A bill that would require property managers to refund rental application fees to unsuccessful applicants appears poised to be on its way to the governor’s desk.
House Bill 311 rallied support from renters around the state who argued it would prevent property managers from charging applicants for no tangible service, offering what supporters say is one solution to combat Montana’s growing challenges with affordable living. The bill experienced limited opposition after enduring several amendments that muted its impact on small businesses, including alterations made in the Senate that exempt landlords and property managers with fewer than four units. On Monday the House concurred in the revisions, indicating that HB 311 will likely pass.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kelly Kortum, D-Bozeman, said his intent was to target large, out-of-state businesses that he believes are pricing out Montanans.
“Landlords are usually smaller groups, maybe just a ma-and-pa business, somebody renting their ADU [accessory dwelling unit] or a house that they bought years ago,” Kortum said during an interview on April 9. “Whereas the property managers are often very large — 200 to 800 apartments under their purview — and they can be run from out of state.”
An early draft of the legislation grouped landlords with property managers. Legislators initially tabled the bill after a committee hearing that pitted individual renters and affordable housing advocates against landlords and the Montana Association of Realtors. Kortum revived his legislation with a successful blast motion on the House floor in March.
“A lot of getting this out on the floor was us running this over and over again,” Kortum said. Kortum failed to pass the bill in 2023 after then-Sen. JP Pomnichowski, D-Bozeman, made the same attempt in 2021.
After the bill’s resurrection in March, the legislation enjoyed enough bipartisan support to pass with comfortable margins through both chambers. Sen. Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, carried the bill in the Senate.
Joey Morrison, Bozeman’s deputy mayor, applauded the bill as a buffer against Montana’s rising costs of living. Morrison identified three kinds of policy for Bozeman to explore as a way to address dwindling affordable housing: generating more supply, moving homeless individuals into secure housing and maintaining a low, consistent cost for already-housed residents. Morrison said this bill helps execute the latter two.
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Bill would require rental application fee refunds
A bill under consideration by the Montana Legislature aims to ease the burden of rental application fees on apartment-seeking Montanans by specifying that landlords and property management companies must reimburse unsuccessful applicants for any fees not used for specific expenses like credit checks.
In late January and early February, 83% of Montanans were dissatisfied with the state government’s handling of cost of living and affordability, according to a Montana Free press-Eagleton Poll conducted in late January and early February.
The bill’s advocates argued that the economic impact would be neither regressive nor progressive, and instead would provide a proportional service to Montana’s range of renters.
“I spent nearly $1,000 in six weeks applying for rentals here in Helena,” said Rep. Julie Darling, R-Helena, on the House floor in March. “I don’t have $1,000 extra dollars — and I’ve got a really good job — I can’t imagine how somebody else who’s making minimum wage does this.”
Minority Leader Katie Sullilvan, D-Missoula, agreed with Darling, calling HB 311 “a great bill that the average Montana will greatly appreciate.”
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