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Free Portland, Oregon Residential Lease Agreement

Portland Oregon residential lease agreement walk-through
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A configurable Portland residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to both layers — the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act and Portland City Code chapter 30.01, whose duties attach to what a landlord does, not to what kind of building it is.

Portland City Code 30.01 Relocation + Deposit Cap Free PDF 2026 Edition
Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Scope City of Portland, Oregon Verified 2026-08-06 ~20 min read

A Portland residential lease agreement has to satisfy two bodies of law at once. The first is the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act at ORS chapter 90, which governs every tenancy in the state and is covered in full on our Oregon statewide lease agreement page. The second is Portland City Code chapter 30.01, which PCC 30.01.085 A applies “in addition to the protections set forth in the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act”. The city layer is unusual, and the reason most template pages get it wrong is structural: Portland’s duties do not attach to a category of building. There is no unit count, no building age and no rent threshold. They attach to specific landlord actions — terminating without cause, declining to renew, noticing a rent increase at 5%, noticing one at 10%, taking a security deposit, advertising a vacancy, screening an applicant, and since February 17, 2026, setting a rent with software. A landlord may owe nothing one month and several thousand dollars the next, entirely because of what the landlord did. This page states each rule with its trigger, because a Portland rule quoted without its trigger is not a rule.

Portland Lease Rules at a Glance

Security Deposit Maximum

1 Month

No-Cause / Qualifying-Reason Notice

90 Days

Rent Increase Notice

5% → 90 Days

Relocation Assistance

10% or Termination

The thing Portland templates get wrong most often: they say Oregon has no security deposit cap and stop there. Portland City Code 30.01.087 A caps it at one month’s rent — or half a month in addition if last month’s rent is also taken — and unlike the relocation and screening sections, 30.01.087 has no exemptions at all. Second most common: presenting the twelve relocation exemptions as automatic. Seven of them require a Portland Housing Bureau acknowledgement letter handed to the tenant before the lease is signed.

Five Portland Rules That Catch Landlords Out

First, the exemption is not the exemption until the paperwork is done. PCC 30.01.085 I applies its twelve exemptions only “so long as the landlord has submitted a required exemption application form to PHB for which PHB has issued an exemption acknowledgement letter, a copy of which the landlord has given the tenant” — and the Housing Bureau’s administrative rule says failure to follow the process invalidates the exemption. Second, the deposit ceiling is a city rule, not a state one, and it binds every Portland tenancy because PCC 30.01.087 has no carve-outs. Third, the two percentage triggers are different numbers: ninety days’ notice at 5% or more, relocation assistance at 10% or more, both measured on rent or associated housing costs over a rolling twelve months. Fourth, the condition report is a legal duty in Portland even though Oregon has none, and it must be completed and photographed before the commencement date — the seven days everybody quotes is the tenant’s addendum window afterwards. Fifth, the rights-and-obligations notice is owed three times: with every termination notice, every increase notice, and every relocation payment (PCC 30.01.085 D).

How to Fill Out This Portland Lease Agreement

The Seven-Step Portland Sequence

1. Establish that the unit is inside Portland city limits

This is the coverage test for the whole local layer, and it is decided by the corporate city limits, not by a Portland mailing address. PCC 30.01.085 A reaches “tenants that have a rental agreement for a dwelling unit covered by the Act”, and PCC 30.01.030 defines “the Act” as ORS chapter 90. There is no unit-count threshold and no building-age threshold anywhere in the chapter. The Housing Bureau points landlords at PortlandMaps to verify a property.

2. Fix the relocation tier and check whether an exemption is actually in force

PCC 30.01.085 B and C set four amounts by bedroom count, and 30.01.085 G treats a lease of a single bedroom as a single room occupancy unit. Then work out which of the twelve exemptions in 30.01.085 I you are claiming, if any — and whether it is one of the five that need no filing or one of the seven that require a Housing Bureau acknowledgement letter in the tenant’s hands before signing.

3. Set the deposit against the Portland ceiling

PCC 30.01.087 A: one month’s rent where last month’s rent is not also required; only half a month in addition where it is; and at most a further half month on a conditional approval, which the tenant must be allowed to pay in instalments over up to three months. Oregon’s ORS 90.300 sets no ceiling, so this is a rule you will not find on a statewide template.

4. Name the bank and itemise the leased property in the lease

Two things become terms of the agreement itself. PCC 30.01.087 B.1 requires the rental agreement to reflect the name and address of the financial institution holding the deposit and whether the account bears interest. PCC 30.01.087 C.1 and C.3 allow the deposit to be applied only to fixtures, appliances, equipment and personal property identified in the rental agreement and itemised by description — so an item left off the lease can never be charged for.

5. Schedule the condition report before the commencement date

PCC 30.01.087 D.1 requires reasonable efforts to schedule a mutually convenient walk-through before the commencement date, a report signed by both parties, and photographs taken by the landlord and shared with the tenant. Only afterwards does the tenant’s seven-day addendum window run, and the landlord then has seven days to dispute an addendum or the amended report becomes the baseline.

