7 Oregon Rental Rules That Change the Day a Lease Renews

Your lease is almost up, and a letter from your landlord could change what you pay.

People renewing a lease can face rules that cover more than the rent, including how much notice your landlord owes you.

Here are the Oregon rental rules that change the day a lease renews.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Property laws, rental rules and notice periods are subject to change, so confirm the current requirements with the Oregon Judicial Department’s Landlord-Tenant Self-Help Center.

1. First-Year Rent Freeze

If your lease runs 12 months from the day your tenancy began, the first-year rent freeze makes your first renewal the earliest date a higher rent can start.

Under Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) 90.323, your landlord can’t raise rent during the first year after a tenancy begins.

The freeze covers any tenancy other than week-to-week, so it applies to your lease whether it’s a fixed term or month-to-month.

Your landlord has to wait out those twelve months before a higher rent can start.

That buys you breathing room.

2. 90-Day Notice Clock

Under ORS 90.323, your landlord can’t raise your rent after your first year without written notice at least 90 days before the increase takes effect.

The notice also has to state the amount of the increase, the new rent and the date the new rent starts.

Say your lease renews on July 1 and your landlord wants a higher rent to start that day.

A notice handed to you after April 2 is too late for that date.

When the notice is served by mail, ORS 90.155 extends the minimum period by three days.

Check your calendar.

3. Annual Rent Cap

Your landlord can’t raise your rent by a percentage above the state’s annual cap.

The Department of Administrative Services publishes that cap each September for the following calendar year.

The state’s rent stabilization page lists 10% for 2027.

Oregon also allows only one increase in any 12-month period, so the cap covers everything your landlord can add to your rent in that stretch.

4. First-Year No-Cause Endings

Under ORS 90.427, if your fixed-term lease expires inside your first year of occupancy, your landlord can end it without cause with written notice at least 30 days before the lease ends.

If you rent month-to-month, you face the same 30-day notice during your first year.

The statute defines your first year of occupancy to include all periods in which any of the tenants has lived in the unit for one year or less.

Under ORS 90.323, if your landlord ends your tenancy this way, the landlord can’t charge more for the next tenancy than the most the landlord could have charged you.

That’s some comfort.

5. Month-to-Month Conversion

When your fixed-term lease ends after your first year of occupancy, it becomes a month-to-month tenancy.

ORS 90.427 makes that switch the default unless one of three things happens first.

Signing a new fixed term with your landlord stops the switch.

So does giving your landlord written notice at least 30 days before the lease ends.

A landlord who has a qualifying reason, such as plans to demolish the unit, can also stop it with proper notice.

A month-to-month tenancy lets you leave at any time with 30 days’ written notice.

After your first year, your landlord can end that tenancy only for tenant cause, such as unpaid rent, or for a qualifying reason.

An exception covers a landlord who lives on site.

If the property has no more than two units and includes the landlord’s primary residence, the landlord can end a month-to-month tenancy without cause after the first year.

The landlord has to give you written notice at least 60 days before the tenancy ends.

Is that your building?

6. Landlord Qualifying Reasons

After your first year, your landlord needs one of four qualifying reasons, beyond tenant cause, to stop your fixed-term lease from converting to month-to-month when the term ends.

A landlord can plan to demolish your unit or convert it to a use other than residential.

A landlord can also plan repairs or renovations when the unit is unsafe or unfit to live in, or will be during the work.

Your landlord or an immediate family member can move in.

That reason fails if the landlord owns a comparable unit in the same building that’s available when you get the notice.

Your landlord can also end your tenancy after accepting a purchase offer from a buyer who plans to live in the unit.

ORS 90.427 requires at least 90 days’ written notice for each reason, stating the reason and the supporting facts.

Your landlord also has to pay you one month’s rent when delivering the notice, unless the landlord has an ownership interest in four or fewer residential units.

Since September 26, 2025, a landlord who accepted a buyer’s offer can shorten that notice to 60 days by paying you an additional month’s rent.

House Bill 2134 gives you a way out of a fixed-term lease signed on or after January 1, 2026.

If your landlord ends the tenancy with one of these notices after the fixed term, you can answer with written notice.

In it, you name a move-out date at least 30 days after you deliver the notice.

Your landlord can’t collect rent that would have accrued after the move-out date you name and after you return the unit.

That’s a handy exit.

7. Three-Warning Rule

Under ORS 90.427, your landlord can stop your fixed-term lease from turning month-to-month after three violations of the rental agreement within the 12 months before your lease ends.

Your landlord also has to warn you in writing at the time of each violation.

Each warning has to name the violation.

It also has to say the landlord may end the tenancy when the fixed term expires if three violations happen within 12 months.

And it has to say that correcting the third violation isn’t a defense.

Your landlord then has to give you at least 90 days’ written notice, stating the reason and the supporting facts, delivered with or after the third warning.

Keep copies of every warning.

15-Year Rent Cap Exemption

The 15-year exemption lets your landlord raise your rent past the cap when your building is new, so your renewal in one of them can bring a bigger increase.

The test starts with the building’s first certificate of occupancy.

If it dates to less than 15 years before the date of the rent increase notice, the exemption applies.

Because the count runs to the date of the notice, a building that’s under 15 years old at one notice can be over that mark by the next.

That’s easy to miss.

A unit that a federal, state or local government regulates or certifies as affordable housing can also qualify.

That works when the rent change doesn’t raise your share of the rent, or when program rules or a change in your income require it.