✓ Law Verified August 2026
An Oregon eviction record can block apartment applications for years — often regardless of how the case actually ended. This guide answers the question directly for Oregon: whether a sealing law exists here, exactly how to use it if it does, and the real alternatives if it does not. Verified against official Oregon sources as of August 2026.
In This Oregon Guide:
How the Oregon Sealing Law Works
| The law | ORS 105.163 (Setting aside judgment upon motion of tenant), enacted by Senate Bill 873 (2019), effective January 1, 2020; plus ORS 105.164 (automatic annual court-initiated set-asides), enacted by House Bill 2001 (2023), signed March 29, 2023, with the Oregon Judicial Department required to seal the first group of cases by December 31, 2024 |
| Who qualifies | Residential eviction (FED) defendants in 3 situations under ORS 105.163: (1) a judgment of restitution was entered against you, you have satisfied any money award in that judgment, and at least 5 years have passed from the date of the judgment; (2) the judgment was a stipulated judgment (an agreement between you and the landlord) and you complied with the terms of the agreement and satisfied any money award; or (3) the case was dismissed or a judgment was entered in your favor (tenant won). For the automatic clearing under ORS 105.164, the Oregon Judicial Department reviews residential eviction cases with a judgment entered on or after January 1, 2014, where there was no money award or the money award was satisfied, discharged or expired, and either 5 years have passed since a judgment of restitution or 12 months have passed since a stipulated judgment. Commercial evictions do not qualify. |
| Automatic or petition | BOTH. Since December 2024 Oregon circuit courts run an automatic, court-initiated clearing once per year, in December, under ORS 105.164 — the tenant files nothing and pays nothing. Court staff reviewed roughly 160,000 eviction cases back to 2014; more than 47,000 records had been sealed as of January 2025, with about 50,000 more still under review. You do not have to wait for the annual sweep: under ORS 105.163 you may file your own motion (petition) at any time you meet the criteria, which is usually faster and is the only route if the court’s automatic review missed your case or if the court does not know your money award was paid. Important: the court will not clear a judgment with an unpaid money award, so if you have paid your landlord you may need to tell the court so the payment is on record. |
| Waiting period | 5 years from the date of a judgment of restitution entered against you (money award must also be satisfied). No waiting period if the case was dismissed or judgment was entered in your favor — you may move immediately. For a stipulated judgment under ORS 105.163 there is no fixed waiting period, only that you complied with the agreement and satisfied any money award; the automatic annual clearing under ORS 105.164 applies 12 months after a stipulated judgment. |
| Cost | 0 — ORS 105.163 states the court may not charge a filing fee for a motion filed under that section. The automatic annual clearing under ORS 105.164 is also free. |
Step by Step: Sealing Your Oregon Eviction Record
File in the circuit court in the county where the eviction judgment was entered — the same court and same case number. Use the Oregon Judicial Department official statewide form “FED — Motion to Set Aside” (Motion and Declaration to Set Aside Judgment and Seal Record), available at courts.oregon.gov Forms Center under Eviction Set Asides, along with the proposed Order.
Fill in the case number, state which of the 3 grounds applies (5 years plus money award satisfied; stipulated judgment complied with; or dismissal/judgment in your favor), sign the declaration under penalty of perjury, attach proof that any money award was paid (receipts, satisfaction of judgment, landlord letter, payoff record), file it with the clerk, and serve a copy on the landlord or the landlord’s attorney.
The statute says the court shall grant the motion if it finds the criteria are met; many motions are decided on the paperwork, but check with your court — some judges set a short hearing, and the landlord may respond. If the court grants it, the judgment is set aside and the official record of the case is sealed.
What sealing actually does: Once the court enters the order, the judgment is deemed not to have been entered and you may answer accordingly any question about it — meaning you may lawfully answer “no” when a landlord or rental application asks whether you have been evicted or had an eviction judgment.
The court file is sealed: it is no longer a public record, so it should not appear in Oregon Judicial Department public case searches (OJCIN/Oregon eCourt) and should not be picked up by tenant screening companies, background check companies or new landlords who search court records going forward.
Sealing does not by itself erase a copy a screening company already collected before the sealing, and it does not erase a private debt or collection account — if a debt remains unpaid it may still be reported separately as a collection. Court staff and the parties can still access the sealed file in limited circumstances, and sealing does not undo a completed move-out.
Why An Oregon Eviction Record Follows You — and For How Long
An eviction case becomes a public court record the day it is filed — even if you won, even if it was dismissed, even if you moved out voluntarily before the hearing. Tenant screening companies copy these records in bulk and resell them to landlords, which is how an Oregon eviction record from years ago can quietly sink a rental application today.
Under federal reporting rules these records generally stop appearing on screening reports after seven years, but the public court file itself can remain searchable far longer unless it is sealed.
