Montana Carbon Monoxide Detector Laws for Rentals
Montana requires an alarm in a rented home and says nothing to an owner occupier.
Montana requires an alarm in a rented home and says nothing to an owner occupier.
Montana requires a carbon monoxide detector in every rented dwelling unit, installed by the landlord and maintained by the tenant, and on a sale the seller only has to say in writing whether the house has one.
In Montana the duty is a landlord duty and the code says nothing to an owner occupier. The trigger the code names is a landlord renting out a dwelling unit, verified again at the start of each tenancy.
Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-303(1)(g), and what it attaches to
The sentence below is the whole of it. Everything that separates Montana from the state across the river sits inside that sentence and inside the clause that conditions it, which is why it is reproduced rather than summarised.
A requirement and the event it waits for are two different facts, and a roundup that carries the first without the second is how the same state gets described as strict and as lax in the same week. Both are on the card, with the citation, the title the code gives the section and the link the sentence was read from.
The section
Landlord to maintain premises -- agreement that tenant perform duties -- limitation of landlord's liability for failure of smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector
Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-303(1)(g)
shall install in each dwelling unit under the landlord's control an approved carbon monoxide detector, in accordance with rules adopted by the department of labor and industry, and an approved smoke detector, in accordance with rules adopted by the department of justice. Upon commencement of a rental agreement, the landlord shall verify that the carbon monoxide detector and the smoke detector in the dwelling unit are in good working order.70-24-303. Landlord to maintain premises, MCA, Montana Code Annotated 2025, Montana Legislature, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
- ReachRented homes only
- Triggera landlord renting out a dwelling unit, verified again at the start of each tenancy
- Effectiveamended by Sec. 1, Ch. 343, L. 2013
- Source70-24-303. Landlord to maintain premises, MCA, Montana Code Annotated 2025, Montana Legislature
Written into the landlord and tenant law rather than the building code, which is why it reaches tenancies and nothing else.
Montana prints no location of its own
Montana prints no spot of its own, which leaves placement to the manufacturer's instructions and to whichever building code applies.
Nationally 20 of the fifty print a location and the rest, this state among them, leave it to the manufacturer's instructions and to whichever code the building is inspected under. Where a state wrote nothing, nothing is supplied in its place.
What Montana puts on a landlord and what it puts on a tenant
Montana splits the job: the landlord puts the alarm in and the tenant keeps it working. The landlord installs and verifies working order at the start of the tenancy, the tenant maintains it during the tenancy.
The split matters because the two halves are enforced differently: an installation duty runs against the owner and a maintenance duty commonly runs against whoever is living there. Where the section names no party, the card says so rather than filling the silence with the commonest answer. 28 states of the fifty reach a tenancy at all.
In a rented home
- Installslandlord
- Maintainstenant
the landlord installs and verifies working order at the start of the tenancy, the tenant maintains it during the tenancy.
The tenant shall maintain the carbon monoxide detector and the smoke detector in good working order during the tenant's rental period.Montana, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Montana names no alarm standard in the section
Montana names no alarm standard in the section, which leaves approval to the code the building is inspected under.
38 states of the fifty name a standard and 16 say in writing that a combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarm satisfies the requirement. Where a state named none, approval belongs to the code the building is inspected under, which is a local reading rather than a state one.
The one other building the Montana code reaches
What the section covers in Montana is every rented dwelling unit under the landlord's control, with no fuel appliance or garage qualifier.
Hotels, schools, care homes and childcare buildings are where several legislatures started, and in a few states they are still the only place a carbon monoxide duty appears at all. Each is quoted below under the kind of building it covers.
a house being sold
the seller gives written notice of whether alarms are present, which is a disclosure and not a duty to install
Mont. Code Ann. 70-20-113(1)
Upon the sale or transfer of ownership of a dwelling not otherwise required to have a carbon monoxide detector and a smoke detector, the seller shall provide a written notice to the buyer in a buy-sell agreement or at the time of the sale to the buyer that the dwelling is equipped or is not equipped with a carbon monoxide detector and smoke detectors or other fire detection devices.
Mont. Code Ann. 70-20-113(1), read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
The same question in the other forty nine
42 states require a carbon monoxide alarm in a home and 8 have no statewide section for one. Of the 42, 10 reach a home already lived in, 25 wait for a sale, a permit or a first build, and 28 reach a rented home.
The bar splits the fifty by what their section touches, and the table beneath it puts them in alphabetical order for finding a particular one. Neither order tracks how cold a state gets.
