Free Montana Landlord Forms
Every Montana landlord form we publish, organised by the stage of the tenancy it belongs to, each one paired with the Montana Code Annotated section and the deadline that triggers it — including the several three-day grounds that most Montana pages never mention.
Every form linked on this page is free, fillable in your browser, and downloadable as a PDF with no account, no membership and no paywall. Montana landlord forms are governed by the Montana Residential Landlord and Tenant Act at Title 70 chapter 24, with security deposits in chapter 25. It is a code with an unusually rich set of short, ground-specific notice periods — and a deposit rule that punishes one particular piece of missing paperwork more severely than anything else in the Act.
The short version
- Nonpayment of rent — three days, § 70-24-422(2).
- General lease breach — fourteen days, and it is a single number, not a fourteen-then-thirty sequence.
- Several breaches carry only three days — unauthorised pets, unauthorised occupants, damage to the premises, and even verbal abuse of the landlord.
- Mailing adds three days. Service by certificate of mailing or certified mail is deemed made three days after posting.
- Month-to-month termination — thirty days, the same for landlord and tenant, and it may be given at any time.
- Security deposit — no cap, but two return branches: ten days if nothing is owed, thirty if anything is.
- Skip the move-in condition statement and you may recover nothing at all for damage or cleaning without clear and convincing evidence.
Montana’s Notice Periods Are Ground-Specific
Most states give you one cure period for everything that is not rent. Montana gives you several, keyed to what the tenant actually did, and the short ones are the useful ones.
| Ground | Notice | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Nonpayment of rent | 3 days, stating the intention to terminate if unpaid | § 70-24-422(2) |
| General lease breach | 14 days — a single number | § 70-24-422(1)(a),(d) |
| Unauthorised pet | 3 days | § 70-24-422(1)(b) |
| Unauthorised persons residing in the unit | 3 days | § 70-24-422(1)(c) |
| Repeat of substantially the same act within 6 months | 5 days, no cure right stated | § 70-24-422(1)(e) |
| Verbal abuse of the landlord | 3 days — but curable | § 70-24-422(1)(f) |
| Destroying, defacing, damaging or removing part of the premises | 3 days | § 70-24-422(3) |
| Creating a reasonable potential of damage or injury to neighbouring tenants | 3 days | § 70-24-422(4) |
The “fourteen then thirty” Montana cure structure does not exist. A great many pages describe Montana as giving fourteen days to remedy and thirty to terminate. Section 70-24-422(1)(d) is a single fourteen-day figure — if the tenant remedies before the date stated, “the rental agreement does not terminate”. The thirty days people attach to it is the separate no-cause periodic-tenancy notice in § 70-24-441(2), which § 70-24-422(7) expressly names as an alternative route: “The landlord is not bound by this section in the event that the landlord elects to use the 30-day notice.” They are two different doors, not two steps through one.
Two of the three-day grounds deserve a second look. Verbal abuse of the landlord is a genuinely unusual statutory ground, and note that it is curable — if the tenant adequately remedies the noncompliance the agreement does not terminate. And § 70-24-422(4) reaches conduct that creates a reasonable potential of damage or injury to neighbouring tenants, which does not require harm to have happened yet.
Damages under the section are actual damages plus injunctive relief — and treble damages where the noncompliance was purposeful, though treble is not available against a tenant for early termination. Our Montana eviction notice laws guide sets out each ground.
Every Montana Landlord Form, by Stage of the Tenancy
Alphabetical form lists are the least useful arrangement, because a landlord arrives knowing what has happened, not what the document is called. The index below is ordered by where you are in the tenancy.
Starting the tenancy
- Montana residential lease agreement — the master document, and the place to set any late fee, since the Code caps none. A 2025 change also bars charging an extra fee based on payment type, so review any card or portal surcharge clause.
- Lead-based paint form — required by federal law, not Montana law, for any dwelling built before 1978.
- Move-in / move-out condition checklist — not optional in Montana. Section 70-25-206 requires a written statement of condition whenever a deposit is taken, and the sanction for omitting it is severe. See below.
During the tenancy
- Notice to enter the property — § 70-24-312, twenty-four hours, at reasonable times. Montana expressly allows the notice to be given by conspicuous posting on the main entry door.
- Rent increase notice — Montana has no rent control. For a month-to-month tenancy the operative constraint is the § 70-24-441 thirty-day period.
- Late rent notice — a courtesy reminder. Late charges are permitted (the deposit section lists them as deductible) but no cap or grace period exists, so the lease governs.
