Published 2026-09-27 · 11 min read

Oregon Security Deposit Law 2026: Limits, Deadlines & Deductions

Oregon's deposit rules live in a single, long section: ORS 90.300, with 18 numbered subsections. Subsection (1) defines a security deposit to include any last month's rent deposit. Subsection (2) lets a landlord require a deposit, requires a receipt for any deposit paid, and gives the tenant's claim to the money priority over the landlord's creditors, including a bankruptcy trustee. Subsection (5) freezes the deposit during the first year. Subsection (7) limits claims to amounts reasonably necessary for two purposes, and subsections (12) and (13) impose a 31-day written accounting and refund duty. Subsection (16) prices a failure to comply, or a bad-faith withholding, at an amount tied to twice what was withheld without an accounting or in bad faith. The section does not set a statewide maximum, does not require a separate account, and does not require interest — those three gaps are exactly where the City of Portland's own ordinance, Portland City Code 30.01.087, steps in for Portland rentals.

The short version: State law sets no cap on the deposit amount. You may not impose a new or increased deposit during the first year of the tenancy, except for an agreed modification such as permitting a pet, and after the first year the tenant gets at least three months to pay a new or increased amount (ORS 90.300(5)). Give a receipt for every deposit collected (subsection (2)), and list the deposit in any written rental agreement (subsection (3)). At the end, you have 31 days after the tenancy terminates and the tenant delivers possession — both events — to give a written accounting stating specifically the basis for any claim, with separate accountings for deposits and for prepaid rent, and to return the portion you do not claim (subsections (12)–(13)). Claims are limited to the amount reasonably necessary to remedy defaults, including unpaid rent, and to repair tenant-caused damage other than ordinary wear and tear (subsection (7)).

What the earlier version of this page got wrong: (1) It stated the 31-day deadline as running from termination alone; subsections (12) and (13) both run the clock from termination and delivery of possession. (2) It described carpet cleaning as deductible whenever the lease says so; subsection (7)(c) imposes three cumulative conditions, including machine cleaning and a prior cleaning or replacement. (3) It omitted the first-year ban in subsection (5)(a) entirely, mentioning only the after-the-first-year three-month payment window. (4) It said Portland has a local interest ordinance and stopped there; Portland City Code 30.01.087 in fact caps the deposit itself, requires a segregated account within two weeks, and adds condition-report, flooring, painting, and notice-of-rights duties — the interest point is conditional on the account actually bearing interest. (5) It treated receipts as part of the move-out accounting; the receipt duty in subsection (2) applies when the deposit is collected, while the move-out duty in subsection (12) is a written accounting stating the specific basis of each claim, given separately for deposits and prepaid rent. (6) It omitted subsections (8) through (11) and (15) and (17) altogether — the ban on forfeiting a deposit for leaving a month-to-month tenancy early, the last-month's-rent and prepaid-rent rules, the manufactured-dwelling clock, and the rule that a deposit in the landlord's hands is not garnishable property.

Oregon's 31-day clock needs two events, not one: termination plus delivery of possession. Track both dates with the Security Deposit Disposition & Deadline Tracker ($14.95).

The statute table

Limits: how much can you charge?

State law sets no maximum. No subsection of ORS 90.300 states a dollar or rent-multiple ceiling. What the section controls instead is timing and disclosure:

• The first-year freeze (subsection (5)(a)). You may not change the rental agreement to require a new or increased deposit during the first year after the tenancy begins. The stated exception is an additional deposit the parties agree to as part of a modification of the tenancy — the text's own example is permitting a pet — where the added amount relates to that modification. Collecting a deposit the original agreement already provided for, but that was still unpaid when the tenancy began, is not barred.
• After the first year (subsection (5)(b)). If you require a new or increased deposit after the first year, the tenant must be allowed at least three months to pay the new or increased amount.
• Disclosure and receipt (subsections (2)–(3)). Any written rental agreement must list a deposit paid or required, and you must give the tenant a receipt for any deposit paid.
• Pet deposits (subsection (4)). You may not charge a pet deposit for keeping a service animal or a companion animal that a tenant with a disability requires as a reasonable accommodation under fair housing laws. A pet deposit for an ordinary pet is a different question, and an added deposit tied to agreeing to permit a pet is the modification subsection (5)(a) describes.

