Oregon HOA laws and regulations - 2026 guide

Oregon HOA laws split homeowners associations across two statutes, ORS chapter 94 for planned communities and ORS chapter 100 for condominiums. The answer to almost every question about association procedure or finances depends on which one covers your lot or unit.

Three 2026 developments add to the confusion. HB 3746's condominium construction-defect and inspection rules took effect January 1. SB 1551 now requires a written dispute-resolution offer before most owner-association lawsuits. The official ORS chapter 94 page also flags 2026 amendments to sections in ORS 94.600–94.621 that the published 2025 edition does not yet incorporate.

If you hold a rental inside one of these communities, board-adopted fine schedules and lien rules can affect cash flow immediately, while reserve contributions can rise without your vote.

Oregon HOA laws at a glance: the statutes that control your association

There is no single Oregon Homeowners Association Act. The name owners reach for covers two statutes, the Oregon Planned Community Act at ORS chapter 94 and the Oregon Condominium Act at ORS chapter 100, and five bodies of law reach an Oregon association in total, with no single agency administering them. Most owner questions fall under the first two; the other three matter when a director breaches a duty, a collection agent oversteps, or a board decision crosses into discrimination:

• Statute | What it governs | Where it touches an owner
• ORS chapter 94 (Oregon Planned Community Act) | Subdivisions and townhome communities where you own a lot and the association holds the common property | Meeting notice, quorum, fines, liens, reserve studies, records rights and turnover for planned communities
• ORS chapter 100 (Oregon Condominium Act) | Condominiums, where you own a unit plus a share of the common elements | The same mechanics for condos, plus Oregon Real Estate Agency filings and a lien that can outrank a first mortgage
• ORS chapter 65 (Oregon Nonprofit Corporation Act) | Director standards of conduct, conflicts of interest, indemnification, D&O insurance | ORS 94.640(1) and ORS 100.417(1) apply its director standards to every board whether or not the association incorporated
• ORS chapter 659A | Fair housing and civil rights, enforced by the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) | The one path to a state agency for association conduct, and only when discrimination or a denied disability modification is involved
• Oregon Unlawful Debt Collection Practices Act (ORS 646.639 to 646.641) | Conduct of anyone collecting a consumer debt | Reaches the collection attorney, and on the statute's text the management company, that chases your assessments; gives you private damages and attorney fees

Federal law adds one layer on top. The FCC's over-the-air reception devices rule at 47 CFR § 1.4000 preempts association antenna and satellite dish restrictions, and no Oregon statute covers the subject.

ORS chapter 94 vs ORS chapter 100: which law applies to your community?

Condominiums fall under ORS chapter 100. Communities built on individually owned lots with association-owned common property, which covers most single-family subdivisions and townhome developments, fall under ORS chapter 94. Your recorded declaration tells you which: the Oregon Real Estate Agency reviewed and approved a condominium declaration before recording, while the county recorder recorded a planned-community declaration without that step.

One exclusion catches newer developments. Since January 1, 2024, HB 3395 has removed from the ORS 94.550 definition of 'planned community' any development established on or after that date whose units carry affordability restrictions or are owned by public benefit or religious nonprofit corporations.

Most mechanics are the same under both chapters. The table maps each function to its section and flags where the two diverge:

• Function | ORS chapter 94 (planned communities) | ORS chapter 100 (condominiums)
• Formation | Declaration recorded in county records under the ORS 94.550 definition | Declaration and amendments reviewed and approved by the Oregon Real Estate Agency; disclosure statement issued for each first sale; agency approves bylaw amendments during the first five years after recording
• Meetings | ORS 94.644 (board), 94.650 (owners), 94.652 (electronic notice); emergency board meetings may proceed with no notice if the reason is recorded in the minutes | ORS 100.420 (board), 100.407 (owners), 100.423 (electronic notice); emergency meetings sit outside the standard board notice rule but the statute has no express no-notice provision
• Records | ORS 94.670; ORS 94.780 lets you sue for actual damages within one year of discovering a violation | ORS 100.480; ORS 100.470 gives the prevailing party attorney fees in an enforcement suit
• Reserves | ORS 94.595; no exemption for small associations | ORS 100.175; one- and two-unit condominiums exempt; moisture-intrusion inspections added for declarations recorded on or after January 1, 2026
• Liens | ORS 94.709; lien stays junior to a first mortgage or trust deed | ORS 100.450; lien can move ahead of a first mortgage through the lender-notice procedure in subsection (7); association must have its Real Estate Agency reports current before suing
• Turnover | ORS 94.600 to 94.616; declaration may reserve declarant control of unlimited duration | ORS 100.200 and 100.210; declarant control capped by statute

Condominium unit owners associations also pay the Real Estate Agency $100 for an initial information report, $25 for each annual report, and $75 to amend a filed report. Planned-community associations file no equivalent report with the agency.

Governing documents and their order of authority

The statute outranks your declaration, the declaration outranks the bylaws, and the bylaws outrank any rule or resolution the board adopts. Oregon enforces the top rung bluntly: ORS 94.778 makes a declaration or bylaw provision that prohibits solar panels 'void and unenforceable,' and ORS 94.779 and ORS 100.023 do the same to provisions restricting registered family child care homes in governing documents adopted on or after January 1, 2018. A board cannot rescue a provision the legislature has voided, however many owners approved it.

Four documents sit beneath the statute:

• Declaration (CC&Rs): The recorded document that creates the community, defines lots or units alongside common property, and sets both assessment allocations and use restrictions. Under ORS 94.590 and ORS 100.135 it takes a supermajority of all votes to amend, and a planned-community amendment is effective only when recorded.
• Bylaws: The operating rules for the association itself, covering board size, elections, meeting procedures, and officer duties. ORS 94.625 lets a planned community amend most bylaws by a majority of votes present, though any bylaw provision that ORS 94.580 requires is locked behind the declaration-amendment threshold.
• Articles of incorporation: Filed only if the association incorporated under ORS chapter 65. Where the nonprofit code conflicts with ORS chapter 94 or 100, ORS 94.770 and the parallel condominium provision make the HOA statute control.
• Rules and resolutions: Board-adopted, with no owner vote. A fine schedule can live here, but ORS 94.630(1)(n) and ORS 100.405(4)(k) require the schedule or resolution to be delivered or mailed to every lot or unit before a fine can rest on it.

Two shortcuts exist for cleaning up documents. HB 3395 (2023) lets an association strike discriminatory provisions covered by ORS 93.270(2) from a declaration or bylaws without an owner vote, and ORS 100.117 lets a condominium board adopt corrective amendments for omissions, math errors, and inconsistencies, subject to notice to affected owners, Real Estate Commissioner approval, certification, and recording. A planned-community declaration amendment is conclusively presumed valid unless challenged within one year after recording, or unless the amendment's face shows fewer votes than the declaration required.

Who governs an Oregon HOA?

An elected board runs the association once the developer hands over control, and until then the declarant runs it. State government stays out of day-to-day governance in both phases.

Board powers and fiduciary duty

ORS 94.630(1) and ORS 100.405(4) give the board authority to adopt rules, levy assessments, impose fines after written notice and a hearing, and sue on owners' behalf. Since January 1, 2026, HB 3746 requires the association to give each affected owner at least 10 days' written notice before filing litigation to recover damages on that owner's behalf under ORS 94.630(1)(e)(E) or its ORS 100.490 counterpart.

Directors owe the duties in ORS 65.357: act in good faith, with the care an ordinarily prudent person would use in a like position, and in what the director reasonably believes is the association's best interest. ORS 94.640(1) and ORS 100.417(1) apply that standard whether or not the association ever incorporated. Uncompensated directors of common-interest communities qualify under ORS 65.369(3)(d) for a liability shield: they answer only for gross negligence or intentional misconduct, never for ordinary negligence.

