WALTERS, J.

ORS 90.385 prohibits a landlord from "retaliat[ing] by" serving notice to terminate a tenancy after the tenant has made a complaint that is in good faith and related to the tenancy.1 In this case, we conclude that, to prove retaliation under ORS 90.385, a tenant must establish that the landlord served the notice of termination because of the tenant's complaint. The tenant need not prove, in addition, that the complaint caused the landlord actual or perceived injury or that the landlord intended to cause the tenant equivalent injury in return. We reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals, Elk Creek Management Co. v. Gilbert, 244 Or.App. 382, 260 P.3d 686 (2011), adh'd to as modified on recons., 247 Or.App. 572, 270 P.3d 362 (2012), and the judgment of the circuit court, and we remand the case to the circuit court for further proceedings.

This case concerns a month-to-month tenancy pursuant to a written rental agreement. After the landlord gave the tenants a 30-day no-cause notice of termination of tenancy and the tenants failed to vacate the premises, the landlord filed an action for possession. The tenants filed an answer denying that the landlord was entitled to possession and alleging that the landlord had given notice of termination because of the tenants' legitimate complaints. The trial court rejected the tenants' defense and made written Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, which serve as the basis for our recitation of the underlying facts.2 We recite those facts as background for the legal issue presented — the meaning of ORS 90.385.

At some time before May 19, 2009, the tenants "made some sort of general complaint(s) to [the owner] about the electrical system on the property." The manager also had noticed a bent service mast and had become concerned about the property's electrical service. On May 19, the landlord gave the tenants written notice that the owner wanted to do a "walk-through" of the premises. That notice stated that the owner was going to "check out the breaker box and want[ed] to see the floor in the bathroom." After the initial walk-through, the manager advised the tenants that she wanted to do another walk-through on June 16. A licensed electrician accompanied the owner and the manager on that second walk-through, and, at its conclusion, the electrician recommended that the owner make repairs to the electrical system. It was apparent "to everyone" that those repairs would "involve a cost to the owner." The manager called the tenants the next afternoon and informed them that the owner had decided to terminate their lease. The following day, the tenants received a 30-day no-cause termination notice and a note from the manager, which stated:

At trial, the manager testified that she had issued the notice of eviction based on instructions from the owner. The owner did not testify.

In its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the trial court recognized that "[i]t is a landlord's duty during a tenancy to `maintain the dwelling unit in a habitable condition' and [to maintain the] `electrical lighting with wiring and electrical equipment * * * in good working order.' ORS 90.320(1)(e)." The court found that the electrical system for the dwelling in question was not in good working order. The court further found that (1) it was "a reasonable inference that [the tenant's] conversations with [the owner] as well as [the manager's] concern with the service mast caused [the owner] to want to do the initial walk-through on May 19th";3 and (2) there was no evidence of the owner's reason for termination other than that expressed in the note sent by the manager — that the owner "has several repairs including updating the electrical." The court concluded, however, that the tenants had not established that the tenancy termination constituted "retaliation" by the owner:

(Emphases in original; footnotes omitted.)

The tenants appealed and the Court of Appeals affirmed. Elk Creek Management Co. v. Gilbert, 244 Or.App. 382, 260 P.3d 686 (2011) (Elk Creek I). The Court of Appeals held that "[t]he concept of retaliation as the term is used in ORS 90.385 involves an intention on the part of the landlord to cause some sort of disadvantage to the tenant, motivated by an injury (or perceived injury) that the tenant has caused the landlord[,]" and that the tenants had failed to prove those facts. Id. at 390, 260 P.3d 686. The court also included in its opinion two additional sets of statements. One set of statements concerned a landlord's options if the landlord could not afford to make repairs or decided to take the property off the market:

Id. Another set of statements concerned the role of temporal proximity in demonstrating retaliation:

Id. at 389, 260 P.3d 686 (emphasis in original).

