Oregon Statutes 90.600 – Increases in rent; limitations; notice; meeting with tenants; effect of failure to meet
(1) If a rental agreement is a month-to-month tenancy to which ORS § 90.505 to 90.850 apply, the landlord may not increase the rent:
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 90.600
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Dwelling unit: means a structure or the part of a structure that is used as a home, residence or sleeping place by one person who maintains a household or by two or more persons who maintain a common household. See Oregon Statutes 90.100
- Facility: means a manufactured dwelling park or a marina. See Oregon Statutes 90.100
- Good faith: means honesty in fact in the conduct of the transaction concerned. See Oregon Statutes 90.100
- Informal dispute resolution: includes voluntary consultation between the landlord or landlord's agent and one or more tenants or voluntary mediation utilizing the services of a third party, but does not include mandatory mediation or arbitration. See Oregon Statutes 90.100
- Landlord: includes a person who is authorized by the owner, lessor or sublessor to manage the premises or to enter into a rental agreement. See Oregon Statutes 90.100
- local government: means all cities, counties and local service districts located in this state, and all administrative subdivisions of those cities, counties and local service districts. See Oregon Statutes 174.116
- Month-to-month tenancy: means a tenancy that automatically renews and continues for successive monthly periods on the same terms and conditions originally agreed to, or as revised by the parties, until terminated by one or both of the parties. See Oregon Statutes 90.100
- Rent: means any payment to be made to the landlord under the rental agreement, periodic or otherwise, in exchange for the right of a tenant and any permitted pet to occupy a dwelling unit to the exclusion of others and to use the premises. See Oregon Statutes 90.100
- Rental agreement: includes a lease. See Oregon Statutes 90.100
- Statement of policy: means the summary explanation of information and facility policies to be provided to prospective and existing tenants under ORS § 90. See Oregon Statutes 90.100
(a) Without giving each affected tenant notice in writing at least 90 days prior to the effective date of the rent increase;
(b) More than once in any 12-month period; or
(c) By a percentage greater than the maximum calculated under ORS § 90.324 (1).
(2) The written notice required by subsection (1)(a) of this section must specify:
(a) The amount of the rent increase;
(b) The amount of the new rent;
(c) Facts supporting the exemption authorized by subsection (3) of this section, if the increase is above the amount allowed in subsection (1)(c) of this section; and
(d) The date on which the increase becomes effective.
(3) A landlord is not subject to subsection (1)(c) of this section if:
(a) The first certificate of occupancy for the dwelling unit was issued less than 15 years from the date of the notice of the rent increase; or
(b) The dwelling unit is regulated or certified as affordable housing by a federal, state or local government and the change in rent:
(A) Does not increase the tenant’s portion of the rent; or
(B) Is required by program eligibility requirements or by a change in the tenant’s income.
(4) A landlord that increases rent in violation of subsection (1)(c) of this section shall be liable to the tenant in an amount equal to three months’ rent plus actual damages suffered by the tenant.
(5) This section does not create a right to increase rent that does not otherwise exist.
(6) This section does not require a landlord to compromise, justify or reduce a rent increase that the landlord otherwise is entitled to impose.
(7) Neither ORS § 90.510 (1), requiring a landlord to provide a statement of policy, nor ORS § 90.510 (4), requiring a landlord to provide a written rental agreement, creates a basis for tenant challenge of a rent increase, judicially or otherwise.
(8)(a) The tenants who reside in a facility may elect one committee of seven or fewer members in a facility-wide election to represent the tenants. One tenant of record for each rented space may vote in the election. Upon written request from the tenants’ committee, the landlord or a representative of the landlord shall meet with the committee within 10 to 30 days of the request to discuss the tenants’ nonrent concerns regarding the facility. Unless the parties agree otherwise, upon a request from the tenants’ committee, a landlord or representative of the landlord shall meet with the tenants’ committee at least once, but not more than twice, each calendar year. The meeting shall be held on the premises if the facility has suitable meeting space for that purpose, or at a location reasonably convenient to the tenants. After the meeting, the tenants’ committee shall send a written summary of the issues and concerns addressed at the meeting to the landlord. The landlord or the landlord’s representative shall make a good faith response in writing to the committee’s summary within 60 days.
(b) The tenants’ committee may be entitled to informal dispute resolution under ORS § 90.769 if the landlord or landlord’s representative fails to meet with the tenants’ committee or fails to respond in good faith to the written summary as required by paragraph (a) of this subsection. [Formerly 91.869; 1991 c.844 § 8; 1995 c.559 § 35; 1997 c.577 § 26a; 1999 c.676 § 21; 2001 c.596 § 36; 2019 c.1 § 3; 2019 c.625 § 56; 2021 c.252 § 2; 2023 c.226 § 5]