Oregon HOA Short-Term Rentals

Quick-Reference Table

Last verified: July 17, 2026

Section 1: Overview — Can an HOA restrict short-term rentals in Oregon?

Yes. An Oregon condominium restricts short-term rentals through its recorded declaration, read under the Oregon Condominium Act (ORS Chapter 100), and a planned community does so through its recorded declaration, read under the Oregon Planned Community Act (ORS 94.550 to 94.783).¹ Oregon regulates both common-interest forms through two comprehensive, Oregon-specific statutes: the Condominium Act for condominiums¹⁵ and the Planned Community Act for non-condominium homeowners associations.² Neither statute is based on the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.

Because both forms are covered by a detailed statute, Oregon is not a CC&R-primary jurisdiction where the declaration operates against a thin statutory backdrop; the declaration operates within a full statutory framework for each form. Short-term-rental regulation itself, however, is heavily local: Portland runs an Accessory Short-Term Rental permit program, many Oregon Coast communities impose caps and licensing, and Bend limits the density of whole-house rentals, all within Oregon's statewide land-use planning system, and Oregon has no general sales tax, so lodging is taxed through state and local transient lodging taxes rather than a sales tax.⁴ Contested enforcement runs through the Oregon Circuit Courts, with appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals and discretionary review by the Oregon Supreme Court.¹⁴ The sections that follow set out the statutory framework, the amendment and grandfathering mechanics, the tax and local layer, and the operational and enforcement details that boards, managers, and counsel need.

Section 2: The legal framework for HOA short-term rental restrictions

2A. The two comprehensive statutes

Oregon governs its two common-interest forms through two separate, comprehensive statutes. Condominiums are governed by the Oregon Condominium Act, codified at ORS Chapter 100, which carries that short title at ORS 100.010 and provides a detailed framework for creation, declarations, association powers, assessments, liens, and amendments.¹⁵ Planned communities, meaning non-condominium homeowners associations with individually owned lots and common property, are governed by the Oregon Planned Community Act, codified specifically at ORS 94.550 to 94.783.² The planned-community provisions occupy that defined range within ORS Chapter 94; the rest of the chapter addresses development agreements, subdivisions, and other land matters, so the correct citation for planned-community authority is the ORS 94.550 to 94.783 range, not the entire chapter.

Neither statute is based on the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Both are homegrown Oregon statutes with their own definitions, thresholds, and procedures, and Oregon is therefore not a CC&R-primary state where associations depend mainly on the recorded documents against a minimal statutory backdrop. Both forms have a governing statute that supplies default rules and mandatory provisions.

The Oregon Real Estate Agency has a limited, developer-facing role. Under ORS 100.015, the Real Estate Commissioner has the exclusive right to regulate the submission of property to the condominium form of ownership and administers developer registration and disclosure filings at the development stage.⁹ That role is about bringing a project to market, not supervising an operating association's day-to-day governance; Oregon has no dedicated ongoing HOA regulator.

For rentals specifically, both statutes are largely silent on rental substance. The authority to restrict short-term rentals arises from the recorded declaration, which the applicable statute makes binding and enforceable and which each statute requires to state its own use restrictions and amendment method.⁵ A rental restriction is, in the first instance, a creature of the declaration read against the applicable comprehensive statute.

2B. Restricting rentals, amendments, and grandfathering

An association adds or strengthens a short-term-rental restriction by amending its recorded declaration under the applicable statute and the declaration's own amendment clause. For condominiums, ORS 100.135(3) provides that, except as otherwise specified, the declaration may be amended with the approval of at least 75 percent of owners, or a greater percentage if the declaration requires one.⁷ For planned communities, ORS 94.590(1) sets the default at owners representing at least 75 percent of the total votes, or a larger percentage if the declaration specifies one.⁸ The Planned Community Act contains a rental-specific wrinkle: the declaration may specify a percentage lower than 75 percent for amendments relating to limitations on the rental or leasing of units (and for age, pet, and occupancy limits).⁸ An amendment takes effect only on recordation in the county deed records.

Because neither statute is UCIOA-based, neither contains the 2008 Uniform Act provision that shields owners who bought before a rental restriction was adopted. Grandfathering in Oregon is not supplied by a statutory rental shield; it turns on the applicable statute, the language of the declaration and the amendment itself, and Oregon common law on the enforceability of covenants. A well-drafted amendment typically addresses the question directly by grandfathering existing rentals, providing a waitlist, or phasing the restriction, precisely because the statutes do not resolve it. Neither statute limits an association's substantive authority to restrict rentals in the way that California Civil Code 4741 or Arizona's A.R.S. 33-1806.01 limit associations in those states; Oregon has no single provision capping or protecting rental rights, so the analysis is declaration-driven. Practitioners should not import a Florida-style or California-style statutory grandfathering shield into an Oregon analysis.

