Real Estate Bookkeeping In Montana
Montana's rules make the inspection outcome a scheduling input rather than only a financial one. Bozeman mixes long-term rentals with seasonal and second-home property at high values. Billings exercises the mechanics at volume, including the utility verification that gates the shorter clock. Missoula's older stock makes cleaning and wear-versus-damage the most contested line on any move-out statement.
Locate the city nearest to you and select your software below to learn more. Don’t see your city? Schedule a meeting with us to learn more about how REA can help your property management accounting needs.
Montana at a glance
- Security deposit return
- 10 days clean, 30 days with deductions
- Governing statute
- MCA 70-25-202
- Cities we publish
- Bozeman · Billings · Missoula
What Montana Law Changes About Your Books
Deposit Handling and Trust Requirements
Trust and deposit rules are set state by state, and they change the accounting itself, not just the paperwork around it. A deadline is a ledger requirement: you cannot return a deposit inside a statutory window if the ledger cannot say what is owed.
Security deposits
Montana runs TWO deadlines. Where inspection finds no damage, no cleaning required and no unpaid rent, and the tenant can demonstrate no unpaid utilities, the deposit must be returned within 10 DAYS. Where deductions are made, the landlord has 30 days to provide a written list of rent due and damage and cleaning charges, delivered with payment of any difference. Operators who run everything on the 30-day assumption are late on every clean move-out.
Trust and segregation
Montana's itemisation standard is descriptive rather than categorical. A line reading cleaning with an amount is not an itemisation; the charge must describe the work performed and its cost. That makes the inspection record and the supporting invoice part of the compliance file rather than internal documentation, and it makes the decision to charge at all a deliberate one, since any deduction moves the tenancy off the 10-day path.
What we do about it
- Deposit liabilities tracked per tenant, so a 10 days clean, 30 days with deductions deadline is answerable from the ledger
- Trust accounts reconciled three ways, including every beneficiary balance
- Deduction documentation recorded against the correct ledger, not filed separately
- Aging deposits flagged before the statutory window closes
Summary of statutory requirements provided for orientation. It is not legal advice, and local ordinances can impose stricter rules than the state minimum.
Cities We Cover in Montana
Market by Market
We work with property managers and investors across all of Montana, all 360 cities and towns of it. The markets below are the ones we publish Montana-specific detail for. If yours is not listed, the same team and the same MCA 70-25-202 rules still apply.
Bozeman
Bozeman has been one of the fastest-appreciating small markets in the country, and its portfolios mix long-term rentals with seasonal and second-home property. Montana's deposit rules contain a distinction that rewards a clean move-out with a much shorter clock.
Bookkeeping by platform
Billings
Billings is Montana's largest and most conventional rental market, and it is where the mechanics of the state's deposit rules get exercised at volume. One of those mechanics involves a party outside the tenancy entirely.
Bookkeeping by platform
Missoula
Missoula has a constrained rental market with high demand and older housing stock, and cleaning charges are the most frequently disputed line on a move-out statement here. Montana's law is unusually specific about what makes such a charge stand up.
Bookkeeping by platform
Select Your Software
We Work Inside Your Platform, From Anywhere in Montana
Services Available in This State
Every back-office function below is available on its own or as part of a full monthly close, anywhere in the state.
Experts In All Property Types
Residential, commercial and everything in between. The asset class changes what the books have to prove, and our teams are staffed accordingly.
- Single-Family
- Multifamily
- Student Housing
- Affordable Housing
- Community AssociationsSee the page
- CommercialSee the page
Check Out What Our Clients Have To Say About Us
Property Managers, Investors & Owner Operators
Came from a bookkeeper who did not know real estate
Following a series of erroneous financials from my previous bookkeeper, who lacked expertise in real estate, it's been truly remarkable to receive not only accurate financials on a consistent basis but also proactive advice without prompting. The REA team is a game-changer in real estate accounting!
Real-estate-only specialists
As REA exclusively specializes in Real Estate, I rest easy knowing my financials are precise every month while saving money at the same time, an invaluable benefit.
Handed over the whole accounting function
I highly recommend Real Estate Accounting (REA) services from this group. They truly are great and have helped us tremendously at a time we needed it the most. I felt very comfortable giving up all my accounting responsibilities to this team and I'm still glad I made the decision to work with this group. Nothing less than an amazing experience!
230+
Property Accountants
30M+
Commercial Sq. Ft.
Up to 50%
Saved vs In-House
Every month
On-Time Close
Property Accounting for Montana Portfolios
Schedule a call and we will walk your Montana deposit and trust setup, tell you whether it reconciles today, and scope the monthly work.