Oregon Landlord-Tenant Laws: The Complete 2026 Overview

Oregon sets no cap on the deposit amount, but ORS 90.300 locks down the return: within thirty-one days after the tenancy ends and the tenant delivers possession, the landlord must give the tenant a written accounting that states specifically the basis of any claim against the deposit, along with any refund due. A claim that is not stated specifically in that accounting is not a valid deduction. Oregon does not require the landlord to pay interest on the deposit or to hold it in a separate escrow account. The teeth are in the same statute – a landlord who in bad faith fails to account for or return the deposit within thirty-one days is liable for up to twice the amount wrongfully withheld. Because that doubled exposure attaches to missing the deadline or skipping the itemized statement, even a landlord with a reasonable deduction can lose by being late or vague.

Read the full Oregon security deposit laws guide for permitted deductions, the wear-and-tear line, and the move-out timeline.

Oregon eviction is governed by ORS 90.392 and the nonpayment statute, and cases are heard through the Forcible Entry and Detainer process in Circuit Court. For nonpayment of rent, the landlord serves a seventy-two-hour notice to pay or vacate, or a one-hundred-forty-four-hour notice if the landlord waits longer into the rental period before serving it. Unlike landlord-friendly states, Oregon requires just cause to terminate most tenancies after the first year under Senate Bill 608, so a landlord cannot simply decline to renew without a qualifying reason and, in some cases, relocation assistance. If the tenant does not comply, the landlord files the eviction and the tenant’s response window is short – roughly seven to fourteen days depending on the stage. Self-help evictions such as changing locks or shutting off utilities are illegal and expose the landlord to damages.

Read the full Oregon eviction notice laws guide for the filing steps, the hearing timeline, and the just-cause grounds.

Oregon sets a clear statutory entry rule. Under ORS 90.322, a landlord must give the tenant at least twenty-four hours’ actual notice before entering an occupied unit and may enter only at reasonable times, generally between eight in the morning and nine in the evening. The notice should state the date, a time window, and the purpose of entry – inspection, repair, or showing. Genuine emergencies such as fire, flooding, or a gas leak permit immediate entry without notice. The rule has real teeth: a landlord who enters unlawfully, repeatedly, or uses entry to harass the tenant commits a breach, and the tenant may obtain an injunction, recover damages of at least one month’s rent, and terminate the rental agreement. Written notice with a documented entry log is the single strongest defense against any trespass or harassment claim.

Read the full Oregon landlord entry laws guide for the permitted-entry reasons and how to write a compliant notice.

Oregon was the first state to adopt statewide rent control. Senate Bill 608 caps the annual rent increase at seven percent plus the regional consumer price index, with an absolute ceiling of ten percent – for 2026 the state set the maximum at about nine and one-half percent. A landlord may raise the rent only once in any twelve-month period and must give ninety days’ written notice, or one hundred eighty days for an increase above ten percent where allowed, with the notice stating the new rent and the supporting facts. No increase at all is permitted during the tenant’s first year. Newer construction is exempt: housing that is less than fifteen years old is outside the cap for its first fifteen years. On top of the cap, Oregon bars retaliatory increases – a landlord may not raise the rent to punish a tenant for a good-faith complaint or repair request.

Read the full Oregon rent increase laws guide for the notice mechanics and the annual cap.

ORS 90.260 governs residential late fees in Oregon. A late fee must be specified in a written lease, must be a reasonable estimate of the uncertain damages a late payment causes rather than a penalty, and may be charged only after a four-day grace period – so rent is not late until the fifth day of the rental period. A flat late fee may not exceed fifty dollars; alternatively the landlord may charge a reasonable daily or percentage fee on the same reasonable basis, with the industry standard falling around five to ten percent of the monthly rent. A returned-check fee is enforceable only when the lease sets it. A fee that operates as a penalty, or one that was never written into the lease, is unenforceable, so the enforceable fee is the one that is reasonable, documented, and consistently applied.

Read the full Oregon late fee laws guide for the reasonableness test and the grace-period rule.

