Montana Landlord Compliance Kit: Deposit, Notice and Eviction Checklists with an Excel Tracker

Who it is for

Landlords and property managers with rentals in Montana, and tenants who want the same record, from move-in through move-out or a court case.

Not the right fit if

Your rental is outside Montana: get that state's kit. Not legal advice, not a lawyer's review of a lease, notice or court case, and not a set of legal notice forms; city and county rules aren't covered.

Why it is different

• Built only from our Montana data files, checked November 2026 against 8 official pages, among them Montana Legislature: MCA 70-25-202, List of damages and refund; Montana Legislature: MCA 70-25-203, Failure to provide list; Montana Judicial Branch, Commission on Self-Represented Litigants: Giving your tenant notice to vacate (updated April 18, 2023); Montana Judicial Branch: Answering Your Landlord's Complaint to Evict You (05/23/23); Montana Code Annotated 70-24-427: Landlord's remedies after termination, action for possession; MCA 25-35-502 Jurisdiction (Montana Code Annotated 2025), plus Justia (statute text) and National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (a vetted secondary source, marked in the kit) where no official page could be read.
• 11 items the official pages didn't state are left out of the rules and put on a short look-up list with the page to check, never guessed.
• The workbook recalculates with zero formula errors and works out Montana notice and deposit dates for you.

What is inside

• Start here. How to use the kit, the 12 confirmed Montana rules at a glance and a short look-up list of 11 points to check: deposit limit, interest on the deposit, where the deposit is held, ending month-to-month (tenant), rent increase notice, late fee limits, court, filing fee and more, each with the official page.
• Montana landlord rules checklist. Deposits, notice periods, the eviction case and the small claims limit, each confirmed rule with its source link and check date. What it confirms: return deadline: Within 30 days after the tenancy ends or the premises are surrendered and accepted: a written list of rent due and damage and cleaning charges with any balance; itemized list of deductions: A written list of rent due and damage and cleaning charges, with payment of the difference (70-25-202(1)(a)); penalty the law states: Without the written list, the landlord forfeits all rights to withhold for damage or cleaning (70-25-203); ending month-to-month (landlord): 30 days' notice to end a month-to-month tenancy; unpaid rent notice: 3 days after the tenant receives the notice to pay in full or move out; entry notice: At least 24 hours' notice of the intent to enter, and entry only at reasonable times, except in an emergency or where notice is impracticable; time to answer or appear: Five business days to file an Answer; the hearing must then be held within 10 business days of the Answer; judgment to writ: If possession is granted, the court issues the writ of possession and writ of assistance immediately; writ to lockout: The sheriff executes the writ of assistance within 5 business days of receiving it, unless the landlord and sheriff agree otherwise; who carries out the lockout: The sheriff executes the writ of assistance; right to counsel (statewide): No statewide right to counsel for tenants in eviction cases (as of November 2026, per the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel): its tracker of enacted laws lists no statewide law here; small claims limit (for a deposit dispute): $7,000: the most a small claims case can ask for.
• Move-in and move-out deposit checklist. A room-by-room condition checklist for both visits and the steps after move-out, with Montana's return deadline (within 30 days).
• Notice calendar. When each notice must go out: the lead time for every notice the state's text confirms, with a 2027 month-by-month serve-by table worked out with our notice date calculator's rules.
• Eviction timeline sheet. The Montana case in order from notice to lockout, with each confirmed stage, an example dated from a sample filing day where the rules give periods, and blanks for your own case dates.
• Montana landlord workbook (Excel). A tenant notice log that dates each notice from the Montana rules, a deposit tracker that works out the return date for each move-out, and a rent ledger with a running balance.