Landlord Atlas

What can a landlord charge for a rental application in Montana?

Verified August 26, 2026 All Montana topics →

Montana regulates the back end of the rental application fee rather than its size: a property manager of four or more dwelling units must refund the fee within a reasonable period of time if the applicant does not end up party to a rental agreement, and may keep only the out-of-pocket cost of services actually performed and disclosed in writing when the fee was collected.

Cited to Mont. Code Ann. § 37-56-109 (1), (4)(a) and 31 more Montana statutes · Verified August 26, 2026

That rule, in force since October 1, 2025, also requires the written cost breakdown at the moment of payment, bars keeping money for a service that was not performed, puts the burden of proving the services on the property manager, and lets an applicant sue for the amount wrongfully withheld, with attorney fees possible. Montana sets no cap on what may be charged up front, requires no receipt, publishes no screening-criteria disclosure duty, and has no portable screening report law. A denial notice after a credit or background report comes from federal law, because the state consumer reporting act's notice duty covers credit, insurance, and employment rather than housing. Money a prospective tenant puts up to hold a unit is presumed to be a security deposit and is governed by the security deposit chapter.

Montana application fees at a glance

Application fee cap

No dollar cap on the amount charged. Montana instead limits what may be kept: a property manager of four or more dwelling units who charges an application fee must refund it if the applicant does not end up party to a rental agreement, and may retain only pre-disclosed out-of-pocket costs for services actually performed.

Since October 1, 2025, a property manager of four or more dwelling units that requires an application fee before the rental of a dwelling unit must refund the fee within a reasonable period of time if the applicant does not become a party to a signed rental agreement, or to a rental agreement that has the same effect as if it had been signed under section 70-24-204. The statute defines the application fee as the total amount an applicant must pay to be considered for renting a dwelling unit. Montana does not otherwise set or limit the amount that may be asked for at the front end.
Fee limited to actual screening cost Yes
Screening charge rules

Three conditions ride with the charge: costs must be itemized in writing when the fee is collected, only services actually performed may be paid for out of the fee, and the property manager carries the burden of proving the services were rendered. The duties attach to property managers of four or more dwelling units.

A property manager may keep nothing out of an application fee unless the applicant was given, at collection, a written notice allocating the fee among the specific service costs. A cost for a service that was not performed may not be retained. In a dispute, the burden of proving the services rendered rests on the property manager, not the applicant. Property manager is a licensed occupation in Montana, defined as an individual in the business of leasing, renting, subleasing, or otherwise transferring possession of real estate without transfer of title. The licensing part exempts several groups, including an owner of the business entity that owns the property, the owner's spouse and listed relatives, a person who leases no more than four residential units, an attorney at law, a trustee or person acting under a court order, a person whose management duties are incidental to other employment, and a manager of a licensed lodging establishment.
Receipt required No statutory receipt duty for application money
Refund required in some circumstances Yes
Refund rules

Refund is owed within a reasonable period of time whenever the applicant does not become a party to a rental agreement for the unit; the property manager may keep only the costs named in the written notice for services actually performed and must return the balance.

The trigger is that the applicant does not become a party to a signed rental agreement, or to an agreement having the same effect as if signed under section 70-24-204, which covers an unsigned agreement the parties have acted on. The timing standard is a reasonable period of time; Montana sets no fixed number of days. The amount owed is the whole fee less only the pre-disclosed out-of-pocket costs for services the property manager actually performed. A cost for a service that was not performed must be refunded even if it was listed in the notice.
Disclosure before collecting

Where the application fee includes costs for specific services, the applicant must be given written notice at the time the fee is collected showing how much of the total is allocated to each cost.

The notice is owed when money changes hands, not afterward, and it is the precondition for keeping anything: only costs named in that notice may be retained if the applicant does not go on to rent. Montana requires nothing else to be disclosed before an application fee is collected. There is no duty to publish screening criteria, to give notice when criteria change, or to state the applicant's rights.
Denial-notice duties (state law) No state statute — federal fair-credit duties still apply
Reusable screening reports No statute on reusable screening reports
Holding deposits

No separate holding-deposit statute, but money a prospective tenant is required to put up is presumed to be a security deposit and falls under the security deposit chapter, which closes the list of permitted deductions and sets return deadlines. Montana sets no cap on the amount.

