Question. We had a situation come up recently that we would like your opinion on. With this particular lease, rent is due on the 1st and a late fee is assessed if not received by midnight of the 5th. We send 72-hour notices on the 8th of the month at the earliest. In this situation, a tenant has purposely over-paid rent on a number of payments in order to build up a credit balance with us. He has accrued several late fees that have been assessed due to late payments after the 5th of the month - but before a 72 hour notice is ever sent. We recently deducted the accrued late fees from the credit balance he had built up. Because there was still a credit balance showing on his account after deducting the late fees, we did not send him any further notices about the late fees being assessed or deducted. He is now claiming that it was illegal to deduct the late fees from the credit balance without our sending him a notice or invoice. Your thoughts? 

Question. A resident of our community has asked for a list of all the other residents' names and addresses, so that she can contact them to set up a homeowners association. While I don't have an objection to the formation of a tenant association, I am concerned that giving out residents' names and addresses might violate some tenant rights on our part. Can you help?

Question. Our community is relatively small and the spaces are oversized. Large trees are located on many of them. Occasionally, a resident asks us to thin or top some of the trees on their space, because of fear that during high winds they could break, damaging homes and injuring people. I have been under the impression that tree maintenance is a tenant responsibility under Oregon law. If so, what is our liability if tree limbs -- or entire trees - break during bad weather?

Question. As new managers, we are concerned about being able to spot problem issues before they get out of control. What are some of the major management mistakes we should watch out for?

Question. We have just begun managing a 55+ community. However, we are confused about the 80/20 rules and the possibility of losing our 55+ status. What is a safe margin for occupancy limits? And if our community percentage is 85%, are we required to rent the 15% remainder to families with children?

Question: Increasingly some of our residents are bringing only partial rent payments. So how does a partial payment get allocated when some of the payment includes utilities? For example, if the rent is $650 including a certain amount allocated to utilities, how does the landlord handle this? Pay the rent portion and then go after the utility payments via a 30 day notice?

Question. A resident recently moved out of state. The landlord wants to mail a non-payment of rent notice, and would like proof that the notice was received by the resident. Can the landlord mail the notice as a "Certificate of Mailing"?

Question: A landlord recently issued a fine to a resident for not cleaning up his yard. The resident claimed that the landlord could not do this. What does Oregon law say regarding the types of fines a landlord may and may not levy?

Question: A resident wants her son to be her caregiver but lives in a 55 & Older community. The community's minimum second person age is 45, and the son is 38. Can the landlord ask the resident to complete a "Reasonable Accommodation Form"? Does the son have to fill out a resident application?

Question: We have a resident in the park who recently got into a verbal shouting match with another neighbor. The resident was extremely intoxicated at the time and made threats and gestures that were very inappropriate and provocative. There are some residents who want us to immediately issue a 24-hour notice. However, until this incident, the resident has been a good tenant and never caused a problem. How should we handle this? This incident seems entirely out of character for this individual.