Back on April 1st, Oregon’s Governor issued Executive Order 20-13, an order that created a moratorium on all “no cause” evictions, “landlord-cause” evictions, and evictions for non payment of rent. EO 20-13 was set to expire at the end of June, and has now been extended. On June 26th, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 4213. This extends the eviction moratorium on residential and commercial evictions to September 30th, 2020.
HB 4213 takes effect immediately and replaces EO 20-13. Here are a few of the basic details of the new bill:
It bans certain notices and evictions, because of nonpayment of rent, utilities, and maintenance costs, during the defined “emergency period” (4/1 – 9/30/2020).
It creates a 6 month “grace period” (9/30/2020 – 3/21/2021) where tenants can catch up on rent and other charges that were unpaid during the emergency period without being evicted. To do so tenants must keep up on their ongoing monthly rent during the grace period.
It is very costly in legal repercussions for owners or landlords to violate HB 4213.
The law is to be repealed in its entirety on March 31, 2021.
Alongside the extended protections from HB 4213 comes some changes to what kinds of evictions are now allowed. Evictions for tenant cause and evictions for nonpayments before the beginning of the emergency period (before 4/1/2020) are allowed within this new law. Evictions are also allowed after the first year of tenancy for the sale of a home to a person who intends to occupy the home as a primary residence. For those properties in which the end of the first year of tenancy falls inside the emergency period, there is a 30 day window after the emergency period ends (9/30/2020) in which a 30-day no-cause eviction notice can be issued.
Things to keep in mind with evictions:
Make sure that if it is legal for you to pursue an eviction that there is a court open to process it. This is set by Oregon's Chief Justice and the latest orders can be checked here.
Due to the nuances and legal implications of these issues, it is advised to seek legal counsel for verification of intent and interpretation of the law changes, especially when selling a house with a tenant in place.
How Trio Has Been Responding:
These measures have been put into place to protect tenants during an uncertain time for everyone, and we want our owners to know that Trio is working hard for you and your property as well. When these rule changes happen, which is much more often now that everyone is constantly adapting to new circumstances, the Trio team gets as much education as we can from classes and Oregon attorneys on how it will affect your investments. We use this information to manage your investment property and advise you in the best way possible moving forward, which may even be advising you to seek legal counsel.
One thing that is benefitting us more now than ever, is that we have historically made sure to prioritize doing our due diligence during the application process. Our process may take a little longer than the average property management company, but results in getting top quality information that allows us to approve highly qualifying applicants. In the long run, this saves us and you both time and money.
The success of our results have never been more apparent than during the past few months. While, according to Multifamily NW, the state has seen around 15% of rent go unreceived, Trio has seen less than 1% of our tenants not pay rent. Trio’s tenants want to work with us to get their rent paid. The Trio team has been working to find and notify tenants about resources they can apply for. We have also been able to negotiate payment plans with a range of tenants who have been impacted by the fallout of COVID-19. The vast majority of those tenants, including those who have lost their jobs during this time and have had to find new ways to make ends meet, have paid in full by the end of the month. We deeply value our hardworking tenants and maintaining good relationships with them, and we believe that it all starts with our strong screening process for our applicants.
Trio works our hardest to be a resource to both our tenants and our clients. Together we are all able to support each other and come out the other side of this difficult time in the best way we all can.