The tenants sought reconsideration. They contested the court's interpretation of ORS 90.385 and also asked the court to reconsider the two sets of statements, which the tenants characterized as "dicta that will have sweeping, dangerous, and presumably unintended consequences for tenants." Elk Creek Management Co. v. Gilbert, 247 Or.App. 572, 574, 270 P.3d 362 (2012) (Elk Creek II). The court granted the tenants' motion in part. It declined to revisit the issue of statutory construction but addressed the tenants' arguments about the two sets of statements. First, the court considered the tenants' argument that, by permitting landlords to evict tenants if landlords could not afford repairs or decided to take the leased property off the market, the court had created two new statutory exceptions to a tenant's retaliation defense. The court agreed with the tenants that it did not have authority to insert statutory exceptions and retracted the offending paragraph. Id. at 579, 270 P.3d 362.

Second, the court considered the tenants' argument that temporal proximity could, under some circumstances, constitute evidence of retaliation. Id. at 580, 270 P.3d 362. The court explained that the legislative history that it had reviewed demonstrated that the legislature had "discarded temporal proximity as sufficient for a tenant to establish a prima facie rebuttable presumption of retaliation that would shift the burden to the landlord to demonstrate the eviction was nonretaliatory." Id. However, the court clarified, the tenants' suggestion that a reasonable trier of fact could draw from such evidence "a permissible inference that the landlord's act was motivated by the tenant's complaint" was consistent with its opinion. Id.

We allowed the tenants' petition for review to consider the tenants' argument that the Court of Appeals incorrectly interpreted ORS 90.385 when it declared that "[t]he concept of retaliation as the term is used in ORS 90.385 involves an intention on the part of the landlord to cause some sort of disadvantage to the tenant, motivated by an injury (or perceived injury) that the tenant has caused the landlord." Elk Creek I, 244 Or.App. at 390, 260 P.3d 686. The tenants contend that, to prove retaliation under ORS 90.385, a tenant must prove only that a landlord took one of the actions specified in ORS 90.385 because a tenant engaged in a statutorily protected activity; no additional proof of injury or intent to harm is required.

The landlord did not file a brief in this court, but, as the Court of Appeals recognized, "[o]ur task is to interpret the statute correctly regardless of the parties' interpretations and concessions." Id. at 387, 260 P.3d 686 (citing Stull v. Hoke, 326 Or. 72, 77, 948 P.2d 722 (1997) ("In construing a statute, this court is responsible for identifying the correct interpretation, whether or not asserted by the parties.")). We begin the task of statutory construction with the text of the statute at issue. See State v. Gaines, 346 Or. 160, 171-72, 206 P.3d 1042 (2009).

ORS 90.385(1) prohibits a landlord from "retaliat[ing] by" taking certain described acts "after" a tenant has engaged in certain described activities.4 A landlord may not retaliate by (1) "increasing rent or decreasing services"; (2) "serving a notice to terminate the tenancy"; or (3) "bringing or threatening to bring an action for possession," after a tenant has (1) made or expressed an intent to make specified complaints, including a complaint that is "in good faith and related to the tenancy"; (2) "organized or become a member of a tenants' union or similar organization"; (3) "testified against the landlord in any judicial, administrative or legislative proceeding"; (4) with certain exceptions, "successfully defended an action for possession brought by the landlord within the previous six months"; or (5) "performed or expressed intent to perform any other act for the purpose of asserting, protecting or invoking the protection of any right secured to tenants under any federal, state or local law."

The tenant activities that the statute protects are acts that a tenant has a right to take. For instance, ORS 90.360 expressly permits a tenant to give a landlord notice of a failure to materially comply with ORS 90.320, the statute that requires that landlords maintain leased premises in a habitable condition, and ORS 105.137 permits a tenant to defend against a landlord's action for possession. The final subparagraph of ORS 90.385(1), subparagraph (f), protects a tenant from retaliation after a tenant has performed "any other act for the purpose of asserting, protecting or invoking the protection of any right secured to tenants under any federal, state or local law." (Emphasis added.) That subparagraph recognizes that there are many laws that grant tenant rights and indicates a legislative intent to protect tenants from retaliation when they exercise those rights. The legislature's use of the phrase any "other act" in subparagraph (f) refers back to the acts specifically listed in the preceding subparagraphs and suggests that they too describe acts that a tenant has the right to take. Thus, ORS 90.385 describes two categories of acts: those that a landlord is prohibited from taking in retaliation and those that a tenant has the right to take and that the legislature protects against retaliation.