Portland landlords do not stop at the state rule — the city cap in the Portland section below is lower than anything state law imposes. Everywhere else in Oregon, check your figures with the Security Deposit Max Checker, and remember that no state cap is not the same as no local cap.

The 31-day deadline, precisely

Subsections (12) and (13) carry the same trigger and the same count. To claim any part of a deposit or prepaid rent, the landlord must give the written accounting within 31 days after the tenancy terminates and the tenant delivers possession. The portion not claimed must be returned no later than 31 days after that same pair of events. Diary the date with the Security Deposit Deadline Finder.

When the clocks actually start

• Accounting and return (subsections (12)–(13)): 31 days after both termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession by the tenant. If a tenant holds over after the lease ends, the clock has not started on termination alone.
• Separate accountings (subsection (12)): the accounting must state specifically the basis or bases of the claim, and the landlord must give a separate accounting for security deposits and for prepaid rent. One blended statement covering both pots does not match the text.
• Delivery (subsection (14)): the accounting or the refund is given by personal delivery or first class mail, or by email if ORS 90.155(1)(d) allows it. Keep proof of whichever method you use.
• Electronic refund (subsection (13)): returning money electronically to a bank account or other financial institution the tenant designates is allowed only if both parties agreed in an addendum executed after the tenancy began and the tenant had occupied the premises. A clause in the original lease is not that addendum.
• Manufactured dwellings and floating homes (subsection (15)): where the deposit secures a space for a home the tenant owns and occupies and the home is abandoned, the 31-day period begins on the earliest of the waiver, removal, destruction or disposition, or sale events the subsection cross-references in ORS 90.425 and ORS 90.675.

A worked example

Rent is $1,500 a month; you hold a $1,500 deposit — lawful under state law, because ORS 90.300 sets no cap — collected with a receipt and listed in the written agreement. The tenancy terminates and the tenant delivers possession on Monday, March 2, 2026.

• Deadline (subsections (12)–(13)): the written accounting and the return of any unclaimed portion are due within 31 days after March 2, 2026 — Thursday, April 2, 2026.
• Lawful claims total $600, each tied to a subsection (7) purpose and stated specifically in the accounting: unpaid rent and documented tenant-caused damage beyond ordinary wear and tear, with any labor priced at a reasonable hourly rate. Balance: $1,500 − $600 = $900, due April 2, 2026.
• Deliver the accounting and the $900 by personal delivery or first class mail — or by email only where ORS 90.155(1)(d) allows it — by April 2, and subsections (12) and (13) are satisfied.
• The possession counterfactual: if the tenant instead delivers possession a week after termination, the 31 days run from that later delivery date, not from termination — the trigger needs both events.
• The penalty counterfactual: if the $900 is withheld past the deadline with no accounting, or in bad faith, subsection (16) prices the exposure by reference to twice the amount withheld without an accounting or in bad faith, on top of the money due, and subsection (18) preserves other damages under the chapter.

Deductions and the itemized list

Subsection (6) is the gate: a landlord may claim all or part of a deposit only if the deposit was required for one or more of the purposes in subsection (7). Subsection (7)(a) then limits any claim to the amount reasonably necessary for two purposes:

1. Remedying defaults under the rental agreement (subsection (7)(a)(A)) — expressly including unpaid rent.

2. Repairing damage to the premises caused by the tenant (subsection (7)(a)(B)) — expressly excluding ordinary wear and tear.

