Twin Montana bills to stop covenants binding earlier buyers both died
Twin Montana bills to stop covenants binding earlier buyers both died
2026-09-15 · Montana · Legislation · Did not pass
What happened. The rule Montana owners most often assume they already have — that a covenant adopted after you bought cannot be enforced against you — was put to the 2025 Legislature twice, in identical words, in both chambers. Both bills died.
The two bills
House Bill 761 (Rep. Greg Overstreet, R) and Senate Bill 431 (Sen. Kenneth Bogner, R–Miles City) carried word-for-word identical text, both amending Mont. Code Ann. § 70-17-901 with an immediate effective date. The core rule:1
“A covenant, condition, or restriction is not enforceable against an owner of residential real property … in a way that imposes more onerous restrictions on the types of use of an owner's real property than those restrictions that existed when the owner acquired the owner's interest in the real property, unless the owner … expressly agrees in writing at the time of the adoption or amendment.”
The mechanics they proposed
An owner claiming the exception would have had to record it with the county clerk and recorder, pay the recording fee, and notify all other owners subject to the covenant, with the date of conveyance. The exception would not pass to successors in interest — with carve-outs for common or shared ownership, family inheritance or transfer, and a lender acquiring through foreclosure. It would not apply where the covenant is required by federal, state or local law, would not invalidate existing covenants, and would create no private right of action for conduct before enactment.
How each one ended
HB 761: Hearing February 28, 2025 → Committee Executive Action March 3 → 2nd Reading March 6 → Missed Deadline for General Bill Transmittal March 12, 2025 → Died in Process May 20, 2025.
SB 431: Introduced February 24, 2025 → Hearing February 25 → Bill Withdrawn February 25, 2025 — the same day as its hearing → Hearing Canceled February 26 → Missed Transmittal Deadline March 12 → Died in Process May 23, 2025.
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