Montana HOA Fence & Exterior

Quick reference

Section 1: Overview — How fence and exterior rules work in Montana

In Montana, the recorded declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions — the CC&Rs — and the architectural guidelines adopted under it do most of the work of controlling fences, walls, paint, siding, roofing, trim, exterior structures, and landscaping appearance. Condominiums have a governing statute; planned communities do not.¹ Classification decides which body of law applies. Condominiums fall under the Montana Unit Ownership Act, which governs a property only when the owner expressly submits it by recording a declaration, and which leaves townhomes and townhouses out of the condominium definition.⁶ Planned-community HOAs answer to their recorded covenants, to the Montana Nonprofit Corporation Act for their corporate structure, and to common-law contract and property principles.⁷

Montana layers two owner protections on top of the declaration: a political-sign protection (§ 70-1-522)² and a limit on enforcing more-onerous use restrictions against existing owners (§ 70-17-901)³. Federal law separately protects display of the U.S. flag.⁴ No Montana statute sets an architectural-review response deadline or a deemed-approval rule, so the declaration — not a statutory clock — fixes the timeline. Nationally, Montana lands in the moderate-light group: it offers targeted owner protections but nothing like the strong exterior-feature overrides you find in states such as California. The sections that follow lay out the legal framework, the compliance mechanics, and the recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2: The legal framework for exterior and fence control

2A. Where exterior and fence authority comes from

For both condominiums and planned communities, the practical rulebook for exterior appearance is the recorded declaration and the architectural guidelines the association adopts under it. The declaration sets covenants that run with the land, and Montana courts treat those covenants as contracts among the owners — they construe them strictly and enforce clear language as written.⁸

Start with classification. The Montana Unit Ownership Act governs condominiums (Mont. Code Ann. § 70-23-101 et seq.).¹ The Act is opt-in: a property becomes subject to it only when the owner or owners execute, acknowledge, and record a declaration submitting the property to the chapter (§ 70-23-103), and a townhome or townhouse declaration may be executed only under that same section — so the chapter reaches townhomes only if someone records such a declaration.⁹ The definition section (§ 70-23-102) defines a condominium as ownership of single units with common elements, and it separately defines a townhome or townhouse, which the condominium definition does not include.⁶

Planned communities work differently. Montana has no general planned-community code and has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.⁷ A planned-community HOA draws its exterior authority from its recorded covenants, backed by the Montana Nonprofit Corporation Act (Mont. Code Ann. § 35-2-113 et seq.) for its corporate existence and governance, and by common-law contract and property doctrine.⁷ No statutory architectural code binds these associations; the declaration is the operative document.

Precedence runs from mandatory statute down through the private instruments. Any binding statutory provision for the community type controls first — the § 70-1-522 sign protection² and the § 70-17-901 limit on more-onerous use restrictions³ for both community types, plus the Unit Ownership Act for condominiums — followed by the recorded declaration, then the architectural guidelines adopted under it, and finally board-adopted rules. A rule that conflicts with the declaration or a mandatory statute does not hold up.

2B. State-law limits on association exterior authority

Montana imposes two statutory limits that bear directly on exterior control, plus a federal flag protection. Several categories that other states regulate, Montana leaves entirely to the declaration.

Political signs (§ 70-1-522). A person, homeowners' association, or property owners' association may not — as a condition of ownership or by any other means — prohibit an owner from placing a sign that advocates the election, appointment, or defeat of a candidate for public office, or the passage or defeat of a ballot issue, on property the owner owns or on common areas in which the owner holds an undivided interest.² The association may limit sign size and may regulate location and the time period of display.² That caps association authority: a covenant that bans candidate-election or ballot-issue signs outright will not stand, but reasonable size, location, and time rules are fine. The protection reaches both planned-community HOAs and condominium associations, and the Unit Ownership Act's compliance provision (§ 70-23-506) expressly carves out § 70-1-522.¹⁰

