How long is squatters' rights in Montana?

Five years, but only with every property tax paid throughout, under Montana Code Annotated sections 70-19-401 and 70-19-411. A 2025 law also lets police remove a person who cannot show authorization to be there.

If someone is living in your home now, the clock matters far less than getting them out lawfully, and that is where we can help.

Someone in your home? Get them out Start with one building

Statutory period: 5 years
What's different here: taxes paid throughout, and since 2025 unlawful squatting is a crime police can act on
Statute: Mont. Code Ann. §§ 70-19-401, 70-19-411, 70-24-113

Someone living in your home in Montana? Dardaris helps you get them out.

Changing the locks or cutting the power turns the law against you. We hand it to people who remove squatters lawfully, for a living.

If they are moving in right now, call the police first. Once they have settled in, it takes a formal process, and that is where we come in.

Your contact at Dardaris

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Dardaris is not a law firm and removes nobody itself. If you hire the specialist we introduce, they pay us a referral fee, and you deal with them under their own terms. We pass your details on only once you agree.

Tell us what is happening, by email or on a call. Talking to us costs nothing.
We put you in touch with a removal specialist who works through the court and the sheriff, never around them.
Once the home is free, Dardaris manages the letting for you.

Montana's period for adverse possession is five years of continuous occupation and claim, which puts it among the shortest in the country. Section 70-19-411 attaches the condition that decides most claims: the claimant, their predecessors and their grantors must have paid all the state, county and municipal taxes legally levied on the land during that period. An occupant who never paid the tax bill has not established adverse possession.

When the conditions are met, occupation for the full period confers what section 70-19-405 calls a title by prescription, which is sufficient against all. The five-year figure and the tax rule are why an owner who keeps paying the property tax holds the strongest hand against any claim.

The newer rule is about the day someone moves in. Senate Bill 101 (2025) created the offense of unlawful squatting: a person who knowingly, without the consent of the owner, rightful occupant or an authorized representative, enters the premises of another and resides there for any period of time commits a misdemeanor, and must pay restitution equal to the fair market rent for the stay. It also amended section 70-24-113, so that a person who cannot produce authorization to occupy a premises may be removed immediately by law enforcement at the request of the owner or the owner's agent.

Where Montana sits against the rest of the United States, in years

Of 50 places in the United States on these pages, 1 have a shorter clock and 45 a longer one or none at all.

Sources checked

From the day someone moves in to the day a claim is possible

The same three stages in most places. The exact rule, and whether the last stage exists at all, is on each place's own page.

Day oneMoving inCaught in the act, it is usually a matter for the police: a trespass, not a tenancy.
Weeks to yearsSettled inOnce someone lives there, removing them usually takes a court order, the same route as for a tenant.
After 5 yearsA claim becomes possibleOnly if every test held, without a break, for the whole period. Where the law allows no such claim, this stage never comes.

Not yours to do, once they have moved inChanging the locks, cutting the water or power, or removing belongings yourself. It is illegal in every US state and most places on these pages forbid it too. Each page says how removal works there.

Letting a home in Montana? Start from a free leaseFill in a Montana residential lease with the deposit, late fee, entry and notice rules Montana law sets, then download it as PDF or Word. No account needed.Write the Montana lease

The record a court asks for, kept as you go

Wherever your property stands, removing an occupant usually comes down to showing who had the right to be there, and since when. Dardaris files every lease, message and document for a building by date, so that record already exists on the day you need it.

Start with one building

Every lease, with who signed it and when
Every message with a tenant, on the thread it was sent in
Every document, filed against the building it concerns

Frequently asked questions

What are the squatting laws in Montana?

Montana's squatter law comes down to Mont. Code Ann. §§ 70-19-401 and 70-19-411: 5 years of continuous occupation and claim, with all taxes legally levied on the land paid by the claimant. What sets Montana apart: since 2025, unlawful squatting is a crime and police can remove the person immediately. Squatting itself is trespassing, and a squatter who has settled in is removed by the police under the 2025 law or through the courts, never by the owner changing the locks or cutting the utilities alone.

How long is squatters' rights in Montana?

Five years of continuous occupation and claim, during which the claimant, their predecessors and their grantors paid all the state, county and municipal taxes legally levied on the land. Mont. Code Ann. §§ 70-19-401 and 70-19-411.

What applies to an ordinary squatter with no deed in Montana?

The same five years and the same tax condition. Taxes are part of the claim itself, so a squatter who never paid the property tax has not met the test however long they stayed, and the owner who keeps paying the tax bill is defeating the claim.

What is Montana's 2025 squatter law?

Senate Bill 101 created the offense of unlawful squatting, a misdemeanor with restitution of the fair market rent for the stay. It also makes presenting a false document of authorization forgery, and knowingly listing property for sale or rent without legal title or authority a separate offense. Law enforcement may immediately remove a person who commits unlawful squatting, and section 70-24-113 now lets an owner or agent ask police to remove anyone who cannot produce authorization to be there.

Can a Montana owner remove a squatter without a court order?

In many cases, yes, through the police. Under section 70-24-113, as amended in 2025, an owner or authorized agent can ask law enforcement to remove a person who cannot produce authorization, such as a written rental agreement or permission from the landlord or a tenant. The owner may also ask police to stand by while the locks are changed and the occupant's belongings are removed. An owner acting alone, before police have removed the person, should not change the locks or cut the utilities. Knowingly giving police false information in the request makes the owner liable to indemnify the agency.

Can someone help me get squatters out of my home in Montana?

Yes. Removal specialists do it through the court and the sheriff. Changing the locks or cutting the power would put you in the wrong. Dardaris can put you in touch with one, and once the home is free, manage the letting for you.

Elsewhere in the United States

The same question, on a different clock. Every place sets its own period and its own shortcuts.

This is general information, not legal advice.Laws change, and a county or a city can add its own wrinkle on top of the state rule, the way New York City does. Confirm the current rule for your address before acting on it, and talk to a local attorney before relying on any of it in a real dispute.