Three further rules in subsection (7) decide most disputes:

• No completed repair is required (subsection (7)(b)). You do not have to actually repair tenant-caused damage in order to claim the cost of making the repair. Labor you assess for cleaning or repairs must be based on a reasonable hourly rate, and you may charge that reasonable rate for your own cleaning or repair work.
• Carpet cleaning has three cumulative conditions (subsection (7)(c)(A)). Machine carpet cleaning — anything beyond use of a common vacuum cleaner — is recoverable only if the cleaning is done with a machine specifically designed for cleaning or shampooing carpets, the carpet was cleaned or replaced after the previous tenancy or its most recent significant use and before this tenant took possession, and the written rental agreement provides that you may deduct carpet-cleaning cost regardless of whether the tenant cleans the carpet before delivering possession. A lease clause alone, which is all the earlier version of this page required, satisfies only the third condition.
• Loss of use (subsection (7)(c)(B)). Loss of use of the unit during necessary cleaning or repairs the tenant is responsible for is recoverable where that work is performed in a timely manner.

One tenant-side limit completes the picture: subsection (8) bars requiring a tenant to pay or forfeit a deposit or prepaid rent for failing to maintain a month-to-month tenancy for a minimum number of months. Build the accounting with the Security Deposit Deduction Letter Generator, and keep invoices, dated photos, and the move-in record behind every line — the accounting must state the specific basis of the claim, not just a total.

Move-out compliance checklist

1. At collection, receipt and list the deposit — give the tenant a receipt for any deposit paid (subsection (2)) and list a deposit paid or required in any written rental agreement (subsection (3)). Record the priority point too: the tenant's claim to the money comes ahead of your creditors, including a bankruptcy trustee (subsection (2)).

2. Respect the first-year freeze — no new or increased deposit during the first year except an agreed modification, such as permitting a pet, that the added amount relates to; after the first year, allow at least three months to pay a new or increased amount (subsection (5)).

3. Never take a pet deposit for an assistance animal — no pet deposit for a service or companion animal a tenant with a disability requires as a reasonable accommodation (subsection (4)).

4. Log both end events the day each happens — termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession. Diary day 31 from the later of the two (subsections (12)–(13)).

5. Apply a last month's rent deposit correctly — it must be applied to the last month's rent in the termination situations subsection (9) lists, and any portion not applied is accounted for and refunded under subsections (12)–(14) (subsection (10)). From prepaid rent itself, claim only what is reasonably necessary to pay unpaid rent (subsection (11)).

6. Sort every charge through subsection (7) — reasonably necessary, tied to a default or to tenant-caused damage beyond ordinary wear and tear, labor at a reasonable hourly rate, and carpet cleaning only where all three subsection (7)(c) conditions are met. Strike anything else.

7. Deliver on time, the statute's way — a written accounting stating specifically the basis of each claim, with separate accountings for deposits and prepaid rent, plus the unclaimed balance, by personal delivery, first class mail, or email where ORS 90.155(1)(d) allows it, no later than day 31 (subsections (12)–(14)). An electronic refund needs the qualifying post-occupancy addendum (subsection (13)).

8. Do not hand the money to a garnishor — a deposit or prepaid rent in your possession is not garnishable property (subsection (17), citing ORS 18.618); if it is wrongly delivered, the tenant gets at least 30 days to restore it on the terms that subsection states.

Interest and where the money sits

State law is silent in the landlord's favor on both points, and silence is the rule. ORS 90.300 contains no separate-account or escrow requirement and no interest requirement: no rate, no threshold, and no anniversary payment appear anywhere in the section. What subsection (2) does impose is custody in a looser sense — the landlord holds the deposit or prepaid rent for the tenant who is a party to the rental agreement, and that tenant's claim is prior to the claim of a creditor of the landlord, including a trustee in bankruptcy. On a change of holder, subsection (2)(b) makes the holder of the landlord's interest at the time the tenancy terminates responsible to the tenant for the deposit and prepaid rent and bound by the section, except as ORS 86.782(10) provides.

