New Oregon law clears thousands of past residential evictions from people’s records
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) — Oregon’s state courts cleared about 47,000 residential evictions from people’s records in mid-December, as required by a 2023 law addressing housing and homelessness, according to the Oregon Judicial Department.
The state law, ORS 105.164 (House Bill 2001, 2023), requires courts to “set aside” and “seal” past residential evictions in cases that meet certain requirements. These evictions will no longer show up in background checks and, legally, the evictions never happened.
The law applies to cases where the court entered a judgment after Jan. 1, 2014. Cases also must meet other criteria, which are listed on the judicial department’s eviction set-asides webpage.
According to a 2023 bill summary from the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness, “An eviction can affect a renter’s ability to qualify for another rental and can have downstream effects on homelessness and transitory housing arrangements, health, and/or employment.”
The law required courts to start setting aside eligible records by the end of 2024. Judicial department staff manually reviewed about 160,000 eviction cases dating back to 2014 to determine if they were eligible.
Court officials said the first batch of 47,000 records sealed in December was only the beginning. State court staff will continue reviewing a backlog of about 50,000 cases, with a goal of sealing those that are eligible by the end of 2025. Moving forward, the state courts automatically will set aside eligible cases annually.
People can learn whether their past eviction was set aside and request a copy of their set-aside order on the judicial department’s eviction set-asides webpage. Information is available in English, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese.
Tenants seeking more information about the eviction process also can visit Oregon Law Help, a free legal information website run by the Oregon State Bar with help from the state courts, legal aid organizations, and other nonprofit legal providers.
