Subletting laws and regulations in Oregon - 2026

Oregon has no statute that tells an apartment or house tenant whether they may sublet. The state's one detailed subleasing statute, ORS 90.555, covers manufactured homes and floating homes inside facilities, and every other residential sublease runs on lease language plus a handful of court decisions written about commercial buildings.

That gap is why a search for subleasing laws Oregon turns up confident answers that contradict each other. Tenants read "freely sublettable" in one place and "never without written consent" in another, and landlords in Portland discover local screening rules layered on top of both.

Oregon subleasing laws in short

No Oregon statute grants an ordinary residential tenant the right to sublet, and none forbids it. The Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, ORS Chapter 90 defines "landlord" to include a sublessor, so it assumes subleases exist, but it never says when a tenant may create one.

Your lease decides. If the lease requires the landlord's written permission, that permission is the controlling document. If the tenant has vacated, the lease prohibited subleasing or occupancy without written permission, and the landlord has not knowingly accepted rent from the occupant, ORS 90.403 allows a 24-hour notice. Serving that notice does not create a tenancy right for the occupant. If the lease is silent, the oldest Oregon Supreme Court statement on point, Abrahamson v. Brett (1933), says a tenant may sublet "in the absence of any covenant in the lease to the contrary," though no Oregon appellate court has applied that rule to a modern residential lease.

ORS 90.555 applies only to manufactured dwellings and floating homes in facilities. It requires a written agreement among all three parties. It also gives the renter direct rights, and none of that carries over to a house or apartment.

Unless the landlord signs a release or novation, the original tenant remains liable under the master lease. Your rental agreement with the property owner does not end when a subtenant moves in, and nothing in ORS Chapter 90 automatically releases you from it. Landlords who want to think through the risk from their side of the table can start with this guide to subleasing.

Do you need landlord permission to sublet in Oregon?

You need permission whenever your lease agreement says you do, and you should get it in writing even when the lease says nothing. Oregon leases fall into three groups on this point.

A silent lease is the least predictable. Abrahamson v. Brett supports a tenant's right to sublet absent a restrictive covenant, and the Restatement (Second) of Property § 15.1 says the same. But Abrahamson involved California premises, and the research located no published Oregon appellate opinion applying the free-transfer default to a residential lease. The Oregon State Bar's Legal Issues for Older Adults pamphlet frames subletting as something a renter may do "if his or her rental agreement allows subletting," which is a narrower reading than Abrahamson. Treat a silent lease as a reason to ask, not as a green light.

A flat prohibition is enforceable. ORS 90.245 lists the lease clauses Oregon voids, and a no-subletting clause is not among them. ORS 90.403 goes further and builds an expedited eviction remedy around a lease that "prohibited subleasing" without written permission.

A consent-required clause makes the landlord's written consent the operative fact. If the clause grants the landlord sole or absolute discretion, Abrahamson says the landlord "may arbitrarily withhold his assent without giving any reasons, and in granting his assent may impose such conditions as he sees fit." A bare consent clause may instead carry an implied reasonableness requirement under Carey v. Lincoln Loan Co. unless other contract terms indicate a contrary expectation. Verbal approval leaves you with nothing to show a court if the landlord later serves a termination notice.

Can an Oregon landlord say no?

Yes, but the lease language determines whether the landlord must have a reasonable basis. ORS Chapter 90 contains no requirement that consent to a residential sublease be "not unreasonably withheld," and ORS 90.130 imposes only a general duty of good faith on performing lease duties, not a specific reasonableness test for consent.

Landlords may screen a proposed subtenant. In McKeon v. Williams (1990), the Oregon Court of Appeals held that requiring financial information about a proposed assignee before consenting was not unreasonable. For manufactured-dwelling facilities, ORS 90.555 lets the facility landlord screen the renter under ORS 90.303 as long as the criteria are no stricter than those applied to the landlord's own applicants. Outside facilities, a landlord may ask for the same application package any new tenant would submit, subject to Portland's FAIR Ordinance where it applies.

The Oregon Supreme Court addressed reasonableness in commercial leases in Pacific First Bank v. New Morgan Park Corp., 319 Or. 342 (1994). The Oregon Supreme Court agreed that "a duty of good faith applies to lease agreements" but held that the duty "does not vary the substantive terms of the bargain ... nor does it provide a remedy for an unpleasantly motivated act that is expressly permitted by contract." The landlord in that case had absolute discretion over assignments under the lease, and its refusal stood.

