Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog
The 10 Deadly Sins: 10 Provisions That Landlords Cannot Include in Their Wisconsin Residential Rental Agreements
With the passage of Act 143 (2012) and Act 76 (2014) the legislature has created several new provisions that a Residential Landlord cannot include in his Rental Agreement. There are currently 10 items, which I affectionately refer to as the "10 Deadly Sins" that if they are included in your Wisconsin residential rental agreement will render the agreement void and unenforceable.In my representation of landlords over the past 20 ...
Landlords Lose Lawsuit Against City of LaCrosse
On August 27, 2014, a LaCrosse County judge ruled against several LaCrosse landlords that had sued the city over its local rental registry and inspection ordinance.The plaintiffs included 34 landlords with rental property in the city of LaCrosse and attacked the cities ordinance on both constitutional grounds as well as arguing that the ordinance violated state law, specifically Act 76, which became law on March 1, 2014. To learn ...
Second Lawsuit Filed Alleging Local Ordinance Violates Wisconsin's New Landlord Tenant Law (Act 76)
I just read in the Wausau Daily Herald today that a second legal challenge has been filed based on Wisconsin's new landlord-tenant law (Act 76). The city of Wausau is getting sued by several local landlords over its Residential Rental Licensing Ordinance which requires that rentals be inspected every three years for compliance with the city's local building codes.One of the arguments in the lawsuit is that the ...
Act 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord Tenant Law - Part 6: Alternative Disposition of Property During Eviction
Act 76, has amended sec. 799.45 Wis. Stats., and created new options for a landlord to dispose of a tenant's abandoned personal property after the writ has been executed by the Sheriff and the rental unit has been returned to the landlord's possession.Under the old law, if the rental property was located in a county with a population greater than 500,000 people, a landlord was required to hire a ...
First Legal Challenge As A Result of Act 76 (Wisconsin's New Landlord Tenant Law)
I just read an article on WXOW.com today about what I believe to be the first legal challenge as a result of the passage of Act 76 - Wisconsin's new landlord tenant law.Two local landlords in La Crosse, Wisconsin are suing the city of La Crosse over its new registration and inspection ordinance which only applies to rental units. Per the article written by Dave Solie of WXOW.com, local ...
Act 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord Tenant Law - Part 5: Domestic Violence Notice Langauge & More Prohibited Rental Agreement Provisions
Act 76 has made many changes to Landlord-Tenant law in Wisconsin, some of which I have explained in prior blog posts. One of the biggest changes, which I have not yet blogged about, is the requirement that a landlord include language notifying tenants of certain domestic abuse protections in all rental agreements or addenda as of March 1, 2014.The required language is set forth in sec. 704.14, ...
Revised Wisconsin Legal Blank Forms Will Be Available on Monday, February 17th
As I hope most of you are aware, Wisconsin passed a new law that will great affect landlord-tenant law - Act 76. Whenever the law is changed, there is usually a need to revise and/or update your rental documents to comply with the law. That is definitely the case with the changes from Act 76.As such, I have had to update many of the rental documents that are ...
AASEW Meeting: Come Learn About The New Landlord-Tenant Law (Act 76) on Feb. 17th
As many of you know I have been blogging over the past month or so about aspects of the new Landlord-Tenant law that goes into effect on March 1, 2014. Well, I will continue to blog about the new law in the future, but if you would prefer to learn all about Act 76 in its entirety you should plan on coming to the next AASEW monthly meeting on Monday, ...
Act 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant Law - Part 4: Who May File An Eviction and Who May Appear In Court
Act 76 which will become effective on March 1, 2014 has changed Wisconsin law with regard to who may file an eviction action and who can appear in court to prosecute an eviction.Current law only allows the person or entity "entitled to the possession of the property" to file an eviction action. Typically this would be the owner of the rental property. As such, a management company or ...
JUST ANNOUNCED: AASEW's Next Landlord Boot Camp - Saturday, March 8, 2014
Landlording can be pretty complex, with a seemingly never ending myriad of paperwork, rules, landlord-tenant laws and simple mistakes that can cost you thousands.The Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin's 9th “Landlord Boot Camp" can help you navigate these treacherous waters and learn how to run your properties with greater profit and less hassles.Who: Taught by Attorney Tristan Pettit, ...
ACT 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant Law - Part 3: Speeding Up the Eviction Process
Several of the provisions of Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant law, Act 76 (SB 179), were created or amended to speed up the eviction process. Evictions are supposed to be summary proceedings and per the Wisconsin Supreme Court (Scalzo v. Anderson, 87 Wis. 2d 834 (1979)) there are very limited number of issues permissible in an evictions action. Nonetheless, tenants were finding ways to delay the process. Hopefully Act 76 will resolve much of ...
Governor Walker Signed 2013 Wisconsin Act 76 (SB 179) Into Law Today
2013 Wisconsin Act 76 (SB 179) was signed into law today, December 12, 2013, by Governor Scott Walker in his office at the Capital building.Many people attended the signing, including myself. It was the first law signing that I have ever attended and was very intersting. I was able to get a ...
ACT 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant Law - Part 2: Restrictions on Local Ordinances
As I mentioned in Part 1, the soon to be new law contains new provisions as well as some corrective provisions (which will correct unintended consequences from last year's new law Act 143). In this blog post I will talk about one of the new provisions of the law which will restrict a local municipality from creating and/or enforcing certain local ordinances.The new law will creates sec. 66.0104(2)(c) and (d), Wis. ...
Governor Walker To Sign Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant Law Next Week
I have recently learned that Governor Scott Walker will be signing Senate Bill 179 into law next week Thursday, December 12, 2013 at 8 AM in the Governor's Conference Room in Madison.Senate Bill 179 will be signed along with a group of other bills starting at 8 AM that morning.Those of us involved in the drafting of this bill are happy to see all of the hard work come to ...
ACT 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant Law - Part 1: Background and Overview
Senate Bill 179, which is commonly referred to as the "Landlord-Tenant Law Bill," is on its way to becoming law in the near future. For many of us it has been a long wait.After initially being introduced in the Wisconsin Senante on May 8, 2013, the Senante concurred to some changes made to SB 179 by the Assembly on October 16, 2013. It is expected that Governor Walker will sign ...
Why I Am So Excited About This Saturday's AASEW Landlord Boot Camp
I am really excited about this Saturday's AASEW Landlord Boot Camp. Why you ask? Well let me tell you.Just last week the Senate in Madison passed SB 179 which is a very large and sweeping revision to much of landlord-tenant law in Wisconsin. This bill not only cleans up the unintended consequences of last years Act 143, it also makes some major changes such as:- Applies the ...