Breaking a lease in Oregon

During a fixed term you may end the tenancy only for cause. If the term ends within the first year of occupancy, you may end it without cause with 30 days' written notice before the end date. A term that ends after the first year becomes month-to-month unless you agree to a new term, the tenant gives 30 days' notice, or you have a qualifying landlord reason and give the required notice (ORS 90.427(4)).

• A written agreement may set a fee for a tenant who abandons the unit during a fixed term without cause, up to one and a half times the monthly rent. If you charge it, you may not recover later rent or re-renting costs. Any other liquidated damages are barred (ORS 90.302(2)(e); ORS 90.302(5); ORS 90.245(1)(d)).
• If the tenant abandons the unit, make reasonable efforts to re-rent it at a fair rent; the agreement ends when a new tenancy begins (ORS 90.410(3)).
• A victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, bias crime or stalking may be released on 14 days' written notice with verification, with no fee and no rent after the release date (ORS 90.453).
• A service member who enlists, is ordered to active service outside the area for more than 90 days, or leaves active service may end the agreement with proof of orders, with no penalty, fee or loss of deposit (ORS 90.475).
• You may decline to renew a fixed term after three written warnings for violations within 12 months, with 90 days' notice before the end of the term (ORS 90.427(7)).
• Since June 5, 2026, if a natural disaster destroys the unit, the tenancy ends at once unless you and the tenant agree otherwise afterward; you return the deposit and prepaid rent, including rent prorated from the date of the disaster, under the deposit statute, and no rent is owed while the unit is inaccessible (Or. Laws 2026, ch. 108, § 21).
• For example, with monthly rent of $1,600, one and a half months is $2,400. That is the ceiling for the lease-break fee described above when a valid written provision and the circumstances allow it, not an automatic charge for every early move. If that fee is charged, do not add later rent or re-renting costs. Keep any separately owed earlier rent or damage items identified in the final accounting, and check whether a protected termination or agreed release applies first (ORS 90.302(2)(e): fixed-term abandonment fee).

If you materially fail to keep the home habitable or to follow the rental agreement, the tenant may give written notice that the agreement will end on a date at least 30 days later unless you fix the breach within seven days for an essential service or 30 days in other cases. The tenant may also recover damages and get a court order, but not for a condition the tenant caused (ORS 90.360; ORS 90.365; ORS 90.368).

• If the same breach recurs within six months, the tenant may end the agreement on 14 days' written notice. In a week-to-week tenancy these periods are seven days (ORS 90.360(1)(a); ORS 90.360(1)(c)).
• For a minor habitability defect that can be fixed for $300 or less, after written notice giving at least seven days, the tenant may have the repair done by others and deduct up to $300 from rent. Mold, radon, asbestos and lead-based paint are excluded, and the tenant may not do the work personally (ORS 90.368).
• If you intentionally or negligently fail to supply an essential service, after written notice and a reasonable time the tenant may buy the service and deduct its cost, or recover reduced rental value; if the failure makes the unit unsafe or unfit to live in, the tenant may instead move to substitute housing and pay no rent meanwhile (ORS 90.365(1)).
• Where the lack of an essential service is an imminent and serious threat to health, safety or property, the tenant may give notice ending the agreement in not less than 48 hours unless you fix it (ORS 90.365(2)).
• If the agreement ends under these sections, return the deposit and prepaid rent as the deposit statute requires (ORS 90.360(5)).

Oregon has no statute that sets a general rule on subletting a home. The lease controls, so state in it whether the tenant needs your written consent (ORS chapter 90 (Residential Landlord and Tenant Act)).

• Under the Act, a tenant who sublets counts as a landlord toward the subtenant (ORS 90.100(25)).
• In a manufactured dwelling or floating home park, the home's owner may not rent the home to someone else for more than three days without a written subleasing agreement signed by you, the owner and the renter, and the owner stays your tenant (ORS 90.555(2), (3)).

A tenant may end a month-to-month tenancy at any time with at least 30 days' written notice. You may end one without cause with 30 days' written notice only during the first year of occupancy. After the first year, you may end it only for a tenant cause under the statute, or for a qualifying landlord reason with at least 90 days' written notice stating the reason and supporting facts: demolition or conversion, repairs that make the unit unsafe or unfit to live in, occupancy by you or an immediate family member when you have no comparable unit in the building, or a sale to a buyer who will live there (ORS 90.427).

• With a qualifying-reason notice, pay the tenant one month's rent when you deliver the notice, unless you have an ownership interest in four or fewer dwelling units (ORS 90.427(6)).
• For a sale to a buyer who will live there, the notice may be 60 days if you give written evidence of the accepted offer and also pay one month's rent at the time of the notice (ORS 90.427(5)(b)).
• The first year of occupancy lasts while any tenant in the unit has lived there one year or less (ORS 90.427(1)(a)).
• If you live in the same building or on the same property and it has no more than two units, after the first year you may end a month-to-month tenancy without cause on 60 days' notice, or 30 days for a sale to a buyer who will live there (ORS 90.427(8)).
• A week-to-week tenancy ends on 10 days' written notice from either side (ORS 90.427(2)).
• Ending a tenancy in violation of the qualifying-reason or three-violation rules costs three months' rent plus actual damages, and gives the tenant a defense to eviction (ORS 90.427(9)).

Within 31 days after the tenancy ends and the tenant delivers possession, give the tenant a written accounting that states specifically the basis of any claim against the deposit or prepaid rent, and return the rest. Give separate accountings for the deposit and for prepaid rent. You may keep only the amount reasonably necessary to cover the tenant's defaults under the agreement, including unpaid rent, and to repair damage the tenant caused, not ordinary wear and tear (ORS 90.300(12); ORS 90.300(13); ORS 90.300(7); ORS 90.300(16)).

• Deliver the accounting or the refund in person or by first class mail, or by e-mail only if a signed e-mail addendum allows it. A refund may go electronically to the tenant's bank only under an addendum signed after the tenancy began and the tenant moved in (ORS 90.300(13); ORS 90.300(14); ORS 90.155(1)(d)).
• If you miss the deadline, or withhold in bad faith, the tenant may recover twice the amount withheld without a written accounting or withheld in bad faith (ORS 90.300(16)).
• You need not make a repair before charging for it. Labor must be billed at a reasonable hourly rate, and you may charge a reasonable rate for your own cleaning or repair work (ORS 90.300(7)(b)).
• Machine carpet cleaning may be deducted only if the carpet was cleaned or replaced before the tenant moved in and the written agreement says the cost may be deducted whether or not the tenant cleans it (ORS 90.300(7)(c)).
• Whoever holds the landlord's interest when the tenancy ends is responsible for the deposit, including a new owner (ORS 90.300(2)(b)).
• Possession is delivered back when the tenant gives actual notice of giving up the unit (returning the keys can show it), or when you reasonably believe the tenant has left after a notice or term expires, or you reasonably know the unit was abandoned (ORS 90.147(2)).
• A deposit may not be forfeited for failing to stay a minimum number of months in a month-to-month tenancy (ORS 90.300(8)).