Lease Renewal Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Oregon law says, what's specific to Portland - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- ORS 90.427 lets a landlord end or decline to renew without cause only during the first year of occupancy, on 30 days written notice.
- After the first year, non-renewal needs a qualifying landlord reason, at least 90 days written notice, and relocation assistance.
- That state relocation assistance is one month's periodic rent under ORS 90.427(6).
- Portland City Code 30.01.085 requires 90 days notice for any no-cause termination or refusal to renew on substantially the same terms.
- Portland's relocation assistance is a flat $2,900 / $3,300 / $4,200 / $4,500 by unit size, paid at least 45 days before the termination date.
Understanding the Lease Renewal Clause
A lease renewal clause decides what happens when your term runs out: whether it rolls over, who has to say something first, and how much warning you get. In Oregon the answer turns on one thing - how long you have lived in the unit.
Our Oregon record reads ORS 90.427 as allowing no-cause non-renewal only inside the first year of occupancy, on 30 days notice. After that first year a landlord needs a qualifying reason, 90 days written notice and a relocation payment.
What renters assume
Renters read a lease as a countdown clock - the twelve months run out, the landlord decides not to renew, and a short letter is the whole process.
What is actually true
Past your first year in the unit, our Oregon record has non-renewal requiring a qualifying landlord reason, 90 days written notice and a relocation payment - which in Portland is a fixed dollar amount.
Portland's 90 days sits at the top of this chart with Denver and New York City, well above the 60 days in Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami and Atlanta and double or more the 30 days in Austin, Chicago, Phoenix and Nashville. Philadelphia's 15 days is the floor. What the bars cannot show is the money: Oregon attaches relocation assistance to a post-first-year non-renewal, and Portland converts that into set amounts from $2,900 to $4,500, which no other city on this chart does.
Plain English Version
In most states a lease is a parking meter - the time runs out and nobody owes you anything but a short note. Oregon treats your first year that way and then changes the rules on you, in your favour: after year one the landlord needs a reason, a season of warning, and a cheque toward your move.
Lease Renewal Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Portland, OR
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
(c) Landlord may increase the rent or change any other term of the Lease for any renewal period by sending written notice to Tenant. Landlord must send this notice at least 60 days before the end of the Term or of any renewal term. Tenant may reject the renewal terms by sending written notice to Landlord 60 days prior to the end of the current lease ending date. Tenant must then vacate at the end of the current Term. The Lease will renew on the terms set forth in Landlord's renewal notice if Tenant does not send notice ending the Lease.
Quoted from the published opinion in Cooper v. SGYS St. Ives, LLC, 333 A.3d 1046, 2025 PA Super 66 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2025). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“increase the rent or change any other term of the Lease”
A renewal that arrives with a new rent on it is the ordinary shape of this clause, and in Portland the size of that number decides what the landlord must do first. Portland City Code 30.01.085 requires 90 days' written notice for any increase of 5 percent or more, and treats an increase of 10 percent or more in a rolling 12-month period as triggering relocation assistance. The other half is wider than the rent: the same ordinance reaches a refusal to renew an expiring lease on substantially the same terms, so rewriting the deal is not a quiet alternative to ending it.
“must send this notice at least 60 days”
Sixty days is this paragraph's promise, and Oregon's own clock runs longer. Our Oregon record sets at least 90 days for a qualifying-landlord-reason notice, counted back from the termination date or the fixed term's ending date, whichever is later, and Portland asks the same 90 days for a no-cause termination or a refusal to renew on substantially the same terms. The lease here was construed in Pennsylvania, where the statutory notice to quit runs 15 days, or 30 days on a term longer than a year.
“Tenant may reject the renewal terms by sending written notice”
This is the tenant's exit, written as the only way out of the landlord's new terms: object, then leave. Oregon's statute describes a third position the paragraph does not. After the first year of occupancy an expiring fixed term converts to a month-to-month tenancy unless the landlord serves a qualifying-reason notice, so staying put is not automatically an acceptance of the renewal letter's terms. Inside the first year the balance differs: the landlord may end the tenancy without cause on 30 days' written notice before the ending date or the date the notice names, whichever is later.
