Rental Owners Association (ROA) in Lane County
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April NEWS UPDATE from your ROA President Tia Politi

I keep getting calls from members who are letting their renters fall further and further behind on payments or accepting partial payments with the misguided notion that they’re “working with them.” No, you’re creating waiver - ORS 90.412, 90.414, 90.417 - and not helping them by not acting. Remember, there’s rent assistance money out there and the agencies will work more quickly if the tenant is under threat of eviction, so stop procrastinating, serve notice, and take them to court immediately unless you have been assured their application is approved and the money is on its way.

I hope you were able to attend the in-person General Meeting where attorney Chris Bevans of Umbrella Properties spoke in detail about Waiver. If you have created waiver by accepting behavior outside the bounds of the rental agreement or by not acting timely, you can cure the Waiver with a Notice of Change in Terms – ORHA form #O6. Provide a statement that you are reverting to the original terms and conditions of the rental agreement and provide an effective date of the change no less than 33 days later. Remember, you must act when you become aware of a breach. Don’t be an ostrich.

April 24, 2024, is Administrative Professionals Day. Please take a moment to show some love and appreciation to our amazing staff at Lane ROA. Office Manager Terie’ Stephenson has been with us more than 10 years; Administrative Assistant Loretta Bondioli has been with us more than seven years! We are beyond fortunate to have dedicated staff to assist our members and the board. No business can run without staff and our non-profit is no exception. We all like to be acknowledged for our contributions, thank you for acknowledging theirs.

Bylaws changes

A bylaws subcommittee has been reviewing our bylaws and we will be asking you to vote on those changes at the June Annual Meeting as well as ratifying several board members. More info to come!

April Showers, not only brings us May flowers, but it brings some great webinar classes that will keep you in-the-know!  Lane ROA’s listing of classes is on the main page of the website (bookmark our website: www.laneroa.com) and events are always listed on the back cover of the Bulletins.  Webinar classes run on Thursday’s, from 11am to 1pm.  Visit: www.laneroa.com/events to register!

The Lane ROA website is a great tool for landlords.  When you sign in to the website with the email you provided the office with, it not only contains all the upcoming events and classes, it’s a members-only sections where you can look up past bulletins, purchase recordings of classes, buy books, search for all of Tia’s latest articles, edit your contact information and view and print a pdf version of your new member card that contains the Helpline #, your Discount Code to buy forms, and your Member #.  You can even renew your membership! I hope you all use this valuable tool.

Happy Spring!

                              

March NEWS UPDATE from your ROA President

Goodbye, Pam Dietz

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to give a big Thank You to realtor Pam Dietz for her service to the Lane ROA Board of Directors. Pam served our board for more than five years, but other life commitments are pulling her away for now. We appreciate your service, Pam, and hope you can continue to provide great insights on the local real estate market for our bulletin as time permits.

Welcome, James Gardner

I’m pleased to announce that Eugene real estate attorney James Gardner was elected to serve on the board at the February board meeting. He received his B.A. in 2004 and J.D. in 2008, both from the University of Oregon, has practiced law in Eugene for more than 13 years and is licensed to practice law in the states of Oregon and Idaho. James is also an U.S. Army veteran of Iraq, Judge Advocate, and like his brother Allen a second-generation attorney in Eugene, where his family has practiced law since 1959. He has a multitude of experience in various areas of the law including as a civil litigator, prosecutor, public defender, and United States Army Judge Advocate.

In 2016, James founded the Veterans Defense Resource Center in Eugene, Oregon to assist Veteran defendants and educate defense attorneys statewide. James also earned his L.L.M. in 2018 from the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School. He continues to serve our country in the National Guard. James primary areas of practice and specialties are landlord-tenant, estate planning, business, and real estate as a partner in the law firm of Gardner, Beckley, Meadows.

James is the proud dad of two lovely daughters and in his spare time enjoys hunting, fishing, golfing, and travel, which includes long solo motorcycle rides to get away from it all! Welcome, James, we’re glad to have you and appreciate your involvement.

