Portland, Oregon Rent Control: 2026 Cap, Exemptions, Relocation

Portland Oregon rent control works in two layers: Oregon’s statewide cap limits how much your rent can go up in a year, and a Portland city ordinance requires landlords to pay relocation assistance when rent jumps sharply or when a tenancy ends without the tenant’s fault. For 2026, the statewide maximum rent increase is 9.5%.¹ On top of that, Portland City Code 30.01.085 requires landlords to pay relocation assistance whenever rent (and associated housing costs the landlord controls) goes up by 10% or more within any rolling 12-month period, or when a tenant is forced to move without cause.²

How the 2026 Cap Is Set

The annual cap is the lesser of 10% or 7% plus the prior year’s change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, West Region. The 10% ceiling came in with Senate Bill 611, which took effect July 6, 2023 after the original formula produced a 14.6% maximum for 2023.³ For 2025 the cap landed at 10.0%. For 2026, cooler inflation drops it to 9.5%, the first year since SB 611 that the formula has come in under the ceiling.¹

The Oregon Department of Administrative Services publishes the next calendar year’s percentage no later than September 30.⁴ The new figure applies to notices for increases that take effect January 1 and later.

Units the Cap Doesn’t Cover

Two categories of housing fall outside the statewide cap. The first is new construction: if the dwelling’s first certificate of occupancy was issued less than 15 years before the date of the rent increase notice, no percentage limit applies.⁵ The 15-year clock is measured fresh for each notice, so a building exempt one year can age into coverage the next.

The second is regulated affordable housing when the change either doesn’t raise the tenant’s share of rent or is required by program eligibility rules or a change in the tenant’s income.⁵

Week-to-week tenancies run on different rules entirely. A landlord can raise the rent with just seven days’ written notice, and the annual percentage cap does not apply.⁵

If a landlord claims any of these exemptions, the increase notice itself must spell out the facts that support the exemption. A notice that just announces a higher rent, with no explanation, cannot carry an exemption.⁵

What a Valid Rent Increase Notice Looks Like

Rent cannot be raised at all during the first year of a tenancy. After that, the landlord must give at least 90 days’ written notice before any increase takes effect, and only one increase is allowed in any 12-month period.⁵

The written notice must state the dollar amount of the increase, the new rent amount, and the date the increase takes effect. A verbal heads-up or a text message does not count. If any required element is missing, the increase is not enforceable until a proper notice is delivered and a fresh 90 days have run.

Portland’s Relocation Assistance: When It Kicks In

Portland adds a second layer that the state law does not. Relocation assistance is owed in two situations:²

The tenant receives a rent increase of 10% or more within a rolling 12-month period.
The landlord terminates the tenancy without cause or for one of the four qualifying landlord reasons under state law.

Portland counts not only base rent but also “associated housing costs” the landlord controls, including mandatory parking fees, utility surcharges, and recurring administrative fees. If base rent plus those charges together go up by 10%, relocation is owed even if the rent line alone stayed below the threshold. And the rolling 12-month window means a landlord cannot split one large increase into several smaller ones to stay under 10%: once the combined jumps in any 12-month span reach the threshold, the tenant qualifies.²

Payment amounts depend on unit size:⁶

Studio or SRO: $2,900
One bedroom: $3,300
Two bedrooms: $4,200
Three bedrooms or larger: $4,500

When a rent increase triggers relocation, the tenant has 45 calendar days after receiving the increase notice to submit a written request for the payment. The landlord then has 31 calendar days after receiving that request to pay.² When a termination triggers relocation, the landlord must pay at least 45 days before the move-out date.

When Portland Relocation Is Not Owed

Several categories of landlord are exempt from the Portland payment, but most of them have to file a Relocation Exemption Application with the Portland Housing Bureau and receive an acknowledgment letter before signing the rental agreement. Without that letter in hand before the lease, the exemption does not stand and the payment is owed.⁷

The common exemption categories:

Shared living: the landlord lives in the same unit as the tenant, or occupies one side of a duplex as a primary residence and rents the other.
On-site ADU: the landlord lives on a property and rents an accessory dwelling unit on that same property.
Temporary rental of a primary residence for no more than three years, or because of active military service.
Termination so an immediate family member can occupy the unit.
Regulated affordable housing when the increase is mandated by program rules.
Week-to-week tenancies, which require no filing.

Narrower exemptions cover eminent domain acquisitions, units rendered immediately uninhabitable, and short-term rentals of properties with active demolition permits.⁶ There is no blanket exemption for small landlords. Owning only one rental unit does not get a landlord out of the relocation obligation unless one of the listed categories fits.

Limits on No-Cause Terminations

Rent protections would not mean much if a landlord could end the tenancy and re-list the unit at any price. Oregon limits that. During the first year of occupancy, a month-to-month tenancy can be ended with 30 days’ written notice and no reason. After the first year, no-cause terminations are not allowed. The landlord must either have cause (nonpayment, lease violation) or rely on one of four qualifying landlord reasons:⁸

Demolition or conversion to a nonresidential use.
Major repairs or renovations that will make the unit unsafe or unfit for occupancy during the work.
Move-in by the landlord or an immediate family member as a primary residence, where no comparable unit in the same building is available.
Sale to a buyer who intends to occupy the unit.

Any of these requires at least 90 days’ written notice stating the specific reason and the supporting facts. Under state law, landlords who own five or more residential rental units must also pay one month’s rent as relocation assistance when they deliver the notice; landlords with four or fewer units are exempt from the state payment, though the Portland ordinance may still require the city relocation amount.⁸

There is one more guardrail. If a landlord ends a tenancy during the first year without cause, the rent for the next tenant in that unit cannot exceed what the departing tenant could have been charged under the cap.⁵

What You Can Recover If the Rules Are Broken

A landlord who raises rent above the allowable percentage without a valid exemption is liable for three months’ rent plus actual damages.⁵ The penalty is the same whether the cap was exceeded by one point or twenty. Actual damages can include the extra amounts paid or costs tied to being forced out.

Under the Portland ordinance, a landlord who fails to comply with any part of Section 30.01.085, including paying relocation assistance on time, is liable for up to three times the monthly rent, plus actual damages, the unpaid relocation assistance, and reasonable attorney fees and costs.² The attorney-fee provision matters: it makes these cases practical for a lawyer to take on a contingency basis.

Claims up to $10,000 can be filed in small claims court. Oregon requires the tenant to send a demand letter by first-class mail and give the landlord at least 10 days to respond before filing. If the combined claim exceeds $10,000, the case moves to regular civil court.

1
State of Oregon. Rent Stabilization
2
Portland.gov. Portland City Code 30.01.085 – Portland Renter Additional Protections
3
Portland.gov. Senate Bill 611 Passed by Oregon Legislature
4
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 90-324 – Calculation of Maximum Rent Increase; Publication
5
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 90-323 – Maximum Rent Increase
6
Portland.gov. Mandatory Renter Relocation Assistance
7
Portland.gov. Apply for Relocation Assistance Exemption
8
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 90-427 – Termination of Tenancy Without Tenant Cause