6. Set rent and record both percentage triggers

PCC 30.01.085 C requires at least ninety days’ written notice for an increase of 5% or more in rent or associated housing costs over a rolling twelve-month period, and lets the tenant claim relocation assistance where the notice indicates 10% or more. The size of the increase remains governed by ORS 90.323 and the maximum the Oregon Department of Administrative Services publishes each September under ORS 90.324.

7. Check the disclosures, generate, and hand over a copy

Four Portland items and the full state set. No witnesses and no notary are required. ORS 90.220(3) requires the landlord to give the tenant a copy of the written agreement and of every amendment, and ORS 90.305(4) requires a copy to be retained and made available for inspection.

Build Your Portland Residential Lease Agreement

Complete the fields below to generate a Portland residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. The generated document carries both layers — the ORS chapter 90 terms and the Portland City Code chapter 30.01 terms — and cites the controlling section at each point. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening, bearing in mind that Portland regulates the screening stage more heavily than any other jurisdiction in Oregon under PCC 30.01.086. Pair the signed lease with an Oregon move-in / move-out checklist — in Portland that record is not merely prudent, it is the condition report the ordinance requires.

Portland, Oregon Residential Lease Agreement Builder

Two layers. ORS chapter 90 governs every Oregon tenancy, and Portland City Code chapter 30.01 adds to it inside the city limits — PCC 30.01.085 A applies the local protections “in addition to the protections set forth in the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act”. Where the two set different requirements for the same act, the stricter governs.

1. Parties

ORS 90.305 requires two identifications, not one: the person authorized to manage the premises, and an owner or a person authorized to act for the owner for service of process. A person who manages or signs the lease without disclosing them becomes an agent for service of process by operation of law.

2. Premises & Portland City Limits

City limits decide the local layer, not a Portland mailing address. Portland City Code chapter 30.01 has no unit-count and no building-age threshold — it reaches any rental agreement for a dwelling unit covered by ORS chapter 90 inside the city. The state unit count still matters twice: at four or fewer dwelling units ORS 90.310 requires a pending-proceedings disclosure, and at five or more ORS 90.318 requires a recycling notice, which bites in Portland because the city has implemented multifamily recycling.

3. Term, Just Cause & the Portland Ninety-Day Floor

Two floors stack. After the first year of occupancy ORS 90.427(3)(c) removes no-cause termination entirely. Inside Portland, PCC 30.01.085 B then requires not less than ninety days for any termination without cause or for a qualifying landlord reason — so the thirty-day first-year no-cause notice that is lawful elsewhere in Oregon is not sufficient here.

4. Rent, the Statewide Cap & the Portland Triggers

The size of an increase is capped by ORS 90.323 and the percentage the Department of Administrative Services publishes each September under ORS 90.324. The procedure is Portland’s: ninety days’ notice at 5% or more, and a tenant-elected relocation assistance right at 10% or more (PCC 30.01.085 C).

5. Late Charge

State law only — Portland adds no late-fee rule. ORS 90.260 allows a late charge only if rent is not received by the fourth day of the rental period and the written lease specifies the obligation, the type, the amount and the dates. Three forms are permitted and no others.

6. Security Deposit — Portland Caps What Oregon Does Not

ORS 90.300 sets no maximum. PCC 30.01.087 A does: one month’s rent, or one-half of one month in addition where last month’s rent is also taken, plus at most a further one-half month on a conditional approval, payable in instalments over up to three months. PCC 30.01.087 has no exemptions at all — it binds every Portland tenancy covered by the Act.

PCC 30.01.087 B.1 makes the following a required term of the rental agreement itself, and requires the funds to be banked in a segregated account within two weeks of receipt.

The deposit may be applied only to items identified here. Leave it blank and nothing can be charged against the deposit for repair or replacement of any fixture, appliance, equipment or personal property.

7. Portland Relocation Assistance & Exemption

The tier fixes the amount PCC 30.01.085 B and C require. These figures are ordinance text, not an indexed or annually published number — the section was last amended by Ordinance 191973, effective January 1, 2025. Confirm the current figure in the Code before serving any notice.

8. Portland Screening Standards Applied

PCC 30.01.086 decides how this tenancy was obtained, and it feeds two lease terms: the conditional approval that permits the additional half-month deposit, and the rules of residency all adult occupants may be required to sign.

9. Fees — ORS 90.302

A fee not described in the written rental agreement cannot be charged at all, and no fee may be taken at the beginning of the tenancy for an anticipated landlord expense. In Portland a recurring fee also counts as associated housing costs toward the 5% and 10% thresholds in PCC 30.01.085 C.

10. Utilities & Services

Assign each utility. ORS 90.315 adds two written duties: disclose any utility the tenant pays that benefits the landlord or other tenants, and explain how a billed charge is assessed and allocated. A usage-based utility the tenant already agreed to pay is outside the Portland associated-housing-costs thresholds — newly making the tenant liable for one is inside them.

11. Landlord Entry

ORS 90.322(1)(f) sets at least twenty-four hours’ actual notice, and in the same paragraph gives the tenant the right to deny consent after receiving it. Portland adds one entry-adjacent duty: at least twenty-four hours’ notice of the date and time of the move-out final inspection under PCC 30.01.087 D.2.

12. Portland and Oregon Disclosures

Four Portland requirements sit on top of the state set. Three of them are terms of the rental agreement itself rather than separate handouts.