The 28-day test that disqualifies short-term rentals
High occupancy is not the measure. Tenancy length is. This is the test that decides whether a rental claim is available at all, and it is the one owners most often answer by asking the wrong question.
The short version
The long-term rental rate requires tenancies of 28 days or more, for at least 7 months of the year you are claiming. A property rented every single week of the year fails, because no tenancy reaches 28 days.
So the question to ask is not “is it rented?” but “did any tenancy run under 28 days?” One weekend booking in a month is enough to put that month outside the test.
The test, as the department states it
The property is rented for 7+ months of the year. The property is rented to tenants for a minimum of 28 days each month. The rented property is residential property. You are current on the payment of the property taxes.
The statutory language behind it, at MCA 15-6-402, asks the owner to demonstrate the property was “rented for periods of 28 days or more for at least 7 months” in each tax year for which the rate is claimed, and that it is occupied by tenants using the dwelling as a residence.
That last phrase is the policy in a sentence. The reduced rate exists to encourage housing people live in. A visitor staying nine nights is not using the cabin as a residence, however much revenue the booking produces.
Who this catches
| Arrangement | Passes? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 12-month lease | Yes | One tenancy, full year |
| 9-month lease to a student | Yes | Over 7 months, tenancy well over 28 days |
| Seasonal lease, September to March | Yes | 7 months, and leaves the summer free |
| Month-to-month with a 3-week gap between tenants | Usually yes | Tenancies are over 28 days; count the months that qualify |
| Short-term rental, booked solid all year | No | No tenancy reaches 28 days |
| Long-term tenant, plus a few summer weeks at nightly rates | Depends | The short-let months drop out — can you still reach 7? |
Occupancy is not the same as qualifying
A short-term rental can be the busiest property on the street, generate more income than any lease would, and still sit at the 1.9% default. High occupancy is not the measure. Tenancy length is.
This is the specific question to work through before assuming a claim is available — and the specific thing to document if you make one.
The hybrid year, which is where it gets decided
Most real cases are not pure. A cabin with a winter tenant and a nightly-rate summer is the common Montana shape, and the arithmetic is straightforward once you stop counting revenue and start counting months:
Count only the months where every tenancy ran 28 days or more
A month with one three-night booking in it does not count toward the seven, regardless of what else happened that month. Seven qualifying months out of twelve is the bar.
A documented repair vacancy does not break the claim
MCA 15-6-402 expressly allows the property to be vacant for up to 5 months to complete documented property repairs. A rehab year is survivable if you keep the invoices and the dates.
Decide before the year starts, not after
Eligibility is measured in the year you are claiming. You cannot retrofit a year that has already been let weekly, and there is no retroactive recovery for a missed rental year the way there is for a missed homestead claim. The claim for 2027 is filed by March 1, 2027 and depends on how you let the property during 2027 itself.
What passing is worth
Enough to be worth restructuring a season around. A qualifying rental takes the same graduated bands as a homestead — starting at 0.76%, not the flat figure usually quoted — so on a sub-median house the claim reverses the whole increase rather than trimming it. The bands, and the reading that gets this wrong.
Set against that: nightly rates against a seasonal lease, management effort, and whether you want the place available yourself in the months that matter. The four options for a second home, costed out. Options include running the seasonal-lease arithmetic against your own occupancy figures, asking the department field office how it wants a hybrid year documented, or having the notice and the lease pattern reviewed together before you commit to next season.
Keep the paperwork you would need
The application under MCA 15-6-411 asks for income and expense information including the rent charged each month, under penalty of perjury. Beginning in 2028 the department must also require 20% of long-term rentals to reapply each year, so a claim granted now can be re-examined later.
Leases, a rent roll, and repair invoices are the file that answers both.
Related
- The long-term rental rate is not 1.1%
Nearly every summary calls Montana's long-term rental reduced rate a flat 1.1%. The statute gives a qualifying rental the same graduated bands as a homestead, starting at 0.76% — and the flat rate applies to multifamily units only.
- Second homes and cabins: the four options
There is no relief program for a Montana second home as such — HB 231 left cabins and short-term rentals at the 1.9% default deliberately. The four options, costed: pay it, convert to a long-term rental, move in, or sell. Plus the seasonal lease most owners miss.
- The homestead reduced rate: who qualifies, and how to claim it
The Montana homestead reduced tax rate takes a principal residence off the 1.9% default and onto graduated bands starting at 0.76%. The four tests, the ownership rule that disqualifies LLCs outright, the real application window, and what happens if you miss it.
Where your own parcel stands
The rate check is free and takes about ten seconds — look up any Montana property and see which rate applies, which reduced rate it could qualify for, and the gap between them. No email required. If you would rather someone went through the whole notice, that is what we do.
Rates, deadlines and statutory citations verified against MCA Title 15 as of September 17, 2026. The median residential value ($386,000) and median commercial value ($379,000) are recalculated every two years with reappraisal — the next reset is in 2027. Up The Creek Research LLC is a public-records research firm, not a law firm, an accounting firm or an appraisal firm; this page explains what the statute provides and is not advice about your particular situation. See our Disclaimer & Terms.