Outline of the eviction process in Montana

Montana residential evictions are governed by the Montana Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1977 (Mont. Code Ann. Title 70, chapter 24). The Act supplies both the termination notices (§§ 70-24-422 and 70-24-441) and the lawsuit itself, an action for possession under § 70-24-427. Justice courts have concurrent jurisdiction with the district courts over actions under Title 70, chapters 24, 25 and 33 (§ 3-10-302).

Two things are distinctive. The older unlawful detainer chapter (Title 70, chapter 27) mostly does not apply to a residential tenancy. And the calendar is fast: 5 business days to answer, a hearing within 10 business days, a ruling within 5 days, and the sheriff executes the writ within 5 business days.

1. Which statute applies, and the grounds

Chapter 24 or chapter 27. Section 70-27-101 says chapter 27, except as it relates to forcible entry and to forcible detainer as defined in § 70-27-103(2), does not apply to arrangements governed by chapter 24. Its posting-and-mailing notice service (§ 70-27-110) and five-day redemption (§ 70-27-205(3)) are for tenancies outside the Act, including premises used primarily for commercial or agricultural purposes and transient hotel or motel occupancy (§ 70-24-104). Mobile home lot rentals fall under Title 70, chapter 33, not covered here.

Grounds. We found no just-cause requirement in the Act. A landlord may terminate for unpaid rent (§ 70-24-422(2)); for noncompliance with the rental agreement or the tenant duties in § 70-24-321 (§ 70-24-422(1)); for damage to the premises (§ 70-24-422(3)); for activity creating a reasonable potential of damage to the premises or injury to neighboring tenants (§§ 70-24-321(3), 70-24-422(4)); or without stating a cause by ending a periodic tenancy (§ 70-24-441). A landlord who elects the 30-day notice is not bound by § 70-24-422 (§ 70-24-422(7)).

Retaliation. A landlord may not bring or threaten a possession action, raise rent or cut services after the tenant complains to a code agency, complains to the landlord in writing under § 70-24-303, or joins a tenant’s union (§ 70-24-431(1)). A complaint within 6 months before the landlord’s act creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation, but the landlord may still sue for possession if the tenant is in default in rent (§ 70-24-431(3), (4)).

2. Notices

• Unpaid rent: 3 days (§ 70-24-422(2)). The written notice must state the nonpayment and your intention to terminate the rental agreement if the rent is not paid within that period.
• Unauthorized pet: 3 days. Unauthorized persons residing in the unit: 3 days (§ 70-24-422(1)(b), (c)).
• Verbal abuse of the landlord: 3 days, curable (§ 70-24-422(1)(f)).
• Any other noncompliance: 14 days (§ 70-24-422(1)(d)).
• Repeat violation: 5 days (§ 70-24-422(1)(e)). Applies when substantially the same act or omission recurs within 6 months of a prior noticed noncompliance.
• Damage to the premises: 3 days (§ 70-24-422(3)).
• Dangerous or illegal activity: 3 days (§ 70-24-422(4)). This is activity under § 70-24-321(3).
• Month-to-month: 30 days; week-to-week: 7 days (§ 70-24-441). The tenancy ends on the date designated, without regard to the rent period.
• Federally backed or subsidized properties may also be subject to the federal CARES Act 30-day notice.

Required content of a noncompliance notice. A notice under § 70-24-422(1) must specify the acts and omissions constituting the noncompliance, state that the rental agreement will terminate, and state that the tenant shall vacate on a specified date not less than the required number of days after receipt. If the noncompliance is remediable by repairs, payment of damages or the landlord’s written approval, and the tenant remedies it before that date, the agreement does not terminate (§ 70-24-422(1)(a)). Separately, § 70-24-430(9) requires the abandoned-property terms of that section to be included, in plain language, as a notification upon termination.

How notices are delivered (§ 70-24-108). A tenant has notice when the notice is:

• delivered in hand; or
• mailed with a certificate of mailing or by certified mail to the place the tenant designated or, absent a designation, the last-known address, in which case service is considered made 3 days after the date of mailing; or
• sent to an e-mail address the tenant provided in the rental agreement, complete only on a read receipt or a reply that is not automatically generated.

