Q: Can tenant that rents a room say that the landlord is retaliating for giving 60 days no cause termination notice in OR?
Tenant that rents room is demanding that I should not enter common area which is against our rental agreement. I hardly enter the common areas and am a very reasonable landlord. She has not been following verbal requests from me and undermining my authority as a landlord. I live and do business in the house and know this situation will not work with what her demands are, thus gave her and the other two tenants their notice. She is now demanding money from me for damages for herself and for the other two tenants, stating it is because of my notice that I gave as being a retaliation to the conversation we had where she stated her demands. Does she have a case? She has not been following reasonable requests for a long time. She has been intimidating and harassing. I have had enough of her, and her conspiring with the other two tenants, and want her out. Thank you for your expertise on this matter.
A: While you need to review everything in detail with a landlord-tenant attorney to know anything with much certainty, if it is a common area, and you reside there too, you have every right to use or occupy that area. As for retaliation, it is most difficult for a tenant to win that sort of claim. As long as you have a non-retaliatory reason for terminating the tenancy, it does not matter if it can be argued that there might also be a retaliatory one. Don't let this tenant bully you - if she doesn't back down, see a landlord-tenant attorney. Good luck.
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