Later cases refined the picture, all in commercial disputes. Carey v. Lincoln Loan Co. (2000) said a bare consent clause may carry an implied reasonableness requirement "unless other terms in the contract indicate a contrary expectation." Lamonts Apparel v. SI-Lloyd Associates (1998) held that a landlord's duty to act reasonably "arises only when the tenant produces a true assignment or sublease" that substantially conforms to the existing lease. Chiles v. Robertson (1989) warned that where a lease lacks a reasonableness clause, an arbitrary refusal faces a "significant risk" of standing.

Here is how each clause type plays out under that case law:

• Lease language | Effect in Oregon
• "Sole" or "absolute" discretion | Landlord may refuse without giving reasons (Pacific First Bank, Restatement § 15.2(2))
• "Consent not unreasonably withheld" | Reasonableness governs, but only once the tenant presents a conforming sublease (Collis v. Baker, Lamonts Apparel)
• Bare consent clause, no qualifier | Reasonableness may be implied unless the contract signals otherwise (Carey)
• No clause at all | Common-law default favors the tenant (Abrahamson), untested in a residential appellate case

No Oregon appellate court has applied any of these rules to an ordinary apartment or single-family lease. Tenants and landlords are working from commercial analogies, and a residential landlord with sole-discretion language sits on the strongest ground.

Sublease vs. assignment vs. adding a roommate

Subleasing and subletting are the same thing. Both words describe a tenant renting all or part of the unit to another person while the tenant's own lease with the owner continues.

An assignment transfers the tenant's entire remaining interest in the lease to someone else. In Pacific First Bank, a corporate merger moved the tenant's lease to a subsidiary "by operation of law," and the court treated that as a transfer requiring landlord consent. The assignee steps into the lease directly with the landlord. Under a sublease, by contrast, the original tenant stays in the middle and remains the landlord's counterparty.

Adding a roommate to the master lease is neither. The roommate signs with the property owner, and the property owner screens the roommate as a new applicant. The roommate then becomes a co-tenant. Portland's FAIR Ordinance draws a related distinction: an occupant who will not be financially responsible is a "non-applicant tenant" who may be screened only for maintenance, health, safety, peaceful enjoyment, and rules compliance, never for financial capacity.

Who are the parties?

The vocabulary differs between ordinary rentals and manufactured-dwelling facilities, and ORS 90.555 uses its own terms:

• Term | Meaning
• Sublessor | The original tenant who rents the unit to someone else; a "landlord" under ORS 90.100(25)
• Sublessee or subtenant | The person renting from the sublessor
• Facility landlord | The owner or operator of a manufactured-dwelling or floating-home facility under ORS 90.555
• Facility tenant | The person who rents the space in the facility and owns or occupies the home
• Renter | ORS 90.555's word for the person who rents the manufactured dwelling or floating home from the facility tenant

ORS 90.555: rules for manufactured dwellings and floating homes

ORS 90.555 bars a facility tenant from renting a manufactured dwelling or floating home to another person for more than three days unless all three parties sign a written subleasing agreement: the facility landlord, the facility tenant, and the renter. The statute appears in the 2025 edition of the Oregon Revised Statutes with an amendment history ending at 2023 c.549 §2c. The 2026 regular-session amended and repealed table does not list ORS 90.555.

The three-party agreement must do two things. It must require the renter to pay space rent, separately assessed fees, and separately billed utilities directly to the facility landlord. And it must give the renter the same rights the facility tenant holds to cure violations, enforce habitability under ORS 90.730, and claim protection from retaliation under ORS 90.765.

A facility landlord may not prohibit subleasing while the tenant "actively markets for sale" the home, but only if that landlord rents, or has a policy of renting, homes listed for sale by the landlord. Active marketing requires a for-sale sign and an advertisement in a newspaper or online. The tenant must also retain a broker, real estate agent, or manufactured structure dealer. A tenant who plans to hold property showings while a renter occupies the home should build access terms into the agreement.

The facility landlord may screen the renter under ORS 90.303, but may not apply credit or conduct criteria more restrictive than those it uses for applicants to homes it owns or holds on consignment under ORS 90.680.

The facility tenant remains the tenant of the space with every right and obligation under the rental agreement and ORS Chapter 90. A renter's occupancy "does not constitute abandonment" of the home, which forecloses any argument that the facility landlord can treat the home as abandonment property once the owner moves out.

Unless the agreement says otherwise, the facility landlord may terminate the renter without cause on at least 30 days' written notice, or for cause (unpaid space rent or conduct violations) subject to the right to cure. When the facility landlord terminates, the statute excuses both the renter and the facility tenant from further performance under the subleasing agreement.

Who is liable for rent and damage?