When the tenant breaches
- Three-day notice to pay rent or quit — § 70-24-422(2). It must state the landlord’s intention to terminate if the rent is not paid.
- Notice to cure or quit — fourteen days for a general breach, or three for an unauthorised pet, unauthorised occupants, damage, or verbal abuse. Pick the period from the ground, not from habit.
- Unconditional quit notice — for the five-day recurrence route under § 70-24-422(1)(e), where no cure right is stated.
Ending the tenancy without fault
- Notice of non-renewal — used when a fixed term is ending and you do not intend to renew.
- Tenant notice to vacate — the tenant’s side of § 70-24-441, and Montana is even-handed: thirty days applies to both parties.
After the tenant moves out
- Security deposit itemisation — § 70-25-202, the written itemised list of rent due and damage or cleaning charges.
- Security deposit return letter — the covering document. Montana expressly allows refund by electronic transfer, cash, cheque or other means.
The Move-In Condition Statement Is Not Optional
This is the single most consequential piece of paperwork in Montana landlord practice, and it happens before the tenant has even moved a box.
Section 70-25-206 requires a separate written statement of the present condition of the premises whenever a security deposit is taken, furnished “in conjunction with execution of a lease or creation of a tenancy”. The sanction for omitting it is not a fine: the landlord is barred from recovering any sum for damage to or cleaning of the premises unless they prove by clear and convincing evidence that the tenant caused it. That is a materially higher standard than the ordinary civil balance of probabilities, applied to every deduction, for the whole tenancy. Ten minutes at move-in buys the right to make a deduction at move-out.
A second, smaller precondition sits alongside it. Under § 70-25-201, cleaning charges may not be deducted until written notice has been given to the tenant specifying the cleaning not accomplished and the additional amount and type of cleaning needed. So a cleaning deduction requires two documents, not one.
Security Deposits: Two Branches, and No Multiplier
Montana sets no cap on a residential security deposit and requires no interest. What it prescribes precisely is the return, and it runs on two different clocks.
| Situation | Deadline | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Deductions are being made | 30 days | Termination of the tenancy or surrender and acceptance, whichever occurs FIRST — with a written itemised list of rent due and damage or cleaning charges, accompanied by payment of the difference |
| Nothing is owed | 10 days | Only where there is no damage, no cleaning required, no unpaid rent AND the tenant can demonstrate that no utilities are unpaid |
The ten-day branch is narrower than it looks. All four conditions must hold, and the last of them puts an evidential burden on the tenant — they must demonstrate that no utilities are outstanding. In practice most move-outs run on the thirty-day branch.
Permitted deductions are defined: damage, unpaid rent, late charges, utilities, lease penalties, other money owing including rent owed under § 70-24-441(3), and actual cleaning including a reasonable charge for the landlord’s own labour. No other deductions are permitted.
Two consequences point in different directions. Failing to give the itemised list forfeits all rights to withhold any portion for damages or cleaning (§ 70-25-203) — a total loss of the deduction. But the penalty for wrongful withholding itself is only the amount wrongfully withheld, with no multiplier (§ 70-25-204), attorney fees to the prevailing party at the court’s discretion. Montana is unusual in that: most states double or treble. So the risk here is losing a legitimate deduction rather than paying a penalty on top.
If the tenant left no new address, mailing to the last known address is not wrongful withholding — but the landlord remains liable for the amount due. And a missing forwarding address does not bar the tenant from recovering (§§ 70-25-202(1)(c), 70-25-205). See our Montana security deposit laws guide.
Serving Notices: Montana Adds Three Days for Mail
Section 70-24-108 lists the permitted methods: actual knowledge; delivery to the landlord’s place of business; email to an address given in the rental agreement; hand delivery; or certificate of mailing or certified mail.
Where notice is made by certificate of mailing or certified mail, service is considered to have been made on the date THREE DAYS AFTER the date of mailing (§ 70-24-108(1)(d)). Post a three-day pay-or-quit and the tenant effectively has six. This is the opposite structure to states that count from the mailing itself, and it is the commonest way a Montana filing turns out to be premature.
Two details on the email route. Service by email is complete only on a read receipt or a non-automated reply — a delivered-but-unopened message is not service. And under § 70-24-202(4) a rental agreement may not require the tenant to provide an email address as a condition of entering it, so you cannot make electronic service compulsory at signing.
