Montana Mobile Home Park Laws — Lot Rent and Evictions (2026)

✓ Law Verified August 2026

Montana mobile home park laws are their own world: you own the home, you rent the ground, and a separate set of rules, different from ordinary landlord-tenant law, decides what the park can charge, when it can evict, and what happens if the land is sold out from under the whole community. This guide covers those rules in plain English, verified against official Montana sources as of August 2026.

Montana Mobile Home Park Laws at a Glance

Why Park Living Has Its Own Rulebook in Montana

If you own the mobile or manufactured home and rent only the lot under it, Chapter 33 applies instead of the ordinary Residential Landlord and Tenant Act in Chapter 24 — the park owns the ground and utilities but not your home, so you have added protections an apartment renter does not have: the park needs one of the statutory grounds in 70-33-433 to terminate (no true no-cause 30-day termination),

you keep the exclusive right to sell your home in place without the landlord interfering,

and the landlord owes lot-specific duties such as safe common roads and snow plowing under 70-33-315. Security deposit rules in Title 70, Chapter 25 also apply to lot rentals through 70-33-109.

Owning the home while renting the ground under it creates a kind of leverage no apartment landlord has: moving a manufactured home typically costs thousands of dollars, and many older homes cannot be moved at all without falling apart.

Lawmakers know that “just move” is not a real option for park residents, which is exactly why Montana mobile home park laws give lot renters protections apartment tenants never get, limited eviction grounds, longer notice periods, and rules about what happens when the park itself changes hands.

Lot Rent Increases: Your Rights Before You Pay More

Required notice: 30 days written notice for a month-to-month lot tenancy and 7 days for a week-to-week tenancy; a written lease’s rent cannot be raised mid-term, and a new park rule adopted after your agreement takes 30 days written notice before it takes effect. Montana Legal Services states this same 30-day rule applies to mobile home lots.

Is there a cap? NO CAP — Montana has no rent control and no statutory percentage limit on lot rent increases; 2021 SB 362 (excessive-increase review), 2023 HB 428, 2025 HB 277 and 2025 HB 305 all failed, so there is no Montana equivalent of the New Jersey 3.5 percent or Oregon roughly 6 percent caps.

Whatever the number on the notice, read it against the rules above before paying. An increase served with short notice, or one that violates a cap where Montana has one, is challengeable, and park residents who organize respond far more effectively than neighbors acting alone. Many states saw lot-rent fights turn into new legislation in the last two years for exactly this reason.

The Park Cannot Evict You for Just Any Reason

70-33-433 lists the exclusive grounds. Many tenants can be terminated only for: nonpayment of rent; a violation of the rental agreement or a park rule; a violation that creates an immediate threat to health and safety; late payment of rent 3 or more times in a 12-month period where the landlord gave written notice after each late payment; damage to the premises; disorderly conduct or conduct that disturbs other residents; unlawful or criminal activity on the premises;

failure of the home or lot to comply with health, safety, or park standards; a change in use of the park land to something other than mobile home lot rentals; and, as a catch-all in 70-33-433(1)(m), any legitimate business reason not otherwise covered.

Because that last catch-all exists, Montana homeowners have less absolute job security on the lot than in some other park-act states — check with your court or Montana Legal Services on whether the stated reason really qualifies.

This list matters enormously: it means a park in Montana cannot simply non-renew you to free up the lot the way an apartment landlord might. If an eviction notice arrives, check it against the legal grounds first, park evictions fail in court most often because the stated reason is not on the list, or the notice skipped a required warning step.

If the Park Sells or Closes

When the park is sold: NONE under the park act — Montana does not require advance notice to residents that the park is being sold, does not give a resident association a right of first refusal, and does not give a right to match an offer.

HB 429 (2023), which would have required 60 days notice with a right to purchase in parks over 50 units, was tabled in House Judiciary on a 9-10 vote and never became law, and the 2025 HB 305 sale-notice provision also died.

The one Montana incentive that does exist is tax, not tenant rights: 15-31-163 excludes the seller’s capital gain from Montana income tax when a park is sold to a tenants’ association (6 or more resident members, bylaws, and approval by at least 51 percent of residents), to a 501(c)(3) buying on their behalf,

or to a county or municipal housing authority — you may be able to use that exclusion as leverage when organizing an offer.

When the park closes: 15 days written notice before the landlord appears before the city or county to request change-of-use permits, then 6 months (180 days) written notice of termination of tenancy after the permits are approved; if no local permits are required, the full 6 months written notice must come before the change of use, and the notice must describe the nature of the change of use in detail.

During that 6-month window the landlord must also warn any prospective incoming resident in writing that a change of use has been requested or approved. Montana law provides NO relocation assistance fund and NO required relocation payment — there is no dollar figure in the statute.

Fees the Park Can and Cannot Charge in Montana

Montana limits fees only indirectly. Any charge for cleaning or damages, however it is labeled, is presumed to be a security deposit and is governed by Title 70, Chapter 25 through 70-33-109.

Under 70-33-202 a rental agreement may not make you waive rights or remedies under the act, confess judgment, or indemnify the landlord for its own misconduct, and under 70-33-402 a landlord who knowingly uses a prohibited clause may owe actual damages plus up to 3 months’ rent.