Unless the landlord signs a release or novation, the original tenant owes the landlord everything the master lease requires, regardless of what the subtenant does. The landlord's contract runs to the tenant, and ORS 90.100(25) makes that tenant the subtenant's landlord for purposes of ORS Chapter 90. Two separate contracts exist, and the property owner enforces only one of them.

Take a concrete case. You rent a Salem duplex unit for $1,200 a month with a $1,200 security deposit on file, and you sublet it for eight months while working out of state. The subtenant stops paying in month seven, leaves in month eight owing $2,400 in rent, and takes a door off its hinges on the way out.

The property owner pursues you. Under ORS 90.300 the owner can apply your $1,200 deposit to the unpaid rent and repair costs with a written accounting of the deductions, then file a separate civil complaint for the remaining balance under ORS 90.401(2) and 90.430. The owner has no need to locate the subtenant, and a court will not make them.

You then pursue the subtenant. Whatever deposit you collected from the subtenant is yours to apply under the same ORS 90.300 rules, and any shortfall becomes your own small-claims or civil case against the person you chose.

Insurance changes part of that math for the owner. A DP3 landlord policy pays for covered accidental damage such as a plumbing overflow that ruins a subfloor. Intentional damage by a tenant or subtenant is a standard exclusion, so a kicked-in door lands in the lease chain, not on the policy. Landlord insurance in Oregon pairs dwelling and liability coverage with loss-of-rent coverage for owners whose units may cycle through occupants they never met. Get a quote in minutes at quote.steadily.com, no phone call required.

Security deposits and rent between sublessor and subtenant

A sublessor who takes a deposit from a subtenant must follow ORS 90.300 exactly as a property owner would, because ORS 90.100(25) classifies the sublessor as a landlord.

Within 31 days after the subtenancy ends and the subtenant delivers possession, the sublessor must provide a written accounting that states the specific basis for each deduction and return the unclaimed balance. ORS 90.300(14) allows delivery by personal delivery, first class mail, or, where ORS 90.155(1)(d) permits, email.

Missing that deadline or withholding in bad faith costs double. ORS 90.300(16) lets the subtenant recover twice the amount wrongfully withheld, and Oregon Law Help notes the subtenant has one year from the date the deposit was due to sue.

Portland caps the deposit itself. Under PCC § 30.01.087, a deposit may not exceed one month's rent, or one-half month's rent if last month's rent is prepaid. A landlord may ask a conditionally approved applicant for an additional half-month, payable in installments over up to three months.

Nothing in ORS Chapter 90 ties the rent you charge a subtenant to the rent you pay under the master lease. Your landlord's consent addendum may, since Abrahamson lets a landlord with absolute discretion condition consent however it sees fit, and a landlord who learns you are clearing $300 a month on the spread may write a profit-sharing or rent-parity term into the next lease.

Unauthorized subletting: eviction and is it ever criminal?

Oregon has no standalone "14-Day Notice to Comply or Vacate." The instrument is a for-cause termination notice under ORS 90.392 that ends the tenancy at least 30 days after delivery and gives the tenant a cure deadline of at least 14 days after delivery. The notice must name the violation and state the termination date. It must also describe at least one way to cure. Mail service adds three days, and day one is the day after the notice is given.

Notice periods vary with the tenancy type:

• Situation | Termination notice | Cure period
• Fixed-term or month-to-month tenancy, tenant still in possession | At least 30 days | At least 14 days
• Week-to-week | At least 7 days | At least 4 days
• Same violation repeated within 6 months | 10 days (4 for week-to-week) | No right to cure

The standard 30 days' notice collapses to 24 hours when the tenant has already left. ORS 90.403 allows a 24-hour written notice if three conditions hold: the tenant has vacated, the rental agreement prohibited subleasing without written permission, and the landlord has not knowingly accepted rent from the person in possession. Serving that notice "does not create a right of tenancy" for the occupant.

If the occupant stays past the notice, the landlord files a forcible entry and detainer action under ORS Chapter 105 in the circuit court for the county where the property sits. The filing fee is $88, and a copy of the notice must be attached. The clerk mails the summons, and a process server delivers it by the end of the next judicial day. First appearance for a material-violation claim falls seven days after the judicial day following fee payment, and the court must set the trial within 15 days of first appearance. A judgment of restitution leads to a four-day notice of restitution and then a writ of execution directing the sheriff to remove the occupant. Back rent and damages require a separate civil complaint.

Unauthorized subletting by itself is not a crime in Oregon. No criminal statute makes unauthorized subletting an offense, and ORS Chapter 90 handles the lease violation through civil remedies.

