Billings landlord-tenant rules come almost entirely from state law: the Montana Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1977 and the state’s security deposit statutes, with no city rent control and, as far as public records show, no city registration program for long-term apartments. For an apartment owner, that means the details that matter most are Montana’s notice periods, deposit deadlines, entry rules and eviction timeline, plus the procedures of the Yellowstone County Justice Court.
This guide summarizes those rules as they appear in the 2025 Montana Code Annotated, including two changes the 2025 Legislature made, and connects them to how an apartment building in Billings is actually run.
Billings at a glance for rental owners
Billings is the seat of Yellowstone County and the largest city in Montana. The U.S. Census Bureau counted 117,116 residents in 2020 and estimated 121,239 as of July 1, 2025. Census figures show 64.8% of homes are owner-occupied, so roughly a third of households rent, and the 2020–2024 American Community Survey put median gross rent at $1,138.
Health care anchors the local job base. The Billings Chamber identifies Intermountain Health St. Vincent Regional Hospital and Billings Clinic as the city’s largest employers. Hospital staff are a meaningful part of the renter pool, and owners who serve them may house both long-term residents and shorter stays. The rules below apply differently depending on which one a unit houses.
Where Montana landlord law lives
Three groups of statutes do most of the work:
- Title 70, Chapter 24, the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which covers leases, notices, entry, habitability, retaliation and evictions.
- Title 70, Chapter 25, which governs security deposits and allowable deductions.
- Title 49, Chapter 2, the Montana Human Rights Act, which sets fair housing rules.
All of these are published on the Montana Code Annotated website, and the section numbers below can be looked up there directly. Because the Legislature meets in odd-numbered years, owners should recheck the statutes after each session; the 2025 session amended several provisions discussed here.
Billings landlord-tenant rules on notice periods
Montana’s notice rules are short and specific, and getting them wrong can stall an eviction case. Under MCA 70-24-422:
- Nonpayment of rent: if rent is unpaid and the tenant does not pay within 3 days after a written notice, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement.
- General lease violations: the default is a 14-day written notice, and the tenancy does not end if the tenant fixes the problem within that time.
- Unauthorized pets, unauthorized occupants, or verbal abuse of the landlord: a 3-day notice.
- A repeat of the same violation within 6 months: a 5-day notice.
- Destroying or damaging the premises, or creating a risk of damage or personal injury: a 3-day notice.
The statute also allows treble damages for purposeful noncompliance, though not for an early termination.
Ending a month-to-month tenancy
Under MCA 70-24-441, either side can end a month-to-month tenancy with 30 days’ written notice, and a week-to-week tenancy with 7 days’ notice. The act does not contain a stand-alone rent-increase notice section, so for month-to-month residents, owners commonly use that 30-day period as the practical lead time when changing rent or other terms.
Breaking a fixed-term lease
If either party ends a lease early without cause, MCA 70-24-201 caps the damages at one month’s rent or a smaller agreed amount. The landlord must make reasonable efforts to re-rent and can collect rent until a new tenancy starts or the original term ends. For an owner of a 20-unit building, that means an early move-out is a turnover problem more than a collections problem, and leasing speed directly limits the loss.
No local rent control, and limits on city regulation
Montana bars local rent control. MCA 7-1-111 prohibits a local government with self-government powers from exercising any power to control the amount of rent charged for private residential or commercial property. The same section bars those governments from licensing landlords or regulating them beyond what Title 70, chapters 24, 25 and 33 provide.
In practice, rent levels in Billings are set by the market. What the state does regulate is the process around rent: when it is due, how a nonpayment notice works, and whether an increase is retaliatory.
The retaliation rule
MCA 70-24-431 prohibits a landlord from raising rent, cutting services or threatening eviction in retaliation for a tenant’s complaint to a government agency about a code violation, a written habitability complaint to the landlord, or tenant-union activity. If the tenant’s complaint came within 6 months before the landlord’s action, the law presumes retaliation unless the landlord can rebut it. For owners, the lesson is documentation: rent increases should follow a consistent, building-wide schedule that predates any complaint.