In describing the relationship between the prohibited landlord acts and the protected tenant acts, ORS 90.385 states that a landlord may not "retaliate by" taking one of the prohibited acts "after" the tenant has taken one of the protected acts. ORS 90.385 does not expressly require that a tenant demonstrate that the tenant's protected acts caused injury to the landlord or that the landlord perceived the tenant's acts as causing injury. ORS 90.385 also does not expressly require that a tenant demonstrate that a landlord took one of the prohibited acts with an intent to cause injury to the tenant. Thus, the question before us is whether the legislature nevertheless intended to impose those requirements, and, if not, what requirement or requirements the legislature did intend to impose.

The trial court and the Court of Appeals discovered the requirements of injury and intention to impose injury in return in the word "retaliate." The trial court interpreted that word to capture the concept of "lex talionis," which the court described as having ancient foundations and as being easily understood in metaphors such as "an eye for an eye" or "a tooth for a tooth."5 The essence of that concept, as the trial court described it, is that, "when one suffers a real or perceived wrong, a like injury will be inflicted upon the one who did the initial real or perceived harm." In 1973, when the Oregon Legislature enacted ORS 90.385, Black's Law Dictionary defined "lex talionis" as "[t]he law of retaliation; which requires the infliction upon a wrongdoer of the same injury which he has caused to another." Black's Law Dictionary 1058 (4th ed. 1968). At that time, Webster's defined "lex talionis" as "[l]iterally, law of retaliation; — in primitive societies, the custom of inflicting a similar injury upon one who inflicts an injury, as in the Old Testament law of an eye for an eye, etc." Webster's Second New Int'l Dictionary 1423 (unabridged ed. 1934).6

ORS 90.385 obviously does not require that a landlord punish a tenant according to the wrong inflicted by the tenant. It could, however, prohibit a landlord's exercise of lex talionis, and that is the construction that the Court of Appeals apparently adopted. The court determined that "retaliate" means to "repay or requite in kind (as an injury)" or "to put or inflict in return." Elk Creek I, 244 Or.App. at 389-90, 260 P.3d 686. The court reasoned that, when the legislature prohibited a landlord from retaliating against a tenant, it intended to prohibit a landlord that suffers injury from causing a tenant injury in kind. Id. at 390, 260 P.3d 686. In Biblical terms, the court decided, the legislature intended to bar a landlord from taking "an eye for an eye."

The correct construction of ORS 90.385 does not, however, turn only on the dictionary definition of one of its words. We also must consider the context in which the legislature used the word "retaliate" and other indicators of the legislature's intent. Gaines, 346 Or. at 171-72, 206 P.3d 1042. When we do so, we conclude, for the reasons that follow, that the legislature did not intend to require that a tenant prove that the tenant's protected act caused the landlord actual or perceived injury or that the landlord intended to cause the tenant injury in return; rather, the statute is satisfied if the landlord made the decision to act because of the tenant's protected activity.

First, as explained, a tenant who takes one of the actions referenced in ORS 90.385(1) takes an action that the tenant has a right to take and that the legislature intends to protect. For instance, a tenant has a right to notify a landlord of necessary repairs. ORS 90.360(1)(a) (tenant may notify landlord of material noncompliance with ORS 90.320). A tenant's exercise of that right provides the landlord with information that enables it to meet its statutory obligation to maintain leased premises in habitable condition. ORS 90.320. Thus, when the legislature prohibits the landlord from retaliating, the legislature advances two interconnected interests: an interest in allowing tenants to assert their statutory rights, and an interest in having landlords fulfill their statutory obligations. It would be inconsistent with those interests for the legislature to impose a requirement that the tenant prove that his or her exercise of those rights caused the landlord injury.

Second, the enactment history of ORS 90.385 demonstrates that the legislature did not intend to require proof of injury or intent to harm. The Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (ORLTA), which includes ORS 90.385, was enacted in 1973.7 The ORLTA was modeled on the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (1972) (URLTA), Elk Creek I, 244 Or.App. at 387, 260 P.3d 686, and, as originally enacted, ORS 90.385 mirrored section 5-101 of that Uniform Act.8 Both acts prohibited a landlord from "retaliat[ing] by" taking specified actions after a tenant had engaged in protected activities, including complaining of a landlord's violation of statutory habitability requirements, and both acts included a "disputable presumption" that the landlord had engaged in retaliation if the landlord acted within a specified period after the tenant's protected activity. Under the URLTA, that period was one year; under the ORLTA, that period was six months.