More-onerous use restrictions (§ 70-17-901). After May 9, 2019, a homeowners' association may not enter into, amend, or enforce a covenant, condition, or restriction that imposes more-onerous restrictions on how a member may use real property than existed when the member acquired it — unless the member expressly agrees in writing at the time of adoption or amendment.³ A member claiming the benefit may ask the association to record, or to allow the recording of, an exception with the county clerk and recorder.³ A successor-in-interest generally cannot claim the benefit for a restriction that predated the purchase, so in practice the recorded exception runs to the current owner and does not survive a sale to an unrelated buyer.³ The section does not invalidate existing covenants, does not create a private right of action for conduct before May 9, 2019, and does not apply to restrictions required to comply with federal, state, or local law.³ The definition of homeowners' association reaches both planned-community associations and an association of unit owners under § 70-23-102.³ The upshot conditions association authority: a newly adopted or amended use restriction cannot bind an existing owner without that owner's written consent, which matters directly when an association tightens an architectural or use rule and tries to apply it to owners who bought before the change. The provision originated in SB 300 (2019), which took effect May 9, 2019.¹¹

Solar (§ 70-17-301 and § 70-17-302). Montana provides for voluntary solar easements. An easement for exposure of a solar energy device must be created in writing and recorded like any other easement (§ 70-17-301),¹² and the instrument must specify the vertical and horizontal angles of the easement and any terms of grant or termination (§ 70-17-302).¹³ That is a voluntary mechanism between private parties, not an HOA solar-access override. No Montana statute prohibits HOA restrictions on solar installations, so the declaration governs solar.

Flags. Federal law — the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 — protects U.S. flag display, not a Montana statute.⁴ Section 70-1-522 covers candidate-election and ballot-issue signs, not flags.²

Landscaping appearance, water-conserving or native plants, and artificial turf. No Montana statute protects drought-tolerant landscaping, native plants, or artificial turf from association restriction. The declaration and any architectural guidelines govern these features entirely.

Fences. No general Montana statute sets residential fence design standards for associations. Residential pool and spa barrier requirements come from an adopted building and safety code: Montana's Building Codes Bureau, within the Department of Labor and Industry, has adopted the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code by reference through the Administrative Rules of Montana, which sets minimum barrier height, gate, and latch standards.¹⁴ That safety floor applies regardless of the declaration; an association's aesthetic fence rules operate on top of it.

2C. The architectural review process and procedural limits

No Montana statute imposes an architectural-review response deadline or a deemed-approval rule. For planned communities, the declaration and any architectural guidelines set the application timeline and the review process. For condominiums, the Unit Ownership Act, the declaration, and the bylaws govern, and the Act supplies no review clock.¹ So any page field describing a statutory review deadline would be inaccurate — the deadline is whatever the declaration provides.

Two limits constrain the review process. First, § 70-17-901 stops an association from enforcing a newly adopted or amended use restriction against an existing owner without that owner's written consent, which limits how far tightened architectural standards reach.³ Second, because Montana treats covenants as contracts, architectural decisions rest on common-law contract and property doctrine: for planned communities, the association must act within the authority the declaration grants, and Montana courts construe restrictive covenants strictly against the party seeking to enforce them and apply clear language as written.⁸ Standards that are not in the recorded instruments, or not duly adopted under the authority the declaration grants, are vulnerable to challenge.

Before it imposes fines or forces removal of a nonconforming fence or structure, an association is expected to follow the enforcement procedure in its own declaration and bylaws, including any notice and opportunity-to-be-heard requirements. Those procedures are contractual for planned communities, and deviating from them is a common owner defense.

