Breaking a lease in Montana

Unless your lease provides otherwise, a party who ends the lease early without cause owes the other side damages of up to one month's rent, or an amount set in the lease that may not exceed one month's rent. The same subsection says landlords must follow the re-renting rule for abandoned units and are entitled to rent from a defaulting tenant until a new tenancy starts or the lease term ends (MCA 70-24-201(2)(f)).

• If the tenant abandons the home, you must make reasonable efforts to re-rent it at a fair rent. The lease ends when a new tenancy begins; if you do not try to re-rent, or you accept the abandonment as a surrender, it ends when you learn of the abandonment (MCA 70-24-426(3)).
• Treble damages may not be recovered for a tenant's early termination (MCA 70-24-422(6)).
• The Act gives no early termination right for domestic violence. A notice of no contact between landlord and tenant is valid only under a court's no-contact order or order of protection, except as another statute provides (MCA 70-24-111).
• A tenant may end the lease for fire or casualty damage, an uncured health and safety breach, or an unlawful entry or lockout (MCA 70-24-409; MCA 70-24-406; MCA 70-24-410; MCA 70-24-411).See Tenant repair remedies on the Montana page

For a breach affecting health and safety, the tenant may give written notice that the lease will end on a date at least 30 days after you receive it unless you fix the problem within 14 days, or, after notice and a reasonable time, may make repairs costing no more than one month's rent and deduct the cost from rent (MCA 70-24-406(1)).

• In an emergency, the tenant may terminate if you do not fix it within 3 working days after written notice of the problem and of the tenant's intent to terminate. Emergency repairs by the tenant must be made by a qualified person (MCA 70-24-406(1)).
• If the same breach recurs within 6 months, the tenant may terminate on at least 14 days' written notice. The tenant cannot terminate for a condition the tenant or the tenant's household or guests caused (MCA 70-24-406(1)(a)(ii); MCA 70-24-406(1)(a)(iii)).
• The tenant may also recover actual damages and get a court order for any breach of the lease or your repair duties (MCA 70-24-406(2)).
• If you purposefully or negligently fail to supply heat, water, hot water, electricity, gas or another essential service, the tenant may, after written notice and a reasonable chance to correct it, buy the service and deduct the cost, recover the reduced rental value, or move to substitute housing and owe no rent for that period (MCA 70-24-408).
• If fire or casualty substantially impairs the home, the tenant may move out and give written notice within 14 days to end the lease, or, if staying is lawful, vacate the unusable part and pay reduced rent, unless the tenant's side caused the damage (MCA 70-24-409).

A tenant who moves out during the tenancy may not hand possession to another person or sublet the home unless you or your agent consent in writing (MCA 70-24-305).

• A person who subleases from your tenant with your written approval, under the rental agreement, counts as a tenant under Montana's landlord and tenant law (MCA 70-24-103(19)(b)).
• Whatever remedies you have against your tenant for a lease breach or to recover possession, you also have against the tenant's assignee for claims that arise while they hold the lease (MCA 70-26-105).

Either you or the tenant may end a month-to-month tenancy at any time by written notice given at least 30 days before the termination date named in the notice. A week-to-week tenancy needs at least 7 days' written notice (MCA 70-24-441(1); MCA 70-24-441(2)).

• The tenancy ends on the date named, whether or not that is the end of a rent period; unless agreed otherwise, rent is apportioned day by day (MCA 70-24-441(3)).
• If the lease sets no default extension and neither side gives 30 days' written notice before the original end date, the tenancy continues month to month (MCA 70-24-205).
• If a month-to-month tenant stays after a lawful 30-day notice, you may recover up to 3 months' periodic rent or treble damages, whichever is greater (MCA 70-24-429(3)).
• Mailed notice counts as served 3 days after mailing, so allow for that when you count the 30 days (MCA 70-24-441(2); MCA 70-24-108(1)(d)).

Within 30 days after the tenancy ends, or after the tenant surrenders the home and you accept it, whichever comes first, give the tenant a written list of any rent due and any damage and cleaning charges, together with a refund of the balance. If there is no damage, no cleaning is needed, no rent is unpaid and the tenant can show no utilities are unpaid, return the whole deposit within 10 days (MCA 70-25-202).

• You may deduct only damage the tenant caused, unpaid rent, late charges, utilities, penalties due under the lease, other money owed to you at the time, and actual cleaning expenses, including a reasonable charge for your own labor (MCA 70-25-201(1); MCA 70-25-201(4)).
• Before deducting for cleaning, give the tenant written notice of the cleaning not done and what is needed; the tenant then has 24 hours to do it. Notice by certified mail counts as served 3 days after mailing. No notice is needed if the tenant moved out without telling you, and the 24 hours do not apply when the lease was already terminated through a possession case and your claim is pending in court (MCA 70-25-201(3)).
• You may not charge cleaning for normal cyclical maintenance you noted at move-in, unless the tenant's negligence forced you to do it (MCA 70-25-201(3)(a)).
• Either side may ask for an inspection within 1 week before the tenancy ends (MCA 70-25-201(2)).
• Pay the refund by electronic transfer, cash, check or another form, or mail it to the tenant's new address, or to the last-known address if no new one was given. The list must be delivered by one of the notice methods in the Act (MCA 70-25-202(1)(a)(ii); MCA 70-24-108).
• A landlord who does not give the written list forfeits the right to keep any part of the deposit for damage or cleaning (MCA 70-25-203).
• If you wrongfully keep any part of a deposit, you owe the tenant the amount wrongly withheld, the court may award attorney fees to the winner, and you carry the burden of proving damage. The tenant may not sue until you send a written denial or the 30-day (or 10-day) period has run (MCA 70-25-204).
• A tenant who gives no new address still recovers what is owed. Mailing the refund to the last-known address is not wrongful withholding if it never arrives, but you remain liable for the amount (MCA 70-25-205; MCA 70-25-202(1)(c)).
• These deadlines do not apply when the lease was terminated through a possession case and you have a claim pending in court (MCA 70-25-202(2)).See Eviction process on the Montana page