It’s been a long, hot summer in Portland Oregon and for many people, hot days become all about survival, especially if they don’t have air conditioners in their rental properties.
Under state law (ORS 90.320), landlords in Portland Oregon, and across the state, are not required to provide air conditioning in their rental properties.
Landlords in the PDX area are required to make their rental properties habitable, this means that their rentals must meet basic conditions including being warm, dry, and pest-free.
With Oregon summers only getting hotter, the big question is will more landlords start providing their tenants with air conditioning in their rental properties?
More Portland Oregon Landlords Are Investing In Air Conditioning
Following the record heat that we had in June, more PDX landlords are investing in air conditioning for their properties, especially since they see it as an investment in their properties and their tenants as well.
Could the State of Oregon change the law regarding air conditioning in rental units? Thanks to a recent interview with KATU, State Senator Deb Patterson thinks that the law could be changed in the future.
“I can’t see how it wouldn’t be. It’s just got to be. People have died. We can’t let a policy be in place that doesn’t allow people to protect themselves,” Patterson said.
Yes, there may be pushback from some landlords who are opposed to the idea of providing their tenants with air conditioning in their Portland rental properties but the reality is that this issue does have to be addressed as climate change is only making summers in Oregon warmer.
States like Arizona and Nevada, where extreme summers are expected, have clear language written into their tenant laws on air conditioning. Oregon’s laws, meanwhile, were written decades ago. Climate change means Oregon’s summers are hotter today than they were just 10 or 20 years ago, and the Pacific Northwest is more prone to heat waves that were unheard of in the 20th century.
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