Deposits, cleaning and the 2025 updates
Return deadlines
Under MCA 70-25-202, if an inspection shows no damages, no cleaning needed and no unpaid rent, and the tenant shows that utilities are paid, the landlord must return the full security deposit within 10 days. If the landlord is making deductions, the deadline is 30 days after the tenancy ends or the unit is surrendered and accepted, whichever comes first, and the landlord must send a written, itemized list of deductions along with any balance.
Cleaning deductions require notice
Under MCA 70-25-201, a landlord who wants to deduct cleaning costs must first give the tenant written notice of the cleaning required, and the tenant then has 24 hours to do the work. A notice sent by certified mail is treated as served 3 days after mailing. Allowable deductions include damage beyond normal wear, unpaid rent, late charges, unpaid utilities, lease penalties and the actual cost of cleaning.
What changed in 2025
The 2025 Legislature passed two bills that affect day-to-day operations:
- House Bill 444 (Chapter 656, Laws of 2025) lets landlords refund deposits by electronic transfer, cash, check or other forms, rather than only by mail. When a tenant leaves without notice, the landlord can leave the cleaning notice in the unit and alert the tenant by email, phone call or text.
- House Bill 810 (Chapter 768, Laws of 2025) added MCA 70-24-201(4), which bars charging an extra fee based on how rent is paid, except to recover an electronic bank fee the landlord actually incurs. The bill defines rent payment type as cash, check, electronic or other forms agreed to in the lease.
The HB 810 change is easy to miss in buildings that use a payment portal. A convenience fee for card or online payments should now be limited to the bank fee the owner actually pays, and leases and portal settings may need updating.
Entry, habitability and safety equipment
Landlord entry
Under MCA 70-24-312, a landlord must give at least 24 hours’ notice before entering and may enter only at reasonable times, except in an emergency or when notice is impracticable. Posting the notice on the unit’s main entry door satisfies the requirement. The landlord may not use the right of access to harass a tenant, and tenants may not change the locks without written permission. For buildings with an annual filter change or smoke-detector check, a posted 24-hour notice on each door is the cleanest way to comply.
Habitability
MCA 70-24-303 requires the landlord to keep the premises fit and habitable and to comply with building codes in effect when the building was constructed. The landlord must supply running water, reasonable amounts of hot water, and reasonable heat between October 1 and May 1, and must maintain electrical, plumbing and heating systems in good working order. Landlords must also install approved smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and confirm they work at the start of each tenancy.
The October-to-May heat requirement deserves attention in Billings, where winter is long. An aging boiler or a set of failing unit furnaces is not just a capital item; once the heating season starts, a failure becomes a statutory problem with tight timelines.
A worked move-out timeline
Putting the deposit and cleaning rules together shows how tight the calendar can be. Consider a tenant in a one-bedroom unit whose month-to-month tenancy ends on the last day of a month after a proper 30-day notice:
- Day 0: the tenant returns the keys. The manager walks the unit the same day and finds that the oven and bathroom need cleaning.
- Day 0 or 1: the manager gives written notice of the specific cleaning required. If the tenant is reachable in person, the tenant has 24 hours to do it. If the notice goes by certified mail, it is treated as served 3 days after mailing, and the 24 hours run from then.
- If the tenant left without any notice, the 2025 HB 444 change lets the manager leave the cleaning notice in the unit and alert the tenant by email, phone or text.
- If the tenant cleans and there is no damage or unpaid rent, and the tenant shows that utilities are paid, the full deposit is due back within 10 days.
- If the manager is keeping part of the deposit, the itemized list and balance are due within 30 days, and the refund can now go out electronically.
Turnover crews often start work the day after move-out, so the order of operations matters: document the condition with photos, send the cleaning notice, and wait out the 24-hour window before cleaning at the tenant’s expense. Doing the cleaning first and deducting later is the pattern that leads to deposit disputes.
