Free Oregon Late Rent Notice
An Oregon late rent notice is a landlord’s courtesy demand that rent is past due – it states the rent owed, any lease late fee, and a date to pay by. Oregon gives tenants a four-day grace period before any late fee may be charged, and it permits the fee only in three specific structures under ORS 90.260. This is not a served 10-day notice to pay or quit; it is the softer first step that often prompts payment before formal action is ever needed. Build one below.
An Oregon Late Rent Notice is an informal, courtesy demand a landlord sends when a tenant’s rent is past due. It states the past-due rent, any late fee the written rental agreement authorizes, and a clear date to pay by. It is not a statutory eviction notice and does not start any legal clock – it is the softer first contact that usually precedes a 10-day or 13-day notice to pay rent or quit under ORS 90.394. Oregon is unusual for giving tenants a firm statutory safeguard the notice must respect: under ORS 90.260 a landlord may not charge a late fee until the rent is unpaid on the fourth day of the rental period – a genuine four-day grace period – and the fee is limited to one of three permitted forms. The form below builds a clean notice and auto-sums the total; our Oregon late fee laws guide covers the fee structures in depth, and the Oregon 10-day pay-or-quit form is the next step if rent stays unpaid.
Key Takeaways
- A late rent notice is a courtesy demand – it reminds the tenant that rent is past due and asks for payment by a date. It is not a served 10-day pay-or-quit and starts no legal clock.
- Oregon gives a real four-day grace period: under ORS 90.260 a landlord may not impose a late fee until the rent is unpaid on the fourth day of the rental period.
- The late fee must fit one of three ORS 90.260 forms – a reasonable flat fee, a per-day charge not exceeding 6% of that flat fee, or 5% of the periodic rent charged once for each succeeding five-day period, or portion of one, beginning on the fifth day – and must be in the written rental agreement.
- A returned or bounced check exposes the maker to the check amount plus a statutory service charge and added damages after a proper written demand under ORS 30.701.
- If the tenant does not pay by the date given, the landlord may escalate to a 10-day notice (no sooner than the eighth day) or a 13-day notice (no sooner than the fifth day) to pay rent or quit under ORS 90.394.
Oregon Late Rent Notice at a Glance
Document type
Courtesy demand (not served notice)
Grace period
4 days (ORS 90.260)
Late fee rule
3 permitted forms (ORS 90.260)
Next step if unpaid
10-day / 13-day pay-or-quit (ORS 90.394)
4 days
statutory grace period – no late fee until rent is unpaid on the fourth day under ORS 90.260
3 forms
the only permitted late-fee structures under ORS 90.260 – flat, per-day, or per-five-day
10 / 13 days
the pay-or-quit notice under ORS 90.394 if the rent stays unpaid
Why send a late rent notice first
Most late payments are oversights, cash-flow gaps, or a forgotten autopay – not the start of a dispute. A prompt, professional late rent notice usually collects the rent without any of the cost, delay, or relationship damage of a formal eviction step. It also builds a dated paper trail: if the tenant does not respond, you have a clear record that you asked, and you can escalate cleanly to a 10-day or 13-day notice to pay rent or quit. The form on this page handles the arithmetic – and it respects Oregon’s four-day grace period and the ORS 90.260 fee limits so you never charge a fee the statute does not allow; the guide below covers the rules that make a late fee collectible.
What a Late Rent Notice Is and When to Send It
An Oregon late rent notice is a written reminder that a tenant’s rent is past due. It performs three simple jobs: it tells the tenant exactly what is owed (rent, plus any late fee the rental agreement allows once the four-day grace period has passed, plus any other authorized charge), it asks for payment by a specific date, and it signals – politely – what happens next if the rent stays unpaid. It is a collection tool and a courtesy, not a court document.
It is not a statutory notice. This is the single most important thing to understand about the document. Oregon law does not require a landlord to send a late rent notice, and sending one does not satisfy any legal prerequisite for eviction. The statutory notice for nonpayment is the 10-day or 13-day notice to pay rent or quit under ORS 90.394, which is a served legal notice a landlord must deliver before filing for eviction. The late rent notice sits before that step. It has no legally defined form, no required service method, and no statutory deadline attached to it.
When to send it. Send the late rent notice as soon as rent is actually past due and, if you intend to add a late fee, once Oregon’s four-day grace period under ORS 90.260 has passed. If the lease says rent is due on the 1st, the earliest a late fee may attach is when the rent is unpaid on the 4th, so the practical moment to send a notice that includes a fee is on or just after the 4th. Sending it promptly does two things: it maximizes the chance of a quick voluntary payment, and it starts a dated record while the facts are fresh.
Who it is for. The late rent notice is aimed at a cooperative tenant who simply has not paid yet. It is deliberately softer than a 10-day pay-or-quit – it does not threaten immediate court action, it invites payment, and it often preserves the tenancy. For a tenant who is chronically late or clearly not going to pay, many Oregon landlords still send the courtesy notice first (it costs nothing and strengthens the record) but move to the formal statutory notice quickly if there is no response.
Oregon’s Four-Day Grace Period (ORS 90.260)
Oregon is one of the states that gives residential tenants a true statutory grace period. Under ORS 90.260, a landlord may not impose a late charge until the rent is unpaid on the fourth day of the weekly or monthly rental period. That is a genuine four-day grace window written into state law – not a lease courtesy the landlord chose to offer. Rent that is one, two, or three days late simply cannot carry a late fee in Oregon.
What the four-day rule means in practice. If rent is due on the 1st, the earliest a late fee may attach is when the rent remains unpaid on the 4th. A landlord who bills a late fee on the 2nd or 3rd has charged a fee the statute does not allow, and the tenant is not obligated to pay it. This is different from most no-grace states, where rent is late – and a fee can theoretically attach – the day after the due date. In Oregon, the calendar does the gatekeeping.
Why this matters for the notice. Because the four-day grace period is statutory, the late rent notice should be timed and worded to respect it. If you are sending the notice before the fourth day simply to remind a tenant that rent is due, that is fine – but do not include a late fee until the four-day window has passed. State the due date, confirm the fourth day has come and gone, and only then add the fee the rental agreement authorizes.
Common mistake to avoid
Charging a late fee before the fourth day. Oregon’s ORS 90.260 grace period is not optional – a fee assessed on the 2nd or 3rd day of the rental period is not collectible, no matter what the lease says. The four-day window is a floor set by statute; a rental agreement can be more generous to the tenant but cannot shorten it. Wait until the rent is unpaid on the fourth day before any late fee goes on the notice.
Oregon’s Three Permitted Late-Fee Structures (ORS 90.260)
Oregon does not leave the size of a late fee to open-ended “reasonableness.” Instead, ORS 90.260 lists a closed set of three permitted fee structures, and a residential late fee must fit one of them and be described in the written rental agreement. A fee that does not match one of these three forms is not enforceable.
Structure 1 – A reasonable flat fee
The landlord may charge a reasonable flat amount, once per rental period. Under ORS 90.260, “reasonable amount” means the customary amount charged by landlords for that rental market – so the flat fee should be in line with what comparable Oregon landlords in the area charge, not an arbitrary sum. This is the simplest and most common structure: one fixed fee per late period, disclosed in the rental agreement.
Structure 2 – A per-day charge capped at 6% of the flat fee
The landlord may instead charge a daily late fee for each day the rent is late, beginning on the fifth day of the rental period – but that per-day charge may not exceed 6% of the reasonable flat fee the landlord could otherwise charge under Structure 1. In other words, the daily amount is pegged to the flat fee: take the reasonable flat fee, multiply by 6%, and that is the ceiling on the daily charge. The daily fee accrues only through that rental period.
Structure 3 – 5% of rent per five-day period
For periodic rent of one month or longer, the landlord may charge 5% of the periodic rent payment, once for each succeeding five-day period (or portion of one) that the rent remains unpaid, beginning on the fifth day. So on a monthly tenancy, the fee is 5% of the monthly rent for the first five-day block the rent is late, another 5% for the next five-day block, and so on. This structure is limited to monthly-or-longer periodic rent – it does not apply to a week-to-week tenancy.
| Fee structure | How it works (ORS 90.260) | Oregon note |
|---|---|---|
| Reasonable flat fee | One fixed, market-customary fee per rental period. | “Reasonable” means the customary amount for that rental market; charged once per period. |
| Per-day charge | Daily fee beginning on the fifth day, capped at 6% of the flat fee. | Take the reasonable flat fee, multiply by 6% – that is the daily ceiling. |
| 5% per five-day period | 5% of periodic rent per five-day block the rent is unpaid, from the fifth day. | Only for periodic rent of one month or longer; not for week-to-week. |
The common thread. All three structures share two requirements: the fee cannot attach until after the four-day grace period, and the chosen structure must be described in the written rental agreement, which must state the type, amount, and timing of the charge. A landlord picks one structure – not a blend – and applies it consistently.
Worked example – the 5% per five-day structure
Rent is $1,500 per month, due on the 1st. The tenant has not paid by the 8th. The four-day grace period under ORS 90.260 passed on the 4th, and under the statutory Structure 3 the landlord may charge 5% of the $1,500 rent (ORS 90.260) for the first five-day period the rent was unpaid – that is $75 (a statutory late fee, not damages). If the rent were still unpaid into the next five-day block, another 5% under ORS 90.260 (another $75) could be added for that block. Under Structure 1 instead, the landlord could charge a single reasonable flat fee for the market. The rental agreement fixes which structure applies.
How to Calculate the Total Now Due
The late rent notice states one figure the tenant can pay to bring the account current. Build it from the rental agreement, line by line, respecting the four-day grace period and the chosen ORS 90.260 fee structure, and let the form total it for you:
| Line item | What it is | Oregon note |
|---|---|---|
| Past-due rent | The unpaid rent for the period covered. | The core amount. Precise to the cent. |
| Late fee | The fee the written rental agreement authorizes for late payment. | Only after the four-day grace period, and only in one of the three ORS 90.260 forms. |
| Returned-check charge | Charge for a bounced rent check. | Recoverable under ORS 30.701, if the lease allows; written demand needed for added damages. |
| Other lease charges | Utility reimbursements or similar, if the lease provides. | Only charges the rental agreement actually authorizes. |
| Total now due | The sum the tenant pays to cure. | Auto-summed by the form below. |
Worked example. Rent is $1,500, due on the 1st. The tenant has not paid by the 8th, so the four-day grace period under ORS 90.260 has passed. Using the statutory five-percent-per-five-day structure of ORS 90.260, the late fee for the first five-day period is $75. The late rent notice states $1,500 past-due rent plus a $75 statutory late fee under ORS 90.260, for a total of $1,575 due. If the tenant’s earlier rent check had bounced, the lease could also add a returned-check charge under ORS 30.701. The form adds these for you and prints a single clear total.
Build the Late Rent Notice
Complete the form below to generate a clean Oregon late rent notice. Enter the rent past due and any authorized late fee or other charge; the form auto-sums the total, reminds you of the four-day grace period, and prints a professional PDF you can deliver to the tenant. Remember: this is a courtesy demand, so the payment methods you select are how the tenant can pay you – not legal service methods.