Free Montana Rent Increase Notice

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Montana has no rent control and no cap on how much you can raise the rent, and the Residential Landlord & Tenant Act of 1977 sets no special rent-increase notice statute – a rent increase is a change of terms. For a month-to-month tenancy, change the rent the way you change the tenancy: with at least 30 days’ written notice (Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-441), and never in retaliation (70-24-431). Generate a clean notice below.

30-day (month-to-month) 70-24-441 / 70-24-431 Montana Free PDF

This Montana Rent Increase Notice raises the rent on a residential tenancy. Montana sets no rent control and no cap on the amount, and its Residential Landlord & Tenant Act of 1977 (Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-101 et seq.) fixes no rent-increase notice period as such – an increase is a change of terms. For a month-to-month tenancy, the floor is the 30-day written notice under Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-441 (7 days week-to-week), and the increase may not be retaliatory under 70-24-431. Our how to raise rent guide covers the timing, and the tenant screening laws by state hub helps you place reliable tenants in the first place.

Complete the fields below to generate a Montana rent increase notice. The new rent and effective date must give the tenant the full statutory notice period. Service should comply with applicable Montana law; retain proof of service.

A Montana rent increase notice is the written notice a landlord gives to raise the rent on a residential tenancy. Montana is a market-rate state: there is no statewide rent control and no statutory cap on how much the rent can go up. State law goes a step further and forbids local rent control – Mont. Code Ann. 7-1-111(26) denies every local government unit any power to control the amount of rent charged for private residential or commercial property, with a narrow exception only for property in which the local government, or its housing authority, holds an interest (the 2023 Legislature reinforced this ban in Senate Bill 105, “Prohibit rent control of private property,” signed into law May 1, 2023). So there is no cap to worry about anywhere in the state. What the law does regulate is when an increase can take effect and why it is being made.

The Montana Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1977 (Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-101 and following) does not contain a rent-increase notice section of its own. In Montana a rent increase is treated as a change of the terms of the tenancy. On a fixed-term lease the rent is locked for the term: it cannot be raised mid-lease unless the lease itself contains an escalation clause, and any increase takes effect at renewal. On a periodic tenancy, the landlord changes the rent the same way the tenancy itself is changed or ended – under Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-441, the landlord or tenant may terminate a month-to-month tenancy by giving the other, at any time during the tenancy, at least 30 days’ notice in writing before the date designated in the notice, and may terminate a week-to-week tenancy on at least 7 days’ written notice. The practical rule, then, is at least 30 days’ written notice (or 7 days for a week-to-week tenancy) before the new rent starts.

Even with proper timing, an increase can still be unlawful because of its motive. Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-431 prohibits a landlord from retaliating against a tenant – including by increasing the rent or decreasing services – after the tenant complains to a governmental agency about a building or housing code violation that materially affects health and safety, complains to the landlord in writing about a violation under 70-24-303, or organizes or joins a tenant’s union or similar organization. If the tenant engaged in one of those protected actions within six months before the increase, the law creates a rebuttable presumption that the increase was retaliatory, which the landlord can overcome with evidence of a genuine, non-retaliatory reason. A tenant facing a retaliatory increase may raise retaliation as a defense and pursue the Act’s remedies. Federal and Montana fair housing law independently bar an increase aimed at a tenant because of a protected characteristic.

Because Montana fixes no single mandatory method to serve a rent-increase notice, the practical standard is provable written delivery within the notice period – and the 70-24-441 notice must be in writing, so a verbal increase does not count. Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-108 explains when a person has notice: by actual knowledge, by hand delivery, by delivery at the landlord’s place of business, by email to an address the party gave in the rental agreement (complete on a read receipt or non-automated reply), or by mail with a certificate of mailing or certified mail – and a mailed notice is treated as served three days after mailing. Whatever the method, the notice should state the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date, and the landlord should keep a signed, dated copy with proof of delivery. Our how to raise rent guide walks through the timing, and screening applicants with verified reports keeps tenancies stable so the increases you serve actually stick.

One point of honesty is worth flagging: there is no 90-day rent-increase rule anywhere in Montana, despite occasional claims to the contrary. The notice figures that matter are the 30-day month-to-month and 7-day week-to-week periods in Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-441 (with a shorter 15-day change-of-terms option in Mont. Code Ann. 70-26-109 that a 30-day notice already covers), and the only six-month figure is the retaliation presumption window in 70-24-431 – which is a look-back period for motive, not a notice period. Put together, a clean Montana increase is simple but exact: confirm the tenancy is periodic or at renewal, treat the increase as a change of terms, give at least 30 days’ written notice (or 7 days week-to-week, or a longer period the lease sets), keep the timing and motive outside the 70-24-431 retaliation bar, deliver the notice in writing with proof, and never let the increase track a tenant’s protected complaint. None of this replaces the screening you do at move-in – a tenant chosen for steady income and a clean payment history is the one most likely to absorb a lawful increase without a dispute.

Search results conflict on this point, and it is worth clearing up because getting the number wrong can void an increase. Two Montana statutes speak to changing the rent on a month-to-month tenancy, and they carry different figures:

• Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-441 — the notice provision of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1977 — lets either party end a month-to-month tenancy on at least 30 days’ written notice (7 days for a week-to-week tenancy). Because a rent increase re-sets the terms of a periodic tenancy, Montana Legal Services and most guidance apply this 30-day notice to residential rent increases.
• Mont. Code Ann. 70-26-109 — the older, general “change of lease terms by notice” statute (Title 70, chapter 26, drawn from the same source as California’s Civil Code 827) — provides that on a month-to-month lease the landlord “may, upon giving notice in writing at least 15 days before the expiration of the month, change the terms of the lease to take effect at the expiration of the month,” and that the notice, once served, becomes part of the lease if the tenant stays on. This is the 15-day figure some form vendors cite.

