What the code expects of you
Insects found in any residential structure “shall be promptly exterminated” and the Inspector “may require that the residential structure be professionally treated” (SRC 59.235). Multifamily dwellings of three or more units hold an annual city licence (59.400); hotels, motels, shelters and room-and-board facilities are inspected at least once a calendar year (59.430). Civil penalties reach $2,000 per violation per day (59.990).
What we do for a building
- Inspect the reported unit and the adjoining ones — above, below, both sides — before treating, because treating one unit in a row of four is treating a quarter of the problem.
- Treat connected units the same day where found; per-unit pricing for multi-unit work.
- Heat for turnovers: a vacant unit heated and documented before the next tenant signs is your ORS 90.320(1)(f) record that it was vermin-free “at the time of the commencement.”
- Written report per unit with findings, treatment, and re-check date — the file you hand a tenant, a lawyer, or Code Compliance.
- Tenant prep sheets in plain language, and a cooperation record where a tenant refuses access.
Hotels
Room-by-room inspection on a schedule, single-room heat with the adjacent rooms checked, and a log the annual inspection can read. Guest-complaint response the same day.
Plain-English guidance, not legal advice. Oregon Revised Statutes quotations
(ORS 90.320, 90.325, 192.582) were read on 2026-10-08 from a republication of the Legislature’s
text current through the 2024 session; confirm against oregonlegislature.gov. Salem Revised Code
quotations are from the city’s official code (Supplement 26, updated 2026-09-23). Legal Aid
Services of Oregon’s “Renter’s Handbook on Infestations” (April 2023) is cited
where named. For advice about your tenancy, contact Legal Aid Services of Oregon or a lawyer.