The shield is narrower than boards sometimes assume. In WSB Investments, LLC v. Pronghorn Development Co., LLC, 269 Or App 342 (2015), the Court of Appeals held that evidence a director 'has disregarded his or her unambiguous obligations under the governing corporate documents may be sufficient to support a finding' of gross negligence. Tokarski v. Wildfang, 312 Or App 1 (2021), let fiduciary claims proceed where directors spent reserve funds for unauthorized purposes. And in Santoro v. Eagle Crest Estate Homesite Owners Assn., 319 Or App 793 (2022), the court refused automatic deference to a committee whose CC&Rs required good faith; the absence of fraud did not by itself establish it. No Oregon appellate decision adopts the business judgment rule by name for HOA boards. An association may indemnify directors under ORS 65.391 to 65.414, and ORS 65.411 lets the association buy D&O insurance even where it has no statutory power to indemnify.

Declarant control and the turnover meeting

The two chapters diverge sharply on how long a developer can hold the board. ORS 94.600(1) lets a planned-community declaration reserve declarant control 'of limited or unlimited duration' with no statutory cap. ORS 100.200 caps condominium declarant control at the earlier of three years from the first unit conveyance or conveyance of 75% of units for a single-stage condominium, and seven years or 75% of the units that may be created for a staged or flexible one.

Turnover runs on fixed deadlines. In a planned community of at least 20 lots, ORS 94.604 requires the declarant to call a meeting to select a transitional advisory committee within 60 days after conveying half the lots. ORS 94.609 then requires the turnover meeting no later than 90 days after declarant control ends, or 90 days after conveying 10 lots if no control period was reserved; if the declarant never calls it, the committee or any owner may. ORS 100.210 gives a condominium declarant 90 days after control expires, with between 10 and 50 days' notice of the meeting, and lets any unit owner or first mortgagee call it if the declarant does not. For condominium declarations first recorded on or after January 1, 2026, HB 3746 adds a deadline where no control was reserved: the earlier of three years from first conveyance or conveyance of 50% of units, or seven years or 50% for staged projects.

At turnover the declarant must hand over the reserve account, the reserve study and maintenance plan with all updates, recorded documents, minutes, financial statements, bank signature cards, contracts, permits, and insurance (ORS 94.616(3) and ORS 100.210(5)).

The declarant must then stay available for at least three meetings with the new board over the following three months. If owners fail to elect enough directors, ORS 94.642 and ORS 100.418 let an owner or first mortgagee ask a court to appoint a receiver.

No state HOA regulator

Oregon has no HOA ombudsman and no agency that adjudicates governance disputes. The Oregon Real Estate Agency reviews condominium filings and collects annual reports but states on its consumer page that it does not regulate homeowner or condominium owner associations and 'cannot help you get money back or get you out of a contract.' BOLI takes discrimination complaints under ORS chapter 659A, and the Department of Justice takes consumer and debt-collection complaints. Governance, assessment, and enforcement disputes go to a mediator or a judge.

Notice, quorum, voting and records inspection: the numbers in the statute

Most figures you will need come from a handful of sections, and they match across the two chapters more often than not. The exceptions are marked:

• Item | ORS chapter 94 | ORS chapter 100
• Owner meeting notice | 10 to 50 days, by hand delivery or mail (ORS 94.650) | 10 to 50 days (ORS 100.407)
• Meetings per year | At least one | At least one
• Owners who can force a special meeting | 30% by default if bylaws are silent; a signer may set the meeting personally if the board ignores the request for 30 days | 30% by default; bylaws may set anywhere from 10% to 50%
• Board meeting notice (principal-residence communities) | At least 3 days, posted or sent (ORS 94.644) | At least 3 days (ORS 100.420)
• Quorum for owner meetings | 20% of total votes; documents may set higher (ORS 94.655) | 20% of voting rights; if adjourned for lack of quorum, may drop to the greater of half the bylaw quorum or 20% with 48 hours' notice (ORS 100.408)
• Amend the declaration | 75% of total votes or a higher figure in the declaration; proposed by a board majority or 30% of owners (ORS 94.590) | 75% of owners or a higher figure in the declaration (ORS 100.135)
• Unanimous consent needed | Lot boundaries, restricted uses, voting rights | Property or unit boundaries, new units carved from common elements
• Amend the bylaws | Majority of votes present (ORS 94.625) | 75% of residential-unit owners for residential-use provisions (ORS 100.410)
• Written ballot in lieu of meeting | Allowed with 10 days' notice; barred for turnover, director removal, and annual meetings where most lots are primary residences (ORS 94.647) | Allowed; secret-ballot procedures required if 10% of owners petition 3 days before distribution (ORS 100.425)
• Records: core documents | Within 10 business days of a written request (ORS 94.670(11)) | Within 10 business days (ORS 100.480(11))
• Proxies and ballots retained | 1 year; for document amendments, from the effective date | 1 year; for document amendments, from the recording date

That records deadline covers only the core documents listed in ORS 94.670(10) and ORS 100.480(10): the declaration and bylaws with amendments, current rules, the most recent financial statement, the current operating budget, the reserve study, and any architectural guidelines. Other records must be 'reasonably available for examination,' with no numeric deadline, and your request must be in writing, in good faith, for a proper purpose. The board may charge a reasonable copying fee that includes personnel time; no statute caps the rate.

Boards may withhold seven categories under ORS 94.670(9)(b) and ORS 100.480(9)(b): personnel and medical matters, contracts under negotiation, legal-counsel communications about those matters or about litigation, disclosures that would violate law, materials compiled for executive session, other executive-session matters, and other owners' files. Everything else is open to you.

Electronic notice by email or fax is permitted at board discretion under ORS 94.652 and ORS 100.423, and you can opt out and demand mail or hand delivery. The board can never use it to tell you that you failed to pay an assessment, that the association is foreclosing its lien, or that the association may take action against you. All board meetings must be open to owners under ORS 100.420(1) apart from executive sessions, though you have no right to speak unless the documents or the board allow it.

One 2026 addition affects director removal. For condominiums with declarations first recorded on or after January 1, 2026, HB 3746 lets unit owners remove a director by majority vote of those present and entitled to vote at a meeting with quorum, provided the removal appears on the agenda and in the meeting notice.

Assessments, fines, liens and foreclosure under Oregon law

An Oregon association can lien your lot or unit for unpaid assessments and foreclose that lien in court, and properly imposed fines are collected the same way. ORS 94.709(1) and ORS 100.450(1) attach the lien the moment any assessment is levied, with no minimum balance and no waiting period, and ORS 94.709(5) and ORS 100.450(5) make fines, late charges, interest, and attorney fees enforceable as assessments unless your documents say otherwise.

The statutory limits are procedural, not dollar-based:

• Fines must be 'reasonable,' must follow written notice and an opportunity to be heard, and must rest on a schedule in the declaration or bylaws or a resolution delivered to every lot or unit (ORS 94.630(1)(n), ORS 100.405(4)(k)). Neither chapter sets a dollar cap; any number comes from your documents.
• The recorded declaration perfects the lien, but before filing a foreclosure suit the association must record a notice of claim of lien in county deed records. No minimum amount or delinquency period applies to that step either.
• Foreclosure is judicial only. Associations must use a civil suit conforming to ORS 87.010; the nonjudicial trustee's-sale process in ORS chapter 86 is not available for assessment liens.
• Each assessment lien expires six years after the assessment's due date. The association may instead sue for a money judgment without waiving the lien.
• After a foreclosure sale, ORS 18.964 gives the judgment debtor 180 days to redeem and a lien claimant 60 days.
• A condominium association cannot maintain a foreclosure or money-judgment action unless its Condominium Information Report and Annual Report with the Real Estate Agency are current (ORS 100.450(4)(d)).