Section 5-101 of the URLTA included a comment that explained that, before the adoption of either act, courts in seven states and the District of Columbia had "upheld the defense of retaliatory eviction" and that other states had recognized that defense by statute.9 Chronologically, the first of the cited cases was Edwards v. Habib, 397 F.2d 687 (D.C.Cir.1968). In that case, the court held that, although a landlord is entitled to "evict for any legal reason or for no reason at all," the landlord may not "evict in retaliation for his tenant's report of housing code violations to the authorities." Id. at 699. The court explained that implementation of the District of Columbia housing codes depends on private individuals taking initiative and reporting violations. Therefore, the court reasoned, permitting the eviction of tenants who make such reports would frustrate the codes' effectiveness and violate public policy.10 Id. at 699-701. The court observed that trial courts could determine the reason for a landlord's eviction in the same way that they decide other questions of fact:

Id. at 702-03 (internal quotation marks and footnotes omitted).

Courts in a number of the other cases cited in the comment to Section 5-101 of the URLTA relied on Edwards in recognizing the equitable defense of "retaliatory eviction." One of those cases was Engler v. Capital Management Corporation, 112 N.J.Super. 445, 271 A.2d 615 (1970) (recognizing defense). After the New Jersey Court decided Engler, the New Jersey Legislature enacted a statute that adopted a similar defense. That statute prohibited a landlord from evicting a tenant as a "reprisal" for specified tenant activities and created a rebuttable presumption of reprisal when the landlord evicted a tenant within 90 days of such activities. See N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:42-10.10, 2A:42-10.12. The New Jersey Supreme Court construed that statute in Silberg v. Lipscomb, 117 N.J.Super. 491, 285 A.2d 86 (1971), also cited in the comment to the Uniform Act.

In Silberg, the landlord argued that it had given the tenants notice of eviction because, after learning that the tenants had formed an association and had complained about the condition of the premises, the landlord had decided to subdivide the property and sell the houses as two-family units. Silberg, 117 N.J.Super. at 493, 285 A.2d 86. The landlord testified that, although the work necessary to prepare the premises for subdivision could occur while the tenants occupied their dwellings, he had decided that the cost of proceeding in that way was prohibitive and therefore had evicted the tenants. The court found that the tenants had failed to establish any "actual malice or hostility toward them as the basis for the landlord's eviction proceedings." Id. at 494, 285 A.2d 86. Nevertheless, the court concluded, the tenant had established "reprisal" as that term was used in the statute. Although the court was satisfied that the "dominant" reason for the landlord's decision was the cost of the contemplated work, the court also found that the landlord had prepared the notices of eviction before he had decided the full nature and extent of the work and that he had not actually weighed the possibility of performing the work with the tenants in possession. Id. at 495, 285 A.2d 86. Therefore, the court was not satisfied that, but for the tenants' action, "further and more complete consideration by the landlord would not have taken place." The court held that

Id. at 496, 285 A.2d 86. Because the landlord had acted within 90 days of the tenants' protected activity, the landlord could overcome the presumption of retaliation only on a showing that "the decision to evict was reached independent[ly] of any consideration of the activities of the tenants protected by the statute." That, the court concluded, the landlord had failed to do.11 Id.

The next year, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws adopted the URLTA, which, as noted, prohibited landlords from "retaliat[ing] by" taking specified actions "after" a tenant engaged in certain protected activities and also included a "disputable presumption" of retaliation if the landlord's action followed the tenant's within one year. When they adopted that framework, the drafters were cognizant not only of the New Jersey statute, but also of the "retaliatory eviction" statutes that had been enacted in other states, as evidenced by the fact that the drafters cited those statutes in the comment to Section 5-101 of the Uniform Act.

