Search

The 2019 Oregon Legislature made sweeping changes to the state’s landlord-tenant laws. None will have more impact than Senate Bill 608 (SB 608), which went into effect on February 28, 2019. SB 608 made two significant alterations to Oregon law: (1) After the first year of occupancy in a month-to-month or fixed-term tenancy, landlords are severely limited in their ability to evict tenants, and (2) landlords with month-to-month or fixed-term tenancies are now limited by rent control in their ability to increase rent for an existing tenancy. (NOTE: The cities of Portland, Milwaukie, and Bend have additional restrictions on landlords, and different laws apply to manufactured home and floating home tenants.)

Question:  Can you evict for no cause in an RV park on a month-to-month rental agreement?

A fair housing myth: You have to treat everyone the same to comply with fair housing law. It’s a common belief, but it’s not as simple as that. The law requires that you give everyone an equal opportunity to live at your community—not that you treat everyone the same.

It’s often true that treating everyone the same helps to counter any perception of discriminatory motives, but there are many important exceptions that you must understand and apply properly to comply with fair housing law. Because of these exceptions, having a one-size-fits-all policy can sometimes hurt you rather than help you to avoid fair housing trouble.

Chief among the exceptions are disability-related requests for reasonable accommodations, which by definition involve exceptions to your general policies, procedures, or rules when necessary to enable an individual with a disability an equal opportunity to live in and enjoy housing at your community. Disputes over reasonable accommodation requests, often involving assistance animals or parking accommodations, are the number one reason why communities find themselves on the hot seat to defend themselves from accusations of housing discrimination.

Question.  We have just begun managing a 55+ community. However, we are confused about the 80/20 rules and the possibility of losing our 55+ status. What is a safe margin for occupancy limits?  And if our community percentage is 85%, are we required to rent the 15% remainder to families with children?  

Question.Landlord has given resident notification of expiration of lease term, but tenant has not responded.  What does landlord do when there is no response from resident?  Should she still accept rent, which would turn it into a month-to-month tenancy? What is the best strategy?