Oregon's leading appellate authority on whether a rental violates a use covenant remains Yogman v. Parrott, in which the Oregon Supreme Court held that a covenant limiting property to "residential purposes" with no "commercial enterprise" was ambiguous as applied to short-term vacation rentals and, construed strictly in favor of the free use of land, did not bar the owners' beach-house rentals.¹⁶ The court reasoned that "the ordinary meaning of 'residential' does not resolve the issue between the parties" and that "because of the different possible meanings of 'residential,' this portion of the restrictive covenant is ambiguous," affirming judgment for the renting owners.¹⁶ The practical lesson is that older, generic "residential use" language is a weak tool against short-term rentals; associations that want to restrict them should adopt clear, rental-specific declaration language by amendment.

2C. State law, tax, and the local layer

Oregon does not broadly preempt local short-term-rental regulation, and regulation is intensely local, operating within Oregon's statewide land-use planning system of urban growth boundaries and local comprehensive plans. Portland permits only Accessory Short-Term Rentals; per the city, "the unit must be occupied as a primary residence for at least nine months (or 270 days) of each year," with Type A permits covering one to two bedrooms and five guests and Type B conditional-use review covering three to five bedrooms and up to 10 guests, subject to a maximum of 95 days per year that the resident may be away.⁴ Bend requires "at least 500 feet of separation between properties" permitted as whole-house (Type II) short-term rentals, a buffer doubled from 250 feet in October 2022; the city estimated the change would make more than 50 percent of residential properties ineligible for a Type II whole-home permit.¹⁷ Coastal jurisdictions regulate heavily: Lincoln County caps licenses by geographic region and has operated moratoria and waitlists, and Cannon Beach limits most rentals to one occupancy every 14 days.¹⁸

On tax, Oregon has no general sales tax. Lodging is taxed through the state transient lodging tax; ORS 320.305(1)(a) provides that "a tax of 1.5 percent is imposed on any consideration charged for the sale, service or furnishing of transient lodging," a rate the Oregon Department of Revenue notes "has been 1.5 percent since July 1, 2020" and that generated $41.5 million in fiscal year 2024.³ Cities and counties impose local transient lodging taxes on top of the state rate, and those can be substantial in Portland, Bend, and coastal markets.¹⁹ The tax applies to transient lodging, which is generally occupancy of fewer than 30 days.⁶

The critical point for associations is that the local layer and the tax govern the owner-to-government relationship. They neither grant nor remove association authority. An owner can hold a valid Portland ASTR permit, register with the county, and remit every lodging tax dollar owed, and still violate a declaration that prohibits rentals under 30 days. Conversely, an owner whose declaration permits short-term rentals still needs the local permit and must pay the lodging tax. Compliance with one system says nothing about compliance with the other.

Section 3: Operational mechanics and enforcement

A. Adopting a valid restriction (the tools)

The most common and most defensible mechanism is a minimum-lease-term restriction placed in the declaration by amendment, for example a floor of 30 days that tracks the transient-occupancy line, because it is specific and avoids the ambiguity that sank the covenant in Yogman v. Parrott.¹⁶ Rental caps, such as a limit on the percentage of units that may be rented at any time, are permitted but are creatures of the declaration; neither statute grants a cap by default or supplies a numeric ceiling, so a cap must be adopted through the amendment process in ORS 100.135 for condominiums or ORS 94.590 for planned communities.⁷ Associations may also impose internal administrative requirements consistent with the declaration and bylaws, such as registering rentals, collecting tenant and owner contact information, and requiring copies of leases, provided the requirement is grounded in a properly adopted governing-document provision or rule.

B. Enforcement

Before an association fines an owner for a short-term-rental violation, it must give written notice and an opportunity to be heard, and the fine must rest on a schedule that was actually delivered to owners. For planned communities, ORS 94.630(1)(n) authorizes reasonable fines only after written notice and an opportunity to be heard, and only when the fine is based on a schedule contained in the declaration or bylaws or on a resolution delivered or mailed to each lot.¹¹ The Condominium Act's parallel authority is ORS 100.405(4)(k).¹⁰ A fine schedule that sits only in the board's files, never delivered to owners, is vulnerable to challenge.

Available remedies are fines if authorized, injunctive relief to stop the prohibited rental activity, and the assessment lien. The assessment lien is the association's most powerful tool: under ORS 100.450 a condominium association has a lien on the unit for unpaid assessments, and unless the declaration or bylaws provide otherwise, fines and related charges are enforceable as assessments under that section.¹² ORS 94.709 grants the parallel lien on a lot in a planned community, and ORS 94.719 allows the prevailing party to recover attorney fees in enforcement actions.¹³ A contested enforcement action proceeds in the Oregon Circuit Court, with appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals and discretionary review by the Oregon Supreme Court.¹⁴

Association enforcement runs on a separate track from local-government enforcement. A city or county can cite an owner for operating without a permit or for exceeding a density or occupancy limit, and the association can separately pursue a declaration violation, and neither action forecloses the other. An owner can face a Portland citation and an association injunction over the same rental for different reasons.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills (past 24 months)

