Montana Landlords' Rights and Duties Handbook: Rights of a Landlord

This is Part One of Montana Landlords' Rights & Duties Handbook, and only has information about the rights of a landlord in Montana. To learn more about what a landlord must do, check out Part Two of the Montana Landlords' Rights & Duties Handbook: What a Landlord Must Do.

The Montana Legal Services Association developed this handbook to help residential landlords understand and exercise their rights and responsibilities under the Montana Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. This handbook is intended to provide general guidance only.  It is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.

If you are a residential landlord who leases or rents a house, apartment, or mobile home to someone else, this handbook was designed for you.

Note: If your tenant owns a mobile home and only rents the lot from you, different laws apply and this handbook is not right for you. This handbook also does not cover:

• Commercial rentals (including renting space for a business);
• Rent-to-own agreements;
• Fraternity or sorority houses;
• Temporary stays at hotels or motels;
• Condominium owners or holders of a proprietary lease in a cooperative;
• Commercial or agricultural rental agreements;
• Halfway houses or other residences related to detention;
• Housing that is provided as part of a job;
• Public or private residences that provide tenants with services including medical, geriatric, counseling, religious, educational, or other similar service (including all housing provided by the Montana university system and other postsecondary institutions);
• Members of a social or fraternal organization who rent part of a building that is operated for the benefit of the organization; or
• Rental agreements giving hunting, fishing, or agricultural privileges with the rental (for example, hunting lodges).

This handbook does not cover all the rights and remedies available to landlords who participate in government assistance programs, such as public housing or Section 8 voucher programs. Montana law still applies to these types of tenancies, but those landlords and tenants also have extra protections under federal law that are not addressed in this handbook. 

Where Can I Get More Information?

The laws of Montana are called the Montana Code Annotated or “MCA.” This handbook is based on the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1977, which you can find in Title 70, Chapter 24 of the Montana Code Annotated. An easier way to write this law is § 70-24-101, MCA.  The symbol "§" means section. You can also write a law as Section 70-24-101, MCA. You can find the MCA at your local library or on the Montana State Law Library website at https://courts.mt.gov/Library.

Warning:

This handbook is not designed to cover all possible situations where a landlord might need legal advice about a rental. The handbook is merely a guide to the general rights and responsibilities of a landlord. Please read the “Who Can Use This Handbook?” section of this handbook carefully to make sure this handbook applies to your situation. Please consult an attorney to ensure all the legal requirements have been met if you plan to:

• Terminate the rental agreement early;
• Sue your tenant; or
• Take other serious action based on what you have read in the Montana Code Annotated or this handbook.

It is a good idea to talk to a lawyer if you have any questions. If you end up in court and win, you may be able to get the tenant to pay your attorney’s fees. However, if you end up in court and lose, the court may make you pay for the tenant’s attorney’s fees. This may be true even if your rental agreement says something different. See Section 70-24-442, MCA.

WARNING: If you are filing a lawsuit against your tenant, you may be required to hire an attorney.  Rule 2(a) of the Montana Justice and City Court Civil Rules allows a “person” to file a lawsuit without an attorney, but requires an agent or a business entity (such as a corporation or LLC) to file a lawsuit through an attorney.

Where Can I Get Legal Help?

These organizations may be able to help you:

• Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA) gives free legal help to low-income people. To find out if you qualify for MLSA, call the MLSA HelpLine at 1-800-666-6899 or apply online. 
• The State Bar Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS) refers people to Montana lawyers who might be able to help. Call LRIS at 1-406- 449-6577.
• The State Law Library can help you find and use legal resources such as books, forms, and websites. You can visit the Law Library website at https://courts.mt.gov/Library.

Note: There may be forms available to help you with rental concerns. You can find form letters and housing pleading forms that can help you with security deposit issues, eviction, and other topics. Visit https://courts.mt.gov/ and click on the “Forms” option near the top of the page to find forms that can help you write letters or court documents. You may also find forms and more information on this website. 

