read

Oregon tenant screening sits at the crossroads of two bodies of law: the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which governs how a consumer report may be pulled and used everywhere in the country, and Oregon’s own rules under the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, chiefly Oregon Revised Statutes sections 90.295, 90.303, and 90.304, which cap the screening charge at actual cost, limit how criminal history may be used, and force a written statement of reasons for a denial. Oregon landlords who screen properly follow the law at each step. The ones who overcharge, skip the consent form, or reject an applicant without the required notice pay for that shortcut, and the mandatory attorney-fee provisions are what make the bill so large.

This guide walks the whole framework in plain English: the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requirements every landlord must meet and the one it does not impose, Oregon’s actual-cost screening-charge rule and one-fee-per-sixty-days limit under section 90.295, the criminal-history limits of section 90.303 and the individualized assessment that Senate Bill 291 added on January 1, 2022, the fourteen-day statement of reasons under section 90.304, source-of-income protection under section 659A.421, the Portland Fair Access In Renting ordinance and the Eugene ten-dollar cap, why the pre-denial duty here belongs to Oregon and Portland rather than to the FCRA, the rights every applicant holds, a day-by-day screening workflow, a compliance playbook, real scenarios, and an Oregon-specific set of frequently asked questions.

Because Oregon layers strong state protections on top of the federal baseline, the safest posture for a landlord is written applicant authorization, consistent written criteria, a receipted and refundable fee, the section 90.304(5) individualized criminal review completed before any criminal-history denial, and a proper section 1681m(a) adverse action notice plus the section 90.304 statement of reasons every single time, and the strongest position for an applicant is to know exactly which rights the law confers. Treat every figure here as a starting point and verify the current statute and any city ordinance before you screen, charge a fee, or dispute a decision.

Oregon tenant screening rules at a glance

Application fee: there is no flat statewide dollar cap; the screening charge may not exceed the landlord’s average actual cost or the customary screening-company charge, needs a prior written notice and a receipt, is limited to one charge per applicant in any sixty-day period, and must be refunded within thirty days if unused (ORS 90.295), while Eugene caps it at ten dollars by city code (Eugene City Code 8.425(14)). See the Oregon application fee guide.
Portable screening reports: Oregon has no statewide rule requiring a landlord to accept an applicant-supplied report, but the one-charge-per-sixty-days rule applies across all units a landlord owns or manages (ORS 90.295(1)(b)).
Criminal history: a landlord may consider only convictions and pending charges in listed categories for conduct still illegal in Oregon, not bare arrests or marijuana-only convictions, and must offer a chance to submit supplemental evidence and run an individualized assessment before a criminal-history denial (ORS 90.303 and 90.304(5)); Portland’s Fair Access in Renting ordinance adds more (Portland City Code 30.01.086).
Other statewide limits: source of income, including Housing Choice Vouchers, is protected (ORS 659A.421), eviction judgments five or more years old and pandemic-era rent debt may not be considered, immigration status may not be asked (ORS 90.303), and a written statement of reasons is due within fourteen days of a denial (ORS 90.304).
Federal baseline: the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.) requires a permissible purpose before a report is pulled and an adverse action notice when a report drives a denial.

Oregon Tenant Screening at a Glance

Primary Authority

FCRA — fifteen U.S.C. section 1681 & Fair Housing Act

Oregon Authority

Sections 90.295, 90.303 & 90.304 — Oregon Revised Statutes

Screening Fee Rule

Actual cost, no flat statewide dollar cap; one fee per sixty days

Pre-Denial Duty

ORS 90.304(5) — state law, not the FCRA (SB 291 of 2021, eff. 2022)

