What do Oregon's recent HOA law changes require of volunteer boards?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 1, 2026

Oregon HOA law for boards: the 2026 fire-hardening rule and its 90-day deadline, limits on banning manufactured homes, and new steps before a defect lawsuit.

Part of the HOA board handbook: new state laws for boards.

The short answer

Three Oregon laws from 2025 and 2026 change how a planned community board handles architectural requests and construction defect claims. All three are in effect. - SB 1551 (2026, chapter 86), effective June 5, 2026, voids covenants that block fire-hardened building materials and gives the association 90 days to deny or modify an application in writing. Silence counts as approval. - HB 3144 (2025, chapter 274), effective January 1, 2026, voids rules adopted or amended on or after that date that unreasonably restrict manufactured homes or prefabricated structures on a lot. - HB 3746 (2025, chapter 578), effective January 1, 2026, adds a three-notice, 90-day process before the board can vote to sue over a construction defect, and shortens the deadline to sue in communities recorded after that date. The two 2025 bills had no effective date clause, so ORS 171.022 started them on January 1 of the next year. SB 1551 took effect on the 91st day after the 2026 session adjourned. The rules sit in the Oregon Planned Community Act, ORS 94.550 to 94.783, with parallel condominium changes in ORS chapter 100. Your declaration and bylaws still control what the statutes leave open. This is education, not legal advice, so have an Oregon association attorney review any new policy or claim.

Fire-hardened materials owners can now install

SB 1551 defines fire-hardened building materials as materials meeting any one of three standards: the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code, NFPA Standard 1140, or the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety's Wildfire Prepared Home criteria. Section 2 of the act voids any provision in a recorded document, including a planned community declaration, that would ban installing or maintaining those materials on a residential property, or ban removing materials that are not fire-hardened, such as a cedar fence. Section 4, added to the Planned Community Act, voids a governing document provision to the extent it: - bans both removing non-fire-hardened materials and replacing them with fire-hardened ones; - limits design, size, placement, upkeep or appearance in a way that rules out every fire-hardened option; or - requires a fire-hardened product that costs substantially more than others of similar quality, enough to stop the owner or impose an unreasonable burden. The board keeps its design role. You can still require a color, a fence style or a roof profile, as long as a reasonably priced fire-hardened option fits the rule. Section 8 applies all of this to documents signed before or after June 5, 2026, so an old declaration gets no exemption. For the yard side of this work, see our guide on how to set up an HOA wildfire defensible space program.

Answering a fire-hardening request within 90 days

An application to install fire-hardened materials or remove non-fire-hardened ones is deemed approved unless the association delivers a written opinion within 90 days after filing. The opinion must explain any denial or requested change in reasonable detail, and it cannot be arbitrary or capricious. A timeline that leaves room to spare: - Day 1: the secretary logs the filing date, tags it as a fire-hardening request and sends a receipt. - Day 7: the architectural committee asks for any missing product sheet showing which standard the material meets. - Day 30: committee recommendation to the board. - Day 45: board decision at a regular meeting. - Day 50: written decision to the owner, with a copy in the lot file. If the board wants changes, name them and offer a path to yes: 'The board has reviewed your application filed May 4 to replace the cedar fence at 214 Juniper Court with a fire-hardened fence. The board approves a noncombustible fence of the type shown, with one change: Section 6.3 of the architectural guidelines limits street-facing fences to 4 feet. A 4-foot version of your product meets this rule. If you submit it within 30 days, the board will approve it without a further hearing.' Then update the guidelines to name the three standards and list approved fire-hardened choices for roofs, vents, fences, decks and siding. An owner with a list to pick from has a hard time arguing the rules rule out every option.

Manufactured homes and the amendment trap

HB 3144 added subsection (3) to ORS 94.776. A governing document provision adopted or amended on or after January 1, 2026 is void to the extent it would ban or unreasonably restrict siting a manufactured dwelling, as defined in ORS 446.003, or a prefabricated structure, as defined in ORS 197A.015, on a lot, including one used as an accessory dwelling unit. A pre-2026 provision left unchanged is outside subsection (3). That moves the risk into the amendment process. Before owners vote on a restated declaration, or the board revises an architectural rule that bans factory-built homes, ask your attorney whether the new text counts as adopted or amended after January 1, 2026. Drafting around this is far cheaper than enforcing a provision a court finds void. Two neighbors in the same statute matter too. ORS 94.776(1) has voided, since 2020, newer provisions that ban or unreasonably restrict housing the zoning density allows. ORS 94.776(2) keeps new lots from a land division under the governing documents, with assessments and votes on the same basis as existing lots.

