Portland rent rules combine Oregon’s statewide rent stabilization law, which caps annual increases at 9.5% for 2026 and 10% for 2027, with city ordinances that require relocation payments, limit screening criteria and regulate security deposits. An apartment owner in Portland has to comply with both layers at once, and the city layer is considerably stricter than what applies elsewhere in Oregon.
This guide covers the state cap and how it is calculated, the timing and notice rules for increases, when a tenancy can be ended after the first year, Portland’s relocation assistance and FAIR ordinances, rental registration, and the 2025 and 2026 legislative changes that affect day-to-day operations.
Oregon’s statewide rent cap
Oregon became the first state to adopt statewide rent stabilization when the legislature passed Senate Bill 608 in 2019. The law allows one rent increase per 12 months and caps that increase at a percentage the state publishes each year. In 2023, Senate Bill 611 tightened the formula, and the current rule under ORS 90.324 sets the cap at the lesser of 10% or 7% plus the annual change in the consumer price index.
The Oregon Department of Administrative Services’ Office of Economic Analysis calculates and publishes the figure each fall on its rent stabilization page:
- 2025: 10.0%.
- 2026: 9.5%, per a DAS correction notice issued October 1, 2025.
- 2027: 10%, published by DAS on September 28, 2026.
Because ORS 91.225 bars Oregon cities and counties from enacting their own rent control, Portland cannot set a lower cap. The statewide figure is the ceiling. Portland’s ordinances instead raise the cost of large increases and terminations through relocation payments, which is a distinct mechanism the Oregon Supreme Court upheld in Owen v. City of Portland in 2021.
Which units are exempt from the cap
ORS 90.323 exempts two main categories:
- Units whose first certificate of occupancy was issued less than 15 years before the date of the rent increase notice.
- Regulated affordable housing where the rent is set by a government program, under the conditions in the statute.
In 2025, Senate Bill 722 proposed shortening the new-construction exemption from 15 years to 7. It did not pass, so the 15-year exemption remains in effect. For an owner, this means a building’s exemption status changes on a predictable date: 15 years after its first certificate of occupancy, the cap begins to apply to its units.
Timing and notice for rent increases
Oregon’s rules on when and how rent can be raised apply to every Portland apartment, exempt or not:
- No rent increase is allowed during the first year of a tenancy.
- After the first year, rent can be raised only once in any 12-month period.
- The landlord must give at least 90 days’ written notice for month-to-month and fixed-term tenancies.
- The notice must state the amount of the increase, the new rent, the date it takes effect and, if the unit is exempt from the cap, the basis for the exemption.
The penalty for charging more than the cap allows is steep: the landlord owes the tenant three months’ rent plus actual damages. The statute also blocks a workaround. If a landlord ends a first-year tenancy with a no-cause notice, the rent for the next tenant cannot exceed what the cap would have allowed for the departing tenant.
Ending a tenancy after the first year
Under ORS 90.427, a landlord can end a month-to-month tenancy without cause during the first year with 30 days’ written notice. After the first year of occupancy, termination requires either a tenant cause, such as nonpayment or a lease violation, or one of four qualifying landlord reasons:
- Demolition of the unit or conversion to a non-residential use.
- Repairs or renovations that make the unit unsafe to occupy during the work.
- The owner or an immediate family member moving into the unit.
- Sale of the unit to a buyer who intends to live in it.
For a landlord-reason termination, the owner must give at least 90 days’ written notice stating the reason and pay the tenant one month’s rent with the notice. Landlords who hold an ownership interest in four or fewer units are exempt from the payment, but most apartment building owners are not. Failing to comply exposes the landlord to three months’ rent plus actual damages.
Fixed-term leases that end after the first year generally convert to month-to-month tenancies rather than expiring, with narrow exceptions, including one that lets a landlord decline renewal with 90 days’ notice when the tenant has received three or more written warnings for violations within 12 months.
The 2025 change for owner-occupant sales
Senate Bill 586, enacted in 2025, adjusted the sale-to-occupant reason. A landlord can now shorten the required notice from 90 to 60 days by paying the tenant one month’s rent, and the unit no longer has to be sold separately from other units. This matters most for small properties, since buildings of five or more units are rarely sold to a buyer who plans to live in a single unit.
