What are the security deposit rules in Montana?
Montana puts no cap on security deposits, but the landlord must return the deposit with a written list of any rent due, damage, and cleaning charges within 30 days after the tenancy ends or the premises are surrendered and accepted, whichever comes first — and within just 10 days if an inspection shows no damage, no cleaning needed, no unpaid rent, and the tenant can show no unpaid utilities.
Cited to Mont. Code Ann. § 70-25-202 (1)-(2) and 7 more cited sources · Verified October 1, 2026
Montana's distinctive trap is the cleaning rule: a landlord may not deduct a dime for cleaning until after giving the tenant written notice of exactly what cleaning remains, and the tenant then has 24 hours to do the cleaning personally (this notice duty drops if the tenant vacated without giving notice, and it does not apply while a court eviction claim is pending). Miss the 30-day list and you forfeit every damage and cleaning deduction; skip the required move-in condition statement and you cannot recover for damage or cleaning at all without clear and convincing proof the tenant caused it. There is no double- or treble-damages penalty — a tenant suing under 70-25-204 recovers the amount wrongfully withheld plus discretionary attorney fees. Since May 2025 refunds may be sent by electronic transfer, cash, or check, not just mail, and deposit-related notices can go by e-mail under the statute's notice rules. Nonrefundable cleaning or damage fees do not work in Montana: any fee for cleaning and damages, however labeled, is presumed to be a refundable security deposit.
Montana security deposits at a glance
| Maximum deposit | No statutory cap |
|---|---|
| Return deadline | 30 days |
| Deadline conditions | The clock runs from termination of the tenancy or from surrender and acceptance of the premises, whichever comes first, and the refund must arrive with a written list of any rent due, damage, and cleaning charges. It shortens to 10 days if an inspection finds no damage, no cleaning required, and no unpaid rent, and the tenant can show that no utilities are unpaid. Within 30 days after termination of the tenancy or after surrender and acceptance of the premises, whichever occurs FIRST, the landlord must deliver a written list of rent due, damage, and cleaning charges together with the refund of the balance (70-25-202(1)(a)). The deadline shortens to 10 days if, after inspection, there are no damages, no cleaning required, and no unpaid rent, and the tenant can demonstrate that no utilities are unpaid (70-25-202(1)(b)). Since 2025-05-12 (HB 444) the refund may be delivered by electronic fund transfer, cash, check, or other form of refund, or mailed to the tenant's new address or, if none was provided, to the tenant's last-known address; the written list is noticed under 70-24-108 for a dwelling-unit tenancy (hand delivery, mail with certificate of mailing or certified mail with a 3-days-after-mailing service rule, or e-mail if the rental agreement provides an address) or 70-33-106 for a mobile home lot tenancy (the same routes except e-mail). The section does not apply if the rental agreement was terminated under 70-24-427 or 70-33-427 and the landlord has a claim pending in court (70-25-202(2)). |
| Itemization required | Yes |
| Itemization rules | The written list must state any rent due and any damage and cleaning charges the landlord alleges are the tenant's responsibility, and may be delivered only after the 70-25-201 preconditions (including the cleaning-notice procedure) have been followed (70-25-202(1)(a)). A landlord who fails to provide the list forfeits ALL rights to withhold any portion of the deposit for damages or cleaning (70-25-203). Deductions are limited to damage, unpaid rent, late charges, utilities, lease penalties, other money owing (including rent owed under 70-24-441(3)), and actual cleaning expenses including a reasonable charge for the landlord's own labor; withholding for any other purpose is prohibited (70-25-201(1), (4)). |
| Separate account required | No |
| Interest owed to tenant | No |
| Account & interest rules | No section of Montana's security-deposit chapter — Title 70 ch. 25, sections 70-25-101 through 70-25-206 — requires interest on deposits, or a separate, trust, or escrow account. |
| Pet deposits | No statute addresses a pet deposit, and no general deposit cap exists for one to count against. The pet-deposit rule, pet rent and fees, and the assistance-animal rules are on the pets and assistance animals page. |
| Non-refundable fees allowed | Not addressed by statute |
| Penalty for violation | Montana has no double- or treble-damages penalty. A person who wrongfully withholds any portion of a deposit is liable in a civil action for the amount wrongfully withheld, with attorney fees to the prevailing party at the court's discretion, and the landlord bears the burden of proving tenant-caused damage (70-25-204(1)). The act's real teeth are forfeitures: no written list within the deadline forfeits all deduction rights for damages and cleaning (70-25-203), and failure to give the move-in condition statement bars recovering ANY sum for damage or cleaning unless the landlord proves tenant causation by clear and convincing evidence (70-25-206(3)). Suit ripens on the landlord's written denial or on expiry of the 30-day (or 10-day no-issues) period (70-25-204(2)). |
| Tenant forwarding-address duty | None that forfeits the refund: failure to furnish a new address in writing does not bar recovery (70-25-205). Mailing the refund to the last-known address of a departed tenant who gave no new address is not wrongful withholding, but the landlord remains liable for the amount due (70-25-202(1)(c)). |
Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Montana Security Deposit Laws (verified October 1, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/security-deposits/montana/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.
