Right now it’s part three of our five part series on the new Tenant Protection Act.
Featuring:
Bob Nelson, Eugene real estate investment broker
Marcia Edwards, Eugene residential real estate broker
Marcia Edwards: We’re talking today about Senate Bill 608, which is the landlord tenant law in Oregon. There is an update that’s come out recently. We’re trying to get our heads around it in the industry, and has really shifted some requirements for the landlords.
Bob Nelson: And unfortunately, that’s a thing that is souring a number of smaller owner landlords, because it’s taken away their right to protect their investment. They’ve invested a lot of money to own an apartment complex, and now they’re being told you have to take almost anybody. You cannot do this. You cannot do that and it’s like, wait a minute. If I do these things, the tenants that also live with the one that I’m not particularly happy about taking on, they are going to become abused in their right to enjoy the property.
Marcia Edwards: This has convinced me that professional management is a must now in the state of Oregon. If you want to do it right and you need to do it right because there will be watchdogs following this execution. Let’s talk about terminations. We talked last program that it is a 90-day termination, and when the termination is delivered to the tenant, they also receive one month’s rent in hand.
Bob Nelson: Yes, that is correct, and that is … Kind of the equivalent of a relocation allowance and so forth. Again, this is in the first year of tenancy. In the second year of tenancy, all leases go to a month-to-month agreement, and the rules change again, which is fine for abusive landlords. For landlords that are being conscientious and attempting to create a good, safe living place for the tenants that they do respect, it becomes an issue because now it’s kind of like: We take anybody and everybody, and oh my goodness, the doors open.
Marcia Edwards: There is … North of us in Portland, there’s even more rigorous execution of some rules and regulations in regards to who you take at the time you accept a tenant, and what you can and cannot screen for.
Bob Nelson: The big concern is whatever is happening in Portland might very well happen with the next Oregon legislature, and as that happens, oh, there’s going to be an awful lot of sour landlords owning apartment complexes. Anytime you tamper with the capital market, you’ve got a problem.
Join Eugene, Oregon, real estate experts: Bob Nelson, Real Estate Investment Broker with Pacwest Real Estate Investments, and Marcia Edwards, Residential Real Estate Broker with Windermere Real Estate, daily at 5:30 on KPNW for the “Real Estate Today” radio show.
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