A review of the statutes cited in the comment to Section 5-101 of the URLTA indicates that state legislatures had taken various approaches to the problem of retaliatory eviction. Statutes in Minnesota and Rhode Island prohibited a landlord from taking action "intended as a penalty" for a tenant's protected activities. Minn. Stat. § 566.03 (1971); R.I. Gen. Laws Ann. 34-20-10 (1968). A Connecticut statute made it unlawful for a landlord to take action "solely because" the tenant attempted to lawfully remedy a housing condition. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 19-375a(1958). A California statute precluded a landlord from gaining possession of a dwelling unit if the landlord's "dominant purpose" was retaliation against the tenant. Cal. Civ. Code § 1942.5 (1970). An Illinois statute stated that it was a violation of state public policy for a landlord to terminate a tenancy "on the ground that" the tenant had complained of a code violation. Ill. Rev. Stat. ch. 80, para. 71 (1963). And a New York statute prohibited the landlord from acting "because" of the tenant's protected activity. NY McKinney's Unconsol. Laws, § 8590 (1971). Like the New Jersey statute, other statutes cited in the official comment simply prohibited retaliation and included a presumption that retaliation had occurred when the landlord's action took place within a specified period after the tenant's protected activity. See, e.g., 1969 Md Laws page no 1469; Mass. Gen. Laws Ann., ch. 186, § 18 (1969).

Aware of those differing approaches, the drafters of the URLTA chose as its template a formulation close to the one that the New Jersey Legislature had adopted. We therefore conclude that the drafters of the Uniform Act deliberately chose not to include a requirement, such as that included in the Minnesota statute, that the landlord intend its action as a penalty for the tenant's conduct. Instead, the drafters chose to require proof that the landlord had "retaliate[d] by" taking action after a tenant engaged in protected activity, consistent with the New Jersey formulation. The New Jersey Supreme Court had decided that the New Jersey statute did not require proof of a landlord's "malice or hostility." If the URLTA framers had wanted to include such a requirement in their "retaliatory eviction" defense, it is likely that they would have done so explicitly or used an alternative formulation that more clearly incorporated that concept.

As noted, when the Oregon Legislature enacted ORS 90.385 in 1973, it adopted Section 5-101 of the URLTA nearly verbatim and had before it the URLTA comment to that section. See Testimony, House Committee on Local Government and Urban Affairs, SB 159, Feb. 21, 1973 (letter from Charles R. Williamson to Senator Burns); Testimony, House Committee on Local Government and Urban Affairs, SB 159, Feb. 21, 1973 (letter from Charles R. Williamson to Senator Anthony Meeker). We therefore conclude that the Oregon Legislature's original intent was consistent with the intent of the drafters of the URLTA; when the Oregon Legislature used the word "retaliate" in ORS 90.385, it did not intend to invoke the ancient concept of "lex talionis."

The legislature's amendment of the ORLTA in 1979 and its deletion of the disputable presumption does not change our conclusion.12 The legislative history of that amendment is accurately set out in Elk Creek I, 244 Or.App. at 388-89, 260 P.3d 686, and is further discussed in Elk Creek II, 247 Or. App. at 580, 270 P.3d 362. Before the amendment, the disputable presumption allowed the tenant to shift the burden of persuasion to the landlord so that the landlord was required to prove that its action, if taken within six months of the tenant's protected activity, was not retaliatory. Former ORS 91.865(2) (1973), amended by Or. Laws 1979, ch. 643, § 1. Under the current statute, the tenant no longer can shift the burden of proof to the landlord. That does not mean, however, that the tenant must now prove that the landlord suffered injury and intended injury in return. As amended, ORS 90.385 continues to require a tenant to demonstrate that the landlord acted because of a tenant's engagement in protected activity.