Generate a Montana security-deposit return letter — free, no signup, built on the same verified Montana law as this page.
Editable Montana deposit kit — the deposit disposition letter, the move-in receipt with the custody and interest statements, a deposits-held register with the return deadline computed, and the rules fact sheet built on the verified Montana rules on this page, in Word, fillable PDF and Excel.
Notes and caveats
- No deposit cap anywhere in Montana law — Montana sets no limit on the size of a security deposit. Neither Title 70 ch. 25 — all nine sections — nor ch. 24 contains an amount limit.
- A 'nonrefundable' cleaning or damage fee is still deposit money — 70-25-101(4) presumes that a fee or charge for cleaning and damages, no matter how designated, is a security deposit; 70-25-103 makes contrary lease provisions and waivers invalid; and 70-25-201(4) bars withholding for any unlisted purpose. So a 'nonrefundable cleaning fee' is treated as deposit money subject to the return, itemization and forfeiture rules. The act does not address unrelated fee types such as application fees.
- The cleaning-notice procedure comes before any cleaning deduction — Under 70-25-201(3) the landlord must first deliver a written notice listing the cleaning that remains undone, and the tenant then has 24 hours after delivery to do the cleaning personally. Delivery runs through 70-24-108/70-33-106, where certified mail counts as served 3 days after mailing. No charge is allowed for cyclical normal maintenance unless tenant negligence forced it.
- Two carve-outs from the cleaning notice — HB 488 (Ch. 383, L. 2023, signed May 3, 2023, immediate effective date) added the first: no notice is required while an eviction-related court claim is pending after a termination under 70-24-427. The second is older: a tenant who vacates without giving notice loses the right to the notice, and since HB 541 (Ch. 536, L. 2021) the landlord may instead leave the notice in a conspicuous location in the unit and notify the tenant by e-mail, phone, or text.
- Stale-source trap: the 2023 change in who is covered — HB 488 also struck the old public-housing-authority exclusion and extended ch. 25 to mobile-home lot rentals (70-25-102). Charts published before 2023 get both wrong.
- Stale-source trap: 'the landlord must mail the refund' — Since May 12, 2025 the refund may be delivered by electronic fund transfer, cash, check, or other form, and the written list may be noticed under 70-24-108 (HB 444, Ch. 656, L. 2025, effective on approval per the official bill-status history). Any source saying the refund must be mailed has been out of date since that day.
- Stale-source trap: Montana has no double-damages deposit penalty — Sources claiming one are wrong. The penalty section is 70-25-204, and it carries no multiplier: a tenant recovers the amount wrongfully withheld, with attorney fees discretionary.
- Dead-bill debunk: HB 304 (2025) is not law — HB 304, 'Revise security deposit laws to provide tenants more information and time,' was tabled in its House committee, taken from committee and placed on second reading, and then died when it missed the March 12, 2025 deadline to pass the House in the 2025 regular session.
- The MCA text and the 2025 act agree — The official MCA pages for 70-25-201 and 70-25-202 and the enrolled text of HB 444 (Ch. 656, L. 2025), the latest act to amend both sections, state the 30-day, 10-day, 24-hour and 3-day figures in identical terms.
Common questions: Montana security deposits
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 security deposit in Montana?
