Q: I am 18 years old, living w/ parent in Oregon, I do not pay rent. Am I a guest or tenant? Can I be evicted for cause?
I received a 30 day notice (for cause) from my parent saying I am a guest and not a tenant. It says that "in the event that you were determined to be a tenant, pursuant to ORS 90.392, you are in default for your occupancy of the Premises" and "given the nature of these violations you cannot cure this breach. Therefore, your occupancy agreement and your possession of the Premises is hereby terminated effective September 5, 2020"
Am I considered a tenant? Can I be evicted after this date? It says I was in violation of the agreement for improper use of internet access - but is that enforceable? I signed no contract that I would use the internet at the house in a certain way. Should I send a response?
A: IF you both do not pay rent and have never agreed to pay rent (regardless of whether you actually paid it or not), you likely are not a tenant and, as you note, are then not subject to landlord-tenant laws. If you do not vacate within the 30 days, the only legal option under that notice your parents would have would be to file to evict you in landlord-tenant court. You then could take the matter to trial based on your not being a tenant and likely would win, with your parents owing your court costs and attorneys fees. What your parents legally could do is simply file suit to eject you instead of evicting you. The goal of ejection and eviction are similar - getting you out - but legally how they get there is quite different and if you opposed the ejection, it could take them many months though they likely would prevail in the end. Even if the landlord-tenant notice is somehow valid, it would sound to me that "improper internet access" would be something that should be curable and thus you should have received a notice that you could "cure" the violation by not doing it again after 14 days from when the notice was served. Thus if a Judge determined it was curable, and you were not given that option in the notice, then the notice would be defective and you should win that way as well. You may want to review everything with a local landlord-tenant attorney to determine your specific rights. Good luck.
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