Eugene Rental Housing Code

I hope you Eugene landlords took the time to provide feedback to the Eugene City Manager’s interpretive rules for Ordinance 20694. It’s making for much more complicated scenarios for you who are subject to the code. Before you do something that could result in painful consequences, please call the Helpline to discuss.

I keep hearing more from landlords getting out of the Eugene market, what a surprise (insert sarcastic tone here), but there are a lot of apartment units coming online, just fewer single home options for renters and maybe that’s their purpose, who knows? They operate in an echo chamber that only hears the voices of tenant advocates, not listening to reasoned arguments from the other side to create balance and not discourage the biggest contingent of small business owners in the city. Oh well, there’s lots of other places to invest in.

If you are holding rental units in Eugene and don’t have plans to sell, just screen very well and don’t rent to someone who wants a second chance or because you’re trying to be nice or feel sorry for them. You can’t afford to be a second-chance landlord in Eugene anymore. You must do everything perfectly to avoid problems.

You also cannot afford to be an accidental landlord in Eugene. Unless you’re holding properties that are dedicated rentals, if you may want to do something else with a property in the future, consider a week-to-week tenancy which are exempt from the rules (but only if you claim your exemption timely and properly in accordance with the new rules, which are quite complex).

You can also claim exemptions as allowed under the code under specific circumstances and again, only by claiming the exemption timely and properly. If the rules pass as indicated in the draft, we will need to make some changes to the Eugene Landlord Exemption Notification – ORHA form # MO6EU and the Eugene Lease Expiration Required Disclosure – ORHA form #MO8EU, so again, call before you send things out. At the time I’m writing this I have no idea whether all the rules will pass as written, so proceed with caution.

The month of March will be ROA’s 1^st in-person General Meeting. We will be able to hold the meeting at Tall Firs, once known as Along Came Trudy, which has since sold and is now operated by new management - and it will include a dinner buffet and plenty of parking.  Pre-registration is required a week in advance for a buffet dinner count – payment not accepted at the door. I’m looking forward to seeing you in-person again!

Regarding ROA classes:  In the month of January, I held four sessions of an updated Landlord Boot Camp.  If  you were not able to partake, the ROA office has all four sessions available now on the website, to purchase as recording links – very easy to watch in your own time:  www.laneroa.com/store.

I begin on March 7th with “The Eviction Process – Taking Back Possession of Your Property (FED’s)”.  March 14^th is “The Small Claims Process – Getting Paid!”, and on March 21^st I will be instructing “Trial Prep”.  All three of the classes are webinars, held from 11am to 1pm on Thursday’s.

I encourage you to read all my latest articles.  Log into the website, www.laneroa.com,  click on the MEMBER tab, then do a search with key words on what the article is about to find and view them.  Example: “Serve it Right.”

Did you know…March 29^th is National Mom and Pop Business Owner’s Day
 - a day for celebrating the small businesses that support our economy the world over. Originally a day commemorated in the US, it’s a great day to support your local family-owned businesses or shout out about them on social media.

A Message from Tia Politi, Lane ROA President: February 2024

Eugene Update

Reminder Eugene landlords with leases expiring in the first year of occupancy. You must serve ORHA form #M08EU at least 90 days prior to the expiration of the lease or potentially suffer a five-months’ rent penalty!!! I recommend that you provide it at the time of move in so you don’t forget. And remember, this only applies to leases of less than a year. If you create a lease of more than one year, there is no need to serve the notice.

Spread the Word
Get the word out to other landlords who may not be a part of Lane ROA and remember you get $20 off your next renewal when you refer a new member. Realtors we offer you a one-year membership gift certificate that you can give as a gift to a new investor/owner for only $99.

Helpline Woes
I staff five landlord helplines which can get frustrating at times, and lately I think I’ve been letting it show. Mostly to those with sad tales of woe brought on by not doing things properly, but also those who are too busy to get educated. In my experience, virtually all bad situations in landlord v. tenant are caused by the landlord’s willful ignorance, impatience, laziness, and sometimes almost pathological frugality.

