Most tenants in Oregon have month-to-month rental agreements. If you
have this type of tenancy, it means that you pay rent once a month
and your rental agreement continues until either you or your landlord
decides to end it. In a month-to-month tenancy, your landlord may increase
the rent by giving you at least 30 days written notice of the rent
increase. A rent increase may begin any time during a month. The rent
for a month during which the rent increase takes effect would be prorated.
Unless you can show that the rent increase is retaliatory, discriminatory
or imposed in bad faith, you must pay the new rent.
If you pay rent weekly instead of monthly, and the length of your rental
agreement is indefinite, your landlord must give you written notice
of a rent increase seven days before the increase goes into effect.
Instead of establishing a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy, you
and your landlord may agree to a rental agreement with a definite period
of time. A rental agreement for a fixed term is called a lease. Usually,
a lease will state the amount of rent you must pay while the lease
is in effect. Your lease may also list a method for increasing rents
during the term. If it doesn’t, no change in the rent can be
made. The lease may state that the tenant can be evicted at the end
of the rental period without further notice. If you want to stay after
the end of such a lease, it is important to talk to the landlord about
a new arrangement well in advance of the end of the lease period. If
the lease does not say a specific ending date that requires no notice,
you and your landlord are free to talk about a new lease or to end
the rental relationship. If there is no new lease, the tenancy automatically
turns into a regular month-to-month agreement with month-to-month rules.
Somewhat different rules apply to rent increases for month-to-month
tenancies in mobile home parks — also called manufactured dwelling
facilities —and floating home facilities. To increase your rent
in one of these tenancies, the facility landlord must give you and
each affected tenant a written notice at least 90 days before the date
of the rent increase. This written notice must clearly explain the
amount of the rent increase, the amount of the new rent, and the date
on which the rent increase becomes effective.
A facility landlord may not increase rent under a fixed term lease
unless the lease specifically states that the landlord can do so.
Oregon law generally does not allow cities and counties to enact local
laws that limit the amount of rent landlords can charge. However, the
law does allow a state agency or a local government to regulate rents
on residential property if that agency has provided benefits designed
to reduce rents for low-income tenants. Such benefits include measures
like property tax exemptions and long term financing.
Likewise, federal low-income housing subsidies typically restrict a
landlord’s right to increase tenant rents, at least for a period
of time.
Subsidized housing landlords must follow all regulations and contracts
that apply to their property in order to raise the rents. If you are
a tenant in subsidized housing, you may insist on some evidence that
the government agency providing the housing subsidy has approved the
rent increase.
In most government owned public housing and government rent subsidy
programs, tenants are usually required to pay 30 percent of their incomes
for rent. The amount of household income is usually reviewed at least
once a year, and the tenant may have obligations to report increases
or decreases in income to the public housing authority and/or to the
landlord.
Legal editor: Mark L. Busch, updated November 2011