ORS 90.505–90.850 · Facility common areas & amenities
Amenities & Common Areas: Access, Maintenance, and Fair Charges
Oregon law protects your right to use facility common areas for everyday living and lawful organizing—and requires landlords to keep those shared spaces safe and usable. Know what management must maintain, how you may use clubhouses and recreational areas, and which amenity-related deposits or fees are allowed.
Last updated: 2025/2026 · Facility tenancies (ORS 90.505–90.850) · Educational guide only
Not legal advice. OSTA is educational advocacy, not a law firm. This page is general information for Oregon manufactured dwelling park and marina tenancies — you own the home and rent the space (ORS 90.505–90.850). It does not apply to apartment or other standard ORS 90.100–90.465 rentals. It is not legal advice. Talk with an attorney about your situation.
Statutory notice & legal purpose
OSTA provides educational and advocacy information, not formal legal advice. Facility rules under ORS Chapter 90 can turn on your rental agreement and local facts. Consult qualified legal counsel or legal aid before serving notices or filing claims.
ORS 90.730 statutory framework
What Oregon law means by facility common areas
Under ORS 90.730, facility common areas are areas under the landlord’s control that are held out for the general use of tenants—not your private home, and not only the dirt under your space. If management advertises or holds out an amenity for residents, habitability and access rules follow that shared-use character.
Shared buildings & indoor spaces
Clubhouse, community kitchen, laundry facilities, mail rooms, indoor recreation halls, and management office areas normally open to residents.
Baseline: cleanliness, safety, and working systems the landlord controls.
Shared outdoor amenities
Pool, sport courts, playgrounds, picnic shelters, walking paths, landscaping, guest parking, community roadways, and entry areas held out for residents.
Baseline: safe surfaces, hazard control, and usable grounds.
Services listed up front
ORS 90.510 requires the statement of policy and rental materials to state facilities provided and who furnishes and pays for utilities available at the facility.
Disclosure: written terms before or at the start of tenancy.
Protected assembly & organizing
Access rights: using common areas & meeting there
ORS 90.528 and ORS 90.750 protect ordinary amenity use and lawful tenant association activity in common and recreational areas.
Pillar 1 · ORS 90.528(3)
Use for lawful tenant activities
A landlord may not prohibit use of a common area or facility when the purpose is to prevent tenant association meetings, organizing meetings, or other lawful tenant activities.
Key rule: Closing a clubhouse to block organizing is unlawful.
Pillar 2 · ORS 90.750(1)–(2)
Peaceable assembly (8 a.m.–10 p.m.)
Residents may peaceably assemble in common or recreational areas for lawful purposes at reasonable times. Daily hours between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. are expressly reasonable. Management may set reasonable place, scheduling, occupancy, and utility rules—not a total ban.
Key rule: A booking calendar is fine; a blanket ban is not.
Pillar 3 · ORS 90.750(3)–(5)
Canvassing & association notices
Facility rules may not prohibit canvassing other residents for association purposes (door-to-door contact, notices, newsletters). Landlords need not allow general money solicitation; collecting delinquent association dues from existing members is treated differently.
Key rule: Organizing communication is protected.
Pillar 4 · ORS 90.740(4)(a)
Reasonable tenant conduct
Except as the rental agreement provides, tenants must use facility common areas in a reasonable manner for their intended purposes and must not disturb neighbors’ peaceful enjoyment.
Key rule: Access is a right; misuse remains a tenant obligation.
ORS 90.528 · Common-area deposits
Common-area deposits: what landlords may and cannot require
Oregon draws a clear line between reasonable cleaning deposits and unlawful financial gatekeeping for amenity use.
Permitted
Reasonable use deposits
A landlord who rents a manufactured dwelling space may require a deposit for use of common areas or facilities. The amount must be reasonably based on potential cleaning cost or other costs associated with that use. Conditions for return must be stated in writing and made available to the tenant(s) who paid it.
Strictly prohibited
No bond or insurance gatekeeping
ORS 90.528(2): No tenant may be required to acquire a bond or insurance policy as a precondition for using common areas or facilities. Punitive reservation schemes designed to stop gatherings raise the same red flag.
Maintenance & habitability
Landlord duty to keep common areas habitable
ORS 90.730 requires the landlord to maintain rented spaces, vacant spaces, and facility common areas in a habitable condition. The landlord does not have a duty under this section to maintain your manufactured dwelling or floating home itself.
