The rental agreement should specify which utilities the landlord provides and which the tenant is responsible for. Unless otherwise specified in the rental agreement, the landlord must provide garbage cans but the tenant may be required to pay for garbage pick-up. Landlords can typically disclose the average cost of utilities like water or electricity, but if they are unable to provide that info, reach out to the utility provider and they will give you an estimate or previous month’s costs.

Source: 70-24-303

Your landlord has to maintain essential services to your rental such as running hot water, gas, heat, electricity, and plumbing. Failure to do so is a breach of Montana law! In the event that one of these essential services gets cut off because your landlords failure to pay or maintain these services, you need to write them a letter that notifies them of the breach of Montana Code. After notifying them, if the repairs on not remedied within three days, you may acquire the services out of pocket and deduct that cost from the next month’s rent.

Source: 70-24-408