Our review of the Oregon legislature's use of the word "retaliate" or "retaliation" in other statutes confirms that interpretation. The legislature commonly uses those words throughout the Oregon Revised Statutes without any indication that they impose a requirement that the party asserting retaliation must prove that he or she caused actual or perceived injury or that the other party acted with an intent to injure in return. Instead, the legislature commonly uses those words in conjunction with the word "because" or other words that require a causal connection between one party's acts and another party's protected activity. For example, ORS 441.174(1) provides that "[a] hospital may not take retaliatory action against a nursing staff because the nursing staff * * * files a * * * complaint" regarding unsafe care, and ORS 659A.082(2)(c) provides that "[i]t is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against a person because of the person's [military] service * * * by * * * retaliating against the person for exercising or attempting to exercise" the person's rights as a servicemember.13 (Emphases added.) Although none of those statutes prohibits retaliation by landlords, other statutes that do pertain to landlords prohibit them from taking specified actions against a tenant "because" of the tenant's protected status or activity. For example, ORS 659A.145 prohibits a landlord from discriminating "because" of a disability of a tenant by expelling the tenant or by refusing to permit reasonable accommodations necessary to the tenant's use and enjoyment of the property.14 Similarly, ORS 90.449 prohibits a landlord from terminating a tenancy "because" the tenant is a domestic violence victim.15 We believe that ORS 90.385 requires a similar causal connection between the landlord's prohibited action and the tenant's protected activity; the legislature did not use the word "retaliate" to impose additional requirements that the landlord suffer actual or perceived injury or intend harm in return.

A question remains, however, about the height of the causal bar that the Oregon Legislature requires Oregon tenants to clear. Did the Oregon Legislature intend to require tenants to prove that a tenant's protected activity was the sole reason for the landlord's action, or did it intend to impose some other causal standard? As noted, the drafters of both the URLTA and the ORLTA chose a statutory framework similar to the New Jersey framework and declined to expressly require, as Connecticut and California had, that the tenant prove that the tenant's protected activity was the "sole" or "dominant" reason for the landlord's prohibited action. It is therefore likely that the drafters did not intend to impose either of those more strictly stated causal requirements.

That conclusion also is apparent when we consider another provision of both the URLTA and the ORLTA: a section providing that, "notwithstanding" the prohibition against retaliation, "a landlord may bring an action for possession" when certain other circumstances are present. Those circumstances include when a tenant is in default in rent and when "compliance with the applicable building or housing code requires alteration, remodeling, or demolition which would effectively deprive the tenant of use of the dwelling unit." URLTA § 5.101(c);16 ORS 90.385(4).17 If the drafters had intended to require the tenant to prove that his or her protected activity was the sole reason for a landlord's decision to evict the tenant, then the "notwithstanding" provision would have been unnecessary.

We believe that the legislature instead intended to require a tenant to prove that the tenant's protected activity was a factor that made a difference in the landlord's decision. As noted, that requirement is consistent with the New Jersey Supreme Court's interpretation of the New Jersey statute used as a format for the URLTA and the ORLTA, and, as we will explain, that requirement also is consistent with this court's articulation of causal requirements in other contexts.

In 1973, when the ORLTA was enacted, this court used the "substantial factor" test to determine the "cause in fact" of a plaintiff's injuries. See Stewart v. Jefferson Plywood Co., 255 Or. 603, 606, 469 P.2d 783 (1970) (using "substantial factor" to describe "cause in fact" requirement); Babler Bros. v. Pac. Intermountain, 244 Or. 459, 463, 415 P.2d 735 (1966) (noting that, in most negligence cases, "the factual inquiry whether the actor's conduct was a substantial factor in producing the harm is relatively uncomplicated"); Dewey v. A.F. Klaveness & Co., 233 Or. 515, 541, 379 P.2d 560 (1963) (phrasing the causation standard as whether the defendant's conduct was a "substantial factor" in physically producing the injury). Since then, this court has recognized that, in most cases, the "substantial factor" test yields the same result as the "but for" test of causation. In Joshi v. Providence Health System, 342 Or. 152, 161, 149 P.3d 1164 (2006), the court described the "but for" test as follows: "The defendant's conduct is a cause of the event if the event would not have occurred but for that conduct; conversely, the defendant's conduct is not a cause of the event, if the event would have occurred without it." The court explained, however, that the "but for" test fails where "two causes concur to bring about an event, and either one of them, operating alone, would have been sufficient to cause the identical result[.]" In that situation, the court reasoned, "[the] defendant's conduct is a cause of the event if it was a material element and a substantial factor in bringing it about." Id.