Montana does NOT statutorily bar park entry fees, exit or transfer fees, guest fees, or utility markups, and it does not cap them — review your written agreement and ask Montana Legal Services whether a specific charge is really a disguised deposit.

The park’s side of the bargain: Under 70-33-303 the park must comply with applicable building and health codes materially affecting health and safety, keep common areas clean and safe, maintain in good and safe working order the electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems and other facilities it supplies, provide and maintain receptacles for garbage, ashes, rubbish, and other waste and arrange for removal,

and supply running water at all times unless the running water comes from an installation under your exclusive control.

Under 70-33-315 the park must additionally keep common roads inside the park in safe condition, including reasonable snow plowing to keep them passable. If the landlord fails to supply water, heat, electricity, gas, or other essential service, you may be able to give written notice, obtain the service yourself, and deduct the actual cost from rent.

The Trapped-Equity Problem and How to Protect Yourself

The economics of a mobile home park in Montana are unlike any apartment: you own the home, but moving it typically costs thousands of dollars, often more than an older home is worth, and many parks will not accept a home past a certain age. That is why lot-rent disputes feel so different here: walking away is rarely a real option, and park owners know it.

The law is what balances that power gap, which makes knowing the exact notice rules, fee limits, and eviction grounds in Montana worth more to a park resident than to almost any other kind of tenant.

Protect yourself the way the long-time residents do: keep every rent notice and rule change in writing, photograph the condition of your lot and the park’s common areas a couple of times a year, and read the community rules before signing anything, in most states the written rules you were given are what a court will hold both sides to.

Selling Your Home Without Losing Its Value

When it is time to leave, most residents sell the home in place rather than move it, and this is where park rules matter most.

Many states limit a park’s power to block an in-place sale: the park can usually screen the buyer the way it screens any new resident, but it generally cannot force you to remove a home just because you are selling, and it cannot demand a cut of your sale price unless it actually acted as your sales agent.

Get the park’s buyer-approval requirements in writing early, keep the lot rent current through the sale, and never sign a rule change mid-sale without reading it, a home that can stay on its lot is worth far more than one that has to be moved.

The Strongest Protection Is the Lot Next Door

Everything about park life is shared, the roads, the water lines, the rent schedule, the fate of the land itself. That is why the single most effective move a park resident in Montana can make is joining or forming a residents association. A park owner can ignore one complaint about a rent increase; ignoring a letter signed by sixty households is a different decision.

Associations are also how residents use park-sale rights in the states that grant them, organized communities have bought their own parks across the country, usually with help from nonprofit lenders who specialize in exactly this.

Keep your own records the same way any tenant should: the lease for your lot, every rent notice, every rule change, photos of anything the park fails to maintain. Montana mobile home park laws reward the resident who can show a judge dates and documents, and most disputes never reach a judge once the park realizes you have them.

Recent changes in Montana: Montana still has no lot-rent cap, no park-sale notice, and no resident right of first refusal, because HB 428 and HB 429 (2023) died in committee and HB 277 and HB 305 (mobile home park dispute resolution program funded by a 24 dollar per lot annual fee) were tabled in House Judiciary in 2025.

A 2023 dispute-resolution bill passed both chambers but was vetoed by Governor Gianforte, so no state agency currently referees park disputes.

With out-of-state investors buying Montana parks and raising lot rents sharply, residents in Missoula-area parks unionized in February 2026 and Bozeman park tenants began a rent strike in May 2026 — pressure that may produce new bills in the 2027 session.

Montana Mobile Home Park Laws: Quick Answers

Can the park raise lot rent whenever it wants? The Montana mobile home park laws above set the notice rules, and any cap, that apply before an increase is valid.

Can the park make me remove my home? Only for the legal grounds listed in the Montana mobile home park laws, and only through the court process, never by padlock or tow truck.

Do apartment tenant rights apply to me? Partly. The Montana mobile home park laws are their own chapter, and this page plus the state guides linked below cover both layers.

Official Montana Sources & Resources

• Montana State Agency: dojmt.gov/consumer/
• Montana Park Act Statute: mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0700/chapter_0330/parts_index….
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
• Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex

Making Montana Mobile Home Park Laws Work for You

The Montana mobile home park laws only protect residents who use them, and parks count on most residents never reading the act. Read your lot lease against this page, calendar every notice deadline the moment a letter arrives, and talk to your neighbors, nearly every protection in the Montana mobile home park laws gets stronger when residents act together.

If the park ignores the rules, the state agency and local legal aid both handle park disputes, and a written complaint citing the act gets a very different response than a phone call. Under the Montana mobile home park laws, the resident with documents and neighbors is never as trapped as the park hopes.

This guide to montana mobile home park laws was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Lot-rent caps and park-sale laws are moving fast in many states, re-check before acting on a deadline.

More Montana Tenant Rights Guides

• Montana Tenant Rights
• Montana Eviction Process
• Montana Security Deposit Law
• Montana Rent Increase Laws
• Montana Repairs & Habitability
• Breaking a Lease in Montana
• Eviction Timeline Calculator
• All 50 States

Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.