Security Deposit Alternative in Montana
Montana sets no ceiling on a security deposit and gives you 30 days from the end of the tenancy, or from the day you accept the unit back if that comes first, to hand the resident a written list of any rent due and any damage and cleaning charges, with the balance of the deposit attached. Cleaning charges only qualify once the statute's own cleaning procedure has been followed, so that is worth reading before a move-out rather than after.
What Montana law says about security deposits
Read from the Montana statute on 2026-09-11. Deposit rules change, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Confirm the current text with your own counsel before you change a lease.
Can you require it of every Montana resident?
Montana has no statute written for a monthly fee charged instead of a deposit, so the arrangement rests on your lease and the general deposit rules. Those rules set out exactly what a deposit answers for: damage, unpaid rent, late charges, utilities, penalties owed under the lease, other money owed at the time of deduction, and actual cleaning expenses. Section 70-25-201 governs cleaning specifically and section 70-25-202 will only let you bill for it once that section has been followed, so a cleaning charge in Montana is a sequence rather than a line item. Offering residents the choice of a fee instead is straightforward. Writing it into every lease is a question for your own attorney.
Rules differ by state and by city, and subsidized housing is its own question. This is general information for property managers, not legal advice. Get a written opinion before you make the fee a condition of tenancy anywhere.
How the program works in Montana
The mechanics are the same in every state Beagle operates in. The program is designed to comply with applicable state and local regulations, and the rate is set by the deposit amount rather than by geography, so a Montana property and one two states over are quoted the same way.
The resident chooses at signing
Instead of producing the full deposit, the resident pays a smaller non-refundable monthly fee that is billed with rent. Nothing is held, so nothing has to be returned.
The property keeps its protection
Damage beyond normal wear is reimbursed up to the deposit amount the unit would otherwise have required, so what you can recover does not shrink.
Move-out stops being a negotiation
A claim is filed against the program rather than deducted from money you are holding, which takes the itemised-deduction letter and the dispute that follows it off your team's desk.
You earn on every resident who takes it
You set an administrative fee on top of the premium, up to $5 per unit per month, and keep it.
Montana security deposit alternative FAQs
Montana has no statute answering that, so a mandatory version is a question for your own attorney. What the state does prescribe is the closed list of things a deposit answers for, and the order you have to follow before charging for cleaning, so the move-out process is worth getting right whichever way you go.
See it on your Montana units
Run the program against your own unit count, or walk through it with our team. No upfront fees, no onboarding charges, no long-term contracts.