Priority is where the two chapters split in a way lenders and investors both notice. In a planned community the lien sits ahead of a homestead exemption and every other lien except tax liens and a first mortgage or trust deed of record. A condominium lien can jump the first mortgage. Under ORS 100.450(7), if the association gives the lender 90 days' written notice that the owner is in default and the lender does not start judicial foreclosure, request a trustee's sale notice, or accept a deed in lieu within those 90 days, the association's lien becomes senior. The Oregon Supreme Court confirmed the mechanism in Bank of New York Mellon Trust Co. v. Sulejmanagic, 367 Or 537 (2021), and held that a foreclosure the lender had filed and then dismissed did not count as protective action.

Collection conduct is where the debt collection act bites. Porter v. Hill, 314 Or 86 (1992), held that a lawyer collecting fees was a 'debt collector' under the Act, and a collection attorney retained by an association fits the same definition.

ORS 646.639(2)(n) bars knowingly collecting any fee, interest, or charge not expressly authorized by the agreement or by law, so a management company that adds charges your declaration never authorized is exposed, on top of the Oregon property management laws that already govern how it operates. ORS 646.639(2)(k) also bars threatening a remedy the collector knows does not exist.

Under ORS 646.641 you can recover actual damages or $200, whichever is greater, for a willful violation, plus possible punitive damages and attorney fees, but you must sue within one year of the injury. Oregon DOJ guidance adds working rules: contact only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., written notice of the debt within five days of first contact, and a verification duty if you dispute in writing within 30 days.

What an Oregon HOA cannot restrict

Oregon voids association restrictions on solar panels, electric vehicle charging, family child care homes, portable cooling devices, and irrigation during droughts, and federal law overrides antenna rules. Flags are the gap: no Oregon statute protects flag display in an HOA, and the 2013 bill that would have added one, HB 3406, failed. The table lists each use with its source:

• Protected use | Planned communities | Condominiums | What the board may still do
• Solar energy systems | ORS 94.778 voids prohibitions; ORS 105.880 voids anti-solar deed provisions executed after October 3, 1979 | ORS 105.880 only; ORS chapter 100 has no parallel to ORS 94.778 | Set reasonable size, placement, and aesthetic requirements
• EV charging stations | ORS 94.761 to 94.762 | ORS 100.626 to 100.627 | Impose reasonable restrictions that do not significantly raise cost or cut performance; recover review and permitting costs
• Family child care homes (registered or certified) | ORS 94.779(3) to (5) for documents adopted on or after January 1, 2018, where the unit shares no wall, floor, or ceiling with another; ORS 93.270(1)(b) voids restrictive covenants | ORS 100.023(3), same date | Regulate parking, noise, odors, nuisance, common property, and insurance-affecting activity, short of prohibiting the use
• Antennas and satellite dishes | 47 CFR § 1.4000 (federal OTARD rule) | Same, within exclusive-use areas such as balconies and patios | Enforce safety and historic-preservation rules that are non-discriminatory and no more burdensome than necessary
• Irrigation requirements during drought | ORS 94.779(1) to (2) | ORS 100.023(1) to (2) | Require xeriscape replacement
• Portable cooling devices | ORS 94.779(6) | Not found in ORS chapter 100 | Apply statutory exceptions only
• Housing density, manufactured dwellings, ADUs | ORS 94.776: provisions adopted on or after January 1, 2020 cannot block development allowed at maximum zoning density; provisions adopted or amended on or after January 1, 2027 cannot ban or unreasonably restrict manufactured dwellings or prefabricated structures, including qualifying ADUs | Not addressed | Apply reasonable restrictions that stop short of prohibition
• Flags | No statute | No statute | Whatever the governing documents say

A solar owner in a planned community who runs into an unlawful ban can sue under ORS 94.778 for the violation or actual damages, with attorney fees to the prevailing party, but must file within one year after discovering it.

