Utilities 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 90.375 covers a landlord who willfully diminishes services by interrupting heat, running water, hot water, electricity or other essential service.
- The remedy is a rent multiple, not a fixed cap: up to two months' periodic rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater.
- You may instead seek injunctive relief to recover possession, and on termination the landlord must return deposits and prepaid rent recoverable under ORS 90.300.
- You do not have to end the tenancy, get an injunction or recover possession first before suing for these damages.
- ORS 90.315 handles landlord utility billing: if the landlord's unpaid bill kills service you may pay it and deduct from rent, or terminate on 72 hours' notice.
Understanding the Utilities Clause
The utilities clause decides who pays for heat, water, hot water, electricity and the rest - and, more importantly, who is responsible for keeping any of it on. In a Portland fourplex with one boiler and a power account in the owner's name, that paragraph decides whether a bill you never saw can leave you in a cold apartment in February.
Oregon's answer is not a flat fine. The state measures the harm against your own rent, so the number on your lease is the number that sets the penalty. Read the current text of ORS 90.375 yourself before you put a figure in a demand letter.
What renters assume
Most renters assume there is a set fine somewhere - a flat few thousand dollars a landlord pays for cutting the heat.
What is actually true
Oregon does not work that way. ORS 90.375 ties the remedy to your rent: up to two months' periodic rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater. A high rent means a bigger claim.
Oregon prices an unlawful shutoff at two months' rent, so the penalty scales with what a renter actually pays. The fixed-dollar states run from Atlanta's $500 and Austin's $1,000 up to Denver's $5,000 and New York City's $10,000.
Plain English Version
Think of heat, running water, hot water and power as things your landlord promised to leave switched on. If the landlord deliberately interrupts one of them, Oregon lets you sue for either two months of your rent or double what the shutoff actually cost you - you take the larger of the two.
Utilities 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.
[t]enant shall be responsible for all utilities and services incurred in connection with the Premises.
Quoted from the published opinion in Dinh v. Raines, No. S-18262 (Alaska Feb. 23, 2024). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“shall be responsible for”
A broad promise to carry the utility bill is ordinary and enforceable, and it changes nothing about what a landlord may do to the supply. Oregon's remedy under ORS 90.375 is two months' periodic rent or twice actual damages, whichever is greater - a different shape from the states that name a sum, like Texas at $1,000 plus one month's rent under Tex. Prop. Code § 92.008 or Colorado at $5,000 or three times monthly rent under C.R.S. § 38-12-510. A rent multiple means a renter in a cheaper unit recovers less for the same cold week.
“utilities and services”
The pairing matters, because Oregon's statute is built around a defined core rather than around everything a landlord might call a service. ORS 90.375 reaches interruption of heat, running water, hot water, electric or other essential service. That is the divide the Alaska court drew when it treated heat, hot water and electricity as essential and reversed on internet and cable, which still had to be supplied as a contract promise.
“incurred”
This is the load-bearing word, and the one to test against the meter. A cost is only yours if your household ran it up; a broad clause does not turn a landlord's own consumption, or another unit's, into a charge you agreed to pay. That was the Alaska landlord's problem - employees in unpermitted garage units drew power and heating fuel through the tenants' meter and fuel tank.
“connection with the Premises”
The clause draws a boundary around the unit, so what sits outside it is worth naming. Portland City Code 30.01.085, the Renter Additional Protections, covers termination notice, rent-increase notice and relocation assistance - $2,900 to $4,500 by unit size, with up to three times monthly rent plus actual damages for non-compliance - and says nothing about utilities, so the state remedy controls a shutoff in Portland.
The clause survived. The landlord did not. The Alaska Supreme Court held that a “tenant pays all utilities” clause does not let a landlord shift the cost of utilities he diverts. He had housed his restaurant employees in unpermitted garage units and let them draw electricity and heating fuel through the tenants' meter and fuel tank. That was a willful diminution of essential services under AS 34.03.210, which exposes a landlord to exemplary damages of up to one and one-half times actual damages. The court affirmed that finding as to heat, hot water and electricity, and reversed as to internet and cable, which are not “essential services” under the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. The same utilities clause still carried the day on ordinary contract grounds: the tenants recovered $1,050 under AS 34.03.160 for the internet and cable, once they had given notice. Two things a renter should take from it - a broad “all utilities” clause is normal and enforceable, and it still does not make you the landlord's utility company.
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 Utilities Clause
- ORS 90.375 covers a landlord who 'willfully diminishes or seriously attempts or seriously threatens unlawfully to diminish services... by interrupting or causing the interruption of heat, running water, hot water, electric or other essential service.'
- The remedy is 'up to two months' periodic rent or twice the actual damages sustained by the tenant, whichever is greater' - a rent multiple, not a fixed dollar cap.
- The tenant may instead obtain injunctive relief to recover possession, and if the rental agreement is terminated the landlord must return all security deposits and prepaid rent recoverable under ORS 90.300.
- A tenant does not have to terminate the tenancy, get an injunction or recover possession first in order to sue for these damages.
- Separately, ORS 90.315 handles landlord utility billing: if the landlord fails to pay a utility bill and service is shut off, the tenant may pay the balance and deduct it from rent or terminate on 72 hours' notice, and billing violations carry one month's periodic rent or twice the amount wrongfully charged, whichever is greater.
- Portland City Code 30.01.085 adds no utility-shutoff remedy of its own.
