An Oregon unconditional quit notice is the most serious pre-eviction notice a landlord can serve. It tells the tenant that the tenancy will end in 24 hours — not that it will end unless something is paid or fixed, but that it is terminating because of conduct the law treats as dangerous, destructive, and beyond repair. Oregon locates this remedy in ORS 90.396, part of the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. That statute is where the 24-hour, no-cure termination lives, and it exists for a narrow band of behavior: acts so serious that giving the tenant a chance to cure would make no sense.

The form on this page assembles that notice for you and writes the exact conduct, the governing statute, and the service details into a clean PDF. Because this is a served legal notice that starts a fast-moving court process, precision matters more than length. Before you serve, confirm you are using the right notice for the conduct: for unpaid rent use the Oregon 10-day pay-or-quit notice instead, for an ordinary curable violation use the Oregon cure-or-quit notice, and for the full statutory picture review our Oregon eviction notice laws guide. If you are re-renting after a difficult tenancy, tighten the next one at the front door with careful tenant screening.

What an Oregon 24-hour unconditional quit notice does

Oregon sorts eviction notices by the kind of problem, and the 24-hour unconditional quit sits at the top of that ladder. For unpaid rent, the landlord serves a nonpayment notice, and paying in full stops the eviction. For an ordinary lease violation the tenant can fix — an unauthorized occupant, a pet kept against the lease, a maintenance failure — the landlord serves a 30-day for-cause notice and the tenant has time to cure. The 24-hour unconditional quit is different in kind, not just degree. It applies to conduct so serious that Oregon treats it as beyond repair, and it terminates the tenancy in 24 hours with no cure period – with one statutory exception, the pet ground in ORS 90.396(2), where the tenant may cure by removing the pet and the notice must describe that right.

That is why the word unconditional matters. A conditional notice says the tenancy continues if the tenant does something — pays, or fixes the problem. An unconditional notice attaches no such condition: the tenancy is ending because of what already happened. The legal basis is ORS 90.396, which lets a landlord terminate a rental agreement on 24 hours’ written notice when the tenant, someone in the tenant’s control, or the tenant’s pet commits one of the serious acts the statute lists. Because the tenant generally has no chance to cure – the pet ground in ORS 90.396(2) being the statutory exception – the notice must be exact, and the conduct behind it must genuinely fall within the narrow category the statute describes.

What conduct supports a 24-hour notice

The heart of an unconditional quit is the grounds. Under ORS 90.396, the 24-hour notice is available only for the serious, no-cure conduct the statute enumerates, and the list sets the tone: this remedy is for dangerous or destructive behavior, not for inconvenience. The conduct can be committed by the tenant, by someone in the tenant’s control, or by the tenant’s pet, and the tenant is responsible for it in each case.

The statutory grounds for a 24-hour termination include the following.

• The tenant, or a person in the tenant’s control, seriously threatens to inflict substantial personal injury, or inflicts substantial personal injury, on the landlord, a neighbor, or another person on or near the premises.
• The tenant, or a person in the tenant’s control, intentionally inflicts substantial damage to the premises.
• The tenant, or a person in the tenant’s control, commits an act that is outrageous in the extreme on or near the premises. The statute treats certain crimes as outrageous in the extreme, including prostitution, commercial sexual solicitation or promoting prostitution; the unlawful manufacture, delivery or possession of a controlled substance; the unlicensed manufacture of a cannabinoid extract; a bias crime as described in ORS 166.155 and 166.165; and burglary. Older pages still call the bias-crime ground “intimidation” – that was its name before the 2019 rename, and ORS 90.396(1)(f)(D) now points to the bias crime sections.
• The tenant, or a person in the tenant’s control, recklessly endangers a person on the premises other than the tenant by creating a serious risk of substantial personal injury, or inflicts substantial personal injury on a neighbour living in the immediate vicinity of the premises.
• The tenant intentionally provided substantial false information on the tenancy application within the past year about a criminal conviction that would have been material to the landlord’s acceptance — provided the landlord terminates within 30 days after discovering the falsity (ORS 90.396(1)(e)).
• The tenant’s pet seriously threatens or inflicts substantial personal injury, or inflicts substantial damage to the premises on more than one occasion. The pet ground is the one exception to “no cure,” and the notice must say so: ORS 90.396(2) lets the tenant cure and avoid termination by removing the pet from the premises before the end of the notice period, and the notice must describe that right to cure. Only if the pet is later returned may the landlord give a further 24-hour notice with no right to cure.
• Note what is not in ORS 90.396: there is no free-standing firearm or weapon ground. Weapon conduct reaches the statute, if at all, through the substantial-injury, reckless-endangerment or outrageous-in-the-extreme grounds — so describe the conduct, not the object.