| State | Reach | Rented homes | Placement rule | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Permit or new build | No | No | Ala. Admin. Code r. 305-2-4-.09 (Residential Building Codes), adopted by the Alabama Energy and Residential Codes Board under Code of Ala. 1975, Sections 41-23-80 through 41-23-85 |
| Alaska | Every home | Yes | Yes | Alaska Stat. 18.70.095(a) |
| Arizona | None statewide | No | No | No section |
| Arkansas | Permit or new build | No | No | 12 CAR pt. 15, Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, 2021 Edition, Volume III |
| California | Every home | Yes | Yes | Cal. Health & Safety Code 17926(a) |
| Colorado | Sale or transfer | Yes | Yes | C.R.S. 38-45-102 |
| Connecticut | New build only | No | No | Conn. Gen. Stat. §29-292 |
| Delaware | Rented only | Yes | No | 16 Del. C. 6602C |
| Florida | New build only | Yes | Yes | Fla. Stat. 553.885 |
| Georgia | New build only | No | No | Georgia State Amendments to the International Residential Code (2024 Edition), Section R311 Carbon Monoxide Alarms, revising Section R311.2.1, adopted by the Department of Community Affairs under the Uniform Codes Act, O.C.G.A. Section 8-2-20 et seq. |
| Hawaii | Permit or new build | No | No | Haw. Rev. Stat. 107-25, with the code adopted under it |
| Idaho | New build only | No | No | Idaho Code 39-4116(2)(b), with the code itself defined at 39-4109(1)(b) |
| Illinois | Every home | Yes | Yes | 430 ILCS 135/10 |
| Indiana | Permit or new build | No | No | 675 IAC 14-4.4-27 (2020 Indiana Residential Code, amending Section R315.2.2 of the 2018 International Residential Code) |
| Iowa | Every home | Yes | No | Iowa Code 10A.518(3)(b) |
| Kansas | None statewide | No | No | No section |
| Kentucky | New build only | No | No | 815 KAR 7:125, promulgated under KRS 198B.040(7) and 198B.050 |
| Louisiana | Sale or transfer | Yes | No | La. R.S. 40:1581 |
| Maine | Sale or transfer | Yes | Yes | 25 M.R.S. §2468 |
| Maryland | Rented and new | Yes | Yes | Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-1104 |
| Massachusetts | Every home | Yes | No | M.G.L. c. 148, §26F1/2 |
| Michigan | Permit or new build | Yes | Yes | MCL 125.1504f (Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, 1972 PA 230, Sec. 4f; the "Overbeck law") |
| Minnesota | Every home | Yes | Yes | Minn. Stat. 299F.51, subd. 1 (a) |
| Mississippi | None statewide | No | No | Senate Bill 2378, 2014 Regular Session, Section 1 |
| Missouri | None statewide | No | No | No section |
| Montana | Rented only | Yes | No | Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-303(1)(g) |
| Nebraska | Sale or transfer | Yes | Yes | Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-604 |
| Nevada | None statewide | No | No | No section |
| New Hampshire | Rented and new | Yes | No | RSA 153:10-a |
| New Jersey | Sale or transfer | Yes | No | N.J.S.A. 52:27D-133.3 |
| New Mexico | Permit or new build | No | No | 14.7.3 NMAC, 2021 New Mexico Residential Building Code |
| New York | Every home | Yes | No | N.Y. Exec. Law 378(5-a) |
| North Carolina | Rented and new | Yes | Yes | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42(a)(7) |
| North Dakota | None statewide | No | No | N.D. Admin. Code 45-18-01-04 |
| Ohio | Every home | Yes | Yes | Ohio Adm.Code 1301:7-7-11 (Ohio Fire Code, Chapter 11), modifying International Fire Code Sections 1101.1 and 1103.9 |
| Oklahoma | Permit or new build | No | No | OAC 748:20-6-1 |
| Oregon | Sale or transfer | Yes | Yes | Or. Rev. Stat. 105.838 |
| Pennsylvania | Rented only | Yes | Yes | Carbon Monoxide Alarm Standards Act, Act of Dec. 18, 2013, P.L. 1229, No. 121, section 4 |
| Rhode Island | Sale or transfer | Yes | Yes | Rhode Island Life Safety Code, 450-RICR-00-00-8, §24.6.3.1 (adopted under R.I. Gen. Laws §23-28.1-2) |
| South Carolina | Permit or new build | No | No | S.C. Code Regs. R.8-1200 (2021 International Residential Code as adopted), promulgated under S.C. Code Ann. Section 6-9-40 and Section 6-9-50 |
| South Dakota | None statewide | No | No | No section |
| Tennessee | Permit or new build | No | No | Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-02-23-.02 (Adoption by Reference), Division of Fire Prevention, under T.C.A. Section 68-120-101(a), (b), and (d) |
| Texas | Permit or new build | No | No | Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 214.212 |
| Utah | Permit or new build | No | No | Utah Code 15A-2-103(1)(b) |
| Vermont | Sale or transfer | Yes | Yes | 9 V.S.A. §2882 |
| Virginia | New build only | Yes | Yes | 13VAC5-63-240 (Virginia Construction Code, Section 915 as amended), adopted under Va. Code § 36-99 |
| Washington | Every home | Yes | Yes | Wash. Rev. Code 19.27.530 |
| West Virginia | Rented and new | Yes | Yes | W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12 |
| Wisconsin | Every home | Yes | Yes | Wis. Stat. 101.647 (3) (a) |
| Wyoming | None statewide | No | No | No section |
Montana carbon monoxide alarm questions
Carbon monoxide detector laws in every state
Montana read September 23, 2026, off the state’s own published code: Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-303(1)(g), as part of a reading of all fifty compiled September 23, 2026. Every quotation above is reproduced in the source’s own wording and links back to the document it was read from. Legislatures amend these between sessions, and a county or city building code can reach a building the state code does not, so the link beside a quote is what governs on the day. What Montana wrote is what this page carries: the duty, what it attaches to, where the code puts the alarm, what it says about a rented home, and the sentence it set.