Electric vehicle charging: the conditions attached

The association must act on a completed EV charging application within 60 days, subject to reasonable requests for more information. You pay for installation, electricity, and any damage to common property, and if the association adds electrical infrastructure it may assess that cost against the lots or units of owners who have installed or will install a station. The installer must hold a journeyman electrician license under ORS 479.530, and the owner must use certified electrical products for pedestal or hard-wired stations. You retain the station as your personal property; before you sell, you must remove it and restore the premises unless the buyer accepts ownership and its obligations.

If the station is not a certified electrical product, you must carry at least $1 million in homeowner liability insurance covering it and name the association as an additional insured with a right to cancellation notice. On a rental, that obligation may require landlord insurance in Oregon, depending on your policy's terms and occupancy provisions, and the liability limit has to reach the statutory floor. Steadily writes landlord insurance policies with liability options from $100K to $1M+ across single-family rentals, condominiums, and multifamily. Get a quote in minutes, no phone call required.

Antennas and dishes under the federal rule

The OTARD rule covers direct-broadcast satellite dishes and fixed-wireless antennas of one meter or less, and TV broadcast antennas of any size. An association restriction is preempted if it unreasonably delays or prevents installation, unreasonably increases cost, or precludes an acceptable-quality signal, and the party defending the restriction carries the burden of proof. Prior-approval requirements are generally prohibited. The protection reaches only areas within your exclusive use, so a condominium board can still bar a dish bolted to a common roof or exterior wall. A board may require a central antenna only if you receive the service you want at equal or better quality, at no greater cost, and without unreasonable delay.

Reserve studies and reserve accounts

Every planned community and every condominium with three or more units must keep a reserve account funded by assessments and either redo or update its reserve study every year (ORS 94.595, ORS 100.175). Communities created before October 23, 1999 come under these rules only if the board adopts a resolution or a majority of owners petition, and only if the governing documents already require a reserve account; once triggered, the study and plan must be complete within a year.

The declarant conducts the initial study on the association's behalf, and neither statute requires a reserve specialist, engineer, or any other credential for whoever prepares it. The study must identify every item reserves will cover, its estimated remaining useful life, and its estimated cost to maintain, repair, or replace at the end of that life. It must include all common-property items needing major work in more than one and fewer than 30 years, exterior painting where common property has painted surfaces, other items the association maintains, and anything the governing documents require. Items the general budget can reasonably absorb, or that fewer than all owners pay for, stay out.

Each year the board must weigh five factors: the starting reserve balance, each item's remaining life, the end-of-life cost, the current-year inflation rate, and returns on invested reserves. Suppose a 40-lot townhome association owns a clubhouse whose roof has 10 years of life left and will cost $120,000 to replace, and the account holds $30,000. Ignoring inflation and returns, the board needs $90,000 more over 10 years, or $9,000 a year, which works out to $225 per lot annually or $18.75 a month. The inflation factor pushes the replacement estimate up at each annual review, and earnings on the account pull the contribution down. After that review the board may adjust the payment amount and add reserve items it considers appropriate without any owner vote.

Reducing or stopping contributions is hard by design. The board and owners may not eliminate required reserve funding unless the board determines the account will be adequately funded for the following year, or, after the turnover meeting, all owners approve skipping funding for the following year. The association must keep the account separate from other funds, use it only for its stated purposes, and may not refund it to a seller or departing owner. For condominiums with declarations first recorded on or after January 1, 2026, reserves also pay for the first of the two moisture-intrusion inspections HB 3746 now requires; the 2026 changes section below covers the schedule.

