Free Oregon Rental Application

ORS 90.295 regulates the Oregon applicant screening charge without naming a maximum. The charge may not exceed the landlord’s average actual cost of screening or the amount customarily charged by screening companies. A receipt and confirmation of screening are required. Only one screening charge may be taken per applicant in any sixty-day period. Written screening criteria and notice must be given before the charge is taken. A refund is owed within thirty days where the unit is filled first or no screening was carried out. And ORS 90.297(1) bars any other applicant fee or deposit entirely.

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A rental application creates no tenancy; it identifies an applicant and records their consent to be screened. Oregon places more procedural duties around that moment than any other state in this set, and most of them are things an applicant can actually check: were the criteria provided in writing beforehand, was a receipt and a confirmation given, is this the first charge in sixty days. The generator above records the basis on which the charge was set and whether any other fee is being requested, because ORS 90.297(1) bars any other applicant fee or deposit outright.

• The property applied for and the desired move-in date
• The applicant’s full legal name, date of birth and government ID
• Current and previous addresses with the landlords’ contact details
• Employer, position, gross monthly income and a verification contact
• The screening charge, and whether it is set by average actual cost or the customary amount
• Whether written screening criteria and notice were given before the charge
• Whether this is the first screening charge by this landlord in sixty days
• Whether any OTHER fee or deposit is being requested — ORS 90.297(1) bars it
• Written consent to obtain a consumer report, signed and dated
• An address for any adverse-action notice if the application is declined

• Reading “no cap” as “no limit”. ORS 90.295 imposes an amount limit, a receipt duty, a confirmation duty, a frequency limit, a pre-charge notice duty and a refund duty. The absence of a number is not an absence of rules.
• Charging twice inside sixty days. Only one screening charge per applicant per sixty-day period is permitted.
• Giving the criteria after taking the money. ORS 90.295 requires written criteria and notice before the charge.
• Adding a second applicant fee or deposit. ORS 90.297(1) bars any other applicant fee or deposit.
• Keeping the charge when the unit was already filled. A refund is owed within thirty days where the unit was filled first or no screening was done, and the damages are twice the charge plus $250 under ORS 90.295.

Not with a number — with six duties. ORS 90.295 sets no maximum. It limits the applicant screening charge to the landlord’s average actual cost of screening, or to the amount customarily charged by screening companies, and then attaches a series of obligations around it.

Taken together they add up to a stricter regime than most states with a headline cap:

• an amount limit — average actual cost, or the customary amount;
• a receipt, and a confirmation that screening was carried out;
• a frequency limit — one charge per applicant per sixty days;
• written criteria and notice before the charge is taken;
• a thirty-day refund where the unit was filled first or no screening was done;
• damages of twice the charge plus $250 under ORS 90.295 where those are broken.

It is easy to read ORS 90.295 as the whole picture. It is not. ORS 90.297(1) bars any other applicant fee or deposit.

So the screening charge is not merely limited — it is the only charge an Oregon applicant may be asked for at the application stage. A holding fee, an administration fee or a “processing” charge alongside the screening charge is not a second permitted item; it is barred.

That section was itself amended in 2025, so anyone working from older guidance should check the current text.

This is the provision most likely to be worth money to an applicant and least likely to be volunteered. ORS 90.295 permits one screening charge per applicant in any sixty-day period.

It bites in two common situations. The first is an applicant working through several units held by the same landlord or management company — a second application inside sixty days does not carry a second charge. The second is reapplying after an unsuccessful attempt, where the same screening is substantially being repeated.

Nothing about a second application announces that the first started a clock, so it is on the applicant to notice. Keeping the receipt from the first charge is what makes the point provable.

ORS 90.295 requires the landlord to give written screening criteria and notice before taking the charge. The sequence is the substance of the duty: criteria supplied afterwards tell an applicant why they were rejected, whereas criteria supplied beforehand let them decide whether to pay at all.

An applicant who can see that they will not meet a stated income threshold before handing over a screening charge has been given something worth having. That is what the duty is for, and it is why receiving the criteria with the rejection letter is not compliance.

Alongside the Oregon-specific items, two parts of any application carry legal weight. The consent to obtain a consumer report is what makes screening lawful and belongs as a distinct signed item. The adverse-action acknowledgement matters because an applicant declined wholly or partly because of a consumer report is entitled under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681m) to be told so and given the reporting agency’s details.

Our guide to how to screen tenants covers the same process from the landlord’s side.

Signing one binds nobody to a tenancy. A tenancy begins only if the landlord accepts the application and the parties sign a rental agreement, and the terms that then govern come from that agreement and the law behind it rather than from anything on the application.

An application is the one moment in a tenancy when a stranger’s history is examined, so it is worth knowing what is being looked at. Eviction records are part of most screenings, and what they mean depends on how the process works locally — our guide to Oregon eviction notice laws sets out the notices and timelines that produce those records in the first place.

If the application succeeds, the next money question is the deposit, and it is a different question from the fee discussed here: an application fee buys screening, a deposit secures the tenancy and is generally refundable. Oregon security deposit laws cover what may be held and when it has to come back.

For everything the application stage does not settle — the obligations that begin once a tenancy starts, and the rules that apply to both parties throughout it — see Oregon landlord tenant laws.

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check

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