Oregon Tenant Data Privacy Law 2026: Confidential Information Can Be Disclosed in Only 7 Situations

A landlord who anticipates needing to share a tenant's information for a purpose outside the other 6 exceptions should get that consent in writing beforehand, rather than relying on an informal verbal agreement that would be harder to document if the disclosure were later challenged.

5. Why court orders and audits get their own specific carve-outs

Disclosure is also permitted when required by a court order or judicial subpoena, or when necessary for affordable-housing compliance audits.

[Cite: Or. Laws 2026 ch. 61]

These 2 exceptions recognize that landlords sometimes face independent legal obligations to disclose information, such as during litigation or a regulatory compliance review for subsidized housing; a landlord responding to a legitimate subpoena isn't violating this law by complying with it.

6. Why background screening remains a recognized, routine exception

Using tenant information for background or credit screening is one of the 7 listed exceptions.

[Cite: Or. Laws 2026 ch. 61]

A landlord's standard tenant-screening process, which inherently involves sharing an applicant's personal information with a screening company, remains lawful under this exception; the law doesn't disrupt the ordinary application-screening workflow.

7. Why the repairs-and-utilities exception is narrower than it might sound

Sharing phone or email contact information is permitted specifically when necessary for coordinating repairs, maintenance, or utilities.

[Cite: Or. Laws 2026 ch. 61]

That exception is tied to contact information specifically, and to a defined operational purpose; it doesn't extend to sharing a tenant's financial or immigration information with a contractor or utility company under the same justification.

8. Why reference requests from other landlords have their own exception

Responding to a reference request from a prospective landlord is a separate, specifically listed exception.

[Cite: Or. Laws 2026 ch. 61]

A property manager providing a standard tenancy reference to another landlord considering the same applicant is working within this exception, provided the response sticks to information relevant to that reference rather than disclosing unrelated protected categories.

9. Why insurance, collections, and court proceedings round out the exception list

The final listed exception covers using confidential information in insurance claims, collections actions, or court proceedings.

[Cite: Or. Laws 2026 ch. 61]

A landlord pursuing a collections action against a former tenant for unpaid rent can use that tenant's relevant financial information within that legal process; the exception is tied to those specific proceedings, not a general license to use the information however the landlord sees fit afterward.

10. Why the statutory damages figure creates real financial exposure

A knowing violation triggers statutory damages equal to twice the monthly rent of the tenancy or prospective tenancy at issue.

[Cite: Or. Laws 2026 ch. 61]

That's a damages figure set independent of whatever actual harm the disclosure caused; a landlord facing a claim under this law is exposed to that statutory amount even if the tenant can't separately prove a specific financial loss resulted from the disclosure.

11. What property managers should do now

The practical starting point is training leasing and maintenance staff on exactly what counts as confidential information under this law and which of the 7 exceptions, if any, covers a given disclosure situation before it's shared.

For any disclosure that doesn't clearly fall within one of the 7 listed exceptions, getting written consent from the tenant first, rather than assuming a disclosure is reasonable or routine, is the safer compliance path given the statutory damages exposure.