Oregon Eviction, Ejectment, and Squatter Removal: Choosing the Right Procedure
A tenant, holdover tenant, guest, licensee, statutory squatter, or occupant claiming ownership may each require a different notice and a different lawsuit. Calling someone a "squatter" does not make that person one under Oregon law, and an owner who picks the wrong procedure can have the case dismissed and have to start over.
Oregon Laws 2025, chapter 356, effective January 1, 2026, gives owners a new option: a forcible entry and detainer action against a qualifying squatter after 24 hours' written notice. The law helps in true squatter cases. It does not turn every unwanted occupant into a statutory squatter.
FED, Ejectment, and Quiet Title
Three proceedings do most of the work in Oregon possession disputes. Forcible entry and detainer, or FED, is the statutory eviction process, and it reaches tenants, holdover tenants, qualifying squatters, and several other categories the statute identifies. Ejectment, under ORS 105.005, is an action at law: a person who holds a legal estate in the property and a present right to possess it can recover possession, with damages for the withholding, from the person in actual possession. Quiet title, under ORS 105.605, is a suit in equity to resolve competing claims to an interest or estate in land, and by its terms it is available when the property is not in the actual possession of another.
The occupant's status determines which one applies. Owners should settle that question before serving notice or filing suit.
Tenants: Use the FED Process
A tenant occupies a dwelling under a rental agreement. Oregon recognizes oral rental agreements as well as written ones, so the absence of a signed lease does not make an occupant a squatter. Tenants include people who pay rent and occupy residential property week to week, month to month, or for a fixed term. Commercial tenants usually fall within Oregon's FED statutes as well, although the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act does not govern their tenancies.
Before filing an FED action, the landlord must properly terminate the tenancy. The grounds, the notice language, the method of service, and the notice period all depend on the type of tenancy and the reason for termination. Residential cases must comply with ORS chapter 90; commercial and other nonresidential tenancies follow different statutory and contractual rules. Once the tenancy has been validly terminated and the tenant remains, the landlord can seek possession under ORS 105.110 and 105.115. A defective notice can defeat the case even when the landlord had every right to end the tenancy.
Holdover Tenants Are Not Squatters
A holdover tenant remains after the rental agreement expires or after the tenancy has been terminated. Oregon's definition of "squatter" expressly excludes a tenant who holds over as described in ORS 90.427(11). An owner therefore cannot use the 24-hour squatter notice to sidestep the rules governing termination of a tenancy. The landlord must follow the notice and FED procedures that apply to that tenant.
A fixed-term residential lease also does not always end the tenancy on its own. As a general rule, when the specified ending date falls after the first year of occupancy, the tenancy becomes month to month on expiration unless the parties agree to a new fixed term, the tenant gives timely written notice, or the landlord has a qualifying reason for termination and gives the notice the statute requires. ORS 90.427 sets out exceptions to that rule. The practical point is narrower than the mechanics: an expiration date on a lease does not by itself establish that the occupant is unlawfully in possession.
Guests and Licensees Require a Closer Look
Under ORS 90.100, a guest or temporary occupant is not a tenant. That distinction narrows the question without answering it.
A guest occupies property with someone else's permission and without the right of possession that comes with a tenancy. A licensee likewise uses or occupies property under permission that falls short of a leasehold interest. An adult child living in a parent's home, a former romantic partner, a friend allowed to stay temporarily, and a caretaker whose permission has ended are the familiar examples, though any of them can turn out to be something else depending on what the parties agreed. A caretaker or other live-in employee falls under a separate set of statutes, discussed below. The label the parties used does not control. Someone everyone called a guest is a tenant if the parties entered an oral rental agreement or exchanged rent for the right to occupy the property. Long occupancy alone does not create a tenancy.
Oregon also recognizes a written temporary occupancy agreement under ORS 90.275, signed by the landlord, the tenant, and the temporary occupant. The temporary occupant is not a tenant, and under ORS 90.275(10), a temporary occupant who stays on after the tenancy ends or after the tenant terminates the agreement is treated as a squatter.
Other former guests and licensees present a harder question. Ejectment is often the better vehicle when the person entered with permission and now disputes whether that permission ended. The squatter procedure can apply when the facts squarely meet the statutory definition, but revoking permission does not automatically convert a former guest into a squatter. The answer turns on the history of the occupancy: who granted permission, whether the occupant paid rent, what the parties agreed, whether the occupant had exclusive possession, and how the right to stay ended.
Statutory Squatters: The New 24-Hour FED Procedure
Oregon has defined "squatter" in ORS 90.100 for decades. What chapter 356 did was broaden that definition and create the removal procedure now codified at ORS 91.140.
The definition now reaches a person occupying a dwelling unit, or occupying any other property and using it for dwelling purposes, who is not entitled to occupy it under a rental agreement or who is not authorized by the tenant to occupy it. The two prongs appear aimed at different situations: the occupant of a vacant property who holds no rental agreement from the owner, and the occupant of a tenant's unit who never had the tenant's permission or no longer has it. The cross-reference in ORS 90.275(10) fits the second. The added language matters as well, because before 2026 the definition covered only a person occupying a dwelling unit. The amendment retained the existing exclusion for holdover tenants.
The definition has real limits. The occupant must be using the property as a place to live, so a person who uses it only for storage, business operations, parking, or another nonresidential purpose does not fit merely because the use is unauthorized. A tenant holding over after termination is not a statutory squatter. An oral rental agreement can make the occupant a tenant even without a written lease. And a dispute over permission, a license, a purchase agreement, inheritance, or ownership can require a different procedure altogether.