Under ORS 90.320, an Oregon landlord owes an implied warranty of habitability: working heat, plumbing, and electrical systems, running and adequate hot water, weatherproofing, sound structure, working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and a unit free of pests at the start of the tenancy. The tenant triggers the repair duty with written notice describing the defect, and the timeline scales with severity. Essential-service failures such as heat, water, or electricity are emergencies under ORS 90.365; other health-and-safety defects get about seven days, while less serious conditions get roughly thirty days. If the landlord fails to act, ORS 90.368 lets the tenant repair a minor defect costing less than three hundred dollars and deduct the cost from rent, and ORS 90.365 lets a tenant facing an essential-service failure procure the service, recover damages, or obtain substitute housing. Retaliation against a tenant who reports a defect is barred.

Read the full Oregon habitability laws guide for the repair-request procedure and each remedy.

Oregon codifies several protected reasons a tenant may end a fixed-term lease early without owing the balance. Under ORS 90.453, a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, a bias crime, or stalking may give at least fourteen days’ written notice naming a release date, accompanied by verification such as a protective order, police report, or statement from a qualified third party, and is released without penalty. Military servicemembers may terminate under Oregon’s own ORS 90.475 and the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. A tenant may also terminate for an unrepaired habitability defect after proper notice. For a tenant who simply leaves without a statutory ground, ORS 90.410(3) requires the landlord to make reasonable efforts to re-rent for a fair rental, so the departing tenant owes only the vacancy gap. Any early-termination fee is capped by ORS 90.302 at no more than one and one-half times the monthly rent, and no such fee may be charged when the exit is under a statutory protection.

Read the full Oregon breaking lease laws guide for each statutory ground and the notice-and-proof steps.

Ending an Oregon tenancy depends on its type and its age. Under ORS 90.427, a month-to-month tenancy in its first year may be ended by either party with thirty days’ written notice, but after the first year of occupancy Senate Bill 608 requires the landlord to have just cause – a qualifying landlord reason or a tenant violation – to terminate or decline to renew, and some no-fault grounds trigger relocation assistance. A fixed-term lease generally runs to its end date and, after the first year, cannot simply be non-renewed without a statutory ground. A tenant who stays past the end date becomes a holdover, and the landlord must pursue possession through a Forcible Entry and Detainer action in Circuit Court rather than self-help. When any tenancy ends, the thirty-one-day deposit accounting rule of ORS 90.300 still applies to the move-out.

Read the full Oregon lease termination laws guide for notice by tenancy type and holdover liability.

For an actual pet, Oregon imposes no cap specific to pet deposits, pet fees, or pet rent, so a landlord may charge a reasonable amount under the ordinary deposit-accounting rules if the lease provides for it. Assistance animals are treated completely differently. Under the federal Fair Housing Act, a service animal or emotional support animal is not a pet – a landlord may not charge any pet deposit, fee, or rent, and may not apply a breed or weight restriction or a no-pet policy to it. When the disability or the animal’s role is not obvious, the landlord may request reliable documentation from a licensed professional, but may not demand certification, registration, or a demonstration of the animal’s training. The tenant remains liable for any actual damage the animal causes beyond ordinary wear. Unlike some states, Oregon has no criminal statute punishing misrepresentation of a pet as a service animal, so the accommodation analysis is handled entirely under fair-housing law.

Read the full Oregon pet and ESA laws guide for accommodation requests and documentation limits.

Oregon layers a state rule on top of the federal baseline for tenant screening. With the applicant’s written authorization, a landlord may pull a consumer report covering credit, rental history, income, and criminal records – the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a permissible purpose and consent first, and an adverse action notice naming the reporting agency whenever a denial, a higher deposit, or a co-signer requirement rests in any part on the report. Oregon’s own contribution is ORS 90.295: an applicant screening charge may not exceed the landlord’s actual cost of screening, the fee must be disclosed before it is collected, and any excess must be refunded. Screening criteria must be applied even-handedly to avoid fair-housing liability, and blanket criminal-record bans are risky. Portland adds its own Fair Access in Renting ordinance, which further constrains screening criteria and application processing within the city.

Read the full Oregon tenant screening laws guide for the FCRA steps and the fair-housing baseline.