Section 70-24-321, MCA

The tenant must:

• Obey any building and housing codes that deal with health and safety;
• Keep the rental reasonably clean and safe;
• Dispose of all waste in a clean and safe way;
• Keep all plumbing fixtures in the rental clean;
• Use facilities and appliances reasonably;
• Use all parts of the rental reasonably;
• Act (and make the tenant’s guests act) in a way that does not disturb other tenants’ peaceful enjoyment of their rentals and common areas;
• Use each room of the rental reasonably, considering the purpose for which each room is intended;
• Not (and not allow others to) destroy, deface, impair or remove the any part of the rental;
  • If the tenant or the tenant’s guests cause the destruction or damage of the rental, you may give the tenant a three day written notice. For the notice to be proper it must be in writing. This notice must specify the acts or omissions constituting the noncompliance. It must also state that the rental agreement will terminate on the 3rd day after the tenant receives the notice if the tenant fails to remedy the noncompliance within those three days. If the tenant adequately remedies the noncompliance within the three days, the rental agreement does not terminate.

  • If the tenant does not remedy the noncompliance and does not move out of the rental at the end of the three days, you may file a lawsuit in court for possession of the rental property. If you win in court, then the judge will order the tenant to vacate the property.

• Not criminally produce or manufacture dangerous drugs, operate a clandestine laboratory, or participate in gang-related activities on the rental property (and not allow others to do so);

  • If the tenant is arrested for or charged with one of these crimes, you may give the tenant a three day written notice of violating this duty and end the rental agreement at the end of the three days.

• Obtain your consent in writing before running any kind of business from the rental.

  • You cannot unreasonably withhold consent as long as the limited business or cottage industry is maintained within your reasonable rules, and within the covenants that apply to the subdivision, if any.

What if the tenant does not maintain the rental?

If the tenant fails to maintain the rental you may provide the tenant with written notice of that violation and possibly end the rental agreement. The number of days on the notice depends on the type of maintenance that the tenant fails to perform. For destruction of the rental or being charged or arrested with the crimes given in the list above, you can give the tenant a three day notice.  For all of the other maintenance duties in the above list, you are required to give the tenant at least 14 days’ notice to fix the violation or to move out. For the notice to be proper it must be in writing. The notice must explain what duty the tenant has violated. The notice must also state that the rental agreement will end 14 days after the tenant gets the notice if the tenant does not fix the violation. If the tenant does not move out or fix the violation at the end of the 14 days, you may file a lawsuit in court for possession of the rental property. The tenant will have the opportunity to appear in court to fight the eviction. If you win in court, the judge will order the tenant’s eviction.

If you sent the tenant proper written notice of a violation and the tenant commits the same violation within six months of receiving that first notice, you do not have to allow the tenant to fix the violation. You may give the tenant written notice that the rental agreement will end five days after the tenant receives the new notice. For the notice to be proper it must be in writing and it must explain:

• What duty the tenant has violated;

• That the tenant has been given written notice of violating this duty within the last six months; and

• That the rental agreement will end five days after the tenant gets the notice.

If the tenant does not move out at the end of the five days, you may file a lawsuit in court for possession of the rental property.  The tenant will have the opportunity to appear in court to fight the eviction. If you win in court, the judge will order the tenant’s eviction.

What if I just want to make the repair that the tenant has not made and not end the rental agreement?

Section 70-24-425, MCA 

You may enter the rental and make the repair. You have the right to enter and complete that duty for the tenant if the tenant fails to do one of the maintenance duties described above and:

• The tenant’s failure affects someone’s health and safety; and

• The condition can be remedied by repair, replacement of a damaged item, or cleaning.

You must provide the tenant with proper written notice of the duty that the tenant is not performing. You must also inform the tenant that she has 14 days after receiving the notice to perform the duty. [Note: If it is an emergency, you do not have to give the tenant the 14-day notice, and you can ask the tenant to perform the duty immediately.] If the tenant does not perform the duty within the 14 days (or immediately if it is an emergency), you may enter and get the work done in a workmanlike manner. You can then bill the tenant for the actual and reasonable cost of the work. You can give the tenant an itemized bill that will be due on the next date that rent is due. The amount of the bill will be considered part of the tenant’s rent for that month.

Sections 70-24-312 and -424, MCA

You have the right to go onto the rental property when you have a good reason, such as to:

• Inspect the rental;
• Make repairs, decorations or alterations, or improvements;
• Supply necessary or agreed services; or
• Show the rental to possible purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workmen, or contractors.

Unless there is an emergency, you must give the tenant at least 24 hours’ notice of your plan to enter the rental and you can only enter the rental at reasonable times. In an emergency, you can enter the rental without the tenant’s consent.