The vote and notices before a defect lawsuit

HB 3746 rewrote ORS 94.662. When the association wants to sue for owners' damages under ORS 94.630(1)(e)(E) over a construction defect, as defined in ORS 701.560, the board may approve the suit only at a board meeting held under ORS 94.644. That meeting must come: 1. at least 90 days after the first notice goes to every owner; 2. after a second notice sent first class with a certificate of mailing; and 3. at least 15 days after a third notice sent first class. Each notice must say the association believes a defect in the common property exists, describe it in detail, name the parties the association holds responsible, list every board member with an email or mailing address, and carry a statutory warning that owners' 'ability to sell your lot in this planned community may be limited while the litigation or proceeding is pending.' Copy the full warning from the statute rather than paraphrasing it. Send a copy of the notice by certified mail to each party named. It does not replace the notice of defect under ORS 701.565. The older opt-out still applies: at least 10 days before filing, affected owners get the terms in writing, and an owner who opts out within 10 days is dropped from the claim. Sample calendar: first notice March 1, second April 1, third May 15, board vote June 2, which is 93 days after the first notice and 18 after the third. Our guide on what an HOA board must do before suing the builder for construction defects covers the evidence and hiring counsel.

Shorter defect deadlines for newer communities

Amended ORS 12.135(4) gives a homeowners or condominium association 7 years after substantial completion to file a tort action over defective construction. A defect found between year 6 and year 7 gets one year from discovery. This applies only where the declaration was first recorded on or after January 1, 2026, so most existing boards keep the old periods. A board in a new community should calendar years 6 and 7 now. Condominiums recorded on or after that date must also have an independent moisture intrusion inspection before the end of year 2, paid from reserves, and again before the end of year 6, under ORS 100.417(8). The duty does not apply where each owner maintains the interior and exterior of their own unit. For any notice of defect the association sends under ORS 701.565 on or after January 1, 2026, the contractor gets 30 days instead of 14 to ask to inspect, must answer in writing within 14 days after inspecting or 90 days after the notice, and must base any cash offer on the cost of remediation. Log those dates. A late or nonconforming response excuses the association from further compliance with that section.

Older Oregon rules that still catch boards

- Fines need a delivered schedule. ORS 94.630(1)(n) allows reasonable fines only after written notice and a chance to be heard, and only on a schedule in the declaration or bylaws, or adopted by resolution, that was delivered to each lot or mailed to each owner. Posting it on the website alone does not meet that text. - Offer mediation before suing an owner. ORS 94.630(4) requires the side starting a lawsuit to offer a qualifying county dispute resolution program, by hand delivery or certified mail. The other side has 10 days to accept. Suits to collect regular assessments are exempt, but fines are not. - Review the reserve study every year. ORS 94.595(3) requires an annual study or update, and ORS 94.595(4) a written maintenance plan. Borrowing from reserves takes a board resolution and a repayment plan adopted by the next budget. A subdivision recorded before October 23, 1999 takes on the study and plan duties only after a board resolution or a majority owner petition under ORS 94.595(5).

Checklist for the next board meeting

1. Log fire-hardening requests with a 90-day due date and decide each one well before it. 2. Revise the architectural guidelines to name the three standards and list approved options. 3. Before any restatement or rule change, ask counsel how ORS 94.776(3) affects manufactured home provisions. 4. If a defect claim is likely, start the three-notice calendar early. 5. For declarations recorded in 2026 or later, calendar the 7-year defect deadline and any condominium moisture inspections. 6. Confirm the fine schedule reached every lot, and redeliver it if no one can prove it did. Sample motion: 'Move to amend the architectural guidelines to recognize fire-hardened building materials meeting the IWUIC, NFPA 1140 or IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home criteria, as required by SB 1551 (2026), to adopt the attached list of approved options, and to deliver the amended guidelines to every lot within 30 days.'

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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