Section 3: Compliance obligations and operational mechanics

A. Association and architectural-committee obligations

• Maintain architectural standards in the recorded declaration or duly adopted guidelines, make them available to owners, and review and respond to applications within any timeline the declaration sets. CONTRACTUAL (declaration), both community types.
• Do not restrict placement of candidate-election or ballot-issue signs beyond reasonable size, location, and time-period regulation. STATUTORY (§ 70-1-522), both community types.²
• Do not enforce more-onerous use restrictions against an existing owner without that owner's written consent, and record an exception when a member requests it. STATUTORY (§ 70-17-901), both community types.³
• Apply architectural standards reasonably and consistently; for condominiums, observe the Unit Ownership Act's governance provisions. STATUTORY (Unit Ownership Act) for condominiums;¹ CONTRACTUAL and common-law for planned communities.
• Provide the notice and opportunity to be heard the declaration requires before enforcement. CONTRACTUAL (declaration), both community types.

B. Owner obligations and rights

• Submit an application and obtain approval before installing a fence or performing exterior work where the declaration requires it, and build to the approved plans and published standards. CONTRACTUAL (declaration), both community types.
• Where the association fails to respond within the declared timeline or acts unreasonably or selectively, the owner's remedy comes from the declaration and common-law contract principles, not from any statutory deemed-approval rule. CONTRACTUAL and common-law, both community types.
• Display a candidate-election or ballot-issue sign, subject only to reasonable size, location, and time rules. STATUTORY (§ 70-1-522), both community types.²
• Assert the protection against newly imposed more-onerous use restrictions, and request a recorded exception. STATUTORY (§ 70-17-901), both community types.³

C. Enforcement, remedies, and defenses

• Association remedies include injunctive relief, forced removal or restoration, fines, and recovery of enforcement costs or attorney fees where the declaration or statute authorizes them; the Montana Supreme Court has affirmed attorney-fee awards to prevailing covenant enforcers where the equities and the governing documents support them.¹⁵ CONTRACTUAL (declaration) as to fines and fee-shifting; enforcement runs through the courts.
• For condominiums, the association holds a statutory lien on a unit and its common-element interest for unpaid common expenses, with priority over most other liens, enforceable by foreclosure. STATUTORY (§ 70-23-607), condominiums only.⁵
• Section 70-1-522, § 70-17-901, and the association's own declared procedure all limit enforcement. STATUTORY and CONTRACTUAL, both community types.
• Owner defenses include selective enforcement, waiver or abandonment, a restriction that exceeds the authority the statute or declaration grants, the § 70-17-901 protection against more-onerous use restrictions, and a conflict between a sign restriction and § 70-1-522. A separate statute, § 70-17-210, also supplies an abandonment defense keyed to a period of non-enforcement.¹⁶ CONTRACTUAL and common-law defenses, plus STATUTORY defenses under § 70-17-901 and § 70-17-210, both community types.

Montana has no dedicated community-association-manager (CAM) license and no dedicated HOA regulator. The Board of Realty Regulation licenses property managers who handle rental and leasing functions, but managing an association's common property does not require that license, and the courts — not a state agency — resolve disputes.¹⁷

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Two bills enacted in the 2025 regular session amended Mont. Code Ann. § 70-17-210, the covenant-enforcement and abandonment statute that supplies owner defenses relevant to exterior enforcement.¹⁶ Section 70-17-901, the more-onerous-use-restriction protection, was not amended in 2025; it stands as SB 300 enacted it in 2019.¹¹ A separate 2025 bill, HB 761, tried to revise § 70-17-901 but died in process on May 20, 2025, so the 2019 text holds.¹⁸

B. Recent appellate rulings

The Montana Supreme Court decided several covenant-enforcement cases over the past three years that bear on exterior and use restrictions. Because Montana has no intermediate appellate court, these appeals came straight from the district courts to the Supreme Court.