Bottom line: An Oregon landlord must satisfy the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act — permissible purpose and an adverse action notice under 15 U.S.C. section 1681m(a) whenever a consumer report contributes to a denial, a co-signer requirement, a larger deposit or a higher rent — and Oregon’s own rules on top of it. The FCRA imposes no pre-adverse-action step in housing: no waiting period, no duty to enclose the report, no duty to enclose a summary of rights. That procedure is 15 U.S.C. section 1681b(b)(3) and it applies only to employment screening. Oregon does impose a real pre-denial duty, and it is state law — under ORS 90.304(5), before denying on the basis of criminal history a landlord must give the applicant an opportunity to submit supplemental evidence and conduct an individualized assessment. Oregon does not set a flat statewide dollar cap on the screening charge; under Oregon Revised Statutes section 90.295 the charge is limited to the landlord’s average actual cost or the customary amount a screening company charges, the landlord must give a receipt and a written notice before charging, may collect only one charge per applicant in any sixty-day period, and must refund an unused charge. Senate Bill 291 of the 2021 session (Oregon Laws 2021, chapter 577), effective January 1, 2022, added that requirement; section 90.303 bars using an arrest that did not lead to a conviction and permits consideration only of convictions and pending charges for conduct presently illegal in Oregon, which excludes marijuana; a conviction set aside under ORS 137.225 is deemed not to have occurred; section 90.303 also bars an eviction judgment entered five or more years before the application and any unpaid rent that accrued between April 1, 2020 and March 1, 2022; and under section 90.303(6), added by Oregon Laws 2025 chapter 226 and operative June 27, 2025, a landlord may not inquire into an applicant’s or household member’s immigration or citizenship status or reject an application for want of a Social Security number or proof of lawful presence. Section 90.304 requires a written statement of reasons within fourteen days of a denial. Section 659A.421 makes source of income, including a Housing Choice Voucher, a protected class, so a no-voucher policy is unlawful. Inside the city of Portland the Fair Access In Renting ordinance — subject to the five exemptions in Portland City Code section 30.01.086 G — and inside Eugene a ten-dollar fee cap add further rules. These are general rules; verify the current statute and any local ordinance before you screen.

The FCRA Framework in Oregon

The Fair Credit Reporting Act, codified at fifteen U.S.C. section 1681, is the federal statute that governs tenant screening nationwide, and an Oregon landlord must comply with it regardless of any state-law differences, then add Oregon’s own rules under the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Getting both layers right prevents almost all screening-related liability. Two federal requirements sit at the core — permissible purpose and the adverse action notice — plus one step that is practice rather than federal law, applicant authorization; and one widely repeated further requirement, the “pre-adverse action notice,” does not exist in housing at all. Oregon supplies the real pre-denial step, and it is worth knowing which layer each duty comes from.

Permissible Purpose

A landlord has a permissible purpose under Fair Credit Reporting Act section 604(a)(3)(F)(i) — 15 U.S.C. section 1681b(a)(3)(F)(i), a legitimate business need in connection with a business transaction initiated by the consumer — to pull a consumer report on a rental applicant, and the screening company will require the landlord to certify that purpose. Subparagraph (F)(ii) covers reviewing an existing tenancy at renewal. That is the threshold right to obtain the report at all, but it does not eliminate any of the other requirements — it only opens the door to a report the landlord must then handle correctly.

Applicant Authorization — Required in Practice, Not by the FCRA

Take written authorization before you pull the report, on a standalone form rather than a clause buried in the rental application. That is sound practice, and screening companies generally require it by contract as a condition of furnishing the report. But be precise about the source: the FCRA’s stand-alone written disclosure and authorization rule is 15 U.S.C. section 1681b(b)(2), and by its own terms it governs a report procured “for employment purposes.” A landlord’s authority to obtain the report comes from permissible purpose, not from applicant consent. In Oregon, section 90.295(3) adds a real duty of its own: before accepting any payment the landlord must adopt written screening or admission criteria and give the applicant a written notice of the amount of the charge, the criteria, the screening process, the applicant’s right to dispute the accuracy of information supplied by a screening company or credit reporting agency, any right to appeal, the nondiscrimination policy, the rent and deposit amounts, and any renter’s liability insurance requirement. Since House Bill 2680 (Oregon Laws 2023, chapter 319, effective January 1, 2024), the landlord must also give the applicant confirmation of each screening, including a copy of the receipt from the screening company or agency.

Consistent Criteria

Written screening criteria must be applied consistently to every applicant. Inconsistency creates disparate-treatment exposure and liability under the Fair Housing Act, because bending the rule for one applicant and not another is powerful evidence of discrimination even where none was intended.

Adverse Action Notice — 15 U.S.C. Section 1681m(a)

If information in the report causes any unfavorable outcome — denying the application, requiring a co-signer or guarantor, requiring a larger deposit than another applicant would pay, or charging a higher rent — the landlord has taken an adverse action and owes an adverse action notice under 15 U.S.C. section 1681m(a). That is the section the Federal Trade Commission’s own landlord guidance points to. The notice is given after the decision, and it must state the name, address and telephone number of the consumer reporting agency that furnished the report, that the agency did not make the decision and cannot explain the specific reasons for it, and that the applicant may obtain a free copy of the report from that agency within sixty days and may dispute anything inaccurate or incomplete in it. If a numerical credit score was used in the decis