Section 70-24-108 does not list posting on the door or ordinary first-class mail, and the Montana courts’ Notice to Vacate form says the law does not allow taping the notice to the door or leaving it with another person at the rental.

Counting days. The periods in § 70-24-422 run from receipt. The Montana courts’ Notice to Vacate form (updated April 18, 2023) says a hand-delivered notice period starts the day after delivery and a mailed notice period begins to run on the third day after mailing. For a mailed 3-day notice, plan on at least 6 days from the mailing date.

Waiver (§ 70-24-423). Accepting full payment of rent due waives a breach only when the breach is nonpayment. Accepting partial payment waives nothing.

3. Filing

Once the agreement is terminated, the landlord has a claim for possession, rent and actual damages (§ 70-24-427(1)). File in the justice court of the county or in district court (§ 3-10-302). The Montana Judicial Branch publishes an Action for Possession packet. We did not verify the filing fee; ask the clerk.

Entity landlords. Rule 2(a) of the Montana Justice and City Court Rules of Civil Procedure lets an individual file personally or through an attorney and says all other categories of party defined in Rule 4A must file through an attorney. Separately, § 25-31-601(3) lets a majority-interest member of a limited liability company act as its attorney in justice court, subject to § 35-8-301. If the plaintiff is an entity, confirm with the court before filing without a lawyer.

4. Summons, answer and the hearing

In an action for possession the Justice and City Court Rules of Civil Procedure (Title 25, chapter 23) apply, except that the tenant’s time to answer is 5 business days after service of the summons and complaint, exclusive of the date of service (§ 70-24-429(4)). Under Rule 4 as we read it, process is served by the sheriff, a deputy, a constable, or any nonparty 18 or older, by delivering the summons and complaint to the defendant personally or to an agent authorized to receive service; the rule also has a mail-with-acknowledgment option.

The action must be heard within 10 business days after the tenant’s appearance or the answer date stated in the summons. If the termination was for dangerous activity under § 70-24-321(3), the hearing must be within 5 business days (§ 70-24-427(2)(a)). The same limits apply in district court after an appealed case is transmitted. The parties may stipulate to a continuance. A hearing on damages must be held within 45 days after possession and rent are adjudicated (§ 70-24-427(2)(b)).

Counterclaims. In a nonpayment case the tenant may counterclaim; the court may order rent paid into court, and if no rent remains due after offsets, judgment for possession goes to the tenant (§ 70-24-421).

5. Judgment and appeal

The court must rule within 5 days after the hearing (§ 70-24-427(4)). We found no right in the Act to reinstate by paying after the 3-day period has run; the five-day redemption in § 70-27-205(3) is a chapter 27 rule. The prevailing party may be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs regardless of the lease (§ 70-24-442). Where a lease longer than month-to-month is terminated for cause and the holdover is purposeful and not in good faith, the landlord may recover up to 3 months’ periodic rent or treble damages, whichever is greater; a month-to-month tenant who stays past a lawful no-cause 30-day notice is treated as a purposeful holdover with the same remedy (§ 70-24-429(2), (3)).

• Appeal deadline. The Act sets no special deadline. A party may appeal a city or justice court civil judgment to the district court within 30 days after the judgment is rendered (§ 25-33-102).
• An appeal alone does not stop the eviction. When the judgment directs delivery of possession of real property, execution cannot be stayed unless the appellant files a written undertaking with two or more sureties promising not to commit waste and, if the appeal fails, to pay the value of use and occupation from the appeal until possession is delivered, up to a sum fixed by the justice or judge (§ 25-33-201(3)). The undertaking is waived for an appellant the court finds indigent (§ 25-33-201(4)).

6. The writ and the lockout

If possession is granted, the court must issue a writ of possession and a writ of assistance immediately. The sheriff executes the writ of assistance within 5 business days of receiving it, excluding the date of receipt, or at another time agreed to by the landlord and the sheriff (§ 70-24-427(4)).