• ORS 164.140 covers rented personal property, not real property.
• Criminal trespass under ORS 164.245 and 164.255 addresses unlawful entry, not a tenant's breach of a lease clause.
• Separate deceptive conduct could theoretically satisfy theft by deception under ORS 164.085, but prosecutors would have to prove intent to defraud and every other element. The statute says that intent "may not be established by or inferred from the fact alone" that a promise went unperformed. The Court of Appeals in State v. Reynolds reversed a theft conviction on that reasoning, holding that a good-faith dispute does not show intent to defraud.

Portland and local rules, short-term sublets and transient lodging tax

Portland FAIR screening rules

Portland treats a tenant who screens a paying subtenant as a landlord under its FAIR Ordinance, PCC § 30.01.086, because the ordinance incorporates the ORS 90.100 definitions. The current version took effect January 1, 2025.

The ordinance exempts units not advertised to the general public, units shared with a landlord using them as a primary residence, owner-occupied duplexes, and ADUs where the owner lives on the lot. A tenant who finds a subtenant through a friend without posting the room anywhere may fall outside it. A tenant who lists the room on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace likely does not.

Inside the ordinance, a sublessor screening a financially responsible subtenant must either use low-barrier criteria or apply an individualized assessment before denying.

Low-barrier criteria bar denial for:

• A credit score of 500 or higher.
• Past-due debt under $1,000.
• Prior rental damage under $500.
• Misdemeanors older than three years.
• Felonies older than seven years.
• Eviction judgments older than three years.

Income requirements top out at 2.5 times rent for units below the 80% MFI threshold and 2.0 times rent above it. Applications must open at least 72 hours after published notice and be processed in order of receipt. Each violation carries liability of up to $250 plus actual damages and attorney fees.

Portland short-term rental permits and taxes

Short-term sublets add a permit layer. Portland's Accessory Short-Term Rental rules in Chapter 33.207, updated effective January 1, 2025, require that a resident occupy the dwelling at least 270 days per calendar year. A Type A permit covers up to two bedrooms and five overnight guests, renews every two years, and is administrative. Type B covers three to five bedrooms through a discretionary Conditional Use review with no renewal. On lots with an ADU, the resident may live in either unit and rent bedrooms in either, but Type A caps the whole site at two rented bedrooms. The fee schedule effective July 10, 2026 lists ASTR amounts including $1,829, $5,475, and a $309 delinquent renewal fee, though the published PDF's compressed columns do not clearly map each figure to a permit type.

Taxes on a Portland Airbnb stay stack five ways:

• Charge | Rate | Authority
• City of Portland TLT | 6% | PCC § 6.04.020
• Multnomah County TLT | 5.5% | MCC §§ 11.400-11.499
• Tourism Improvement District assessment | 3% | PCC § 6.05.060
• Nightly STR fee | $4 per night | PCC Ch. 6.09
• Oregon state TLT | 1.5% through Dec. 31, 2026; 2.75% from Jan. 1, 2027 | ORS 320.305

The Portland Revenue Division requires every STR operator who provides lodging eight or more days a year or advertises to the public to register within 15 days of starting. Airbnb, Vrbo, and Vacasa remit taxes for hosts who book exclusively through them, but the host must still register. Direct bookings mean quarterly returns. The state-level under-30-days-per-year exemption in ORS Chapter 320 does not apply to any unit rented through a platform, so a tenant who lists on Airbnb for two weekends owes state TLT on both.

Eugene short-term rental rules

Eugene issues no STR permits and no business licenses for short-term rentals. Ordinance 20638, codified at EC 3.350, requires free annual registration of any unit rented for periods under 30 days within city limits, with the owner's name and the address. The registration must also state owner-occupancy status and provide a local contact. The Oregon Department of Revenue has administered Eugene's 4.5% TLT under EC 3.772 since October 1, 2022, with quarterly returns due the last day of the month after each quarter. Unincorporated Lane County properties pay a 10% county TLT instead, with a credit for city tax paid capped at 3%.

How to request a sublease in Oregon

Send the landlord a complete written proposal, because Lamonts Apparel says any duty to consider it reasonably arises only when the tenant produces a sublease that substantially conforms to the master lease.

