What can a landlord do with a tenant’s belongings left behind in Oregon?

In Oregon, before storing, selling or disposing of belongings a tenant leaves behind, a landlord must give written notice setting a contact date at least 5 days after personal delivery or 8 days after mailing, and may sell or dispose of the property if the tenant does not make contact by that date or does not remove it within 15 days after making contact. The procedure applies when the tenancy has ended and the landlord reasonably believes the tenant left the property with no intention of claiming it, when the tenant has been absent continuously for seven days after a court-ordered termination that has not been executed, or when the landlord receives possession from the sheriff. The notice must be personally delivered or sent by first class mail to the premises, to any post-office box actually known to the landlord and to any forwarding address, and must state that the property is considered abandoned, that it is stored at a place of safekeeping, how and by what date to contact the landlord to arrange removal, and that the property may be sold or disposed of if the tenant does not respond or remove it in time. The landlord must store the property in a place of safekeeping with reasonable care, may promptly dispose of rotting food, and is entitled to reasonable or actual storage charges, which may be required before release except when the landlord received possession from the sheriff. The landlord may sell the property, or destroy or otherwise dispose of it if its reasonable current fair market value is $1,000 or less or so low that storage and a public sale would probably cost more than the sale would bring; disposing means throwing it away or giving it to a nonprofit or an unrelated person, and the landlord may not keep it for personal use. From sale proceeds the landlord may deduct the reasonable or actual cost of notice, storage and sale and unpaid rent, and must remit the rest to the tenant with an itemized accounting or, if the tenant cannot be found after due diligence, deposit it with the county treasurer, where proceeds not claimed within three years revert to the county. A landlord who does not comply relieves the tenant of liability for unpaid rent and for damage that was not deliberate, intentional or grossly negligent, and the tenant may recover up to twice the actual damages. This is ORS 90.425.

WhatOregon
Belongings left behindNotice, 5 or 8 days to respond, then 15 days to remove
What the statute requires firstNotice, a waiting period or storage before disposal

What the statute says

“For all other abandoned personal property, including recreational vehicles, not less than five days after personal delivery or eight days after mailing of the notice.”

Quoted word for word from the section’s text.

Source

ORS 90.425

Read the statute in the Oregon Revised Statutes (Oregon State Legislature): oregonlegislature.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 15, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

Seayora keeps a lease’s end date and every notice sent through it, with the date it went out, in the lease record — so the dates a rule like this one counts from are on file rather than remembered.

Guides on this rule

Compare this rule in every state

More Oregon rules

The same question in other states

Related