That is why the filing itself, not just the outcome, is what matters — and why sealing laws are spreading state by state. Most landlords never read the court file; they read the one-line summary a screening company sells them. Getting the Oregon eviction record sealed, corrected, or accurately described is what changes that one line.
Check Your Oregon Eviction Record First
Before filing anything, find out what your Oregon eviction record really looks like to a landlord. Search the online case index for the court where the eviction was filed, and request your file from the major tenant screening companies — you are entitled to it.
Tenants are often surprised in both directions: some discover the case they worry about was never reported, others find a case they had forgotten, or one that is not even theirs.
Knowing exactly what appears, and how it is described, tells you whether to pursue sealing, a dispute, or both.
Screening reports are also where errors live. A dismissed case reported as an eviction, an old address matched to the wrong person, or a paid judgment still shown as owing are all fixable — and fixing the report is sometimes faster than any court process in Oregon.
Your Federal Rights Against Tenant Screening Companies
Tenant screening companies are consumer reporting agencies under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. 1681 and following, so a wrong, outdated or sealed eviction on your report can be disputed.
Steps many tenants can take: (1) If you were denied housing, charged a higher deposit or given worse terms because of a screening report, the landlord must give you an adverse action notice naming the screening company — you then have the right to a free copy of that report, and you may request it within 60 days of the notice.
📨 Get Free Tenant Rights Guides Alerts
Free · No spam · Unsubscribe anytime
You are also entitled to one free file disclosure every 12 months from each nationwide specialty screening agency.
(2) Send a written dispute to the screening company identifying each wrong item and enclosing proof — the set-aside/sealing order, a dismissal, a satisfaction of judgment, or the docket showing the case was not against you. Send it by certified mail and keep copies.
(3) The company must reinvestigate within 30 days (extended to 45 days if you send extra documents during the 30 days), and must delete or correct information that is inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable.
It must give you the written results within 5 business days of finishing. (4) Also dispute directly with the furnisher (a court records vendor or debt collector) if one supplied the item. (5) Ask the company to send the corrected report to anyone who received it in the last 2 years for employment purposes or the last 6 months for other purposes.
(6) A non-bankruptcy adverse item such as a civil judgment or collection generally cannot be reported after 7 years.
(7) If the company will not fix a verified error, you may add a 100-word statement to your file and you may be able to sue under the FCRA; you can also complain to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint and to the Oregon Department of Justice at justice.oregon.gov.
Under Oregon law a screening report obtained through the eviction record process should not include a sealed case — if it does, that is the strongest possible dispute exhibit.
Timing matters more than tenants expect. If you are apartment-hunting right now, start the screening-report disputes today — they run on federal deadlines and cost nothing — while any Oregon court process moves in parallel. If the move is months away, that is enough time for most sealing petitions, vacated judgments, or corrected reports to finish before a landlord ever pulls your Oregon eviction record.
Worth watching in Oregon: Oregon’s automatic clearing under ORS 105.164 runs statewide once per year in December, so a case that becomes eligible in January waits until the following December unless you file your own free motion under ORS 105.163.
The 2023 rollout was retroactive only to judgments entered on or after January 1, 2014 — older judgments are not part of the automatic sweep, though you may still file a motion. No county pilot program is required; this is a statewide circuit court program.
As of the 2026 regular session no pending bill expanding eviction record sealing has been verified — UNVERIFIED for any 2026 sealing bill; the 2026 landlord-tenant change getting attention is HB 4123 (tenant privacy and confidential information rules added to ORS chapter 90, with statutory damages of twice the monthly rent), which is not a sealing bill.
Earlier SB 799 (2023) was introduced on related eviction record issues but the enacted vehicle was HB 2001 (2023).
Your landlord’s insurance won’t cover your stuff
Renters insurance protects your belongings for a few dollars a month.
You May Also Like
Official Oregon Sources & Resources
- Oregon Courts Self-Help: courts.oregon.gov/forms/pages/evictionsetasides.aspx
- Oregon Statute: oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors105.html
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
- Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex
Taking Control of Your Oregon Eviction Record
An Oregon eviction record is not a life sentence — it is a document, and documents can be sealed, corrected, or accurately explained. The tenants who struggle longest are usually the ones who never look at what their Oregon eviction record actually says, so start by pulling the court file and your screening reports.
Whether Oregon offers sealing or only the federal dispute route, acting on the Oregon eviction record beats hoping landlords will not check — they almost always do. A short, honest cover letter to a prospective landlord explaining the circumstances can also do real work while the record process runs.
This Oregon eviction record guide was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Sealing laws are changing fast — new states pass them every year, so re-check before relying on this page.
More Oregon Tenant Rights Guides
- Oregon Tenant Rights
- Oregon Eviction Process
- Oregon Security Deposit Law
- Oregon Rent Increase Laws
- Oregon Repairs & Habitability
- Breaking a Lease in Oregon
- Eviction Timeline Calculator
- All 50 States
Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.