The same discipline applies to nonpayment. Serving the 3-day notice promptly once rent is late, filing as soon as the notice period has run, and tracking the 10-business-day hearing window keeps a single unpaid unit from turning into two or three months of lost rent. Owners should also note that the deposit deadlines in MCA 70-25-202 do not apply when a tenancy ends through a possession case and the landlord has a claim pending in court.
How an eviction moves through Yellowstone County Justice Court
Most possession cases in Billings are filed in the Yellowstone County Justice Court. The court’s civil page directs landlords to ask the clerk for its landlord-tenant packet. The court lists a $50 civil filing fee, a $15,000 maximum judgment and a 30-day window to appeal to district court. It also states that an entity must file through an attorney, so an LLC that owns an apartment building cannot file its own complaint without counsel.
State law sets the pace. Under MCA 70-24-427, a hearing in a possession case must be held within 10 business days after the tenant appears or the answer date, or within 5 business days in cases involving safety-related violations. The court rules within 5 days after the hearing. If the landlord wins possession, the writ issues immediately, and the sheriff executes the writ of assistance within 5 business days.
A simplified sequence for a nonpayment case looks like this:
- Serve a written 3-day notice to pay or vacate under MCA 70-24-422.
- If the tenant neither pays nor leaves, file the complaint in Justice Court, through an attorney if the owner is an entity.
- Attend the hearing, held within 10 business days of the tenant’s appearance or answer date.
- If possession is granted, obtain the writ, which the sheriff carries out within 5 business days.
Short-term rentals and city code enforcement
The City of Billings does regulate one kind of rental directly. Since a 2021 ordinance, rentals of fewer than 30 days require both a city business license and a short-term rental permit, each renewed annually. According to a February 2025 city notice, the permit costs $300 and a first-time business license $55, penalties start at $300 for a first offense and can reach $500 per day, and the city had identified more than 300 properties out of compliance. An owner who furnishes a few units for traveling medical staff on short stays should check whether those stays fall under 30 days.
For conventional long-term apartments, we found no city registration or routine inspection program, which is consistent with the state’s limits on local landlord licensing. The city’s Code Enforcement Division handles property maintenance and nuisance complaints, so an exterior problem or a tenant complaint can still lead to a city visit.
Fair housing under the Montana Human Rights Act
MCA 49-2-305 makes it illegal to discriminate in housing based on sex, marital status, race, creed, religion, color, age, familial status, physical or mental disability, or national origin. It also covers discriminatory advertising and requires reasonable accommodations and modifications for residents with disabilities. The exemptions are narrow: owner-occupied homes renting three or fewer rooms, plus specific senior-housing and owner-occupied two-family exceptions for the age and familial status categories. A five-plus-unit apartment building will not fit those exemptions, so screening criteria, ads and pet policies (including assistance animals) should be written with the state list in mind.
Practical steps for Billings apartment owners
The statutes translate into a short operating checklist:
- Use separate notice templates for each MCA 70-24-422 category (3-day, 5-day and 14-day), with the statute cited, so staff do not mix them up.
- Calendar the 10-day and 30-day deposit deadlines from each move-out date, and send the 24-hour cleaning notice promptly.
- Review payment portal fees against the HB 810 rule.
- Schedule rent increases on a consistent, documented cycle to avoid any appearance of retaliation.
- Test heating systems before October 1 and log smoke and CO detector checks at every move-in.
- Line up an attorney in advance if the building is owned by an LLC, since Justice Court requires entities to appear through counsel.
These rules also matter at sale time. A buyer will review leases, deposit ledgers and notice files during due diligence, and a clean record makes a building easier to transfer with tenants in place. Our guide to selling a rental property with tenants in place covers what that review typically includes. For owners considering their options locally, our Billings market page describes how we evaluate buildings in the city, and the Montana market overview covers the rest of the state.
