Step 1: get it identified
Bites are not evidence; Oregon courts and landlords want a bug, a shed skin, or a professional’s report. An inspection report that records what was found and where is the strongest first page of your file. What to look for →
Step 2: write, on paper
Legal Aid Services of Oregon’s handbook is specific: “To report the infestation in writing, you must send the landlord a letter, not an email or text.” State the date you first noticed, what you found, which rooms, and that you are requesting extermination under ORS 90.320. Keep a copy and note how you delivered it.
Step 3: give a reasonable time
The handbook’s guidance: “Ten days to two weeks is a reasonable amount of time.” Bed bugs spread between units while the clock runs, so a landlord who moves faster is protecting their own building.
Step 4: cooperate
ORS 90.325(1)(b) requires the tenant to “cooperate to a reasonable extent in assisting the landlord in any reasonable effort to remedy the problem.” Legal Aid lists “allowing heat treatment or sealing of belongings infested with bedbugs” among those duties. Refusing prep or access shifts the cost conversation against you.
What not to do
In the handbook’s capitals: “DO NOT, under any circumstances, withhold any part of the rent unless you have made a request for extermination in writing.” Do not fog the apartment either — foggers scatter bugs into the neighbors’ units and into the walls, and the Oregon Health Authority’s advice if you have already tried pesticides and feel unwell is to call the Oregon Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222.
If the landlord will not act
Salem Code Compliance inspects multifamily buildings for infestations (503-588-6421, per the 2023 handbook), and SRC 59.235 lets the inspector require professional treatment. Legal Aid Services of Oregon can advise on remedies under ORS 90.365 and the anti-retaliation rule in ORS 90.385.