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As a growing movement of tenants’ rights advocates has won new protections for renters, Oregon’s landlords are caught in the middle.

The city of Portland has enacted an emergency ordinance requiring landlords to pay relocation costs to tenants whom they evict without cause or issue a steep rent increase that forces them to move.

Statewide legislation has moved forward too. A bill under consideration in Salem would limit landlords’ ability to evict tenants without cause statewide, and would also give local governments the ability to pass rent-control ordinances.

Landlords are fighting back with a lobbying blitz. For them, the awakening of the tenants’ rights movement can seem like an attack on their businesses. Landlords said they take pride in their properties and resent what they see as government meddling in the landlord-tenant relationship.

Institutional investors, primarily from outside the state, have made waves in recent years by buying rental properties in the Portland area. Yet many properties are still owned by mom-and-pop landlords or small family companies.

Dianne Cassidy owns two rental properties in Clackamas County: a 110-unit apartment building in Oregon City and a 75-unit property in Gladstone. She began working with her father in the family rental business in 1999 and took over majority ownership of the two properties in 2007. She said she uses a property management company to avoid any legal missteps, but frequently visits the properties herself.

Cassidy has experience in construction and said she enjoys improving the properties with small touches such as planting flowers. She said rent control, if it comes to Clackamas County, could push her out of the business.

鈥淚 can sell,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd who’s going to buy it? It’s not going to be somebody who puts in flowers or puts in just a little bit better roofing or fixes the potholes. With rent control, that’s what you get.鈥�

Cassidy also is concerned that lenders will take a 鈥渄im view鈥� of rent controls. Apartment properties are often purchased with the help of a 10-year mortgage, which typically ends in a balloon payment and refinancing.

Cassidy said she doesn’t need government regulations getting in the way of her property management decisions.

鈥淭hese are our properties,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are our business. And the government is taking away the control we have over our own business.鈥�

Katrina Holland, executive director of the Community Alliance of Tenants, said some controversy with the new rules is to be expected. But, she noted, more than 150 other municipalities have enacted rent-control or rent-stabilization rules.

鈥淭his is a new conversation that we’re having as a state; this is a new conversation we’re having as a city,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople have varying opinions.鈥�

Holland added that she’s seen no difference between institutional investors and local landlords in issuing no-cause evictions and rent increases.

鈥淚t’s all across the board,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he most heinous situations we’ve seen have come from small landlords.鈥�

Many small-scale landlords got into the multifamily market to fund their retirements, reasoning that property will be there even if Social Security or private retirement accounts falter.

That was the case for Mark Bidwell, who sold a Texaco Express Lube business before buying a fourplex and then later, a 12-unit property in Salem. He now also owns a 27-unit apartment complex in Keizer.

Bidwell had long considered buying multifamily properties because his brother is a landlord in the South Puget Sound area of Washington. Bidwell manages the properties himself, including much of the needed maintenance. His wife still works and the couple has a child in college.

鈥淚’m not really young enough to completely hang it up, but at the same time, I’m healthy and quite active,鈥� Bidwell said. 鈥淚’m at the point where I want to have the time to go do things. I’m handy enough where I can do quite a bit of the maintenance as needed. I can do the management.鈥�

Bidwell plans to step back from active management and enjoy his retirement in a few years. 鈥淲hen my wife is ready to retire from her position, we can turn this over to a property manager,鈥� he said.

Bidwell said he’s been in touch with his state senator and representative to voice his concerns about House Bill 2004, which would impose relocation expenses for no-cause evictions and allow for local rent control. The House passed the bill on April 4; now it’s before the Senate Committee on Human Services.

No-cause evictions are valuable for getting rid of problem tenants who are posing safety or nuisance issues to other tenants, landlords said. Often, renters will decline to testify in court during the for-cause eviction process, fearing harassment or worse if they help a landlord evict a troubled tenant. Landlords shared tales of tenants who intimidated their fellow renters to deter them from lodging complaints.

Bidwell said rent control brings particular concerns. Late in the purchasing process for one property, he learned that the rent for one tenant, a single mother, was far below market rate. Bidwell said he didn’t want to escalate her rent too quickly, so they came to an agreement to increase the rent quarterly over a two-year period.

Landlords said they’re concerned that requirements to pay relocation costs will inhibit landlords from performing refurbishments that require evicting tenants. In Portland, landlords must pay tenants’ relocation fees of $2,900 to $4,500, depending on the sizes of units being vacated, when tenants are evicted without cause.

To upgrade a 100-unit complex, an owner may have to pay more than $300,000 to evict tenants. Property owners argue that will dissuade owners of older properties from renovating.

鈥淭hey’re just going to continue to deteriorate,鈥� Bidwell said.

The relocation rules will result in fewer building rehabilitations, said Sam Rodriguez, senior managing director of Mill Creek Residential Trust, a Dallas-based developer that has built prolifically in Portland.

鈥淚 don’t think it will dissuade people from developing new projects in Portland,鈥� said Rodriguez last week during a panel discussion on development issues. 鈥淚 do think it will dissuade people from developing value-add projects in Portland.

鈥淥wners are going to squeeze their buildings for everything they’re worth and then board them up. So all of your beautiful historic buildings in the Alphabet District, they’re going to be boarded-up buildings in 10 years.鈥�

Multifamily owners also say they’re seeing increased vacancies and softening rent increases, meaning rent control and relocation rules advocates could in effect be fighting the last war.

Cassidy said vacancies at her properties are staying unfilled longer.

鈥淪ince January, we’ve had a lot more vacancies and they’ve been harder to fill,鈥� she said. 鈥淩ight now, I’ve got about five, and the reason is that the market is working. There are more apartments now; there are more choices. The clientele can be pickier about the price and where they go.鈥�

This is where regulators are falling behind, she said.

鈥淭hey don’t anticipate or they don’t even acknowledge that the free market works,鈥� she said.

Holland disputed that, saying the Community Alliance of Tenants’ hotline continues to be flooded with calls from renters facing evictions and rent increases.

鈥淭o simply wait for the market to build enough supply for there to be trickle-down to the middle market, it has consequences,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here is collateral damage.鈥