Portland relocation assistance
Portland’s Mandatory Relocation Assistance ordinance, City Code 30.01.085, is where Portland rent rules diverge most from the rest of the state. It requires landlords to pay renters a fixed sum when certain actions force them to move. The amounts, in the current version of the code effective January 1, 2025, are:
- Studio or single-room occupancy unit: $2,900.
- One bedroom: $3,300.
- Two bedrooms: $4,200.
- Three bedrooms or larger: $4,500.
The Portland Housing Bureau’s relocation assistance page lists the triggers:
- A no-cause termination.
- A non-renewal or termination for a qualifying landlord reason.
- A rent increase of 10% or more within a rolling 12-month period.
- A substantial change to the lease terms.
For-cause terminations do not trigger payment. Portland also requires 90 days’ notice for terminations and for any rent increase of 5% or more. When a tenant receives a 10% or greater increase, the tenant has 45 days to request the payment, and the landlord then has 31 days to pay. Landlords must report payments to the Housing Bureau within 30 days, and assistance is payable once per tenancy. The state’s one-month relocation payment can be credited toward the city amount when both apply and are paid together.
Interaction with the state cap
The 2027 statewide cap is 10%, which is also Portland’s relocation threshold. A Portland owner who raises rent by the full statewide maximum therefore triggers relocation assistance if the tenant chooses to move and requests it. In 2026, with the cap at 9.5%, a maximum increase stays below the threshold. Owners who want to avoid relocation exposure in 2027 can keep increases under 10%, and should model that choice when projecting rent growth.
Exemptions and penalties
Most exemptions require the landlord to file with the Housing Bureau and obtain an acknowledgement letter before relying on them. They include week-to-week tenancies, owner-occupied duplexes and accessory dwelling units, a temporarily rented principal residence, an immediate family member moving in, and regulated affordable housing for rent increases. Under City Code 30.01.085, a landlord who fails to comply can owe up to three times the monthly rent plus actual damages, attorney fees and the relocation amount itself.
Screening under the FAIR ordinance
Portland’s Fair Access in Renting ordinance passed in 2019 and took effect in March 2020. Its screening rules, in City Code 30.01.086, govern how an apartment owner fills a vacancy:
- Advance notice: landlords must give 72 hours’ notice before opening an application period, and must process applications in the order received.
- Accessible units: applicants with a household member who has a mobility disability get priority for accessible units during the first eight hours.
- Income ratio: the maximum income requirement is 2.5 times the rent for units below the 80% of area median income rent level, or 2 times above it, calculated net of any rental assistance.
- Low-barrier criteria: landlords who adopt them cannot reject applicants for misdemeanors more than three years old, felonies more than seven years old, or a credit score of 500 or higher. Landlords using stricter criteria must conduct an individual assessment.
- Fees and decisions: screening fees are limited to the actual cost of the service, and the landlord must give a written decision within two weeks.
Each violation carries a penalty of up to $250 plus damages and attorney fees, so leasing staff need to follow a documented process.
Security deposit rules
Portland layers its own deposit ordinance, City Code 30.01.087, on top of state law:
- The deposit is capped at one month’s rent, or half a month’s rent if last month’s rent is also collected. An extra half month is allowed for conditionally approved applicants and can be paid in up to three installments.
- Deposits must be placed in a segregated account within two weeks, and any interest belongs to the tenant.
- The landlord must provide a move-in condition report with photos.
- A move-out walkthrough is required within one week after the tenancy ends.
- Labor charges over $200 must be documented.
State law then sets the return deadline. Under ORS 90.300, the landlord must return the deposit with a written accounting within 31 days after the tenancy ends and the tenant gives up possession. Ordinary wear and tear cannot be deducted, and wrongful or bad-faith withholding lets the tenant recover twice the amount withheld.