- No statutory cap.
- How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in Montana?
- 30 days. The clock runs from termination of the tenancy or from surrender and acceptance of the premises, whichever comes first, and the refund must arrive with a written list of any rent due, damage, and cleaning charges. It shortens to 10 days if an inspection finds no damage, no cleaning required, and no unpaid rent, and the tenant can show that no utilities are unpaid.
- What happens if a landlord does not return the deposit on time in Montana?
- Montana has no double- or treble-damages penalty. A person who wrongfully withholds any portion of a deposit is liable in a civil action for the amount wrongfully withheld, with attorney fees to the prevailing party at the court's discretion, and the landlord bears the burden of proving tenant-caused damage (70-25-204(1)).
- Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in Montana?
- No — Montana does not require interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. No section of Montana's security-deposit chapter — Title 70 ch. 25, sections 70-25-101 through 70-25-206 — requires interest on deposits, or a separate, trust, or escrow account.
- Can a landlord charge a non-refundable fee in Montana?
- Not addressed by statute.
Citations
- Mont. Code Ann. § 70-25-202 · (1)-(2) (verified 2026) Official source
- Mont. Code Ann. § 70-25-201 · (1)-(4) (verified 2026) Official source
- Mont. Code Ann. § 70-25-203 (verified 2026) Official source
- Mont. Code Ann. § 70-25-204 · (1)-(2) (verified 2026) Official source
- Mont. Code Ann. § 70-25-205 (verified 2026) Official source
- Mont. Code Ann. § 70-25-206 · (1)-(3) (verified 2026) Official source
- Mont. Code Ann. § 70-25-101 · (4) (verified 2026) Official source
- HB 444, 2025 Mont. Laws ch. 656 (enrolled act as chaptered; effective on passage and approval, signed May 12, 2025) · secs. 1-3 (verified 2026) Official source
How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Montana Code Annotated site (mca.legmt.gov, MCA 2025 edition): all nine sections of Title 70 ch. 25 and sections 70-24-103, -108, -201, -202, -312, -403, -404, -410, -422, -441 plus 7-1-111 and 1-2-201, each section behind a figure here read twice independently with all figures matching verbatim (30-day/10-day deposit return, 24-hour cleaning cure window, certified-mail 3-day service rule, 24 hours' entry notice, 30-day/7-day periodic termination notice, rent-control preemption text). Every amendment claim additionally pinned character-for-character from official enrolled bills downloaded via the Legislature's document API (docs.legmt.gov): HB 444 (2025, Ch. 656) and HB 488 (2023, Ch. 383) for 70-25-201/-202, HB 810 (2025, Ch. 768) for 70-24-103/-201, HB 541 (2021, Ch. 536) for 70-24-312/70-24-201/70-25-201, SB 105 (2023, Ch. 319) and HB 283 (2023, Ch. 572) for 7-1-111; chapter numbers pinned from the official bill-to-chapter tables (archive.legmt.gov MCA Supplements). Bill status/signing dates read from the official api.legmt.gov bill-status history for 2025 bills (HB 444 signed 2025-05-12; HB 810 signed 2025-06-09) and from the Legislature's archive for the 2021 and 2023 bills. Negative checks (no deposit cap, no interest or separate-account rule, no late-fee cap or grace period) run twice against the complete section indexes of ch. 24 parts 1-4 and ch. 25 parts 1-2. 2025 session sweep: HB 444 and HB 810 enacted and effective (incorporated); HB 304, HB 277, HB 305 and HB 306 did not pass; 69th Legislature adjourned, next regular session January 2027; no on-topic special-session activity. On October 1, 2026 every section the security deposit, rent increase, late fee, entry and eviction answers rest on was read again on mca.legmt.gov (Montana Code Annotated 2025, which carries the 2025 session; no session was held in 2026): Title 70, chapters 24, 25, 27 and 33, section 70-26-109 on changing the terms of a month-to-month lease, section 7-1-111, Title 25, chapters 23 and 33 on justice court appeals, and Article XI, section 4 of the Montana Constitution, with the 2025 chapter laws on the Legislature's archive and the codes of Billings, Missoula, Bozeman, Great Falls, Butte-Silver Bow and Livingston for rent regulation.