The security deposit definition reaches a deposit that a leasehold agreement, or an agreement incident to one, requires a tenant or prospective tenant to provide or maintain, and presumes it to be a security deposit; a charge for cleaning and damages is presumed to be one however it is named. Once the presumption attaches, no deduction is permitted except those the chapter allows, the landlord must deliver a written list of any rent due and any damage and cleaning charges within thirty days after the tenancy ends or the premises are surrendered and accepted, and must return the deposit within ten days where there is no damage, no cleaning needed, and no unpaid rent. Any attempted waiver of the chapter by the tenant is invalid, and the residential landlord and tenant chapter and the security deposit chapter are to be read together. One limit is worth noting: the presumption sentence describes a deposit held for part or all of the term of the leasehold agreement, so money taken and kept where no term ever begins may sit outside it.
Rental fee-transparency rules No rental fee-transparency statute
Penalty for violation

A person who wrongfully withholds an application fee, or any part of one, is liable to the applicant in a civil action for the amount wrongfully withheld or deducted, with attorney fees available to the prevailing party at the court's discretion and the burden of proving the services rendered placed on the property manager.

That remedy attaches to the refund and cost-retention duties of the application-fee section. Separately, because the Montana Consumer Protection Act covers the leasing of real property for household purposes, a deceptive practice around a rental fee can also be pursued under that act: a consumer who suffers an ascertainable loss may recover that loss or five hundred dollars, whichever is greater, and the court may in its discretion award up to three times the money damages where actual damages do not exceed one hundred thousand dollars, along with reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party capped at two hundred fifty dollars an hour. On the public side, the department may recover a civil fine of up to ten thousand dollars for each willful violation and the same amount for violating an injunction, and fraudulent conduct carries a fine of up to five thousand dollars, up to one year of imprisonment, or both.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Montana Application & Screening Fee Laws (verified August 26, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/application-fees/montana/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Montana statute in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

Common questions: Montana application fees

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How much can a landlord charge for a rental application fee in Montana?
No dollar cap on the amount charged. Montana instead limits what may be kept: a property manager of four or more dwelling units who charges an application fee must refund it if the applicant does not end up party to a rental agreement, and may retain only pre-disclosed out-of-pocket costs for services actually performed.
Does an application fee have to be refunded in Montana?
Yes — in Montana at least one circumstance requires application-stage money to be returned. Refund is owed within a reasonable period of time whenever the applicant does not become a party to a rental agreement for the unit; the property manager may keep only the costs named in the written notice for services actually performed and must return the balance.
Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in Montana?
No statutory receipt duty for application money.
Does Montana have a reusable tenant screening report law?
No statute on reusable screening reports.
Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Montana?
No separate holding-deposit statute, but money a prospective tenant is required to put up is presumed to be a security deposit and falls under the security deposit chapter, which closes the list of permitted deductions and sets return deadlines. Montana sets no cap on the amount.

Statute citations

How this record was verified: Direct read of Mont. Code Ann. § 37-56-109 and the rest of Title 37, chapter 56, part 1 on mca.legmt.gov, together with the complete section inventories and operative sections of Title 70, chapter 24 (Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1977) and chapter 25 (Residential Tenants' Security Deposits), Title 31, chapter 3, part 1 (Consumer Reporting Agencies), and Title 30, chapter 14, part 1 (Consumer Protection Act); a read of the enrolled 2025 act that created the application-fee section, House Bill 311, on archive.legmt.gov; and a sweep of the 2025 session using the Legislative Services Division's own Legislative Review, whose Table of Code Sections Affected, Chapter Number to Bill Number table, and Table of Effective Dates by Chapter Number were used to confirm every enactment and its commencement date. The Administrative Rules of Montana were read on the Secretary of State's rules site: the complete subchapter inventory of chapter 23.19 (Consumer Protection Office), the full text of ARM 23.19.101, the full text of ARM 24.210.428 (Board of Realty Regulation), and site-wide searches of the rules for rental application, advertised price and junk fee terms alongside control searches that returned known rules.