Can my landlord have my car towed in montana?

Signage is usually the whole case

State statutes commonly prescribe the wording, minimum letter height, placement at each entrance and sometimes the inclusion of the towing company's name and phone number. Photograph the signage as it actually stood, including what is visible at the entrance you used and at night if that is when you parked. Non-compliant signage is the most common defect in a trespass tow.

What applies in Montana

The specific rule for Montana lives in that state's own schedule and statutes, not in a national summary, and it moves with each legislative session. Our Montana towing laws page records which agency regulates, whether a non-consensual rate cap exists, the notice deadlines and the complaint route — and states plainly which items we have not yet been able to document against a primary source. The Montana impound page covers vehicle release.

This is the category a state may price-regulate

That last carve-out is the hinge. States and cities may cap what you are charged for a police-ordered tow or a tow off private property, because you did not choose it. They generally may not cap prices for a consensual tow you called for yourself.

A trespass tow is non-consensual by definition, so where your state or city publishes a non-consensual schedule, it applies to this tow.

Ask who authorised the removal

Many states require the property owner or a specifically designated agent to authorise each removal rather than granting a standing licence to patrol. Where that is the rule, a towing company that removed the vehicle on its own initiative acted outside its authority, regardless of how the vehicle was parked.

What the signage usually has to say

Statutes commonly prescribe more than the presence of a sign: the wording, a minimum letter height, placement at each vehicular entrance, and frequently the towing company's name and a telephone number reachable at all hours. Some states additionally require the maximum charge to appear on the sign. Photograph what was actually posted, at the entrance you used and in the lighting you parked in — a sign that is legible at noon and invisible at midnight is a fact worth capturing.

Patrol towing and who authorised the removal

Several states prohibit a towing company from patrolling a lot and removing vehicles on its own initiative, requiring instead that the property owner or a specifically designated agent authorise each individual removal. Where that is the rule, asking who authorised this particular tow, and when, is a pointed question: an operator that cannot name a person and a time may have acted outside its authority regardless of how the vehicle was parked.

Tenants and residents have extra footing

If you live at the property, your lease and the rules given to you at signing form part of the picture, and several states impose additional steps before towing a resident's vehicle — notice on the windscreen, a waiting period, or a prohibition on towing for an expired permit without warning. A resident towed from their own assigned space usually has a stronger position than a visitor, and the lease is the first document to reread.

Common mistakes

• Not photographing the signage before leaving the scene — signage is the most common defect and the easiest to lose evidence of.
• Assuming a trespass tow is unregulated — it is non-consensual, which is exactly what a state may cap.