How to dispute an HOA decision in Oregon

Escalation runs from the board's own hearing to a statutory dispute-resolution offer to court, and the order matters because SB 1551 now penalizes skipping the middle step. Work through it in sequence:

1. Use the hearing. A fine is invalid without written notice and an opportunity to be heard, so put your objection in writing, attend, and ask the board to confirm which schedule or resolution the fine rests on and when it was delivered to every lot or unit.
2. Request the records. Ask in writing for the fine schedule, the board minutes approving the resolution, the current budget, and the reserve study; the statutory response deadline covered above applies to the core documents. In a planned community, ORS 94.780 lets you sue for actual damages and attorney fees if the board refuses, within one year of discovering the violation.
3. Make or await the dispute-resolution offer. Before either side files suit or an administrative proceeding, ORS 94.630(4) and ORS 100.405(11), as amended by SB 1551, require the initiating party to offer in writing, by hand delivery or certified mail with return receipt, to use a county dispute-resolution program that substantially complies with the ORS 36.175 standards. The other side has 10 days after receipt to accept; if it does, and the process is not complete within 30 days after the original offer, the initiating party may file anyway. The requirement does not apply where delay would cause irreparable harm, and it does not apply to suits collecting ordinary assessments, but it does apply to collecting fines. If a qualifying program exists and the filing party skipped the offer, you can move for a 30-day stay during which both sides must participate; a final judgment cannot be set aside afterward on that ground alone.

4. Pick the court. A money claim of $750 or less must go to small claims under ORS 46.405(2), and claims up to $10,000 may, whether you are suing the association for damages or it is suing you for assessments or fines.

   Small claims cannot issue an injunction or declaratory judgment, so a fight over whether a CC&R applies belongs in circuit court. Attorneys appear in small claims only with the judge's consent, and Oregon State Bar UPL Advisory Opinion No. 2013-02 indicates an association president or officer may represent the entity there.

   In circuit court, ORS 94.719 and ORS 100.470 give the prevailing party attorney fees in suits to collect assessments or enforce the governing documents. SB 484, which would have raised the small-claims ceiling to $20,000 in 2025, did not pass.

Three agencies take specific complaints, none of them about governance.

BOLI handles housing discrimination by an association based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, familial status, source of income, disability, gender identity, or domestic violence survivor status, and denials of reasonable disability modifications. File through the BOLI housing questionnaire or call 971-245-3844, free, no attorney required. BOLI does not consider a complaint filed until it receives your signed version.

The Oregon Department of Justice takes consumer complaints about deceptive conduct by an association, manager, or collection agent and debt-collection complaints under ORS chapter 646 at 1-877-877-9392 or through its online consumer complaint form. Its dispute resolution is voluntary, it cannot compel the association to act, and filing does not extend any legal deadline, though the Attorney General can seek penalties up to $25,000 per violation in cases of broader harm.

The Oregon Real Estate Agency, at (503) 378-4170 or orea.info@rea.oregon.gov, handles condominium filings and disclaims jurisdiction over association disputes.

Recent changes and 2026 updates for Oregon associations

Two enacted laws changed association practice in 2026: HB 3746, operative January 1, and SB 1551, enacted in the 2026 regular session. The table covers every bill since 2023 that amended ORS chapters 94 or 100 with owner-facing effect:

• Bill | Session law | ORS sections amended | Operative date
• HB 3395 | Oregon Laws 2023, chapter 223 | 94.550, 100.022, 100.105, 100.110, 100.115 | January 1, 2024
• HB 3746 | Oregon Laws 2025, chapter 578 | 94.662, 100.115, 100.210, 100.417, 100.490, 100.680, new section in chapter 100 | January 1, 2026
• HB 3144 | Oregon Laws 2025, chapter 274 | 94.776 | January 1, 2027
• SB 1551 | Oregon Laws 2026, chapter 86 | 94.630(4), 100.405(11) | 91st day after the 2026 session adjourned

HB 3746 is the construction-defect reform package, and most of it applies only to condominiums with declarations first recorded on or after January 1, 2026. For those projects the statute of limitations for certain construction-defect tort claims under ORS 100.417 drops from ten years to seven, with a one-year extension for late discovery.