Rental registration and other city requirements
Portland requires owners to register residential rental units each year with the city’s Revenue Division. The residential rental registration fee was $70 per unit for tax years 2023 through 2025, up from $60 to $65 in earlier years. Owners file Schedule R with the combined City of Portland and Multnomah County business tax return, generally due April 15. Units affordable at or below 60% of median income are fee-exempt but must still be registered, and failing to register can bring a penalty of up to 100% of the fee per unit. The Housing Bureau’s Rental Services Office handles exemption filings for relocation assistance and other questions.
Other statewide rules that shape Portland operations
A few more Oregon statutes affect day-to-day management of Portland apartments:
- Late fees (ORS 90.260): allowed only if rent remains unpaid after the fourth day of the rental period and the written agreement sets the fee. Options include a reasonable flat fee once per period or 5% of the rent for each five days of delinquency.
- Source of income (ORS 659A.421): housing assistance, including Section 8, is a protected source of income, and landlords must count its value when assessing ability to pay.
- Immigration status (SB 599, 2025): landlords cannot ask about or discriminate based on immigration or citizenship status, or reject an applicant because of the type of identification provided.
- Cooling (ORS 90.355 and 90.320): landlords generally cannot prohibit tenants from installing portable cooling devices, and units in buildings permitted on or after April 1, 2024 must provide cooling in at least one room other than a bathroom.
Changes from the 2026 short session
The Oregon Real Estate Agency’s 2026 legislative update summarizes three new laws relevant to apartment owners. SB 1523 requires landlords to offer an alternative to online portals on written request, including physical keys or codes for common areas, and bars requiring electronic-only rent payment. HB 4120 lets multifamily landlords convert a property to nonsmoking for existing tenants with 180 days’ written notice, effective January 1, 2027. HB 4123 limits disclosure of tenants’ confidential information, with damages of twice the monthly rent for violations.
Portland rent rules in practice: three worked examples
The rules interact in ways that are easiest to see with numbers. The examples below are hypothetical and use the 2027 cap and the relocation amounts in effect under the current city code.
A renewal increase in 2027
A tenant in a one-bedroom unit has paid $1,500 a month for more than a year. The 2027 statewide cap is 10%, so the most the owner can charge is $1,650. That full increase would also reach Portland’s 10% relocation threshold, and if the tenant gives notice and requests assistance within 45 days, the owner would owe $3,300. An increase of 9.9%, to $1,648.50, stays under the threshold. The owner must deliver the written notice at least 90 days before the new rent takes effect in either case.
A renovation that requires vacant units
An owner plans a gut renovation of a 20-unit building of two-bedroom apartments, and the work will make the units unsafe to occupy. That is a qualifying landlord reason under ORS 90.427, so the owner must give each tenant at least 90 days’ written notice and the state’s one-month rent payment. Under Portland’s code, each household is also owed $4,200 in relocation assistance, and the state payment can be credited toward the city amount when both are paid together. Across 20 units, the city obligation alone is $84,000, before construction begins.
A building aging into the cap
A building whose first certificate of occupancy was issued in 2012 is exempt from the statewide cap until 15 years have passed. Once it crosses that line in 2027, any increase notice must comply with the cap, and while it was exempt, each increase notice had to state the basis for the exemption. Buyers of newer buildings should confirm the certificate date, because it determines when rent growth becomes limited.
What the rules mean for owners and buyers
The combined state and city framework has practical consequences for how Portland apartment buildings are operated and valued:
- Plan increases around 10%. With the 2027 cap at 10% and relocation assistance triggered at 10%, the effective ceiling on a single increase without relocation risk is just under 10%.
- Know each building’s exemption date. Buildings under 15 years old are outside the cap until they cross that threshold.
- Budget for relocation costs. Renovation or demolition plans need to account for both the state one-month payment and Portland’s fixed amounts per unit.
- Document leasing. FAIR and deposit violations carry per-violation penalties, so written procedures and records protect owners.
- Transfer tenancies cleanly. A buyer takes on existing tenancies and their protections, so rent rolls, notices and deposit records should be complete at closing. Our guide to selling rental property with tenants in place explains what buyers typically review.
For broader context on the state, see our Oregon markets page, and owners weighing an exit can read about selling an apartment building in Portland on our city page.