If you’re ignorant of proper procedures and rental housing law, you will pay. If you’re impatient to get your place rented and don’t screen or handle move in properly, you will pay. If you’re too lazy to inspect or enforce the terms of the rental agreement, you will pay. If you’re too cheap to use proper forms or properly maintain your rental, you will pay. And you should.

My husband says I’m mean (sort of in jest when we’re playing cards) and he’s probably right. But it’s the best people in my life who have had the guts to tell me the hard truths that really cared about me. If you feel these comments apply to you, I hope you will take them in the spirit I intend – that is, I wish only for your long-term success. If you need a finger wag, I’m going to give it to you, but only because I care.

And I don’t say these things because I don’t want you to call, but the landlord helpline is no substitute for in-depth training. Our clacsses are many and only two hours per session. Grab your lunch and carve out some time, your success depends on it!

Please remember, Lane ROA classes are always listed on the back cover of this bulletin, and by the time you read this bulletin, the final Landlord Boot Camp Session may be over, so if you did not register for Sessions 1 through 4 of the UPDATED Landlord Boot Camp, each the four recordings will be for sale in the store at www.laneroa.com/store.  I also highly recommend you join me for February’s webinar classes: Tenant Screening, The Move-in Process (Are you making the $6,000 Mistake?), Tenant Non-compliance & Tenancy Termination, and The Move-out Process.

I wish you long-term success.

Attention Eugene Landlords...
Phase 2 of Eugene’s renter protection ordinance goes into effect on August 25^th, 2023, so if you intend and are eligible to issue a 30-day ‘no cause’ termination notice, a 30-day notice of non-renewal [both within the first year of occupancy] or a 90-day termination notice for qualifying landlord reason and can issue that notice before 8/25/23, you won’t have to pay the city’s relocation assistance required by that new ordinance (if you own 4+ units, you’ll still have to pay one month’s rent with your 90-day notice). From 8/25 on, be prepared to pay relocation assistance equal to two months’ rent.

Renter Protections Phases - Ordinance AIS

Phase 1 of Eugene's New Housing Ordinance PASSED
Signed July 13th and went into effect August 13th, 2022
Click on this link to read Phase 1: Phase 1 - City Council Ordinance Passed 7-13-22

Phase 2 of Eugene's New Housing Ordinance PASSED
Click on this link to read about Phase 2: Mind your Business - Eugene Code Regulations phase II

Working on Your TAXES???

94.8% of your 2023 ROA Regular Membership Dues
ARE Tax Deductible!

A portion of your ROA 'Regular' Membership Dues
are sent to ORHA to support Lobbying on YOUR behalf
through the Oregon Rental Housing Association (ORHA)

PURCHASING FORMS...
Members and Non-members can purchase blank hard copies of ORHA forms
at the Lane ROA office (4217 Main St, Suite E, Springfield, OR)

or
Members and Non-members can purchase forms ONLINE
at the Forms Store through ORHA at www.oregonrentalhousing.com
 ~ then click on the Forms Store tab
Note: Lane ROA Members, your discount code to purchase online ORHA forms at a discount is always listed on page 4 in each bulletin.

ATTENTION:  ORHA has a new numbering system.
Please read:  ORHA New Numbers Explained

 
The City of Eugene Housing Code FORMS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!

Unit Condition Form:
https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/67411/Renter-Protections-Move-In-Move-Out-Checklist_92022?bidId=

 The Tenant Education Information Form you’re required to distribute can be found at:
https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/67409/Tenant-Education-Information-Flyer_92022?bidId=

 The Rental History Form you’re required to give can be found at:
https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/67410/Tenant-Reference-Form_92022?bidId=

For more information visit EugeneRentalCode.org

Find more information about the Renter Protections Process on this webpage:
  https://www.eugene-or.gov/4885/Renter-Protections-Process

To be included in the Renter Protection interested parties email list, please email renterprotections@eugene-or.gov