Tenant property (§ 70-24-430). The rule depends on how the tenancy ended:

• Terminated by court order: the personal property is considered abandoned and the landlord may immediately dispose of it as allowed by law (§ 70-24-430(1)(a)).
• Terminated any other way: you need clear and convincing evidence of abandonment and must wait at least 48 hours after obtaining it. You may then remove the property and discard trash and hazardous, perishable or valueless items (not personal photos, jewelry or other small irreplaceable items). Inventory and store what you reasonably believe is valuable, then send notice with a certificate of mailing or by certified mail to the last-known address stating that the property will be disposed of at a specified time not less than 10 days after mailing. A tenant who responds in writing has 7 days after delivery of the response to remove it and must first pay storage costs.

Self-help. Except on abandonment or surrender, a landlord may not recover possession other than as the Act permits, including by interrupting heat, water, electricity, gas or other essential services (§ 70-24-428). A tenant unlawfully removed, excluded or cut off may recover possession or terminate and, either way, recover up to 3 months’ periodic rent or treble damages, whichever is greater (§ 70-24-411). Section 70-24-113 lets law enforcement immediately remove a trespasser who cannot produce authorization to occupy. A written rental agreement is authorization, so this is not a way to remove a tenant.

Recent law changes landlords should know

• 2023, HB 282 (Ch. 715, L. 2023, per the history lines of §§ 70-24-427 and 70-24-429). Set the hearing deadline at 10 business days, cut the answer time to 5 business days, added the 45-day damages hearing and revised § 70-24-429, with parallel mobile home lot changes.
• 2025, HB 810 (Ch. 768, L. 2025), signed June 9, 2025. A landlord may not charge an additional fee based on rent payment type except to recoup an electronic bank fee incurred for electronic payment (§ 70-24-201(4)). The codified history line shows no special effective date, so unless the bill itself set one, it took effect October 1, 2025 under § 1-2-201(1)(a).
• 2025, SB 101 (Ch. 179, L. 2025), signed April 17, 2025. A squatting bill that amended the trespasser section, § 70-24-113. The history line shows no special effective date, so it likely took effect October 1, 2025 under the default rule in § 1-2-201(1)(a).
• Notice sections unchanged. In the 2025 MCA the latest amendments shown are 2021 for § 70-24-422, 2007 for § 70-24-441 and 2017 for § 70-24-108. No regular session was held in 2024 or 2026. Our search of 2025 session laws was not exhaustive.

What actually goes wrong

• Borrowing chapter 27 rules, such as posting a notice on the door. That chapter does not govern a tenancy under the Act.
• Counting a mailed notice from the mailing date. Service is considered made 3 days after mailing.
• A rent notice that omits your intention to terminate if rent is not paid within the 3 days.
• Omitting the abandoned-property terms from the termination paperwork (§ 70-24-430(9)), or discarding property without a court order before the 48-hour and 10-day steps run.
• Locking out or cutting utilities instead of waiting for the sheriff: up to 3 months’ rent or treble damages.

When to bring in an attorney

An individual landlord with a correctly delivered and counted notice can often handle an uncontested nonpayment case with the court’s packet. Use counsel when the landlord is an entity; for contested noncompliance cases; when the tenant counterclaims or raises retaliation; for subsidized housing; and for any appeal, because fee shifting under § 70-24-442 cuts both ways. The Montana attorneys listed below represent landlords.

Sources

• Montana Code Annotated 2025 (mca.legmt.gov), Title 70, chapter 24: §§ 70-24-103, 70-24-104, 70-24-108, 70-24-113, 70-24-201, 70-24-321, 70-24-411, 70-24-421 to 70-24-423, 70-24-427 to 70-24-431, 70-24-441, 70-24-442.
• Title 70, chapter 27: §§ 70-27-101, 70-27-110, 70-27-205.
• § 3-10-302 (justice court jurisdiction); §§ 25-33-102, 25-33-201 (appeals from justice and city courts); § 25-31-601; Montana Justice and City Court Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules 2 and 4 (Title 25, chapter 23).
• HB 282 (2023), HB 810 (2025) and SB 101 (2025), enrolled text, Montana Legislature; LegiScan history pages.
• Montana Judicial Branch landlord and tenant forms (courts.mt.gov/forms/landlord), including the Notice to Vacate form updated April 18, 2023.

This guide is general information about Montana procedure and is not legal advice. Court practice and fees vary by county. Confirm the current text before relying on any deadline.