Portland: the city layer that changes the answer

For a dwelling unit in Portland covered by the state Act, Portland City Code 30.01.087 adds a second regime on top of ORS 90.300. Summarized in the landlord's order of work:

• A deposit cap exists here (subsection A). If last month's rent is required as part of the deposit, no more than one-half of one month's rent may be collected on top of it. If last month's rent is not required, the cap is one month's rent. A conditional approval tied to financial capacity or screening risk factors can add one-half of one month's rent, and that additional amount must be payable in installments over up to three months in amounts the tenant reasonably requests.
• A segregated account, on a deadline (subsection B). Within two weeks of receiving deposit or last-month's-rent funds, the landlord must place all of them in a secure account at a financial institution, segregated from personal and business operating accounts. Interest belongs proportionately to the tenant only if the account bears interest, and is then payable in full less an optional five percent administrative deduction from the interest, unless used for damage claims; an account and interest receipt is due at the tenant's request no more than once a year. The rental agreement must state the institution's name and address and whether the account is interest-bearing. The accounting and refund themselves still run under ORS 90.300.
• Repair claims are item-bound (subsection C). Deposit money may be applied only to repair or replacement of fixtures, appliances, equipment, or personal property identified in the rental agreement, only up to the cost reasonably necessary to restore the condition at the start of the tenancy, and never for routine maintenance, ordinary wear and tear, failure from causes other than the tenant's acts or omissions, or a cost reimbursed by insurance or a warranty. Flooring claims are limited to the discrete impacted area — a room, closet, hallway, stairway, or other defined space, and no more. Interior painting is excluded except to repair specific tenant-caused damage beyond wear and tear or to repaint walls the tenant painted without permission.
• Condition reports and a final inspection (subsection D). A pre-tenancy walk-through condition report, signed by both parties with photographs shared with the tenant; a tenant addendum window of seven days after the tenancy begins, with seven days for the landlord to dispute it; updates for repairs during the tenancy; and a final inspection within one week after termination, at the tenant's option to attend, on at least 24 hours' notice, documented with photographs provided with the ORS 90.300(12) accounting. Labor charged above $200 needs documentation that it is reasonable and consistent with typical metropolitan hourly rates, and damage already noted on the condition report may not be charged.
• A notice of rights, rent history, and city damages (subsections E–G). With the written accounting, the landlord must also deliver a written notice of rights — delivering a copy of the section plus Legal Aid Services of Oregon or Oregon State Bar contact information satisfies it. On a tenant request, or on delivering a notice of intent to terminate, a written rent-payment history covering up to the prior two years plus the Portland Housing Bureau rental history form is due within five business days. Noncompliance with any part of the section carries liability of up to $250 per violation plus actual damages, reasonable attorney fees and costs.

That Portland layer is why the earlier version of this page was materially incomplete when it mentioned only a local interest rule: in Portland the interest question is the smallest part of the local regime, and the cap, the segregated account, and the condition-report duties are the parts that change day-to-day practice.

The penalty, spelled out

• Failure to comply or bad-faith withholding (subsection (16)). If the landlord fails to comply with subsection (13), or in bad faith fails to return all or any portion of prepaid rent or a security deposit due under the chapter or the rental agreement, the tenant may recover the money due in an amount equal to twice the amount withheld without a written accounting under subsection (12), or withheld in bad faith. The earlier version of this page flattened that into a generic double-damages rule for any late return; the text ties the doubled measure to those two withholding categories, which is why giving the accounting on time matters even where a deduction itself is honestly disputed.
• Other damages survive (subsection (18)). Section 90.300 does not preclude the landlord or the tenant from recovering other damages under the chapter. Subsection (18) is a preservation clause, not a second multiplier.
• Portland adds its own damages (City Code 30.01.087 G). A Portland landlord who fails to comply with any requirement of the city section is liable for up to $250 per violation plus actual damages, reasonable attorney fees and costs, enforceable in a court of competent jurisdiction — separate from, and in addition to, the state remedy.
• The garnishment trap (subsection (17)). A deposit or prepaid rent in the landlord's possession is not garnishable property, as ORS 18.618 provides. A landlord who delivers it to a garnishor in violation of that rule must allow the tenant at least 30 days after delivery of the garnishee response to restore the money, on the terms subsection (17)(b) states.