“vacate at the end of the current Term”
Silence renews the lease here, and this case shows which way that can cut. The landlord sent no notice, brought no eviction and filed no suit, so the court held the lease still alive and the Coopers still tenants with standing to sue under Philadelphia's lead-disclosure ordinance, even though they had stopped paying rent. In Portland the same silence is read against the statute rather than the paragraph: after the first year ORS 90.427 is what carries the tenancy on month to month, and stopping it takes a qualifying reason, 90 days and a relocation payment.
The clause was enforced exactly as written, and it came back on the landlord who wrote it. The underlying dispute was not about renewal at all - it was a claim under Philadelphia's lead-disclosure ordinance, and the landlord's answer was that the Coopers were former tenants with no right to bring it. The Superior Court disagreed. Because paragraph 24 renewed the lease automatically unless a party gave 60 days' written notice, and this landlord gave none, brought no eviction and filed no suit, the lease was still alive and the Coopers were still tenants - even though they had stopped paying rent. The landlord, the court held, “had a duty to take specific action against Appellants in order to end the lease,” and a tenant's own breach does not quietly turn them into a former tenant. Two things to keep in view. This is a standing holding that construes an automatic-renewal clause, not a renewal dispute, and it should not be read as one. And the same paragraph priced the renewal it created: subsection (b) raised the rent for each renewal term to market rent, as determined by Landlord, with a minimum increase of 7% above current rent. Automatic renewal runs in whichever direction the paperwork points, and here the paperwork pointed at the landlord.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Oregon Law on Lease Renewal Clause
- ORS 90.427(3)(b): during the first year of occupancy a landlord may end a month-to-month tenancy without cause on not less than 30 days' written notice.
- ORS 90.427(4)(b): if a fixed term's specified ending date falls within the first year of occupancy, the landlord may end the tenancy without cause on not less than 30 days' written notice before that ending date or the date named in the notice, whichever is later.
- ORS 90.427(4)(c): after the first year, an expiring fixed-term tenancy converts to month-to-month unless the landlord gives a qualifying-reason notice under subsections (5)-(7).
- ORS 90.427(5): a qualifying-landlord-reason notice must be given at least 90 days before the termination date or the fixed term's ending date, whichever is later.
- ORS 90.427(6): for a qualifying landlord reason the landlord must also pay the tenant one month's periodic rent as relocation assistance.
- Portland City Code 30.01.085 also treats a rent increase of 10 percent or more in a rolling 12-month period as triggering the same relocation-assistance payments, with 90 days' notice required for any increase of 5 percent or more.
ORS 90.427 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
ORS 90.427 splits the question at the one-year mark. Under subsection (3)(b), during the first year of occupancy a landlord may end a month-to-month tenancy without cause on not less than 30 days written notice, and under (4)(b) a fixed term whose ending date falls inside that first year can be ended without cause on not less than 30 days notice before that ending date or the date named in the notice, whichever is later.
After the first year the default flips. ORS 90.427(4)(c) has an expiring fixed term convert to month-to-month unless the landlord gives a qualifying-reason notice, subsection (5) requires that notice at least 90 days before the termination date or the term's ending date, whichever is later, and subsection (6) requires the landlord to pay one month's periodic rent as relocation assistance. Compare Colorado, where C.R.S. 38-12-1303 requires a stated cause and 90 days with no payment attached, or Pennsylvania, where 15 days and no reason ends a short lease.
Not high: they were read from a statute mirror rather than the legislature's own published text, and at least one widely circulated copy of ORS 90.427 still shows a superseded 60-day rule. Check the current text of ORS 90.427 before you rely on a subsection number or a day-count in a dispute.
Oregon Tenant Protections
Non-renewal without any reason is limited to the first year of occupancy under ORS 90.427, on not less than 30 days' written notice. After that first year, a landlord who wants to end or decline to renew needs a qualifying landlord reason, at least 90 days' written notice under ORS 90.427(5), and one month's periodic rent as relocation assistance under ORS 90.427(6). An expiring fixed term that gets no qualifying-reason notice converts to a month-to-month tenancy rather than simply ending.