You cannot abuse the right of access to the rental or use it to harass the tenant. See Part Two of the Montana Landlords' Rights & Duties Handbook: What a Landlord Must Do for more information. 

What if the tenant denies me access to the property?

If the tenant unreasonably denies you lawful access to the rental property, you must first give the tenant proper written notice that the tenant denied you reasonable access to the rental property. For the notice to be proper it must be in writing and it must explain that the tenant unreasonably denied you access to the rental property. The notice must also state that the rental agreement will end 14 days after the tenant gets the notice if the tenant does not provide reasonable access to you.

If the tenant does not provide access, you can choose to either:

• File a lawsuit in court to ask the court to make the tenant allow access to the rental property; or
• End the rental agreement.

Regardless of which remedy you choose, you can also ask the court to make the tenant pay you for any damages you suffered because the tenant unreasonably denied you access to the rental property.

If you decide to end the rental agreement and the tenant does not move out at the end of the 14 days, you may file a lawsuit in court for possession of the rental property. If you win in court, the judge will order the tenant’s eviction.  Under some circumstances, the court also has the authority to order the tenant to pay you a penalty for staying beyond the date in the notice you sent the tenant, and to pay your attorney fees. If the tenant wins in court, you may have to pay the tenant’s attorney fees. See "Right to have the tenant leave the rental" below for more information. 

Section 70-24-312 and -424(2), MCA

The tenant may not remove any locks or replace or add a different lock without your written permission. If the tenant does remove, replace or add locks, the tenant must provide you with a key so your right of access is preserved.

If the tenant adds new locks and does not give you keys to the new locks, you must first give the tenant proper written notice of changing the locks without providing keys to you.  For the notice to be proper it must be in writing and it must explain that the tenant changed the locks without providing keys to you. The notice must also state that the rental agreement will end 14 days after the tenant gets the notice if the tenant does not provide the new lock keys to you.

If the tenant does not provide the keys to you, you can choose to either:

• File a lawsuit in court to ask the court to make the tenant give you the keys; or
• End the rental agreement.

If you decide to end the rental agreement and the tenant does not move out at the end of the 14 days, you may file a lawsuit in court for possession of the rental property. If you win in court, the judge will order the tenant’s eviction.

Section 70-24-311, MCA

You may adopt rules about the tenant’s use of the rental property. A rule is enforceable against the tenant only if:

• The rule is in writing;
• The rule is given to the tenant and any other tenant on the rental property and to each new tenant on the rental property upon arrival;
• The purpose of the rule is to:
  • Promote the convenience, safety, or welfare of people living on the rental property;
  • Preserve your property from abusive use; or
  • Make access to services and facilities fair for all tenants.
• The rule is reasonably related to the purpose for which you adopted it;

• The rule applies to everyone living in the rental property in a fair way;

• The rule is clearly worded so that the tenant is fairly informed of what the tenant must or must not do to follow the rule;

• The rule is not for the purpose of allowing you to avoid your duties as a landlord; and

• The tenant has notice of the rule at the time that the tenant enters into the rental agreement or when the rule is first in effect.

If the rule is adopted after the tenant enters into a rental agreement and the rule makes a major change in the rental agreement, the rule is not valid until:

• Seven days after you give the tenant written notice, if the rental is week- to-week; or
• 30 days after you give the tenant written notice, if the rental is month-to- month.

Section 70-24-426(3), MCA

The rental agreement is a contract between you and the tenant. Basically, the tenant is agreeing to pay you so much a month in exchange for you letting the tenant live in the rental. You must uphold your end of the bargain, and the tenant must uphold the tenant’s end.  Under some circumstances, if the tenant moves out or stops paying rent before the end of the rental agreement, the tenant may be responsible for the rent until the end date of the rental agreement. This may be true even if the tenant does not live there anymore.

What do I do if the tenant moves out early?

If the tenant moves out early from the rental, you must try to re-rent the rental at a fair price.  If you can re-rent the rental before the end date of the rental agreement, the rental agreement ends on the day the rental agreement with the new tenant begins. The old tenant is responsible
for the rent from the time the old tenant moved out until the time the new tenant’s rental agreement begins. If you do not try to re-rent the rental at a fair price after a tenant moves out early, then the rental agreement ends on the day you first had notice that the tenant left the rental. Then, the tenant is only responsible for the rent for the time that the tenant lived in the rental.