A facility common area is unhabitable if it substantially lacks:
- Buildings, grounds, and appurtenances kept safe for normal and reasonably foreseeable uses—clean, sanitary, and free from debris, filth, rubbish, garbage, rodents, and vermin.
- Safety from fire hazards.
- Trees, shrubbery, and grass maintained in a safe manner.
- Where the landlord supplies (or must supply) water, sewage, or drainage systems to a common area—those systems kept in good working order to the extent the landlord controls them.
- Adequate garbage/rubbish receptacles in clean condition and good repair at the start of the tenancy, plus ongoing receptacles and removal (unless a local ordinance or written agreement says otherwise).
Vacant spaces (ORS 90.730(5))
Vacant spaces in the facility must also be kept safe from fire or injury hazards—part of overall facility grounds safety that can affect neighboring tenancies.
Tenant counterpart (ORS 90.740) — amenities focus
- Dispose of garbage and waste in a clean, safe, legal manner—not dumped in common areas.
- Do not deliberately or negligently damage facility property (other than your own home).
- Use common areas reasonably and respect neighbors’ peaceful enjoyment.
Financial rights & protections
Fees related to common areas: what Oregon allows
Under ORS 90.302, landlords generally may charge only fees the statute allows, and those fees must appear in a written rental agreement. For amenities, focus on 90.528 deposits and the limited noncompliance fees that involve shared premises.
Allowed & structured
- Common-area use deposit (ORS 90.528) — reasonable amount; written return conditions.
- Noncompliance fees (ORS 90.302(3)) — after written warning, for second/later similar violations within one year, including pet/service-animal waste or garbage left in areas other than the dwelling, parking/vehicle misuse on the premises, and smoking in a clearly designated nonsmoking area.
Unlawful / high-risk
- Requiring a bond or insurance policy to use amenities.
- Closing amenities to stop tenant meetings or organizing.
- Invented amenity fees, guest fees, or club dues that are not a 90.528 deposit and not a listed 90.302 fee.
- Treating unpaid amenity or utility/service charges as “rent” for a nonpayment-of-rent eviction.
Facility utilities & services (ORS 90.560–90.564)
When the landlord bills for facility utilities or services (water, sewer, garbage, cable, Internet, and similar), those are utility or service charges—not rent—and must follow the facility billing statutes. For cable, satellite, or Internet, any extra amount is tightly limited under ORS 90.564 and must be separately disclosed; management cannot force a new add-on by terminating a tenancy for refusing that amendment.
Fast reference
Quick “who does what” for common areas
Clubhouse & meeting rooms
Landlord: Landlord: keep structure and systems safe/usable; allow lawful assembly at reasonable times without insurance/bond gatekeeping.
Tenant: Tenant: follow reasonable reservation rules; clean up; do not damage the facility.
Streets, paving & lighting
Landlord: Landlord: keep common roadways and grounds held out for residents safe for foreseeable use.
Tenant: Tenant: follow reasonable parking and vehicle rules on the premises.
Trash & dumpster areas
Landlord: Landlord: provide and maintain adequate receptacles and removal as required by ORS 90.730.
Tenant: Tenant: place waste properly; do not dump prohibited materials in common enclosures.
Vacant spaces & shared grounds
Landlord: Landlord: keep vacant spaces safe from fire/injury hazards; maintain common landscaping safely.
Tenant: Tenant: report hazards in common areas in writing; use grounds reasonably.
Advocacy steps
Documents to review if you face amenity issues
Statement of policy
ORS 90.510 disclosure of services and facilities provided.
Written rules & regs
Pool hours, clubhouse reservations, parking, and guest use rules.
Deposit receipts
Written return conditions for any clubhouse or amenity deposit.
Utility / service bills
Itemized charges to verify facility billing follows ORS 90.560–90.564.
Statutory index
ORS Chapter 90 — 90.510, 90.528, 90.302, 90.560–90.564, 90.730, 90.740, 90.750.
Is management locking you out of amenities—or charging illegal fees?
If the clubhouse is closed to stop meetings, if you are told you must buy insurance to use the pool, or if amenity fees appear with no statutory basis, contact OSTA for advocacy guidance. Tenant inquiries are confidential.
OSTA is a 501(c)(3) educational and advocacy nonprofit. We do not provide courtroom representation. If you have been served with a formal eviction summons, contact Legal Aid Services of Oregon or the Oregon State Bar.
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