ORS.90.302
Note:  Information provided by the Community Alliance of Tenants is for general educational use only.  It is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.
This handout does not apply to screening fees (90.295) or utility/service fees (90.315), which are described in our other handouts.
A fee is a payment from a tenant to a landlord that is not refundable.  A fee must be for either:
• an expense that the landlord expects to have, like the cost of cleaning the place after you move out, or
• a penalty to the tenant for going against the rental agreement, like a late rent fee
Landlords have to give you a receipt for the fee. This receipt or the rental agreement must describe:
The landlord’s expense that will be covered by the fee, and that the landlord must first apply the fee before applying any portion of a security deposit to that expense. For example, the landlord cannot apply your deposit to pet damage without first using up a pet fee if you paid one.
A fee must be “related to and designated as being charged for a specific reasonably anticipated landlord expense” (90.302 (1)). This means that they can’t just charge a generic fee; it has to be named what it’s for. Also, there needs to be reason to believe that the landlord will actually need to use this money.
A landlord can only charge a fee to cover an expected expense one time, at the beginning of the tenancy.  Any fee that is a penalty for going against the rental agreement has to be written in the rental agreement. Fees can’t be excessive.

All fees must be described in the rental agreement. This means that if you are on a fixed term lease (like 6 months or a year), a landlord cannot add any new fees during the term of the lease. On a month-to-month rental agreement a landlord can add new fees with a month’s written notice (assuming they follow the rest of the law about fees).
Late rent fees: Late can be charged any of three ways, and your rental agreement must describe how they are charged.  These ways are spelled out on pages 8-9 of the Legal Aid Services “Landlord-Tenant Law in Oregon” booklet.
If you live in low-income tax credit (Section 42) housing, landlords are not allowed to charge a cleaning fee to clean the apartment after you move out.