ORS 90.375 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Oregon's rule lives in ORS 90.375. It applies to a landlord who 'willfully diminishes or seriously attempts or seriously threatens unlawfully to diminish services... by interrupting or causing the interruption of heat, running water, hot water, electric or other essential service.' The threat and the attempt count, not just the completed shutoff.
The remedy is 'up to two months' periodic rent or twice the actual damages sustained by the tenant, whichever is greater.' There is no fixed dollar cap in our record, so your monthly rent and your receipts are what size the claim. You may instead obtain injunctive relief to recover possession, and if the rental agreement is terminated the landlord must return all security deposits and prepaid rent recoverable under ORS 90.300.
You do not have to terminate the tenancy, get an injunction or recover possession first in order to sue for these damages. Separately, ORS 90.315 governs landlord utility billing: if the landlord fails to pay a utility bill and service is shut off, you may pay the balance and deduct it from rent, or terminate on 72 hours' notice, and billing violations carry one month's periodic rent or twice the amount wrongfully charged, whichever is greater.
Oregon Tenant Protections
A landlord who willfully interrupts your heat, running water, hot water, electricity or other essential service owes up to two months' periodic rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater, under ORS 90.375. You may instead seek injunctive relief to recover possession, and if the agreement is terminated the landlord must return deposits and prepaid rent recoverable under ORS 90.300. You do not have to end the tenancy or win possession first to bring the damages claim.
If the shutoff came from the landlord's own unpaid utility bill, ORS 90.315 lets you pay that balance and deduct it from rent or terminate on 72 hours' notice.
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.
Our record finds no Portland ordinance that adds a utility-shutoff penalty of its own. Portland City Code 30.01.085, the Portland Renter Additional Protections, covers termination notice, rent-increase notice and relocation assistance - $2,900 to $4,500 by unit size, with up to three times monthly rent plus actual damages for non-compliance - and says nothing about utilities. On this record, the state remedy in ORS 90.375 is what controls in Portland.
That matters for how the city actually rents. Plenty of Portland stock is older houses cut into units and small apartment buildings with one boiler, one water line and accounts kept in the owner's name, which is exactly where a landlord's unpaid balance becomes your cold shower. Before you sign, ask who holds each account and get the answer written into the lease. Confirm the current statute text and check for any newer city rule before relying on these figures.
A fair rental agreement lists heat, water, hot water, electricity, sewer and trash and says who pays each. Vague wording like 'tenant pays utilities' is where surprise bills start.
Better if it is. When the account stays with the landlord and goes unpaid, ORS 90.315 lets you pay the balance and deduct it from rent, or terminate on 72 hours' notice.
Red flag. Willfully interrupting heat, running water, hot water or electricity exposes the landlord to up to two months' periodic rent or twice your actual damages.
A shared meter means you may be paying for a neighbor's shower. Get the meter serving your unit identified in the lease before you sign anything.
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 90.375. Oregon publishes the official text at www.oregonlegislature.gov.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Lease waives the pay-and-deduct right
A clause saying you won't pay a utility directly or deduct from rent is fighting ORS 90.315, which hands that remedy to tenants rather than to the lease.
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'Tenant pays all utilities'
No list, no numbers. Make the agreement name heat, water, hot water, electricity, sewer and trash separately - in an old Portland house conversion, 'all' can quietly include a shared basement boiler.
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Shutoff threat over late rent
A lease reserving the right to cut heat or power for unpaid rent is describing conduct ORS 90.375 puts a price on. The statute reaches serious threats, not only completed shutoffs.
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Landlord bills you, no meter
If the bill comes from your property manager instead of the utility, ask how it is split. Billing violations under ORS 90.315 carry one month's periodic rent or twice the amount wrongfully charged.
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No answer on who holds accounts
When the landlord keeps the account in his name, his unpaid balance becomes your problem. Our Oregon record sets no notice figure here, which leaves the paragraph you signed as the document that answers it.
Your Rights as a Portland Tenant
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Two months' rent, or double damages
For a willful interruption of heat, running water, hot water, electricity or other essential service, ORS 90.375 gives you up to two months' periodic rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater.
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Injunctive relief instead
You may instead obtain injunctive relief to recover possession, and if the rental agreement is terminated the landlord must return all security deposits and prepaid rent recoverable under ORS 90.300.
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No need to move out first
You do not have to terminate the tenancy, get an injunction or recover possession before suing for these damages. The claim stands on its own.
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Pay the bill, deduct the rent
If the landlord's unpaid utility bill caused the shutoff, ORS 90.315 lets you pay the balance and deduct it from rent, or terminate on 72 hours' notice.
What To Do - Step by Step
Write down the exact time
Photograph the dark meter, the cold radiator, the dry tap. Note the exact date and time service stopped and keep the photos timestamped.
Call the utility, not the landlord first
Ask who requested the disconnect and why. A landlord-requested shutoff, or one over the landlord's own unpaid balance, is the fact your whole claim rests on.
Check the rent figure
Your remedy is measured in periodic rent, so pull the lease and write down the monthly number before you demand anything.
Keep every receipt
Hotel nights, space heaters, spoiled food, laundromat trips. Twice your actual damages only beats two months' rent if you can prove the actual damages.
Send a written demand
Dated email or letter: demand restoration, cite ORS 90.375, and state the remedy you are claiming. If it was an unpaid landlord bill, say you are paying it and deducting under ORS 90.315.
Verify the statute, then file
Read the current text of ORS 90.375 before filing, then bring the claim in the county court that hears Multnomah County landlord-tenant cases.