New Oregon condos must be inspected for moisture twice
New Oregon condos must be inspected for moisture twice
2026-09-15 · Oregon · Compliance
An Oregon condominium whose declaration was first recorded on or after January 1, 2026 carries a duty no Oregon condominium has had before: two independent moisture-intrusion inspections, on a statutory schedule, with the first one paid out of reserves. The requirement arrived with House Bill 3746 and sits at new ORS 100.417(8).1
The duty
“The board of directors shall cause an independent inspection of the condominium for moisture intrusion, as described in ORS 100.210 (5), to be performed: (a) Before the end of the second year following the condominium's substantial completion, as defined in ORS 12.135, and paid for from the reserve account under ORS 100.175; and (b) Before the end of the sixth year following the condominium's substantial completion.”2
Four features are worth separating out.
It is the board's duty, not the declarant's. The subject of the sentence is “the board of directors,” and by year two in an Oregon condominium that board may still be declarant-controlled or may already have turned over. The duty follows the board, whoever holds it.
The inspection must be independent. The statute says so and does not elaborate. It does not define independence, set credentials, or specify a standard of inspection.
The first one comes out of reserves. Paragraph (a) directs payment “from the reserve account under ORS 100.175.” Paragraph (b) is silent on funding, which leaves the year-six inspection as an ordinary common expense unless the board chooses otherwise.
The clock runs from substantial completion, borrowing the ORS 12.135 definition that the same bill rewrote — not from recording, turnover, or first occupancy of the association.
Which condominiums it reaches
Section 9a of the Act, with Legislative Counsel's own date gloss as printed in the ORS:
“The amendments to ORS 100.417 by section 9 of this 2025 Act apply only to condominiums for which the declaration has first been recorded on or after the effective date of this 2025 Act [January 1, 2026].”2
Existing Oregon condominiums are not swept in. This is a rule for the new stock.
The turnover document that goes with it
The same bill added a new item to the declarant turnover list at ORS 100.210(5). New paragraph (r):
“The results from an independent inspection for moisture intrusion and the name of the person who performed the inspection.”2
The former paragraph (r) — “Any other contracts to which the association of unit owners is a party” — was relettered (s).
This is the provision that makes the year-two inspection matter. Turnover in an Oregon condominium frequently lands in the same window as that inspection, and an owner-elected board taking over a project now receives the moisture report and the inspector's identity as part of the statutory handover package. A board that receives nothing under paragraph (r) knows something specific about what has and has not been done.
Why year two and year six
The dates are not arbitrary. They bracket the shortened construction-defect period the same bill created. Under new ORS 12.135(4), an association in a post-2026 declaration has seven years from substantial completion, extended by one year only where a defect is discovered after year six and before year seven.
The year-six inspection therefore falls precisely in the last window in which a discovery still generates an extension. An association that commissions it on schedule, finds moisture intrusion, and acts on the finding is inside the safety valve. One that lets year six pass without inspecting has, in practical terms, spent the extension.
Read together with our Oregon reserve studies page, that also explains the funding direction in paragraph (a): the Legislature put the year-two inspection in the reserve account because ORS 100.175 already requires an Oregon condominium board to determine reserve requirements annually, which makes the reserve study the natural place for a recurring, scheduled, known-cost building assessment to appear.
The exclusion
New ORS 100.538 removes both inspections, and the turnover item, for a condominium “for which each unit owner is responsible for the interior and exterior of the owner's unit.” Site and detached condominiums are outside this regime entirely — no year-two inspection, no year-six inspection, no paragraph (r) turnover document, and no shortened repose.
What lands on a board's calendar
For a post-2026 Oregon condominium that is not owner-responsible inside and out: the substantial-completion date, as defined in ORS 12.135(1)(e); the year-two deadline and a reserve line item to pay for it; the year-six deadline; and a copy of the paragraph (r) turnover material. The statute sets no penalty for missing either inspection, which means the consequence is not a fine but an evidentiary one — a board that did not inspect on the statutory schedule will be explaining that to owners, to a buyer's lender, and potentially to a court weighing when a defect should have been discovered.
What to watch next
Whether anyone defines “independent.” The statute leaves it open, there is no implementing rule, and the Oregon Real Estate Agency — which receives condominium annual reports — has no jurisdiction over association conduct and has adopted no rule on the subject. In the absence of a standard, the meaning will be settled by practice and, eventually, by litigation.
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