Provided by Brian Cox, Attorney
ROA Board Member
Law Offices of Brian Cox
On May 19th, Governor Kate Brown signed SB 282 passed by the House, extending the time renters have to pay back rent and other accumulated charges they’ve missed since April 2020 through June, 2021. Currently, the state’s moratorium on evictions is slated to end at the end of June, and tenants must pay all back rent by July 1, along with resuming regular monthly rental payments. Under SB 282, tenants must still keep current with new rental payments as of July 1 to avoid eviction, but they will have through February 2022 to pay any back rent and other accumulated charges still owed when the eviction moratorium ends. Termination notices for non-payment must include language that states “eviction for nonpayment of rent, charges or fees that accrued on or after April 1, 2020 and before June 30, 2021 is not allowed before February 28, 2022.”
SB 282 does more than extend the grace period for back rent. It provides that landlords cannot use evictions during the pandemic to deny a rental applicant (without regard for the reason for the eviction), cannot count against applicants amounts owing to a prior landlord that accrued during the emergency period, and prevents landlords from reporting missed rent and other charges to a credit agency. It temporarily bars landlords from enforcing rental occupancy limits that are more strict than current law to help people without housing stay with friends or loved ones. And it extends heightened penalties on landlords for retaliatory conduct through February, 2022. Of important note, SB 282 does NOT extend the moratorium on certain evictions.