Two points about that list are easy to miss. First, the bar is high: the injury must be substantial, the damage must be intentional and substantial, and the “outrageous in the extreme” category is meant for genuinely serious misconduct, not everyday friction. Second, drug and controlled-substance conduct has its own dedicated path. While the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance can be an act outrageous in the extreme under ORS 90.396, ORS 90.398 sets out a separate drug, controlled-substance, and alcohol route with its own tracks. When the conduct is closer to the line, or when it is ordinary curable noncompliance, the safer path is the 30-day for-cause notice. Reserve the 24-hour notice for conduct that plainly cannot be cured.

The drug and controlled-substance route under ORS 90.398

Oregon gives drug and alcohol conduct its own statute because the facts and the remedies differ from the general 24-hour grounds. ORS 90.398 is narrower than its title suggests, and this is the detail that decides which statute to cite. Subsection (1) applies where a tenant living for less than two years in drug and alcohol free housing uses, possesses or shares alcohol, marijuana items, illegal drugs, controlled substances or prescription drugs without a prescription. The notice must specify the acts, state that the agreement terminates in not less than 48 hours at a specified date and time, and state that the tenant can cure by a change in conduct or otherwise within 24 hours after delivery. It is not a general drug statute for every tenancy. The practical takeaway is that you should decide, at the outset, whether the conduct fits the general “outrageous in the extreme” ground under ORS 90.396 or the dedicated drug statute under ORS 90.398, and then cite the statute you are actually relying on.

Getting that citation right matters because the tenant — and the judge — will read the notice against the statute it names. A notice that cites ORS 90.396 for conduct that really belongs under ORS 90.398, or vice versa, hands the tenant an argument for dismissal. When the facts involve manufacture or delivery on the premises, many Oregon landlords proceed under the 24-hour ground and keep the drug statute in mind as an alternative theory. When in doubt about which statute fits, confirm the current text and, for a contested matter, consult an Oregon landlord-tenant attorney before serving.

How it differs from the 10-day and 30-day notices

Choosing the wrong Oregon notice is the most common and most expensive mistake, because the court will not fix a notice mismatch for you — it will dismiss the case and send you back to start over, during which the tenant remains in possession. The three notices answer three different questions.

Notice	Statute	Grounds	Cure period
24-hour unconditional quit	ORS 90.396	Substantial injury, reckless endangerment, injury to a neighbour, intentional substantial damage, a materially false criminal-history answer on the application, acts outrageous in the extreme. No firearm or weapon ground	None, except the pet ground, which ORS 90.396(2) makes curable by removing the pet
10-day nonpayment notice	ORS 90.394	Nonpayment of rent	Tenant may pay and stay
30-day for-cause notice	ORS 90.392	Ordinary material noncompliance (curable violation)	Time to cure within the notice period

The distinction is not about how angry the landlord is; it is about whether the conduct can be undone. If the tenant owes rent, the remedy is money, and the nonpayment notice gives the tenant the chance to pay. If the tenant broke a curable term — kept an unauthorized pet, added an occupant, left the yard in disrepair — the remedy is compliance, and the 30-day for-cause notice gives the tenant the chance to fix it. Only when the conduct is inherently uncurable — substantial injury, intentional serious damage, an act outrageous in the extreme — does the 24-hour notice fit. For nonpayment specifically, do not reach for this form; use the Oregon 10-day pay-or-quit notice built for that purpose.