We conclude that when the legislature enacted ORS 90.385, it intended that trial courts test causation in the same way that they do in other contexts. As the D.C. Circuit Court remarked in Edwards, the reason for a landlord's decision to evict is a question of fact for a court or jury that is not significantly different from other questions of fact that those fact-finders confront in other areas of the law. Edwards, 397 F.2d at 702-03. We conclude that ORS 90.385 requires a tenant to prove that, "but for" the tenant's protected activity, the landlord would not have made the decision that it did. In the circumstance in which, as described in Joshi, two causes concur, but either operating alone would have been sufficient to cause the result, a tenant also may prevail by proving that the tenant's protected activity was a "material and substantial factor" in the landlord's decision. The tenant need not prove that the tenant's protected activity was the "sole" or "dominant" reason for the landlord's decision.

Having construed ORS 90.385, we now must determine its effect on the judgment in this case. The trial court's relevant findings and reasoning were as follows: The tenants complained to the owner about the electrical system, and the tenants' complaints were one of the reasons that the owner decided to do the initial walk-through of the premises. The owner then decided to do a second walk-through accompanied by an electrician. It was apparent to the owner that electrical repairs were necessary and would entail some cost. The next afternoon, the manager called the tenants and informed them that the owner had decided to terminate their lease. The following day, the manager delivered a notice of termination to the tenants, stating that "[the owner] has several repairs including updating the electrical." There was no evidence of any other reason for the termination of the tenancy.

Although the trial court decided that the tenants' complaints were one of the reasons that the owner decided to conduct the initial walk-through, the court did not explicitly decide whether the tenants' complaints also were one of the reasons that the owner decided to serve the notice of termination; the trial court speculated that the owner may have given that notice for other "valid business reasons."18 Without explicitly elaborating on what those "valid business reasons" may have been, the trial court discussed whether the tenants had inflicted harm on the owner and whether the owner had attempted to harm the tenants by terminating their tenancy. The court observed that the owner had spent considerable sums on repairs in the past and described the conduct of both parties as "innocuous." However, as we have explained, whether the owner was thankful, threatened, or neutral when the tenants notified her of electrical problems, and whether the owner considered the costs of improving the electrical system injurious or simply necessary, ORS 90.385 prohibited the owner from serving the tenants with notice of termination because of the tenants' complaints.19 If the tenants' complaints were one of the factors that the owner considered in making her decision to evict, and the owner would not have made that decision "but for" the tenant's complaints, then the owner was prohibited from making that decision. That is true even if there also were other factors that the owner considered in arriving at her conclusion. If the owner had two different, independent reasons for deciding to evict the tenants, and either alone would have caused the owner to make the decision to evict, the owner also was prohibited from deciding to do so if the tenant's protected activity was one of those independent reasons.

In applying that test, it is important to recognize that a landlord has a statutory obligation to maintain leased premises in a habitable condition. ORS 90.320. The landlord therefore is required to make the repairs that are necessary to fulfill that obligation and to pay their associated cost. The repairs and their associated costs are not logically related to the tenant's occupancy except, of course, if the repairs are so extensive that they cannot be made while the dwelling is occupied. ORS 90.385(4)(d) recognizes that logic and permits a landlord to evict a tenant where compliance with the applicable building or housing code requires alteration, remodeling, or demolition which would effectively deprive the tenant of use of the dwelling unit. Except in that instance, the fact that repairs and their associated cost are statutorily compelled means that they cannot be a lawful reason for a landlord's decision to evict a tenant; or, said another way, the cost of statutory compliance cannot be a legitimate reason for a landlord to take a statutorily prohibited act against a tenant who exercises a statutorily protected right.

That does not mean, of course, that a landlord must continue to lease property that it owns or that a landlord always is prohibited from evicting a tenant after the tenant complains about the condition of a dwelling. For example, if the landlord offers evidence that it made the decision to serve a notice of termination for some reason unrelated to the tenant's complaint, such as that the tenant failed to pay rent or violated other terms of the lease, or that it made its decision to evict before the tenant complained, a factfinder may conclude that the tenant's complaint was not a factor that made a difference in the landlord's decision.

In this case, the trial court could have inferred, from the temporal connection between the tenants' complaint and the owner's decision to evict them, that the tenants' complaints made a difference in the owner's decision. However, the trial court did not do so and instead speculated that the owner may have had other "valid business reasons" for her action. Although the record does not reveal any such reasons, we hesitate to decide what conclusion the trial court would have reached had it applied the correct legal standard. We therefore reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this decision.

The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed. The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the case is remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings.