Rent
by: Legal Aid Services of Oregon
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TIME LIMIT WARNING: Under state and federal laws there are time limits for taking action to enforce your rights. Most lawsuits related to the rental agreement and the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act must be filed (started in court) within one year of the incident. There may be other - shorter - time limits that apply in other cases. Ask a lawyer about the time limits that could apply in your situation. |
CONTENTS
Can my landlord raise my rent after I move in?
Can a landlord charge me late fees for late rent payments?
Can my landlord raise my rent after I move in?
Unless you have a lease that fixes the amount of rent for a specific term, rent may be increased with a 30 day written notice in a month-to-month tenancy and a 7 day written notice in a week-to-week tenancy (ORS 90.220). If you want to move rather than pay the new rent, you can give a notice (30 days - if you rent month-to-month; 10 days - if you rent week-to-week) to end the tenancy and move when the new rent goes into effect (ORS 90.497). See this section for information on how to give a notice. Also, if you feel the landlord raised your rent to retaliate against you, see the question in this section on landlord retaliation.
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Can a landlord charge me late fees for late rent payments?
Yes, if the written rental agreement says that late fees can be charged. But the landlord may not charge a late fee if you pay the rent by 12 midnight on the fourth day of the rental period. (This is midnight of the fourth day of the month if the rent is due on the 1st day of the month; a rental agreement cannot make rent for a particular month due any earlier than the first day of that month).
There are three different kinds of late fees. The rental agreement must state the type and amount of late fee and when it can be charged. The landlord can change the kind of late fee or the amount that is charged by sending the tenant a 30-day notice in advance.
(1) Per rental period late fee: a reasonable flat amount charged one time for the month the rent is late. ("Reasonable" means an amount that is within the range of fees charged by landlords in that rental market.)
(2) Per day late fee: a daily fee that cannot be more that 6% of the reasonable flat monthly late fee described in (1) above.
(3) A five-day period late fee: a fee that is 5% of the rent, charged once for each five-day period the rent is late.
The per day and every 5 day late fees do not continue to accrue after the end of the month in a month-to-month tenancy. The landlord can charge you simple interest though, if you don't pay your late fee at the time that it is imposed.
A tenant who fails to pay a late fee cannot be evicted on a nonpayment of rent notice. A tenant who receives a 72-hour or 144-hour notice for nonpayment of rent can keep from being evicted by paying only the rent and not the late fee during the notice period. A landlord cannot deduct the late fee from this rent payment and claim that rent is owing. (Tenants who haven't paid late fees can be evicted on a 30-day notice, even if all rent has been paid. See this section's discussion of types of eviction notices, For-Cause notice.)
ORS 90.260
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