Conduct by others and by pets

A distinctive feature of ORS 90.396 is that the tenant is on the hook not only for the tenant’s own acts but also for acts committed by a person in the tenant’s control — a guest, a household member, or anyone the tenant permits on the premises — and, in the pet-injury situation, for the tenant’s animal. This is how Oregon reaches conduct where the tenant did not personally throw the punch or cause the damage but is responsible for the person or pet that did.

To rely on this route, your notice has to make the connection clear. Identify who committed the act, describe the relationship to the tenant — guest, occupant, or the tenant’s pet — and describe the conduct itself with the same specificity you would use for the tenant’s own act. The form above includes a checkbox and a field for exactly this, so the PDF documents that the act was committed by a person in the tenant’s control or by the tenant’s pet. Keep any evidence that ties the person or animal to the tenant; the responsibility element lives or dies on your ability to prove that link.

Serving the notice under ORS 90.155

A perfect notice served the wrong way is still defective, so service deserves as much care as the content. Oregon sets its service rule in ORS 90.155, and that rule — not another state’s methods — is what governs here. Under ORS 90.155, a written notice is delivered by personal delivery to the tenant, by first class mail, or, where the written rental agreement authorizes it, by attachment to the main entrance of the dwelling unit combined with first class mail.

Oregon also builds a mailing cushion into the rule. When you serve the notice by first class mail, three days are added to the notice period to account for mail time — a genuine feature of Oregon law, not a convention borrowed from another state. That add-days rule matters for timing: if you mail a 24-hour notice, count the mailing days before the 24-hour clock is treated as run. Because the 24-hour notice is time-critical, many Oregon landlords personally deliver it and, where the tenant may be avoiding contact, also mail a copy to create a clean record. Whatever method you use, document it: note who served the notice, the date and time, the address, and any witness or attachment details. That record is what you will show the court.

Filing the eviction (FED) action

The great practical advantage of a 24-hour notice is speed. Because the conduct is uncurable and the termination takes effect 24 hours after delivery, the landlord may promptly file a residential eviction action — a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action under ORS 105.110 and its accompanying provisions — in the circuit court for the county where the premises are located, once the 24 hours have run and the tenant has not vacated. Oregon’s FED process is designed to move quickly, and the court sets a first appearance shortly after filing.

At the first appearance and any trial that follows, the court decides whether the conduct actually fell within ORS 90.396 and whether the notice and service complied with the statute. This is where your documentation carries the case. Bring the notice, the proof of service, and every piece of evidence that establishes the conduct — police reports, incident reports, dated photographs of the damage, and witness statements. If the landlord prevails, the court enters a judgment of restitution and issues a writ of execution that authorizes the sheriff to remove the tenant. Only that officer, acting under the writ, may carry out the removal.

How to complete the notice

The form above assembles the notice, but understanding the steps behind it makes the document far more defensible.

1. Confirm the grounds. Make sure the conduct is one of the serious, no-cure grounds in ORS 90.396. If it is curable, use a different notice.
2. Name the parties and premises. List every tenant on the lease and give the full property address and county for court venue.
3. Describe the conduct specifically. State the exact act, the date, and the location, and note whether a person in the tenant’s control or the tenant’s pet was involved. Generic language is the notice’s biggest weakness.
4. Set the 24-hour termination and service details. Enter the service date, the 24-hour deadline, and the method of service under ORS 90.155.
5. Generate, sign, and serve. Produce the PDF, sign it, serve the tenant, and keep a dated copy with your proof of service before filing the eviction action.

Keep the signed notice, the proof of service, and the underlying evidence together in one file. Because the FED case moves quickly, that file is your case, and it is far easier to build at the moment of service than to reconstruct under a tight hearing deadline.