FAQ

Is there really no maximum deposit in Oregon?

Under state law, correct — ORS 90.300 sets no cap. Portland is the major exception: City Code 30.01.087 caps a Portland deposit at one month's rent, or one-half month on top of a required last month's rent, plus a conditional-approval half month payable over up to three months.

When does the 31-day clock actually start?

Only when both events have occurred: the tenancy terminates and the tenant delivers possession. Subsections (12) and (13) use that paired trigger for both the written accounting and the refund — termination alone does not start the count.

What must the move-out accounting contain, and how is it delivered?

A written accounting stating specifically the basis or bases of the claim, with separate accountings for security deposits and for prepaid rent (subsection (12)), delivered by personal delivery, first class mail, or email where ORS 90.155(1)(d) allows it (subsection (14)), within the same 31 days.

Can I charge for carpet cleaning after every tenancy?

Only where all three subsection (7)(c) conditions are met together: the cleaning is by a machine specifically designed for cleaning or shampooing carpets rather than a common vacuum, the carpet was cleaned or replaced after the previous tenancy or its most recent significant use and before this tenant took possession, and the written rental agreement allows deduction of carpet-cleaning cost regardless of whether the tenant cleans before delivering possession.

Do I have to pay interest, or hold the deposit in a separate account?

Not under state law — ORS 90.300 states neither duty. In Portland you must place the funds in a segregated secure account within two weeks, and any interest that account actually earns belongs proportionately to the tenant, less an optional five percent administrative deduction from the interest (City Code 30.01.087 B).

Can I raise the deposit mid-tenancy, or charge a pet deposit?

During the first year, no new or increased deposit is allowed except an additional amount tied to an agreed modification, such as permitting a pet (subsection (5)(a)); after the first year, a new or increased deposit is allowed with at least three months for the tenant to pay it (subsection (5)(b)). A pet deposit may never be charged for a service or companion animal a tenant with a disability requires as a reasonable accommodation (subsection (4)).

What happens to a last month's rent deposit and other prepaid rent?

A last month's rent deposit — which subsection (1) counts as a security deposit — must be applied to the last month's rent in the termination situations subsection (9) lists, and any unused portion is accounted for and refunded under subsections (12)–(14) (subsection (10)). Other unused prepaid rent is accounted for and refunded the same way, and from prepaid rent the landlord may claim only what is reasonably necessary to pay the tenant's unpaid rent (subsection (11)).

What if I miss the deadline or withhold in bad faith?

Subsection (16): the tenant may recover the money due in an amount equal to twice the amount withheld without the required written accounting, or withheld in bad faith. Subsection (18) also preserves other damages under the chapter, and a Portland tenancy adds city damages of up to $250 per violation plus actual damages and fees.

Read the statute yourself

Primary sources:

• Oregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 90 — Residential Landlord and Tenant (Oregon Legislature, oregonlegislature.gov, official) — official chapter text; section 90.300, subsections (1)–(18), under Fees and Deposits. Verified live October 16, 2026.
• ORS 90.300 (Justia) — the section in Justia's Oregon Revised Statutes, for cross-checking the subsection text against the official version. Verified live October 16, 2026.
• Portland City Code 30.01.087 — Security Deposits; Pre-paid Rent (City of Portland, portland.gov, official) — the Portland cap, segregated-account, condition-report, and damages rules summarized above. Verified live October 16, 2026. Cornell LII does not publish a standalone ORS 90.300 page that resolves to the section text, so it is not linked.

More security deposit guides

• Security deposit laws by state
• Pennsylvania security deposit law
• Oklahoma security deposit law
• Rhode Island security deposit law
• Ohio security deposit law

Last verified: October 16, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Verify with a licensed Oregon attorney before acting.