How to Fire Your Property Manager in Montana

A step-by-step guide for Montana landlords switching property managers, covering trust accounts, the separate property manager license, tenant deposits and what to collect before you cut ties.

Last updated September 23, 2026

Missed repairs, slow replies, a statement that never adds up. Most landlords wait too long to make the call.

Montana gives you two useful levers. Your manager is licensed under a state scheme with real trust-account duties, and the deposit rules in Title 70, chapter 25 are strict enough that a sloppy handover shows up fast. Here is how to make the switch without losing a deposit, a tenant or a month of rent.

Step 1. Read your management agreement

Your contract decides how you exit. Look for four things.

Notice period. Thirty days' written notice is common in Montana agreements.
Termination fee. Some charge one, some do not.
Leasing fee clawbacks. Check what you owe for tenants the manager placed.
Who "owns" the tenant relationship. Some agreements try to charge a fee if you keep a tenant they found.

Montana statute sets no handover deadline of its own, so the date in your contract is the date that counts. If the manager broke the agreement, for example by ignoring repairs or mishandling money, you may be able to end it sooner. That is a question for a Montana attorney.

Step 2. Send written notice

Put it in writing, by email and by whatever method the agreement names. State the end date, ask for a full handover by that date, and list what you expect back (see Step 4).

Name a specific day for the funds and the records. Statute gives you no default, so your notice has to supply one.

Keep the tone flat and factual. You want your records, not an argument.

Step 3. Know the trust-account rules your manager works under

Montana licenses property managers on their own track. Since 2023, property managers sit in MCA Title 37, chapter 56, and a person may not practice as a property manager without an active license (§ 37-56-103). Real estate brokers and salespeople may manage property too, with salespeople supervised by a broker (§ 37-56-104).

A trust account in this scheme is an account for real estate trust funds held at a depository institution, and money has to be able to come out of it without delay (§ 37-56-101). Trust-account maintenance rules come from board rulemaking on safeguarding client funds and keeping them separate from the licensee's own (§ 37-1-319(4)).

The penalties tell you how seriously the state takes it. A property manager cited for failing to meet trust-account requirements pays a civil fine of $1,000 per cited violation (§ 37-56-106). A broker cited for the same thing pays $50 per violation (§ 37-51-324). Failing to account for or remit money belonging to others is unprofessional conduct for a broker or salesperson (§ 37-51-321(1)(e)).

For a broker holding your tenants' deposits, the rules are concrete. Funds go into an account at a Montana institution identified as a trust account, within three business days of receipt, reconciled monthly, never commingled, with no more than $1,000 of the broker's own money in it (ARM 24.210.426).

If money or records do not come back, complain to the Department of Labor and Industry, which licenses and disciplines both groups.

Step 4. Collect everything

Ask for all of this before the end date.

Security deposits for every tenant, with the amount held for each one
The trust account ledger showing rents collected, fees taken and what is still owed you
Signed leases, renewals and any addenda
The written move-in statement of condition each tenant got at signing, signed by the landlord or agent
Any written damage and cleaning lists sent to past tenants
Tenant contact details and payment history
Open maintenance requests, vendor contacts, invoices and warranties
Keys, fobs, garage remotes and codes
Year-to-date income and expense reports for your taxes

The move-in statements are the one people forget. Montana bars a landlord who cannot produce that separate written statement from recovering for damage or cleaning without clear and convincing evidence the tenant caused it (§ 70-25-206). Chase those documents harder than you chase the keys.

Step 5. Move the security deposits

Montana does not force an owner who self-manages into a dedicated escrow account. It does hold whoever holds the deposit to the same deadlines.

Once the money is yours, you own the clock. At the end of a tenancy you have 30 days to mail a written list of rent due plus damage and cleaning charges with the balance, or 10 days to return the whole deposit if there is nothing to deduct (§ 70-25-202). Miss the list and you forfeit the right to withhold anything for damage or cleaning (§ 70-25-203). Withhold wrongfully and the tenant sues for the amount, with attorney fees available at the court's discretion and the burden of proving damage on you (§ 70-25-204).

Get the per-tenant amounts in writing from the old manager and reconcile them against every lease before you sign off on the handover.

Step 6. Tell your tenants

Tenants care about three things. Where to pay rent, who to call for repairs, and whether their deposit is safe. Send one dated message covering all three, with the day the change takes effect.

Written notice to the tenant matters on the other side too. A property manager is relieved of liability for events after written notice to the tenant that the management has ended (§ 70-24-304(2)). So the notice fixes the day the buck stops moving.

Step 7. Take over the day to day

Line up your vendors, set up rent collection, and get a maintenance line that picks up at 2am. Montana's repair rules give a tenant 14 days after written notice to force the issue, and 3 working days in an emergency, before the lease can end under them (§ 70-24-406). Slow response is not just bad service in this state.

Who may manage property for pay in Montana

Managing rentals for someone else needs a license. Montana defines a property manager broadly, taking in anyone who negotiates leases, procures tenants, shows units, acts as liaison between owner and tenant, oversees inspection and upkeep, or collects rents (§ 37-56-101). A person may not practice as a property manager without an active license (§ 37-56-103).

Owners are exempt. The exemption list covers owners of the business entity that owns the property, spouses and close relatives of an owner, a person leasing no more than four residential units, attorneys in fact and attorneys at law, court-appointed trustees, public officers, and employees whose management duties are incidental to other work (§ 37-56-104). Real estate licensees managing property fall outside the chapter's separate license requirement under the same section, and the broker licensing chapter exempts owners and lessors acting on their own property (§ 37-51-103).

Before you hire a replacement, check the license on the Department of Labor and Industry's lookup.

Your switching checklist

Read the agreement for notice, fees and clawbacks
Send written notice with an end date and a handover date
Confirm the deposit balance held for each tenant against each lease
Collect ledgers, leases, move-in condition statements and keys
Take the deposits and calendar the 30-day and 10-day deadlines
Send tenants written notice that the management has ended
Verify the next manager's license before you sign

Switch to Taz

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Where this guide says a state has no rule on something, that means we found no statute setting one, which is not the same as none existing. Local ordinances and court practice can add requirements. Confirm anything you plan to rely on.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your management agreement and your specific facts matter. Talk to a Montana attorney before ending a contract. Last checked September 2026.