Year-End 2026 Oregon Landlord Compliance Checklist: SB 1523, HB 4123, HB 2134, and HB 3521 in Practice

Year-end is when most Portland Metro landlords finally sit down with the stack of 2026 law changes and ask the only question that matters: What do I actually have to change before January? The short session and the 2025 bills that took effect this year are no longer theoretical. SB 1523 and HB 4123 have been on the books since June 5. HB 2134 and the HB 3521 holding-deposit changes have been effective since January 1. The Helpline is still full of the same questions—screening files, notice service, and can I still do it the old way?—so this is the practical year-end housekeeping list.

Start with the portals. Senate Bill 1523 (now 2026 Laws Chapter 23) does not ban AppFolio, Buildium, or any other tenant portal. It bans making the portal the only door. If you take applications through a portal, you must either post a printable copy on your website or hand over a printed or printable copy within seven days of a written request. You must process paper applications the same way you process electronic ones. If a tenant or applicant asks in writing for an alternative, you cannot force the portal as the sole way to verify identity, sign addenda, or submit tenancy documents. If you don’t follow the application or portal-alternative rules, the applicant or tenant can recover actual damages or $100, whichever is greater. You must accept checks or other commercially reasonable non-electronic payments. You cannot require debit, credit, ACH, or the portal as the only option. Refuse a permitted method and you lose the right to charge a late fee or terminate for the nonpayment that grew out of that refusal. Common-area access must also include at least one non-portal method—key, fob, or code. The $100 floor is not a fortune, but the late-fee and termination-bar consequences are the ones that actually hurt cash flow.

Dual-track files after SB 1523

Next is the confidentiality rule. House Bill 4123 (2026 Laws Chapter 61) also effective June 5 defines a long list of confidential information: date of birth, Social Security or ITIN, phone and email, banking and tax data, employer details, immigration or citizenship status, membership in a protected class, records of a tenant’s assertion of domestic violence, sexual assault, bias crime, or stalking protections (ORS 90.325(3)(b), 90.449, 90.453, and 90.459) or of rights under the federal Violence Against Women Act, and medical or disability records. You may not disclose any of that about a tenant, former tenant, applicant, or household member except in seven listed situations: separate written consent, a court order or judicial warrant or subpoena (not an administrative one), affordable-housing compliance communications with grantors or auditors, background or credit checks for screening, sharing a phone or email as necessary for repairs or utilities under ORS 90.315, responding to a reference request from another landlord, or using the information in your own insurance claim, collection, or court action. A knowing violation exposes you to statutory damages of twice the monthly rent. Names are not confidential. You can still hand a file to your property manager. The trap is the casual reference call or the buyer packet that still contains an unredacted application.

and now a couple shameless plugs.

The Portland Area Rental Owners Association (PAROA) forms library and Helpline already walk members through the dual-track application file and the redaction steps for references. That is the practical version of these two statutes. Join at www.paroa.org.

Northwest Real Estate and Property Management (NWRPM) builds the same dual-track process and confidentiality controls into the day-to-day management of Portland Metro and Central Oregon properties so the owner does not have to remember which exception applies on every reference call. www.nwrpm.com.

What HB 2134 Actually Changes for Fixed-Term Leases

House Bill 2134 (2025 Laws Chapter 115) took effect January 1, 2026, and applies only to fixed-term rental agreements entered into on or after that date. If you serve a qualifying notice under ORS 90.427(5) that terminates the tenancy on or after the fixed-term end date, the tenant can answer with their own written notice of at least 30 days and end the tenancy early. Once they vacate and return possession, you cannot collect a termination fee under ORS 90.302 or rent that would have accrued after their termination date. Ordinary cause notices do not trigger the right. Month-to-month tenancies are not affected. The practical effect is simple: on any new or renewed fixed-term lease signed this year, a qualifying landlord-reason notice under ORS 90.427(5) now carries an early-out option for the tenant, whether it is the standard 90-day notice or the 60-day sale notice under ORS 90.427(5)(b). A 90-day non-renewal for three violations under ORS 90.427(7) does not trigger the right. Document the service of your notice and the date possession is returned. That file is what stops an argument later.

Qualifying notice early-out vs. cause

The related deposit rule is narrower but easy to miss in the screening sequence. House Bill 3521 (2025 Laws Chapter 392) amended the holding-deposit statute, ORS 90.297, for deposits received on or after January 1, 2026. You may take a holding deposit only after you approve the application and before the rental agreement is signed, and only after you give the applicant a written statement of the rent, fees, and deposits, the terms of the agreement to execute, and the conditions for refunding or keeping the deposit. If the applicant rejects the agreement because of material habitability defects under ORS 90.320(1), or the deal falls through because you did not follow through, you must return the holding deposit within five business days. Miss that deadline and the applicant can recover the deposit plus a penalty equal to the greater of the deposit or an amount the parties agreed to. The year-end habit is simple: photograph the unit before you hand keys or accept money, and keep the before-and-after file with the application.

Your 2026 Oregon Landlord Compliance Checklist

This 2026 Oregon landlord compliance checklist has five items. Walk through them before you send the first 2027 renewal or new lease:

1. Portal and payment file. Confirm the printable application is posted or ready to mail. Confirm your software or office process accepts checks and paper applications without a late-fee or termination consequence. Add the non-portal access method for common areas if you have any.

2. Confidentiality redaction. Pull the last three reference requests and the last buyer or insurance packet. Black out everything on the confidential list except what the seven exceptions actually allow. Get separate written consent if you need to share more.

3. Fixed-term notice language. On every fixed-term agreement signed on or after January 1, 2026, note that a qualifying ORS 90.427(5) notice triggers the tenant’s 30-day early-out right and bars further rent and termination fees after possession is returned.

4. Deposit sequencing. Take a holding deposit only after the applicant is approved and has your written statement of terms and refund conditions. If the applicant rejects the unit over material habitability defects under ORS 90.320(1), return the holding deposit within five business days. Keep the habitability photos with the file.

5. Staff and vendor reminder. One short email or meeting note to anyone who answers the phone or prepares packets is enough. The knowing-violation damages under HB 4123 and the late-fee bar under SB 1523 are both staff-training issues more than statute-reading issues.

None of these changes the core of Oregon Chapter 90 or Portland’s overlay. They do change the paperwork sequence and the things you can no longer treat as optional. The landlords who treat October and November as the housekeeping window avoid the January Helpline calls that start with I already sent the notice or I already took the deposit.

Christian Bryant

President of both the Portland Area Rental Owners Association (PAROA)

and Northwest Real Estate and Property Management (NWRPM).

The year-end compliance list is shorter when the forms and the Helpline already match the statutes. Join PAROA at www.paroa.org.

If the dual-track file and the redaction steps feel like more desk work than you want to own, NWRPM runs the process for Portland Metro and Central Oregon properties. www.nwrpm.com.