1. Reread your lease and copy the exact subletting or assignment clause into your request. If the lease is silent, say so and ask for written consent anyway.
2. Write the request. A working version: "I am requesting your written consent to sublease [unit address] to [subtenant name] from [start date] to [end date] under Section [X] of my lease. Attached are the proposed subtenant's completed rental application, the draft sublease, and my contact information for the sublease term. I remain responsible for all obligations under my lease."
3. Attach the subtenant's application. McKeon v. Williams confirms a landlord may require financial information before consenting, so include it up front.
4. Deliver it in a way you can prove. Certified mail with return receipt, or hand delivery with a signed acknowledgment, gives you a dated record if the landlord later claims never to have seen it.
5. Get a signed consent addendum. A one-page addendum to the master lease works. Include the property address, the subtenant's name, and the sublease dates. Add a statement that the original tenant remains liable, along with signature lines and printed names and dates for the landlord, the tenant, and the subtenant. Steadily's Oregon rental policy template is a starting point for the underlying lease terms.

What should an Oregon sublease include?

Your sublease should include these terms:

• Term | What to include
• Rent | Monthly rent, due date, and where and how the subtenant pays.
• Term | Start and end dates that fall inside the master lease term.
• Deposit | Deposit amount, with the ORS 90.300 accounting obligation spelled out and the Portland cap observed where it applies.
• Master lease | A clause incorporating the master lease by reference, so the subtenant is bound by the same rules on pets, guests, noise, and maintenance.
• Consent | The landlord's consent signature, or an attached copy of the signed consent addendum.

New Oregon tenant rights in 2026

No bill from the 2024 or 2025 Oregon sessions changed ordinary residential subletting or assignment rights, and ORS 90.555 was not amended in either year. The 2025 session did produce changes that affect any tenancy, including one with a subtenant in place, and Multifamily NW's January 2026 summary is the practitioner reference for the effective dates below.

• Bill | Effective | What changed
• HB 3521 | Jan. 1, 2026 | Hold deposits limited to approved applicants; refund within 5 business days
• HB 3522 | Jan. 1, 2026 | 24-hour written notice to remove squatters, with the notice included in the eviction complaint
• HB 3378 | Jan. 1, 2026 | Landlords must offer unit access by key, fob, or code, not only a phone app
• HB 2134 | Jan. 1, 2026 | Fixed-term tenants who receive a 90-day landlord termination may leave on 30 days' notice with no early-termination fee
• SB 973 | Jan. 1, 2026 | 30-month notice for expiring affordability restrictions; screening-charge notice in restricted units
• SB 586 | Sept. 1, 2025 | Termination on an accepted purchase offer drops to 60 days' notice, with one month's rent paid to the tenant
• HB 3054 | Sept. 1, 2025 | Space-rent increases capped at 6% a year from 2026 in facilities with more than 30 spaces
• SB 690 | Sept. 1, 2025 | Nonpayment trials delayed at least 90 days after approval of OHP housing supports

HB 2134 matters for sublessors in particular. A fixed-term tenant who accepts a 90-day termination notice can now exit on 30 days' notice, and a subtenant's rights under the sublease end with the master lease.

Two screening bills failed. HB 2967 would have banned applicant screening charges and HB 3974 would have capped them at $20; neither passed. ORS 90.295 carries 2025 amendment citations (2025 c.32 §85 and 2025 c.356 §6), but the retrieved text did not identify the substantive change.

Since January 2, 2026, landlords must attach the updated "Notice RE: Eviction for Nonpayment of Rent" form to nonpayment notices. The Oregon Legislature's ORS Chapter 90 page notes that sections of the chapter were amended during the 2026 regular session; the 2026 amended-and-repealed table does not list ORS 90.555, and the research did not identify a 2026 change to ORS 90.300 or 90.100(25). Steadily's guide to tenant rights tracks the statewide changes as they land.

FAQ

What is the difference between subleasing and subletting in Oregon?

There is none. Both terms describe a tenant renting the unit, or part of it, to another person while keeping their own lease with the owner. Oregon statutes use "sublease" and "sublessor"; everyday usage prefers "sublet."

How much notice does a landlord give for an unauthorized sublet?

When the tenant still lives in the unit, the landlord serves a for-cause notice under ORS 90.392 ending the tenancy no sooner than 30 days out, with a cure window of at least 14 days (7 and 4 days for week-to-week tenancies). When the tenant has moved out and the lease barred subletting, ORS 90.403 permits a 24-hour notice to the occupant, provided the landlord never knowingly accepted rent from that person.

Does ORS 90.555 apply to my apartment or rental house?

No. It governs only manufactured dwellings and floating homes in facilities. A house or apartment sublease follows the lease language, the common-law default from Abrahamson v. Brett, and the commercial consent-clause cases.

What happens if the tenant I sublet from never returns my deposit?

The sublessor is your landlord under ORS 90.100(25) and owes you a written accounting and the unclaimed balance within 31 days of move-out. If they miss it or withhold in bad faith, ORS 90.300(16) entitles you to double the amount wrongfully kept, and you have one year from the due date to file.