Selling Tenant Occupied Properties in Oregon

If you are a landlord in Oregon and you want to sell your home that is occupied by tenants, you may wonder what your options are and what rights your tenants have. In this blog post, I will explain some of the rules and procedures that apply to selling tenant-occupied homes in Oregon and how to handle the situation with respect and fairness. 

Terminating a Tenancy After the First Year of Occupancy 

According to Oregon law, a tenancy may not be terminated for putting a home on the market. The home has to be sold to a person who intends to move in as a primary resident. This is one of the qualifying landlord reasons (QLRs) that allow a landlord to terminate a tenancy after the first year of occupancy. Other QLRs include: 

• Landlord is remodeling the unit and the unit is or will be unfit or unsafe for occupancy 
• Landlord or landlord’s immediate family member intends to move into the dwelling unit as a primary residence, and there is no comparable landlord-owned unit available on the property 
• Landlord intends to demolish the dwelling unit or convert it to non-residential use 

In each of these instances, the landlord must provide the tenant with: 

• At least 90 days’ notice that includes the reason for the termination and supporting facts 

• If the landlord owns more than 4 rental units in Oregon, an amount equal to one month’s rent must be given to the tenant at the time of the notice to move. 
• If terminating for sale of the home to an owner-occupant buyer, evidence of the offer and that the buyer will move into the home as their primary residence. 

If the tenant is in a lease, the lease cannot be terminated by the landlord prematurely. For more information on terminating tenancies after the first year, see ORS 90.427 (5) and (6). 

Terminating a Tenancy Within the First Year of Occupancy 

 Month to Month tenancies that are within their first year can be terminated with at least 30-days notice and without any stated cause. 

Special Rule for Properties That Have More Than One Unit 

There are some special rules for properties that have more than one unit. For example: 

• To invoke the QLR of selling a home to a person who intends to occupy it as a primary residence, the dwelling unit being sold must be sold separately from any other dwelling unit. A dwelling unit is a unit that someone lives in (an unoccupied unit would not be a dwelling unit). So, a landlord cannot use this reason when the property being sold includes more than one tenant-occupied unit, such as a duplex or a home with an occupied ADU 

Selling your home in Oregon while it is occupied by tenants can be done legally and ethically if you follow the rules and procedures set by Oregon law.