Rent Increases and Lease Violation Fees
Read about Oregon's rent increase laws, when your landlord can charge you fees, and more.
You are protected against rent increases during your first year of renting.
After that, unless you have a written agreement that says otherwise, your landlord can raise the rent. But first the landlord must give you a written notice on paper. The notice must say the amount that the landlord is raising the rent, and the amount of the new rent.
- Month-to-month renters must get at least 90 days’ notice before the rent goes up.
- Week-to-week renters must get seven days’ notice.
Your landlord can only raise your rent once per year. There are rules about how much your landlord can increase your rent. The limit changes from year-to-year. To see this year's allowed increases, visit the website for the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.
Subsidized and public housing have different rules for rent increases. Talk to a lawyer if you live in subsidized housing and your landlord is raising your rent.
If this happens, talk to your landlord and let them know the rent increase isn't legal.
If your landlord still tries to make you pay the fee, you can sue your landlord for three times your monthly rent. There are some exceptions to this rule. If you think your landlord has raised your rent more than the maximum amount, talk to a lawyer.
Yes, but you must give your landlord a written termination notice.
- Month-to-month renters must do this 30 days before the rent increase date.
- Week-to-week renters must give notice 10 days before the rent increase date.
Warning! Once you give notice and your landlord accepts, you cannot change your mind—even if you can’t find another place to live.
Any new landlord, property manager, or company (and you) must follow your current rental agreement. This includes the rent amount, fees in the rental agreement, and other rules.
Your new landlord:
- Cannot make you sign a new agreement if it is different than your current one, and
- Must return your deposits when you move, even if the old landlord did not give the money to the new landlord.
A fee is a payment to your landlord that you don’t get back. If a landlord charges a fee, the landlord does not have to pay it back to when you move out. Landlords can only charge their renters fees if they are listed in a written rental agreement.
Yes, if late fees are in your written rental agreement.
But if you do not have a written agreement, a landlord cannot charge you late fees, or any other fees.
Your rent is not late if you pay by 11:59 p.m. on the 4th day of the rental period.
Rental agreements cannot make rent due before the 1st day of the month. But you can pay early if you want to.
No. There are three kinds of late fees:
- Flat rate late fee: A reasonable, one-time late fee for each period the rent is late. (Reasonable means similar to nearby landlords’ late fees.)
- Per-day late fee: Up to 6 percent of the flat rate late fee listed above, applied daily.
- Five-day period late fee: 5 percent of the rent for each five-day period the rent is late
Your late fee type is listed in your rental agreement.
If it is a per-day or five-day period late fee, the fees stop at the end of the month.
If you do not pay the late fee when it is due, the landlord can charge interest on the original fee starting on the fee due date.
Yes, if you have a month-to-month rental agreement. But the landlord must give you written notice 30 days before the change. If you have a rental agreement for a set time (usually a one-year lease) the landlord can’t change anything in the rental agreement during the lease.
No. The money you pay in rent must go towards your rent. The landlord cannot use rent money for your late fee and then say you owe money for rent.
But landlords can apply payment for the current month’s rent to any past due rent. If this happens, you could get a late fee for the current month.
Your landlord can evict you for not paying late fees. But your landlord must give you a 30-day termination notice and they must give you 14 days to pay the late fees. If you don’t pay the late fee within 14 days, then your landlord can end your rental agreement and evict you if you don’t move out.
If you owe back rent and late fees, and you get a notice for nonpayment of rent, you can avoid eviction by paying all of the rent you owe by the deadline. But you do not have to pay the late fee by the deadline in a nonpayment of rent notice to avoid eviction.
Yes, but only if it says so in your written rental agreement. Even then, landlords must follow certain rules.
Landlords can charge you for utility services used:
- At your rental unit, and
- In common areas, but only if listed in your written rental agreement.
Landlords may only charge you the fee they are charged; they must not mark up the charges.
Exception: Landlords can charge up to 10 percent more than their cost for some subscription services, like TV or internet. But the cost to you must not be more than the cost of receiving those services directly.
Ask your landlord to show you a copy of the utility bill before you pay. If your landlord says no, you can sue them for two times the amount you were incorrectly charged or one month’s rent, whichever is more.
A landlord can evict you for not paying a utility or service fee. But they must give you a 30-day termination notice, not a nonpayment of rent notice. The landlord must also give you 14 days to pay the utility or service fee. Find more information on notices here.
If your landlord doesn't use the right notice, you have a defense in an eviction case. A defense is a legal way to stop an eviction case. Go here for more information on defenses.
No. The money you pay in rent must go towards your rent.