For a qualifying squatter, ORS 91.140 requires 24 hours' written notice terminating the occupancy. The notice must give the date and time by which the person must leave and state that the cause of the termination is the person's status as a squatter. Serving it creates no tenancy or other right of occupancy. If the squatter remains after the notice expires, ORS 105.115(1)(h) makes that unlawful holding by force, and the owner can file an FED action using the complaint form prescribed by ORS 105.126, with a copy of the notice attached. The case then proceeds under the same expedited procedure and fee schedule that apply to a residential eviction. The court decides whether the occupant meets the statutory definition and whether the owner complied with the notice requirement.
The 24-hour notice starts a court process. It does not authorize the owner to remove anyone.
Other Nontenant Occupants
The squatter procedure did not appear out of nowhere. ORS chapter 91 already carried a set of provisions for evicting nontenants, each built on written notice and the FED process. Under ORS 91.120, an employee of a landlord whose right to occupy is conditional on employment in and about the premises can be removed only through that process after notice. ORS 91.122 does the same for an employee of a resident of the dwelling unit, requiring at least 24 hours' written notice of the termination of employment or the longer period set in a written employment contract. Under ORS 91.130, a purchaser occupying before the scheduled closing of a sale, or a seller occupying after closing, as described in ORS 90.110(2), may be evicted the same way after at least 24 hours' written notice. ORS 105.115(1)(g) makes remaining after any of those notices a cause of unlawful holding by force. Chapter 356 added squatters to that list as ORS 91.140.
This matters for classification. A live-in caretaker or other employee is often not an ejectment case, and neither is every occupant who points to a purchase agreement. Identify the right the occupant actually asserts, then check whether a statute already supplies a procedure for it.
When Ejectment Applies
Ejectment addresses wrongful possession where no eviction statute supplies a procedure. The plaintiff must hold a legal estate in the property and a present right to possess it, and the action runs against the person in actual possession.
It is often the right action when a former guest or family member refuses to leave and disputes whether permission ended, when a former partner claims a continuing right to occupy the property, or when a licensee stays after the license has been revoked. It fits a neighbor who occupies part of the property under a boundary or adverse possession claim. It is also where the case lands when the occupant asserts an ownership or purchase interest that no eviction statute reaches, and when the facts establish neither a tenancy nor a clear statutory ground for FED.
Ejectment can resolve the broader dispute over the parties' estates, licenses, and rights to possession. Under ORS 105.015, a defendant relying on an estate, a license, or another right of possession must plead it and must set out its nature and duration with the particularity required of a complaint.
Two cautions apply. A disputed claim does not by itself push a case out of FED, so the owner should examine the asserted right against the applicable statute rather than assume that any argument over ownership requires ejectment. And the 24-hour squatter notice is no shortcut around a genuine dispute over possession or ownership. If the occupant has a colorable claim to remain, the owner needs a proceeding that can decide it.
When Quiet Title Applies
A quiet title suit addresses ownership and other interests in land: deeds, liens, easements, boundaries, inheritance, adverse possession, and other claims that cloud title. ORS 105.605 allows a person claiming an interest or estate in real property to sue an adverse claimant when the property is not in the actual possession of another. That limitation matters.
If the adverse claimant occupies the property, ejectment is usually the central remedy, because the owner needs both a ruling on the right to possession and the property back. The case may also require declaratory or equitable claims to resolve the asserted ownership interest. When no adverse claimant occupies the property but a competing claim clouds title, quiet title addresses the problem directly. Possession, ownership, damages for withholding possession, and removal of a cloud on title are related forms of relief. They are not interchangeable.
Which Procedure Fits?
| Occupant | Likely procedure | Controlling question |
|---|---|---|
| Current tenant | FED | Has the tenancy been terminated under the applicable statutes and the rental agreement? |
| Holdover tenant | FED | Did the tenancy end and the former tenant stay? Holdover tenants cannot be treated as squatters. |
| Guest or licensee | Ejectment or FED, depending on the facts | Was there a tenancy, a temporary occupancy agreement, continuing permission, or qualifying squatter status? |
| Statutory squatter | 24-hour notice, then FED | Does the occupant meet the definition in ORS 90.100? |
| Live-in employee or caretaker, or a purchaser or seller occupying around closing | 24-hour notice, then FED | Does a chapter 91 nontenant provision cover the occupancy? |
| Occupant claiming ownership | Ejectment, with additional claims as needed | Which party holds the estate carrying the present right to possession, and does any eviction statute reach the claim? |
| Adverse claimant not in possession | Quiet title | Is the dispute about title rather than physical possession? |
Do Not Use Self-Help
Property owners should not change locks, shut off utilities, remove belongings, threaten force, or physically remove an occupant without lawful authority. ORS 105.105 permits entry onto real property only where the law gives a right of entry, and then only in a peaceable manner. Residential landlords face further restrictions under ORS chapter 90.
Serve the correct notice, obtain a judgment for possession, and use the sheriff when the occupant will not leave voluntarily. That is the course for commercial property as well as residential.
Classify the Occupant Before Filing
Oregon's squatter procedure is a real remedy in true squatter cases and nothing more than that. Before serving any notice, work out how the occupant got in, who authorized the occupancy, whether the parties formed a rental or purchase agreement, whether rent changed hands, and what right the occupant now claims. Those facts decide whether the case belongs in FED, ejectment, quiet title, or some combination of claims, and the wrong notice or the wrong lawsuit hands the occupant a defense and sends the owner back to the beginning. If you need help choosing and pursuing the right procedure, contact Harris Sliwoski.
