Oregon submetered water billing rules for manufactured-home parks (2026)
Oregon has the most detailed park utility-billing law in the country — it names the allowed billing methods, dictates the rate, and scripts the entire conversion process, trial period included. It's all in ORS chapter 90 (the utility sections now live at ORS 90.562–90.584). Here's the map.
The short version: bill at the utility's rate with zero landlord markup, follow ORS 90.574's scripted process (notice, meeting, state handout, rent reduction, three-bill trial) before you convert, and remember parks built after mid-2011 must submeter water — it's not optional for them.
Five billing methods, and who may use which
ORS 90.562 recognizes five ways a park can handle a utility: direct billing (the provider bills the tenant), rent-included, pro rata (allocation), submeter billing, and park-specific billing. Two wrinkles: water charges are only allowed at all when the water comes from an authorized provider (a public or municipal utility, a district, or a co-op), and a park built after June 23, 2011 must use submeters for water — the older allocation methods aren't available to it.
The rate: the utility's, and nothing on top
Submeter billing (ORS 90.572) caps the usage rate at no more than the average rate the provider bills the park. Oregon's general utility statute says it plainly: a landlord may not profit from a utility, and may not charge the tenant the landlord's administrative expenses. What may be passed through, pro-rata: the provider's own base and service charges (taxes included), sewer costs, common-area utility costs, and an actual third-party meter-reading/billing fee — with no landlord markup layered on. (The one exception in Oregon law is cable/internet, which allows up to 10% — that allowance does not extend to water, sewer, gas, or electric.)
If you allocate instead (ORS 90.568), you must use one of three formulas — occupied spaces, occupants, or square footage — spell it out in the rental agreement, and state common-area charges separately. Every pro rata or submeter bill needs written notice with the amount and a due date at least 14 days out.
Converting? ORS 90.574 scripts the whole thing
Switching a park from rent-included (or allocation) to submeters means:
- Written notice at least one month before installing, describing the change, the reasons, and the schedule — plus a required tenant meeting, the state's official conversion handout (from Oregon Housing and Community Services), and a sample bill.
- A rent reduction when water leaves rent-included billing: reasonably comparable to what the utility was costing inside rent, based on at least the previous 12 months of bills — and you must give tenants the provider's documentation behind that math.
- A trial period: for the first three billing periods, tenants get example bills showing what the submeter charge would be, before it's real.
Get the sequence wrong and the conversion is challengeable; Oregon's utility-billing remedies for tenants can reach a month's rent or twice the amount wrongfully charged. The full walk-through is in how to switch your park from RUBS to submeters.
Common Oregon mistakes
- Adding an owner "billing fee" or admin charge on top of the utility's rate
- Skipping the tenant meeting, state handout, or sample bill when converting
- Unbundling water from rent without the documented 12-month-average rent reduction
- Assuming the 10% cable/internet allowance applies to water (it doesn't)
- Evicting for unpaid water charges with a nonpayment-of-rent notice — utility charges require the separate for-cause process
Day to day, the billing itself is arithmetic the water submeter calculator does in one step — reads in, at-cost bill out. Allocating during a transition? The RUBS calculator splits with a park share held back.
Sources
- ORS 90.562 (billing methods): https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_90.562
- ORS 90.572 (submeter billing): https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_90.572
- ORS 90.568 (pro rata billing): https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_90.568
- ORS 90.574 (conversion process): https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_90.574
- Oregon OHCS/MMCRC, water & sewer utility charges: https://www.oregon.gov/ohcs/mmcrc/pages/utility-charges-for-water-sewer.aspx
General information, not legal advice. Oregon's chapter 90 gets amended (and even renumbered) regularly — confirm the current text before you convert billing methods.
Lot Sidekick itemizes submetered water on every bill automatically. Your manager keys the reads from a phone and each tenant is billed at cost. Send your spreadsheet and I'll set up your park, or see the live demo, or call (425) 405-0734.