Entry, Termination and the Tenant’s Remedies
Entry
Section 70-24-312(3)(a) requires at least twenty-four hours’ notice and entry only at reasonable times. No clock hours are specified. Notice is excused in an emergency and where it is impracticable to give it, and the statute expressly permits the notice to be given by conspicuous posting on the main entry door — a practical option many states do not allow. Abuse of access lets the tenant seek injunctive relief or terminate, plus actual damages with no multiplier (§ 70-24-410). See our Montana landlord entry laws guide.
Ending a periodic tenancy
Section 70-24-441 gives at least thirty days’ written notice for a month-to-month tenancy, the same for landlord and tenant, and it may be given “at any time during the tenancy” rather than being pegged to a rent-due date. Week-to-week takes seven days. The tenancy ends on the date designated regardless of the rent period, and rent is uniformly apportionable from day to day.
What the tenant can do back
- Unlawful ouster or utility cut-off — § 70-24-411 lets the tenant recover possession or terminate, and in either case recover not more than three months’ periodic rent or treble damages, whichever is greater. This is the heaviest number in the Act, and it applies to shutting off services as much as to changing locks.
- Essential services — § 70-24-408, after written notice and a reasonable opportunity to correct, the tenant may procure heat, water, hot water, electricity or gas and deduct the actual and reasonable cost from rent; or recover damages for the diminution in fair rental value; or procure substitute housing and be excused from rent for the noncompliance period.
- The deposit forfeiture — no itemised list means no right to withhold anything for damage or cleaning.
- Purposeful noncompliance — treble damages under § 70-24-422(6).
Court and Timetable
Montana’s eviction timetable is set by statute and is fast. Under § 70-24-427 the matter is heard within ten business days after the tenant’s appearance or answer date — reduced to five business days where the termination was for a § 70-24-321(3) noncompliance. The court rules within five days after the hearing, and the writ of possession and writ of assistance issue immediately. A damages claim is heard within forty-five days after possession and rent are adjudicated.
Small claims cannot hear a Montana eviction. The small claims limit is seven thousand dollars under § 25-35-502, but its jurisdiction is confined to “recovery of money or specific personal property” — there is no possession jurisdiction. Evictions go to a court of limited jurisdiction, with appeals to district court. If you are looking at the small claims track for a possession case, you are in the wrong forum.
We have not published Montana court form numbers or a filing fee. The Judicial Branch publishes named self-help forms — an Answer to Eviction, a three-day notice, a thirty-day notice, a civil complaint, a summons, a writ of assistance — with no statewide numbering scheme, and the fee figures in circulation are locally set and secondary. Ask the clerk of the justice court in your county.
What Changed in 2025
Montana’s legislature is biennial — there was no 2024 session and there is no 2026 regular session, so the 69th Legislature of 2025 is the only recent source of change.
| Section | Change |
|---|---|
| § 70-24-201 | New bar on charging an additional fee based on rent payment type, except to recoup an electronic bank fee incurred for electronic payment |
| § 70-25-201 | The deduction list now expressly includes rent owed under § 70-24-441(3) — early-termination rent |
| § 70-25-202 | Refund delivery expanded to “electronic fund transfers, cash, check, or other forms of refund”; delivery of the written list must be noticed per § 70-24-108; new exception where a court claim is pending. The ten-day and thirty-day deadlines were NOT changed |
| § 70-24-114 | Emotional-support-animal documentation rules revised |
Against those, the core is unchanged: no 2025 amendment to § 70-24-422 (last amended 2021), § 70-24-441 (2007), § 70-24-312 (2021), § 70-24-108 (2017), or §§ 70-25-203 to 206.
Which Montana Form Do I Need?
- The tenant has not paid rent. Three days under § 70-24-422(2), stating your intention to terminate. Add three days if you mail it.
- There is an unauthorised pet, or unauthorised people living there. Three days, not fourteen.
- The tenant has damaged or defaced the premises, or created a reasonable potential of damage or injury to neighbours. Three days.
- The tenant has verbally abused you. Three days — but it is curable, so say what would remedy it.
- Any other lease breach. Fourteen days, a single period.
- The same breach has recurred within six months. Five days, no cure right stated.
- Nobody is at fault and you want the tenancy to end. Thirty days under § 70-24-441 — and note this is an alternative route you may prefer even where a breach exists.
- You need to get into the property. Twenty-four hours, at a reasonable time; posting on the main entry door is permitted.