Why a specific description wins

The single most common reason a 24-hour notice fails is not that the conduct was innocent — it is that the notice described the conduct too vaguely for a judge to find it fell within ORS 90.396. A notice that says only “the tenant damaged the property” tells the court nothing about whether the damage was substantial and intentional or trivial and accidental. A notice that says “on June 12, 2026, the tenant intentionally broke through the interior drywall and severed the plumbing line in the primary bathroom, causing flooding that damaged the unit below” tells the whole story and shows the statutory standard.

Specificity does three things at once. It proves the conduct genuinely fits a 24-hour ground rather than a curable inconvenience. It gives the tenant fair notice of exactly what conduct is ending the tenancy, which is a due-process requirement the court will check. And it forces you to tie the notice to concrete evidence — a date, a location, a documented act — which is exactly what you will need to prove at the FED trial. When you fill out the description field above, write it as though the judge will read it aloud, because in an eviction hearing the judge often does.

Common mistakes that get the case dismissed

Most failed 24-hour evictions trace back to a short list of avoidable errors.

Avoiding these errors is mostly a matter of discipline: confirm the grounds, describe the conduct precisely, serve it correctly, and keep the proof. A strong screening process at move-in also reduces how often you face the kind of tenant conduct that leads here in the first place.

Oregon statutory reference

Authority	Subject	Key point
ORS 90.396	24-hour termination	Landlord may terminate on 24 hours’ written notice for substantial injury, reckless endangerment, injury to a neighbour in the immediate vicinity, intentional substantial damage, a materially false criminal-history answer on the application, or an act outrageous in the extreme. There is no firearm or weapon ground. No cure period except on the pet ground (ORS 90.396(2))
ORS 90.398	Drug and alcohol free housing	Applies to a tenant living for less than two years in drug and alcohol free housing: a 48-hour termination notice with a 24-hour right to cure. Not a general drug statute
ORS 90.396(2)	The pet exception	Where the cause is the tenant’s pet, the tenant may cure by removing the pet before the notice period ends, and the notice must describe that right
ORS 90.391; ORS 408.515	Required notice content	Every chapter 90 termination notice must include the veterans’ assistance statement and contact information, or the 2-1-1 statement
ORS 90.392	For-cause termination	The 30-day for-cause notice governs ordinary curable violations and gives the tenant time to cure
ORS 90.394	Nonpayment of rent	A separate nonpayment notice governs unpaid rent and lets the tenant pay and stay
ORS 90.155	Service of notice	Personal delivery, first class mail (add three days), or attach-and-mail if the rental agreement authorizes it
ORS 105.110	FED action	The residential eviction action the landlord files after the 24 hours run; first appearance set promptly

Local rules and lease terms can add requirements, and statutes change. Confirm the current text in the Oregon Revised Statutes at oregonlegislature.gov or with an Oregon landlord-tenant attorney before relying on this notice in a contested matter. For the wider eviction picture, our Oregon eviction notice laws guide walks through every Oregon notice type and how they fit together, and the Oregon landlord-tenant laws overview covers the rest of the Act.

Best practices for Oregon landlords

The landlords who use this notice successfully — and rarely have it thrown out — share a handful of habits.

• Reserve it for truly serious conduct. Substantial injury, intentional serious damage, and acts outrageous in the extreme belong here; curable violations do not.
• Describe the act precisely. Give the specific conduct, the date, and the location, and cite ORS 90.396.
• Serve it correctly. Follow ORS 90.155 — personal delivery, or first class mail with three days added — and document every detail.
• Build the evidence packet at service. Photos, reports, and witness information should be ready before you file the FED action.
• Never self-help. Let the court and the sheriff carry out the removal under a writ.
• Screen carefully going forward. Thorough tenant screening reduces how often you face conduct this serious.

These habits compound. A specific notice, correct service, and a ready evidence file turn Oregon’s fast FED process into an advantage rather than a trap.

Frequently Asked Questions