Q: If tenant moves out before end of lease, can they refuse landlord access for cleaning, painting, etc. til lease is over?

A: It depends upon what you mean by "moves out". IF a tenant has voluntarily terminated his tenancy, regardless of whether it breaches the lease, then the landlord is free to take possession and freely do whatever needs to be done. Indeed, to the extent the landlord wants to hold the ex-tenant liable for either a lease break fee or for paying continuing rent until the dwelling is re-rented, a landlord is obligated to make reasonably diligent efforts to prepare and re-rent the dwelling. If the tenant left property behind, the landlord must store and protect it until they have fully complied with the abandoned property statutes (see ORS 90.425). IF, however, the tenant has NOT abandoned his tenancy, then they are entitled to all the protections of the landlord-tenant laws as long as they are in possession. That includes the right to deny entry to the landlord as long as they do not do so unreasonably. Hence while a tenant may have the right to deny any specific entry, they normally do not have any right to do continuous denials or a blanket denial.

So it is all very fact specific and given the potential costs if you are wrong in your assessment, you may wish to very carefully analyze the whole thing with a landlord-tenant attorney. If the tenant has told you they have permanently left - preferably in writing - that is favorable for you. But expressing that they don't want you entering at least implies that they think they still have a tenancy and rights to control the dwelling - and that obviously goes against the concept that they have voluntarily terminated their tenancy.

All in all, you would be best to review everything in detail with a local attorney, realizing that even then, in the end, it is likely to be something of a gamble with no guarantees of how a Judge would rule if it ever came to that. Then again, there NEVER is any guarantee about how a Judge will rule.