What do the 2025 Montana HOA law changes mean for volunteer boards?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 1, 2026

Montana HOA law for boards: the 2025 covenant abandonment defense, the 2-year consistent enforcement test, the 15-year dormant rule and lot entry permission.

Part of the HOA board handbook: new state laws for boards.

The short answer

Montana has no comprehensive HOA act. A bill to adopt the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (HB 619) failed in committee in 2025. What the 2025 session did pass are three short bills that change how a board enforces covenants and when its people may step onto a lot: - HB 147 (chapter 423) defines "enforcement action" for an owner's abandonment defense: the covenant must have been equally and consistently enforced on every property it covers over at least a 2-year period. It took effect on passage and approval; the governor signed it May 5, 2025. - HB 325 (chapter 258), signed May 1, 2025, rewrote who may sue to enforce covenants and widened the abandonment and 15-year dormancy rules in MCA 70-17-210. - HB 416 (chapter 452), signed May 5, 2025, requires an HOA to get an owner's permission before its agent enters the owner's property. It is now MCA 70-16-110. HB 325 and HB 416 set no effective date of their own, so under MCA 1-2-201 they took effect October 1, 2025. The practical message for a board is blunt. In Montana, a covenant you enforce against one owner and ignore on five other lots is a covenant you may lose. Your declaration and bylaws still control everything these statutes leave open. Treat this as education, not legal advice.

How the abandonment defense works now

Under MCA 70-17-210(2), an owner facing enforcement may argue the covenant has been abandoned by showing that no enforcement action was taken for the period set in MCA 27-2-202. That section has three periods: 6 years for an action on a written instrument, 5 years for an unwritten contract, and 3 years for other obligations not founded on a writing. The statute does not say which one applies to a covenant. A recorded declaration is a written instrument, which points to 6 years, but ask counsel before you rely on any number. HB 147 then added subsection (4). For the owner's defense, an enforcement action means the covenant "was equally and consistently enforced" under whatever method the association uses, on all properties subject to the covenant, over at least a 2-year period. Read those two pieces together and the risk is clear. One violation letter to one owner may not count as an enforcement action at all if the same violation sat untouched on other lots. The test looks at the whole community, not the file of the owner in front of you. Once a covenant is abandoned, either by court order or by a recorded notice, nobody may enforce it differently against a similarly situated owner. A loss in one case can end the covenant for everyone.

Build an enforcement record that holds up

The 2-year test rewards boards that can prove they treat every lot the same. Set that up now. 1. List the covenants you actually enforce. Go through the declaration and pick out every use restriction that produces violation letters: parking, RVs and trailers, fences, outbuildings, exterior colors, livestock, signs, rentals. 2. Inspect the whole community on a schedule. A twice-a-year drive-through, the same route each time, covers every lot. Look from the street, which HB 416 leaves open (see below). 3. Log every lot, not just the violators. Record the date, the inspector, each lot and what was seen. A row that says "no violation" is evidence too. 4. Send the same letter for the same violation. Use one template per covenant and the same deadlines for every owner. Our guide on how to write an HOA courtesy violation letter covers the wording. 5. Close the loop. Note each cure, each hearing and each fine in the same log, so the 2-year history reads straight through. 6. Keep the log with the association's permanent records, not on one director's laptop. When the board decides not to pursue a violation, write the reason in the minutes and apply the same reason to every lot like it. An undocumented pass looks like selective enforcement later. Our owner guide on whether an HOA can enforce a rule against one owner but not a neighbor explains how owners raise that argument.

Letting a covenant go on purpose

Some covenants are dead in practice. A ban on driveway basketball hoops or a rule against metal roofs that nobody has enforced in a decade invites a fight the board will probably lose. Section 70-17-210(2) gives a cleaner exit: a covenant can be "agreed to have been abandoned" by the approval of the association or governing body, by recording a notice of abandonment or an amendment with the county clerk and recorder. Before you use it: - Read the declaration's amendment article. If it requires an owner vote to change a covenant, ask counsel whether board approval alone can support a recorded notice. - Remember the effect. After recording, no one may enforce that covenant against a similarly situated owner. It is gone for everyone. - Tell owners first. Put the item on a meeting agenda and explain why. Sample motion: "Move that the board, having found that section [__] of the declaration has not been enforced on any lot since [year], approve a notice of abandonment of that section, and direct counsel to prepare it and record it with the [county] clerk and recorder."

The 15-year rule for dormant associations

Under 70-17-210(3)(a), an association or governing body that has not met for 15 years may not take an enforcement action against an owner whose use of the property is substantially similar to the use of other properties in the development. HB 325 extended this to any "governing body of a real property development," so a governing body that is not a formal association falls under the rule too. Subsection (3)(b) keeps covenants enforceable when they are otherwise necessary: - to comply with federal, state or local law - for an easement or right-of-way - to maintain infrastructure or improvements serving the properties - to comply with a court order or the government approval that created the covenants - to install, maintain or remove utilities - to abate a nuisance If your subdivision has gone quiet, hold a properly noticed meeting now and keep minutes, even if the only business is electing officers and reviewing road maintenance. A meeting every year keeps the 15-year clock far away. Our guide on what happens when an HOA has no board or goes defunct covers restarting one.

Asking permission before you enter a lot

MCA 70-16-110 says an HOA must receive the owner's permission before its agent enters the owner's property. When asking, the association must try to set a date and time convenient to the owner and say what part of the property the agent needs to reach. The owner may require that the owner or the owner's agent be present. Three limits keep this workable: - It does not affect the implied license any member of the public has to use areas generally open to the public, such as sidewalks, front pathways and the front door. A street-side inspection and a knock on the door are still fine. - It does not apply to condominiums where common elements must be reached through a unit and the declaration or bylaws set the access terms. - It does not apply to recorded easements that specifically benefit the association. Anyone the association sends onto a lot, whether a director, manager, landscaper or inspector, should know this rule. Brief each one before the season starts. Sample request: "The association asks permission for [name of contractor] to enter the side yard of [address] to inspect the drainage swale behind the fence. Please reply with a date and time that suits you between [date] and [date]. You or your representative are welcome to be present." Send it in writing and keep the reply in the lot file.

What did not pass, and a checklist

Several 2025 bills that would have changed board work died, according to the Community Associations Institute's session report: SB 400 (30-day certified mail notice for non-emergency items), SB 431 and HB 761 (no stricter covenants without each owner's written consent), and HB 619 (the uniform act). None of them is law. Montana's legislature meets in regular session in odd-numbered years, so the next round of changes would come from the 2027 session. For the next board meeting: 1. Pick the covenants you enforce and write a one-page inspection checklist for them. 2. Schedule two community-wide inspections a year and start the lot-by-lot log. 3. Adopt one letter template per covenant with fixed cure deadlines. 4. List covenants nobody enforces, and decide with counsel whether to enforce them evenly or record a notice of abandonment. 5. Confirm the association has met within the last year and that the minutes are on file. 6. Write a standard entry request and share it with every vendor and volunteer who might step onto a lot.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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