You can also just decide to accept that the tenant has left the rental and end the rental agreement on the day you first noticed that the tenant has left the rental.

Can the tenant sublet the rental?

Section 70-24-305, MCA

If the tenant moves out during the term of the rental agreement and wants to sublet the rental, the tenant must get your written permission.  If the tenant sublets the rental without your written permission, the tenant is violating the tenant’s duties under the rental agreement. You can take the tenant to court for violating the agreement.

What do I do with personal property left at the rental after the tenant leaves?

Section 70-24-430, MCA

You can remove the tenant’s property from the rental if:

• You reasonably believe that the tenant has abandoned personal property in the rental; and
• It has been at least five days since the occurrence of events that led you to believe that the tenant has abandoned the property.

The law requires you to do certain things if you remove the tenant’s property. When you remove the property from the rental, you must inventory and store all of the property somewhere safe. You may bill the tenant for storage costs, labor to move the belongings, and other costs involved with moving the property to storage.

After seizing the tenant’s property, you must:

• Make a reasonable attempt to notify the tenant in writing that you have the tenant’s property and that the tenant must come and get it;
• Notify law enforcement that you have the property (and it is a good idea to give this notice in writing and keep a copy for yourself, so you will have proof of the notice if the tenant ever contests it);
• Try to find out if someone else has an ownership interest in the property; and
• Send a notice by certified mail to the tenant’s last-known address. The notice must say that you will dispose of the property if not removed within a specific time. That specific time cannot be less than 15 days after you mailed the notice to the tenant.  You can require the tenant to pay the reasonable or actual costs of removal and storage of the tenant’s property before you release the property to the tenant, but you cannot require the tenant to pay whatever rent the tenant may have left owing.

If the tenant responds in writing to your notice on or before the deadline you gave the tenant in your notice, and says that the tenant will come get the tenant’s belongings, you must wait for seven days after you receive the tenant’s response.  If the tenant does not come get the tenant’s belongings within those seven days, then the law allows you to presume that the property is abandoned, and you can dispose of it.

After you follow the steps above, if the tenant does not pick up the tenant’s belongings, then you can dispose of the tenant’s property by:

• Selling all or part of the property at a public or private sale; or

• Destroying or disposing of all or part of the property. You can only do this if you reasonably believe that the value of the property is so low that the cost of storage or sale would be larger than the value of the property. 

You are not responsible for any loss or damage to the tenant’s property because of the storage unless you cause the loss or damage on purpose or through your carelessness.

If you follow the procedure above and have the public or private sale, you may subtract from the amount raised by the sale the reasonable costs of:

• Notice,
• Storage,
• Labor,
• Sale, and
• Any rent or damages the tenant still owes on the premises.

If any money from the sale is left after these deductions, you must give the money to the tenant along with an itemized accounting of the sales proceeds and the deductions you made. If you cannot find the tenant, you must send the remaining money to the county treasurer where the sale happened. From that point the tenant still has three years to claim the money from the county treasurer. If the tenant does not claim the money within three years, the money goes to the general fund of the county.

Section 70-24-303(1)(h), MCA

You must provide the tenant with an approved smoke detector that works. The tenant must maintain the smoke detector in the rental in good working order while the tenant is renting the rental.

Section 70-24-429, MCA

The tenant has a responsibility to leave the rental once the rental agreement ends, unless you and the tenant have agreed otherwise. You can legally end the rental agreement if you give the tenant proper notice. If you have a written rental agreement, the tenant must leave the rental at the end of the term of the rental agreement unless you and the tenant have agreed otherwise. If the tenant does not move out of the rental once the rental agreement has been legally ended, you can file a lawsuit against the tenant in court to get possession of the rental from the tenant.

When you file an eviction lawsuit against your tenant, the court could order the tenant to pay a penalty for staying beyond the date in the notice you gave the tenant and to pay your attorney fees. If the court finds that the tenant remained in the rental after you properly ended the rental agreement and that the tenant did so on purpose and not for a good reason, the court may make the tenant pay you the amount of three months’ rent or three times the damages that you suffered because the tenant stayed in the rental, whichever amount is larger. If you hire an attorney, the court also may order the tenant to pay your attorney fees. If the tenant wins in court, you may have to pay the tenant’s attorney fees.