What's Specific to Portland
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Portland adds real weight on top of the state rule. Portland City Code 30.01.085 requires 90 days written notice for any no-cause termination or refusal to renew an expiring lease on substantially the same terms - the city does not carve out your first year the way the state notice rule does.
The city also fixes the money. Instead of one month's rent, Portland sets relocation assistance at $2,900 for a studio or SRO, $3,300 for a one-bedroom, $4,200 for a two-bedroom and $4,500 for three bedrooms or more, and it has to be paid at least 45 days before the termination date. That deadline matters more than it looks: the payment is meant to reach you while you are still looking, not after you have moved.
One more Portland trigger sits in the same ordinance. A rent increase of 10 percent or more in a rolling 12-month period triggers the same relocation payments, and any increase of 5 percent or more requires 90 days notice - so a renewal offer priced steeply enough is treated much like a non-renewal.
It should. Portland City Code 30.01.085 sets 90 days for a no-cause non-renewal, so a clause silent on timing is worth fixing before you sign.
A promise to renew at "market rate" is a blank check. Ask for a stated figure or a ceiling inside the paragraph itself, especially where a 10 percent jump carries consequences.
Question it. The 90-day notice and the relocation amounts come from ORS 90.427 and Portland City Code 30.01.085, not from your lease.
A 12-month rollover with a short cancellation window buried mid-document can lock you into a year you never chose. Find that window the day you sign.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- ORS 90.427, read on oregon.public.law. Oregon publishes the official text at www.oregonlegislature.gov.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Non-renewal with no reason given
Past your first year, ORS 90.427 has non-renewal resting on a qualifying landlord reason. A bare "we are not renewing" is the thing to question in writing.
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Short notice on a long tenancy
ORS 90.427(5) puts the qualifying-reason notice at 90 days, and Portland City Code 30.01.085 requires 90 days for any no-cause non-renewal.
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Relocation assistance never mentioned
Portland sets $2,900 to $4,500 by unit size, due at least 45 days before the termination date. A notice silent on it is incomplete.
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A renewal priced 10 percent up
Portland City Code 30.01.085 treats a 10 percent rolling-12-month increase as triggering the same relocation payments. Ask which rule the offer is being made under.
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Renewal at "then-current market rate"
The clause promises a renewal but leaves the price wide open. Ask for a number or a cap, because an unbounded rate is the same as no offer.
Your Rights as a Portland Tenant
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No-cause limited to year one
ORS 90.427 allows a without-cause end or non-renewal only during the first year of occupancy, on not less than 30 days written notice.
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90 days after the first year
ORS 90.427(5) requires a qualifying-reason notice at least 90 days before the termination date or the fixed term's ending date, whichever is later.
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Relocation assistance
ORS 90.427(6) requires one month's periodic rent. Portland City Code 30.01.085 sets $2,900 / $3,300 / $4,200 / $4,500 by unit size.
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Conversion instead of an ending
Under ORS 90.427(4)(c) an expiring fixed term converts to month-to-month after the first year unless a qualifying-reason notice is given.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find your occupancy start date
Not your current lease's start date - the day you moved into the unit. Oregon's whole split turns on whether you are past the first year.
Calendar the 90-day mark
Count back 90 days from your lease end date. That is the window Portland City Code 30.01.085 and ORS 90.427(5) both work in.
Ask for renewal terms in writing
Email the property manager for the rent and term. The thread timestamps your request and shows whether an increase clears 5 or 10 percent.
Read the notice for a reason
Past your first year, ORS 90.427 has non-renewal resting on a qualifying landlord reason. No reason on the page is the first thing to raise.
Check the relocation payment and its date
Portland requires payment at least 45 days before the termination date. Confirm the amount matches your unit size before you accept the timeline.
Verify the statute, then escalate
Pull the current text of ORS 90.427 yourself, since our figures came from a mirror rather than the legislature's own site. Then put your objection in writing and contact an Oregon tenant legal-aid line.