70-27-103. Forcible detainer defined. Every person is guilty of a forcible detainer who either:

Terms Used In Montana Code 70-27-103

  • Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Real property: means lands, tenements, hereditaments, and possessory title to public lands. See Montana Code 1-1-205

(1)by force or by menaces and threats of violence unlawfully holds and keeps the possession of any real property or mining claim, whether the same was acquired peaceably or otherwise; or

(2)in the nighttime or during the absence of the occupant of any lands or mining claim unlawfully enters upon real property and, after demand made for the surrender thereof, for the period of 5 days refuses to surrender the same to such former occupant. The occupant of real property or mining claim, within the meaning of this subsection, is one who, within 5 days preceding such unlawful entry, was in the peaceable and undisputed possession of such lands.