- The tenant has moved out. Ten days if genuinely nothing is owed and utilities are proven clear; otherwise thirty, with the itemised list and payment of the difference.
How to Fill Out a Montana Three-Day Notice
- Identify the ground first. Montana has several three-day grounds and they are not interchangeable — nonpayment, unauthorised pet, unauthorised occupants, damage, verbal abuse, and potential harm to neighbours each sit in their own subsection.
- Name every tenant and identify the premises exactly as the agreement does.
- For nonpayment, state the amount and the intention to terminate if it is not paid. The statute requires the intention, not just the demand.
- For a curable ground, say what would cure it. Verbal abuse and the general fourteen-day breach both allow the tenant to prevent termination by remedying.
- Count the mailing extension. If you use certificate of mailing or certified mail, service is deemed three days after posting — so a three-day notice posted Monday is not served until Thursday.
- Consider posting instead where the statute allows it, or hand delivery, if you want the clock to start immediately.
- Date it, sign it and keep the mailing certificate.
- Diarise the hearing window — ten business days after the answer date, or five for a § 70-24-321(3) ground.
What Happens If the Form Is Wrong
The distinctively Montana error is forgetting the three-day mailing extension and filing early. On a three-day notice that doubles the period, so the margin for error is small.
The second is using fourteen days where three would do. That is not a defect — an over-generous notice is always safe — but on an unauthorised pet or an unauthorised occupant it gives away eleven days for nothing.
The most expensive, though, is not a notice error at all. It is the missing move-in condition statement, which raises your standard of proof on every damage and cleaning deduction to clear and convincing evidence for the whole tenancy. No notice served later repairs it.
What This Page Does Not Have
We would rather scope this honestly than promise documents we do not host. Montana landlords also commonly want a rental application, a sublease or assignment agreement, a rent receipt, and an abandoned-property notice. Those are not yet published as Montana-specific forms.
We have also declined to publish court form numbers, an eviction filing fee, and the bill number behind the 2025 deposit amendments. On the last of these: Montana session-law chapter numbers do not correspond to bill numbers — the 2025 chapters run past seven hundred sixty-eight — and the search results that appeared to supply a bill number matched unrelated legislation. The chapter citation is solid; the bill number is not, so we have left it out.
Common Montana Landlord Form Mistakes
- Forgetting the three-day mailing extension. Certificate of mailing or certified mail is deemed served three days after posting.
- Treating the cure period as fourteen-then-thirty. Fourteen is a single number; the thirty is a separate no-cause route.
- Using fourteen days for an unauthorised pet or occupant. Those are three-day grounds.
- Skipping the move-in condition statement. It raises your proof standard to clear and convincing evidence for every damage and cleaning deduction.
- Deducting a cleaning charge without the separate written notice specifying what was not done and what is needed.
- Using the ten-day deposit branch loosely. It needs no damage, no cleaning, no unpaid rent and the tenant demonstrating no unpaid utilities.
- Assuming a deposit cap or an interest duty exists. Neither does.
- Relying on an emailed notice with no reply. Email service is complete only on a read receipt or a non-automated reply.
- Requiring an email address in the lease. Section 70-24-202(4) forbids it as a condition.
- Filing an eviction in small claims. It has no possession jurisdiction.
Free Fillable Forms Versus the Paid Montana Form Sites
Montana’s results split three ways: commercial template hubs, an official court self-help packet that ranks on authority rather than depth, and the usual membership funnel. The measured picture is that the only page combining a form index with real Montana law is a template site, and it does not carry the ground-specific three-day periods at all.
That is the gap this page fills. Knowing that an unauthorised pet is a three-day matter, that mailing adds three days, and that the move-in statement controls your deduction rights is worth more to a Montana landlord than another copy of a generic lease.
Every form linked from this page is free, fills in the browser, and downloads as a finished PDF. There is no account, no trial, and no upsell attached to the documents themselves. What we ask in return is straightforward: if you are about to hand keys to someone, run the screening first, because nearly every dispute described on this page is cheaper to prevent than to litigate.
Montana Landlord Forms: FAQ
How many days is a Montana notice to pay rent or quit?
Three days under MCA § 70-24-422(2), and the notice must state the landlord’s intention to terminate if the rent is not paid. If it is served by certificate of mailing or certified mail, add three days — service is deemed made three days after posting.
Is the Montana cure period fourteen days or thirty?