C. Active legislative debates

Montana's Legislature meets in regular session only in odd-numbered years, so the next regular session comes in 2027. Community-solar legislation (SB 188, 2025), sponsored by Sen. Chris Pope and passed with 100 of the Legislature's 150 members in support, drew a veto from Governor Gianforte on June 13, 2025, and no general planned-community statute is pending.²²

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Among the states, Montana sits in the middle group. Strong-statutory-override states such as California, Colorado, and Illinois cap association authority over numerous exterior features by statute — from solar to signage to landscaping. Montana takes a moderate approach with two targeted owner protections: the § 70-1-522 political-sign protection and the § 70-17-901 limit on more-onerous use restrictions. CC&R-primary states such as Mississippi leave exterior control almost entirely to the declaration, with few or no overrides. What sets Montana apart is the § 70-17-901 anti-retroactivity limit, which bars enforcing newly tightened use restrictions against existing owners without written consent, and the absence of an intermediate appellate court. For multi-state operators, the practical takeaways are two: newly adopted use restrictions may not bind existing Montana owners, and covenant appeals run directly from the district court to the Montana Supreme Court.

HOA Weekly's Montana Fence & Exterior coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the Montana Supreme Court act. Federal frameworks also apply to Montana associations regardless of the state framework, including the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, the FCC Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) antenna rule, and the Fair Housing Act and ADA for reasonable accommodations affecting exterior features.

Footnotes

1. Mont. Code Ann. Title 70, ch. 23 (Unit Ownership Act — Condominiums), table of contents, legmt.gov ↩
2. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-1-522 (Certain restrictions on political free speech contrary to public policy), legmt.gov ↩
3. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-17-901 (Homeowners' association restrictions — real property rights), legmt.gov ↩
4. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-243, congress.gov ↩
5. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-23-607 (Claim for common expenses — priority of lien — contents — recording), legmt.gov ↩
6. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-23-102 (Definitions; condominium and townhome/townhouse), legmt.gov ↩
7. Mont. Code Ann. Title 35, ch. 2 (Montana Nonprofit Corporation Act), legmt.gov ↩
8. Charlie's Win, LLC v. Gallatin West Ranch Homeowners' Ass'n, 2025 MT 47, 421 Mont. 59, 565 P.3d 299 (DA 24-0502), Montana Supreme Court (opinion PDF) ↩
9. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-23-103 (Applicability — submission by declaration required — optional declaration for townhouses), legmt.gov ↩
10. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-23-506 (Compliance with bylaws, rules, and covenants required — action; carve-out for § 70-1-522), legmt.gov ↩
11. Montana SB 300 (2019), Ch. 339, Laws of 2019 (enacting § 70-17-901; effective date May 9, 2019), legmt.gov ↩
12. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-17-301 (Creation of solar easements), legmt.gov ↩
13. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-17-302 (Content of solar easements), legmt.gov ↩
14. Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Building Codes Bureau, Current Codes (International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, adopted by reference), bsd.dli.mt.gov ↩
15. Sloway Cabin, LLC v. Extreme, 2025 MT 161 (DA 24-0530), Montana Supreme Court (opinion PDF) ↩
16. Mont. Code Ann. § 70-17-210 (Covenant enforcement and abandonment; history: Ch. 665, L. 2023; amd. Ch. 258, L. 2025; amd. Ch. 423, L. 2025), legmt.gov ↩
17. Montana Board of Realty Regulation / Property Management Program (property manager licensing; no separate community-association-manager license), dli.mt.gov ↩
18. Montana HB 761 (2025) (revising residential covenant laws; amending § 70-17-901); died in process May 20, 2025, legmt.gov bill page (LC4384) ↩
19. Montana HB 147 (2025), Ch. 258, Laws of 2025 (definition of enforcement action; amending § 70-17-210), legmt.gov bill page (LC1272) ↩
20. Montana HB 325 (2025), Ch. 423, Laws of 2025 (revising covenant laws; amending § 70-17-210), legmt.gov bill page (LC2181) ↩
21. Brandt v. R&R Mountain Escapes, LLC, 2025 MT 155 (DA 23-0716), Montana Supreme Court (opinion PDF) ↩
22. Montana SB 188 (2025), Montana Solar Shares Act (community solar; vetoed by Governor Gianforte June 13, 2025), Montana Free Press reporting ↩