Both statutes are current Montana law, and they overlap. The safe, defensible course for a residential landlord is simple: give at least 30 days’ written notice. Thirty days satisfies the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act’s periodic-tenancy standard and comfortably clears the 15-day change-of-terms minimum, so the increase holds up under either reading. Do not rely on the 15-day figure alone for a residential month-to-month tenancy, and always follow a longer period the lease sets. For a week-to-week tenancy, the floor is 7 days under Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-441.

Even a properly timed increase can be unlawful because of why it is served. Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-431 bars a landlord from retaliating — by increasing rent, decreasing services, or bringing or threatening an action for possession — after the tenant has done one of three protected things:

• complained to a governmental agency about a building or housing code violation that materially affects health and safety;
• complained to the landlord in writing about a violation under Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-303; or
• organized or joined a tenant’s union or similar organization.

If the tenant took one of those actions within six months before the increase, the law creates a rebuttable presumption that the increase was retaliatory — the court must find retaliation unless the landlord produces evidence of a genuine, non-retaliatory reason. There is an important carve-out that protects honest landlords: under Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-431(3), the presumption does not arise if the tenant complained after receiving notice of the proposed increase. A tenant cannot manufacture a retaliation defense by complaining only once the increase is already on the table.

The statute also lists situations where a landlord may still act despite a recent complaint — for example, when the code violation was caused primarily by the tenant’s own lack of care, when the tenant is in default on rent, or when curing the violation would require demolition (Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-431(4)). Where an increase is genuinely retaliatory, though, the tenant has a defense to any possession action and the remedies in Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-411, which can reach up to three months’ rent or treble damages, whichever is greater. Separately, the federal Fair Housing Act and the Montana Human Rights Act bar an increase aimed at a tenant because of a protected characteristic.

Montana sets no limit on how often rent can be raised and no cap on the size of each raise. On an ongoing month-to-month tenancy, or once a fixed term has ended, a landlord may raise the rent as often as market conditions justify — each increase simply needs its own proper written notice (at least 30 days for a month-to-month tenancy, 7 days week-to-week) and must stay outside the retaliation and fair-housing bars. What a landlord cannot do is stack increases inside a fixed term: on a lease for a set period the rent is locked for that term unless the lease itself allows a change or both parties agree in writing, and any raise otherwise waits until renewal. Serving successive increases with valid notice is lawful in Montana, but frequent or steep raises can prompt good tenants to leave — which is why screening for steady income and payment history at move-in pays off over the life of the tenancy.

• No statewide cap on the amount of a rent increase, and no rent control – Mont. Code Ann. 7-1-111(26) bars every local government from controlling rent on private property.
• No rent-increase notice section inside the Act — an increase is a change of terms; for a month-to-month tenancy give at least 30 days’ written notice (7 days week-to-week) under Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-441. The older general change-of-terms statute, Mont. Code Ann. 70-26-109, sets only a 15-day minimum, which a 30-day notice already covers.
• Written notice required — the 70-24-441 notice must be in writing; state the new rent and the effective date.
• No mid-term increase on a fixed-term lease unless the lease expressly allows it; the increase applies at renewal.
• No retaliatory increase after a protected tenant action (Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-431), with a 6-month rebuttable presumption of retaliation.
• No discriminatory increase based on a protected class (federal Fair Housing Act and the Montana Human Rights Act).
• No 90-day rule — Montana has no 90-day rent-increase rule; the figures are the 30-day / 7-day 70-24-441 notice and the separate 6-month retaliation window.

• Montana sets no single mandatory method to serve a rent-increase notice, but the 70-24-441 change-of-terms notice must be written — verbal notice does not satisfy it.
• Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-108 governs when notice is received: personal/hand delivery, or delivery at the landlord’s place of business, gives actual notice.
• Certified mail or mail with a certificate of mailing is deemed served 3 days after mailing under 70-24-108; allow that lead time when you mail.
• Email works only if the tenant gave an email address in the rental agreement, and is complete on a read receipt or non-automated reply; keep the send record either way.

• Giving less than 30 days’ written notice on a month-to-month tenancy (or less than 7 days week-to-week), or setting the effective date before the notice period runs (Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-441).
• Raising the rent mid-term on a fixed-term lease that does not allow it.
• Assuming a 60- or 90-day rule applies — Montana has no such rule; the notice figures are 30-day month-to-month and 7-day week-to-week (70-24-441), and the only 6-month figure is the separate retaliation presumption (70-24-431).
• Raising the rent within 6 months after a tenant’s code complaint or tenant’s-union activity without a genuine basis — Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-431 presumes that retaliatory.
• Relying on a verbal notice with no written record or proof of delivery.

• Read the lease first — a notice period or escalation clause there controls, and may require longer than 30 days.
• Give written notice at least 30 days before the new rent takes effect for a month-to-month tenancy (7 days week-to-week).
• State the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date plainly on the notice.
• Deliver by a method you can prove, allow the 3-day mailed-notice rule, and if the increase follows a tenant complaint, document the genuine basis for it.

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