A third measure, House Bill 4064 (2026), would have amended the condominium and planned-community assessment-lien statutes (ORS 100.450 and ORS 94.709) in the tax-foreclosure context, but it died in committee and was not enacted, so it is not law.²²

B. Recent rulings (past 36 months)

A search of Oregon Court of Appeals and Oregon Supreme Court decisions from July 2023 to July 2026 found no published appellate decision squarely addressing an association's short-term-rental restriction, covenant enforceability against rentals, or rental-focused amendment authority. Recent appellate association law in Oregon has centered on lien and collection mechanics rather than rental covenants. The controlling authority on the rental question therefore remains the 1997 Oregon Supreme Court decision in Yogman v. Parrott, which holds that a generic "residential purposes" covenant is ambiguous as applied to short-term rentals and is construed in favor of the free use of land.¹⁶ Because no qualifying appellate ruling exists in the past-36-month window, no case metadata block or audience table is included here.

C. Active legislative or local debates

Local activity is the center of gravity: Lincoln County continues to administer and adjust its regional STR license caps and waitlists, and Clatsop County increased its countywide transient room tax to 3 percent effective January 1, 2026, both signs that coastal regulation keeps tightening around owners.¹⁹ No pending state bill would preempt local short-term-rental regulation or directly limit association rental authority.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Oregon sits in the comprehensive-coverage group of states rather than the CC&R-primary group. It regulates both common-interest forms through two detailed, non-UCIOA statutes, the Condominium Act and the Planned Community Act, so associations act within a full statutory framework rather than relying on the recorded documents alone. It taxes lodging through state and local transient lodging taxes rather than a sales tax, because Oregon has no general sales tax, and it leaves short-term-rental regulation largely to local governments operating inside a statewide land-use planning system. That posture differs from states that preempt local short-term-rental bans, such as Florida and Arizona, and from states that limit HOA rental authority through a single statutory provision, such as California and Arizona. The local ordinances and the lodging tax restrain local governments and owners; they do not expand or contract association authority, which flows from the declaration and the applicable statute. For a multi-state operator entering Oregon, the practical takeaways are three: work from two comprehensive statutes depending on the form, expect no sales tax but real state and local lodging taxes, and plan for intensely local and market-specific short-term-rental rules in the coastal and Central Oregon markets.

HOA Weekly's Oregon Short-Term Rentals coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature, the Oregon Court of Appeals and the Oregon Supreme Court, and local governments act. Federal frameworks, including the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD, also apply to Oregon associations regardless of the state framework.

Footnotes

1. ORS 100.010, Short title (Oregon Condominium Act); ORS 94.550 to 94.783 (Oregon Planned Community Act) ↩
2. ORS Chapter 100 — Condominiums (Oregon Condominium Act) ↩
3. ORS 94.550 — Definitions for ORS 94.550 to 94.783 (Oregon Planned Community Act) ↩
4. Oregon Judicial Department — appellate court structure (Circuit Court, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court) ↩
5. ORS 100.015 — Regulation by Real Estate Commissioner ↩
6. ORS 100.105 — Contents of declaration (condominiums); ORS 94.580 — Declaration (planned communities) ↩
7. ORS 100.135 — Amendments to declaration; requirements; procedure ↩
8. ORS 94.590 — Amendment of declaration by owners ↩
9. Yogman v. Parrott, 325 Or 358, 937 P2d 1019 (1997) ↩
10. City of Portland — Accessory Short-Term Rental Permits (270-day primary-residence requirement; Type A and Type B; 95-day away limit) ↩
11. Bend Development Code 3.6.500(E) — Type II 500-foot concentration limit (doubled from 250 feet, October 2022) ↩
12. Lincoln County, OR — Short Term Rental Licensing (regional license caps and waitlists); Cannon Beach 14-day occupancy limit ↩
13. ORS 320.305 — Rate and computation of state transient lodging tax (1.5 percent); Oregon Department of Revenue lodging-tax program (rate since July 1, 2020; $41.5M in FY 2024) ↩
14. ORS 90.100 — Definitions (transient/vacation occupancy); ORS 320.305 (transient lodging) ↩
15. ORS 94.630(1)(n) — Powers of association; fines after written notice and opportunity to be heard ↩
16. ORS 100.405(4)(k) — Association of unit owners; fine authority ↩
17. ORS 100.450 — Association lien against individual unit; fines enforceable as assessments ↩
18. ORS 94.709 — Liens against lots; ORS 94.719 — Lien foreclosure and attorney fees ↩
19. House Bill 3746 (2025 Regular Session) — construction-defect reform for HOAs and condominiums ↩
20. House Bill 4134 (2026 Regular Session) — increases state transient lodging tax from 1.5 percent to 2.75 percent ↩
21. House Bill 4064 (2026 Regular Session) — assessment-lien/tax-foreclosure measure; not enacted ↩
22. Clatsop County, OR — Transient Room Tax (countywide rate increased to 3 percent effective January 1, 2026); local transient lodging taxes generally ↩