Fourteen — a single number. Section 70-24-422(1)(d) states one figure, and if the tenant remedies before the date specified the agreement does not terminate. The thirty days often paired with it is the separate no-cause periodic-tenancy notice in § 70-24-441(2), which § 70-24-422(7) names as an alternative route the landlord may elect instead.
Which Montana breaches carry only three days?
An unauthorised pet (§ 70-24-422(1)(b)); unauthorised persons residing in the unit ((1)(c)); verbal abuse of the landlord ((1)(f), which is curable); destroying, defacing, damaging or removing part of the premises ((3)); and creating a reasonable potential of damage or injury to neighbouring tenants ((4)).
Does Montana add days when a notice is mailed?
Yes. Under § 70-24-108(1)(d), where notice is made with a certificate of mailing or by certified mail, service is considered to have been made three days after the date of mailing. A three-day notice posted on a Monday is therefore not served until the Thursday.
How much notice must a Montana landlord give before entering?
At least twenty-four hours, with entry only at reasonable times, under § 70-24-312(3)(a). No clock hours are specified. Notice is excused in an emergency or where it is impracticable, and the statute expressly permits notice by conspicuous posting on the main entry door.
Is there a security deposit cap in Montana?
No. Title 70 chapter 25 sets no maximum and requires no interest on the deposit.
How long does a Montana landlord have to return a deposit?
Two branches. Where deductions are made, thirty days from termination or from surrender and acceptance, whichever occurs first, with a written itemised list accompanied by payment of the difference. Where nothing is owed, ten days — but only if there is no damage, no cleaning required, no unpaid rent and the tenant can demonstrate that no utilities are unpaid.
What happens if a Montana landlord skips the move-in condition statement?
Section 70-25-206 requires a separate written statement of condition whenever a deposit is taken. Without it the landlord is barred from recovering any sum for damage or cleaning unless they prove by clear and convincing evidence that the tenant caused it — a materially higher standard than the ordinary civil test.
What is the penalty for wrongly withholding a Montana deposit?
Only the amount wrongfully withheld, with no multiplier (§ 70-25-204), and attorney fees to the prevailing party at the court’s discretion. But failing to give the itemised list forfeits all rights to withhold any portion for damage or cleaning under § 70-25-203, so the real risk is losing a legitimate deduction.
How much notice ends a month-to-month tenancy in Montana?
At least thirty days in writing, the same for landlord and tenant, and it may be given at any time during the tenancy rather than being tied to a rent-due date. Week-to-week takes seven days. Rent is uniformly apportionable from day to day.
What can a Montana tenant recover for a lockout or utility shut-off?
Under § 70-24-411 the tenant may recover possession or terminate, and in either case recover not more than three months’ periodic rent or treble damages, whichever is greater. It applies to wrongful diminution of services as well as to exclusion from the premises.
Can a Montana eviction be filed in small claims court?
No. The small claims limit is seven thousand dollars under § 25-35-502, but its jurisdiction is confined to the recovery of money or specific personal property and does not extend to possession. Evictions proceed under § 70-24-427, which sets a hearing within ten business days of the answer date, or five for a § 70-24-321(3) ground.
Related Montana Guides
- Montana landlord-tenant laws — the full statutory overview.
- Montana eviction notice laws — every ground-specific period.
- Montana security deposit laws — the two branches and the condition statement.
- Montana lease termination laws — the thirty-day alternative route.
- Montana breaking lease laws — early termination and apportioned rent.
- Montana rent increase laws — why Montana has no rent control.
- Montana late fee laws — no cap, and the new payment-type fee bar.
- Montana landlord entry laws — twenty-four hours and door posting.
- Montana habitability laws — essential services and the deduct remedy.
- Montana pet and ESA laws — the three-day pet ground and assistance animals.
- Montana tenant screening laws — background checks and adverse action.
Published by Tenant Screening Background Check · Editorial Team
Established 2004. Our editorial team has spent two decades helping landlords and property managers run lawful tenant screening and follow state landlord-tenant codes across all fifty states. For this page we read the Montana Code Annotated on the state’s own current-code site and checked the history line on every section — which is how we can say the fourteen-then-thirty cure structure many pages publish does not exist, and that the three-day mailing extension does.
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Last reviewed 2026. This page is general information about Montana landlord-tenant law, not legal advice. Montana’s legislature meets biennially and the 2025 session amended several deposit and fee provisions. We have deliberately omitted court form numbers and filing fees we could not verify from a primary source. Confirm the current requirements with the clerk of the justice court in your county or with a Montana attorney before you serve a notice or file a case.