The board must commission two independent moisture-intrusion inspections, one before the end of year two after substantial completion, paid from reserves, and another before the end of year six. Turnover materials must include the results and the inspector's name.

The same bill added the 10-day pre-litigation notice to owners, the director-removal procedure, and the no-control-reserved turnover deadline described earlier. It also amended ORS 100.210 to address turnover meetings where owners present fall short of quorum or fail to elect enough directors.

SB 1551 wrote the pre-suit dispute-resolution offer, its 10-day acceptance window, and its 30-day completion period into both chapters, along with the exclusion for routine assessment collection and the carve-back for fines. HB 3395, effective in 2024, also barred public bodies from prohibiting or restricting condominium ownership under ORS 100.022 and extended to December 31, 2024 the deadline for communities formed before September 1, 2021 to remove discriminatory provisions. HB 3144's ORS 94.776 amendment on manufactured dwellings and prefabricated ADUs does not bite until governing documents are adopted or amended on or after January 1, 2027. The 2025 amendment tables also list changes to ORS 94.779 (HB 2464) and ORS 94.881 (SB 166); the enrolled bills carry the operative text. The 2024 session enacted no amendments to the governing provisions of either chapter.

Two bills that investors watched did not pass. HB 3545 (2025) and HB 4064 (2026) would each have amended ORS 94.709 and ORS 100.450 to set assessment-accrual and lien rules for properties deeded to a county in tax foreclosure; HB 4064 failed on March 6, 2026. The published statutes remain the 2025 Edition, which incorporates enactments through the 2025 regular session; the 2026 changes appear in the 2027 Edition.

FAQ

These answers cover the four practical questions owners ask most often: agency oversight, the difference between the two governing chapters, pre-suit dispute resolution, and records deadlines.

Does any Oregon state agency oversee HOAs?

No agency supervises association governance, elections, assessments, or CC&R enforcement, and Oregon has no HOA ombudsman. The Oregon Real Estate Agency approves condominium declarations and collects annual reports from condominium unit owners associations but says on its own consumer page that it does not regulate HOAs or condo owner associations. BOLI accepts discrimination and disability-modification complaints under ORS chapter 659A, and the Department of Justice accepts complaints about deceptive conduct and unlawful debt collection.

What is the difference between ORS 94 and ORS 100?

ORS chapter 94 governs planned communities, where you own a lot and the association owns the common property; ORS chapter 100 governs condominiums, where you own a unit and a share of the common elements. The mechanics for notice, quorum, fines, and records are nearly identical. Chapter 100 alone caps how long a developer can control the board, lets an association lien leapfrog a first mortgage after lender notice, exempts one- and two-unit condominiums from reserve rules, and requires filings with the Real Estate Agency before the association can sue over assessments.

Do I have to mediate before suing my HOA in Oregon?

You must offer to, and so must the association before it sues you over anything other than ordinary assessment collection. Since SB 1551, ORS 94.630(4) and ORS 100.405(11) require a written offer by hand delivery or certified mail to use a qualifying county dispute-resolution program; the other side gets 10 days to accept, and if the process is not finished within 30 days of the offer, the case can proceed. Fine-collection suits are covered; dues-collection suits and cases involving irreparable harm are not.

How quickly must an Oregon HOA respond to a records request?

The association has 10 business days from receiving a written request to furnish the core documents under ORS 94.670(11) or ORS 100.480(11): declaration, bylaws, rules, latest financial statement, current budget, reserve study, and architectural guidelines. Other records carry no numeric deadline and must be reasonably available for inspection. A planned-community owner whose board misses the deadline can sue under ORS 94.780 within one year of discovering the violation.