What Are Your Renters' Rights in Montana

Deciding to enter into a residential lease is a crucial decision. It's essential to understand your before doing so. It's also important to understand Montana state laws governing tenants as well as landlords. To get into a rental agreement in Montana, you must pay rent in exchange for living in a property. This agreement gives you rights such as the right to due process before eviction and the right to a habitable dwelling.

Before signing any rental agreement, you should know what it is saying, if it's legal and whether any essential thing is missing. It should state how you will handle things such as repairs, nonpayment of rent, unauthorized guests or pets, and the cleaning you're expected to do while moving out.

If the landlord breaches the agreement or any other of your tenant's rights, you can take legal action, and this is where DoNotPay comes in handy. Alongside helping you take legal action against a landlord who has violated your rights, we can also help you sue the landlord for a deposit, hold the landlord responsible for repairs, formulate a letter to the landlord demanding repairs, and more.

Landlord Responsibilities

In Montana, a landlord should do the following:

Make repairs and do what is required to ensure the premises are fit and habitable.
Inform you of their name and address as well as that of their agent.
Keep all common areas such as stairways, halls, and lobbies clean and safe.
Maintain the houses to comply with the local and state building and housing codes related to a renter's health and safety.
Ensure that all electrical, plumbing, and other necessary facilities and appliances are in good working order.
Provide smoke detectors and ensure they are working appropriately when a new tenant moves in.

What Are My Rights and Responsibilities as a Tenant in Montana?

Rights	Responsibilities
Know the landlord's and landlord's agent name	Pay rent and any utilities early
Own the rental	Comply with any requirements of the county, state, or city
Have your landlord maintain the premises	Dispose of all waste and garbage properly
Right to essential services such as running water, electricity, and other essential services in your rental	Maintain smoke detectors
Live in a house that has no serious casualties or fire damage	Properly operate electrical, plumbing, and heating systems
Right to not be kept away by your landlord	Keep the rental unit sanitary and clean
Join residents' associations
Stay in a rental free of an unreasonable or unlawful entry by the landlord
Live free from the landlord's retaliation

Montana Security Deposit Laws

Montana's landlords aren't limited in the amount they should ask for a security deposit. Irrespective of the amount, though, they should include the required amount in the rental agreement as well as provide you with a receipt for the deposit.

Allowable Charges to the Deposit

The security deposit doesn't apply to normal wear and tear, but any other damage beyond that can be deducted from the deposit. Other charges often include the following:

Unpaid rent
Utilities
Late charges
Other money owed to the landlord like penalties, according to the rental agreement
Actual cleaning expenses.

If a tenant notified the landlord of their intent to vacate, the landlord should document the cleaning charges and then give the tenant 24 hours to do the required cleaning or deduct from the deposit. The notice should mention the specific place where cleaning wasn't accomplished to bring the premises back to their original state before the tenant moved in.

Returning the Deposit

The time required to refund the deposit in Montana depends on whether there is any money owed by the tenant or any damages beyond wear and tear. If there are no damages, no unpaid rent, no unpaid utilities, and no cleaning required, the landlord is expected to return the deposit within 10 days of lease termination. They are to mail the deposit to the tenant's forwarding address and, if not, to their last known address.

If there are any damages, rent is owed, utilities are unpaid, or cleaning is required, the landlord is to return the remaining deposit within 30 days of lease termination. The landlord should provide a written list of the charges and damages and the deposit balance after deductions.

Landlord Penalty

The landlord can't withhold any portion of the deposit if they don't provide a written list of any damages or charges. Wrongfully withholding the deposit exposes them to civil damages by the tenant.

How to Handle Violation of Montana Renter's Rights On Your Own

If a landlord breaches any of your or if their legal responsibilities materially affect your safety and health, you can deliver a written notice to notify them of the issue. If they don't remedy the breach within 14 days of receiving notice, you may terminate your rental agreement after 30 days. If there are any desired repairs, and you have notified your landlord, but they haven't acted within a reasonable time, you can withhold rent for the needed repairs in Montana.

Additionally, Montana law doesn't allow the landlord to increase rent, decrease services or threaten you in any way if you have filed a complaint against them or have complained to them about their breach of duties/your rights. If they do so, you can take legal action against them.

How to Handle Violation of Montana Renter's Rights Using DoNotPay

If you want to handle a violation of your rights as a renter in Montana but don't know where to start, DoNotPay has you covered in 4 easy steps:

Search for and open the Landlord Protection product on DoNotPay.
Select which issue applies to you.
Answer a simple set of questions so our chatbot can collect the necessary information to create your demand letter.
Choose whether you want DoNotPay to send the demand letter to your landlord or roommate on your behalf. If you already tried sending a demand letter and it didn't work, we can help you start the small claims court process.

And that's it! You should hear back from your landlord directly once your demands are sent.

DoNotPay Solves a Variety of Issues with The Click of a Button

We can also help you handle a variety of other rent-related issues:

Why Use DonotPay to Protect Your Montana Renter’s Rights

DoNotPay is the easiest way to make sure your renter’s rights are protected:

Fast: You do not have to spend too much time looking for laws that apply to you.
Easy-: You do not have to fill up tedious forms or keep track of the steps to assert your rights in Montana as a renter.
Successful: With DoNotPay writing your demand letter, your landlord is sure to take notice and act on them.