Portland has no mandatory retrofit program for old brick buildings, so underwriters do their own sorting by construction, age and any seismic work on record. Oregon limits rent increases on buildings fifteen years or older, and the city adds relocation assistance when a tenancy ends without cause or rent jumps 10 percent. Send me the structural history and the rent roll and I can place property, earthquake, liability and umbrella together.
What makes a Portland apartment building different
- Unreinforced masonryPortland Permitting & Development estimates more than 1,600 known or suspected unreinforced masonry buildings in the city, with an average age of 90 years. About 250 of them are multifamily.
- Two earthquake sourcesThe Cascadia Subduction Zone offshore and the Portland Hills fault under the city. State geologists have modeled both for the metro area.
- Statewide rent capORS 90.323 and 90.324 limit annual increases to the lesser of ten percent or seven percent plus inflation, on units whose first certificate of occupancy is at least 15 years old.
- City relocation assistancePortland City Code 30.01.085 requires landlords to pay relocation assistance after a no-cause termination or a rent increase of 10 percent or more over 12 months.
- Rental registrationCity code requires annual registration of residential rental property, filed with the business tax return.
Brick buildings and what the city requires today
The city describes unreinforced masonry as brick, hollow clay tile, concrete block or stone walls with little or no reinforcing steel, built generally from the late 1800s until about the 1960s, and says these buildings perform very poorly in earthquakes. Based on a 2016 assessment, it estimates that fewer than 20 percent of Portland’s have been demolished or fully or partially retrofitted.
Owners often ask me whether the warning placards are still required. They are not. The City Council adopted a placard and tenant-notice requirement for un-retrofitted buildings, then repealed it after a federal judge found it unlawful in Masonry Building Owners of Oregon v. Wheeler (D. Or. 2019). The council never adopted the mandatory retrofit recommendations presented to it in 2018, and a later working group disbanded in 2020. The city also warns that its building list is not verified and that insurers and lenders should not rely on it, so an engineer’s letter carries more weight than the list.
What is in force is City Code Chapter 24.85, which uses passive triggers. A seismic evaluation or upgrade may be required when:
- Occupancy changes in a way that adds 150 or more occupants or moves more than a third of the building into a higher hazard classification.
- Alteration or repair costs pass the code’s cost thresholds.
- More than half the roof area is re-roofed.
Those triggers matter after a fire as much as before one. If repairs push a building over a threshold, the upgrade is a cost the basic property form does not pay unless ordinance or law coverage is on the policy. How ordinance or law coverage works.
Earthquake is a separate purchase
The Oregon Department of Emergency Management describes the Cascadia Subduction Zone as a 700-mile fault 70 to 100 miles off the coast that last ruptured on January 26, 1700, at an estimated magnitude 9.0, and says scientists put the chance of a magnitude 7.1 or greater earthquake there at about 37 percent in the next 50 years. The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries modeled a magnitude 9.0 Cascadia earthquake and a magnitude 6.8 Portland Hills fault earthquake for Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties. Its damage and casualty estimates for the Portland Hills scenario were more than twice those for Cascadia, because that fault lies below densely developed areas, though the agency rates it considerably less likely.
Earthquake coverage on an apartment building is bought on its own policy or by endorsement, with its own deductible. Oregon’s Division of Financial Regulation tells consumers that the earthquake deductible is typically a percentage of the insured amount, not of the loss, and that earthquake insurance does not cover landslide or tsunami damage even when an earthquake sets them off. Read a commercial earthquake quote for the same points, and for whether loss of rents is included. Underwriters will ask for construction type, year built, stories, soil, and any retrofit permits or engineering reports. How commercial earthquake insurance works, and how retrofits affect coverage in Oregon.
Loss of rents, the rent cap and relocation assistance
Loss of rents coverage pays the rent you were collecting while units are rebuilt after a covered loss. In Portland two sets of rules shape that number and what you owe tenants.
- State capThe Department of Administrative Services set the 2027 maximum increase at 10 percent; for 2026 it was 9.5 percent. The landlord may not raise rent in the first year of a tenancy, more than once in 12 months, or without 90 days’ written notice.
- Newer buildingsThe cap does not apply when the unit’s first certificate of occupancy was issued less than 15 years before the notice.
- PenaltyA landlord who exceeds the cap is liable to the tenant for three months’ rent plus actual damages.
- Portland relocation assistanceOwed after a no-cause termination, a non-renewal of a fixed-term lease, a qualifying landlord-reason termination, a substantial change in lease terms, or a rent increase of 10 percent or more over 12 months. After an increase notice, the tenant has 45 days to request it in writing.
Notice that a full 10 percent increase in 2027 is lawful under the state cap and still triggers the city’s relocation rule. For claims, the useful line in the city code is the exemption for a dwelling unit rendered immediately uninhabitable through no action or inaction of the landlord or tenant, which is how a fire or a burst main usually looks. That exemption is the city’s to apply, and state duties are separate, so confirm with the Portland Housing Bureau before telling tenants anything. How income coverage works.
Heat, cooling rules and habitability
Multnomah County recorded 72 heat deaths in 2021, 69 of them attributed to the June heat dome, when temperatures reached 116 degrees. Most people died in their own homes, and more than half of those homes were multifamily dwellings. Oregon changed its landlord-tenant law afterward:
- Portable cooling: under ORS 90.355 a landlord may not prohibit a tenant from installing or using a portable cooling device unless it would violate codes, damage the premises or draw more amperage than the building, unit or circuit can supply, among other listed exceptions. Restrictions must be in writing.
- Liability: the same statute makes a landlord immune from claims for damage, injury or death caused by a portable cooling device the tenant installed.
- New buildings: for buildings whose construction permits were issued on or after April 1, 2024, ORS 90.320 lists adequate cooling in at least one room as a habitability requirement.
The electrical service is the insurance point. Underwriters ask about panel capacity and wiring age in older buildings, and the amperage exception only helps an owner who knows what the service can carry. ORS 90.320 also requires working smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms where there is a source, and stairways and railings in good repair, which is where most tenant injury claims begin.
Flood, and when insurers say no
Flood is a separate policy. The property policy excludes it, and buildings near the Willamette, the Columbia or Johnson Creek should have their own flood quote. How flood insurance works.
The Oregon FAIR Plan Association is the market of last resort for owners who cannot get coverage in the regular market, and it does write apartment buildings in its commercial program. Know its limits before relying on it:
- Named perils only. Fire, lightning and internal explosion, with wind, hail and vandalism as options. Freezing, accidental water discharge and weight of ice and snow are not covered.
- Actual cash value, not replacement cost, and nothing on vacant property.
- No liability and no package. General liability and umbrella are placed elsewhere.
- A commercial maximum of one million dollars across all coverage parts unless the plan arranges facultative reinsurance case by case.
What to send me
- Address, year built, stories, unit count and wall construction, with any ground-floor commercial space.
- Seismic history: retrofit permits, parapet bracing, wall-to-roof ties, and any engineer’s evaluation.
- The current rent roll with move-in dates and the date of each unit’s last increase, plus a recent operating statement.
- Electrical and plumbing updates with years, including panel capacity and your written cooling-device policy.
- Roof age and type, and the scope of any re-roofing you are planning.
- Current declarations pages for property, earthquake, liability, umbrella and flood.
- Five years of loss runs, with what was repaired.
Common questions
Who insures unreinforced masonry apartment buildings in Portland?
Often surplus lines property insurers, and they want the construction details, any retrofit work and an engineer’s report. I send the building to the ones that write older masonry instead of the ones that will decline it on age.
Do I need earthquake insurance on a Portland apartment building?
No law requires it, but lenders sometimes do, and the standard property policy does not cover earthquake. With Cascadia offshore and the Portland Hills fault under the city, it is worth pricing on any brick or older concrete building.
Does Portland still require earthquake warning placards on brick buildings?
No. The placard ordinance was repealed after a federal judge found it unlawful in 2019. Seismic upgrades are triggered only by changes of occupancy, major alterations or re-roofing more than half the roof.
Why did my apartment building insurance go up in Portland?
Age and construction are the usual reasons: many Portland buildings are old masonry or wood frame with original wiring and plumbing, and fewer insurers want them. Documented updates and a clean loss history are what move the price.
Do I owe relocation assistance if a fire makes my Portland units unlivable?
City code exempts a unit rendered immediately uninhabitable through no action or inaction of the landlord or tenant. The city decides whether the exemption fits, so check with the Portland Housing Bureau.
Will loss of rents pay market rent while my Portland building is repaired?
It replaces the rent you were collecting. On units more than 15 years old the state cap limits how fast that rent can rise, so size the limit to the actual rent roll and a realistic repair period.
Can the Oregon FAIR Plan insure an apartment building?
Yes, in its commercial program, but only for named perils at actual cash value, with no liability coverage and a commercial maximum of one million dollars unless reinsurance is arranged.
General information about insuring apartment buildings in the City of Portland as of November 2026, not legal advice. Seismic requirements, Oregon’s rent increase limits, Portland’s relocation assistance rules and cooling requirements are set by statute and city code and change; confirm your building’s status with Portland Permitting & Development and the Portland Housing Bureau, and your obligations with counsel. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.