The City of Missoula now requires every business to list their landlord’s commercial rental license number on their business license application. The city checks that number against its records. If you don’t have a commercial rental license, or yours has expired, your tenant’s application gets flagged and stalls.
The license itself has been required for years. What’s changed is when it gets checked. The city now verifies it the moment your tenant applies for a business license, which is catching owners who didn’t know they needed one and owners who let theirs lapse.
The License Is Required and It Expires Every April 30
It carries an annual fee. Some owners have skipped it in the past, frustrated with one more yearly cost. That decision now shows up the next time a tenant applies for a business license.
What It Costs
The fee scales with building size. Three examples:
±3,500 SF building: about $350 per year
±19,000 SF warehouse: close to $560 per year
±40,000 SF office building: just under $1,200 per year
What Happens When a Tenant Gets Flagged
The tenant’s business license application stalls. Before they can resubmit, the property owner must start the commercial rental license process, and that delay lands on a tenant trying to open on schedule.
A tenant in that position may ask for rent compensation. They may ask to be released from the lease entirely.
NNN Leases Cover the Fee
If you have NNN leases in place, the license fee is an operating expense. It goes into CAMs, so it doesn’t come out of your pocket.
We Handle the Filing
As your property management company, we can submit the license the first time and resubmit it every year so you stay current. Owners who get ahead of this give their tenants a clean move-in.
Not sure whether your commercial rental license is current? We can check your properties and file what’s missing.
