Mark L. Busch

This article is informational only and is not intended as legal advice.  Always consult with a competent attorney before undertaking any legal action.

Unfortunately, it is not unusual to have someone simply pull into an empty RV space and refuse to pay or leave.  How does a landlord best deal with this situation?

Since there is no rental agreement and the landlord (presumably) has not accepted any rent or other payments, the person is technically a “squatter.”  Under Oregon law, a “squatter” means a person occupying a dwelling unit who is not so entitled under a rental agreement.  The “dwelling unit” in this case is the RV space.  Occupancy by a squatter is not governed by the usual landlord-tenant laws under ORS Chapter 90.

This article is informational only and is not intended as legal advice.  Always consult with a competent attorney before undertaking any legal action.

On January 1, 2024, Oregon House Bill 2634 went into effect.  HB 2634 contained some important changes to the laws governing RV parks and RV tenants.

First, HB 2634 cleared up an ambiguity regarding which landlord-tenant laws apply to RV tenants.  Even if an RV is located in a manufactured home park, the laws covering RV tenants are the same laws that cover tenants living in apartments, duplexes, single-family home

rentals, etc.  The specialized set of laws covering tenants who own their homes and rent spaces in manufactured home parks do NOT apply to RV tenants.

Question:  We have a couple living in a nice RV in our park on a month-to-month rental agreement.  They have been here for about two years, are retired, and have never had trouble paying the rent.  To make a long story short, we refused their rent earlier this year in January, February and March until we resolved a dispute with them regarding their dogs.  When we asked them to pay that rent, they refused because by then the statewide COVID-19 eviction moratorium had gone into effect.  Can we evict them for not paying pre-COVID rent that they still owe?

Question:  A man has set up a tent on one of our park’s RV spaces, with lot of garbage around the space.  He did not sign any agreement – he just showed up one day.  How does the landlord best deal with this situation?

Question:  A month-to-month resident in our RV Park (on MHCO Form 80 - RV Agreement) is causing numerous problems for other RV residents.  In one case he was verbally abusive to several children – a restraining order was issued and subsequently violated.  What options do we have as the landlord to evict this tenant?  

Question:  Our county has entered Phase 2 of the reopening procedures for COVID-19.  While we have kept the park restrooms, showers and laundry room open during the state-wide shutdown, we have kept other park facilities closed.  We are still reluctant to open our swimming pool, small indoor rec center, and playground.  What are we required to open and how do we safely do it?

Question:  We have residents in our RV park who seem to be blatantly violating the governor’s COVID-19 emergency stay-at-home order.  Some residents have outside family members or guests come by regularly, while a few other residents get together on their spaces to just “hang out” in the evenings. This has caused some concern in the park, so what can or should we do?

Question:  We want to raise rent for our RV tenants because we have not raised the rent in over two years.  We know there are new rules, but what are they?

The 2019 Oregon Legislature made sweeping changes to the state’s landlord-tenant laws. None will have more impact than Senate Bill 608 (SB 608), which went into effect on February 28, 2019. SB 608 made two significant alterations to Oregon law: (1) After the first year of occupancy in a month-to-month or fixed-term tenancy, landlords are severely limited in their ability to evict tenants, and (2) landlords with month-to-month or fixed-term tenancies are now limited by rent control in their ability to increase rent for an existing tenancy. (NOTE: The cities of Portland, Milwaukie, and Bend have additional restrictions on landlords, and different laws apply to manufactured home and floating home tenants.)