Montana Security Deposit Law Explained
If you moved out of a place you rented in Montana, you are usually entitled to get your deposit back unless the landlord is keeping money for a reason Montana law allows and properly explains.
The practical rule
Montana's main deposit rules are in Montana Code Annotated Sections 70-25-201 through 70-25-206. The landlord generally must provide a written list of any rent due and any damage or cleaning charges, together with any refund balance, within 30 days after termination of the tenancy or within 30 days after surrender and acceptance of the premises, whichever occurs first.
If there are no damages, no cleaning required, no unpaid rent, and the tenant can show no utilities are unpaid, Montana has a faster 10-day return rule.
Watch this step
Provide your new mailing or forwarding address in writing and keep proof. Montana allows delivery by mailing to the new address you provide or, if you do not provide one, to your last-known address. Not providing a new address does not bar recovery of the amount owed, but it can make the mailing record messier.
What the landlord can deduct
Montana allows supported deductions for tenant-caused damage, unpaid rent, late charges, utilities, penalties due under lease provisions, other money owing to the landlord at the time of deduction, and actual cleaning expenses.
The written list should identify rent due and any damage or cleaning charges. If the landlord fails to provide the required written list, Montana can forfeit the landlord's right to withhold deposit money for damages or cleaning charges.
Cleaning has its own rule
Montana treats cleaning charges carefully. Cleaning charges may not be imposed for normal cyclical maintenance unless the landlord is forced to perform it because of tenant negligence.
When the statute requires it, the landlord must give written notice describing the cleaning not accomplished and what is needed to bring the premises back to its rented condition. After delivery of that notice, the tenant has 24 hours to complete the required cleaning. The notice rule can be relieved if the tenant failed to notify intent to vacate or vacated without notice.
Inspection and condition statement
At the request of either party, the premises may be inspected within one week before termination of the tenancy. If an inspection would help, request it in writing and keep proof.
Montana also requires a beginning-of-tenancy condition statement when a landlord requires a security deposit. At the tenant's written request, the landlord must provide a copy of the previous tenant's written list of damage and cleaning charges, if any. If the landlord fails to provide the required condition statement, the landlord can be barred from recovering damage or cleaning sums unless the landlord proves the damage by clear and convincing evidence.
If the landlord wrongfully withholds money
Montana does not use automatic double or treble damages for security deposits. A tenant may recover the amount wrongfully withheld or deducted. Attorney fees may be awarded to the prevailing party at the court's discretion, and the landlord bears the burden of proof on tenant-caused damages.
This is where doing the sequence right matters: address proof, surrender proof, written list, cleaning notice, utilities proof, condition statement, and deduction support all help show what was actually owed.
Sources used for this guide
- MCA 70-25-201 - Security deposit deductions
- MCA 70-25-202 - List of damages and refund
- MCA 70-25-203 - Forfeiture of deduction rights
- MCA 70-25-204 - Wrongful withholding action
- MCA 70-25-206 - Condition statement
Source reviewed: April 2026.
Next Montana pages
Montana's details matter. The system organizes the new-address record, written-list demand, cleaning-notice issue, condition-statement issue, and final demand in order.
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