Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog
You Will Not Want To Miss AASEW's Fourth Annual Landlord Boot Camp on Saturday Feb. 25th
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 of dollars.The Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin's Fourth Annual “Landlord Boot Camp” can help you navigate these treacherous waters and teach you how to run your properties with greater profit and less hassles.I have given similar landlord-tenant law seminars to fellow attorneys, landlords, and property manager ...
Landlords Should Treat Tenant Roommates As One Person To Better Understand Joint and Several Liability and Resolve Tenant Disputes
I receive many calls from landlords who have questions and concerns involving issues involving their tenant roommates. While the problems are often factually different the proper way to analyze the situation and arrive at a resolution to the problem, often depends on the same thing -- something called "joint and several liability."Joint and several liability is a legal concept that, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is defined as "the liability of co-promisors of ...
Landlords May Want To Pursue Tenants for Holdover Damages As Well As Other Damages
After a landlord has had her rental property returned through an eviction action or the tenant vacating of their own accord, a landlord has the option of pursuing the ex-tenant for money damages. I have explained in previous posts, that a typical eviction lawsuit includes three causes of actions against the tenant. First, return of the rental property ("eviction"). Second, a claim for past due rent and other fees allowed under the ...
Pursuing a Money Judgement Against An Ex-Tenant . . . Should You Even Bother?
Once you have evicted a tenant and have your property returned to you, you are confronted with the decision of whether to invest the time and money to pursue the ex-tenant for money damages or not.Some of my landlord clients always pursue the ex-tenant for money judgments. Of that segment of landlords, some will obtain their ...
New Law Limits Landlords From Pursuing A Deceased Tenant's Estate
Governor Doyle recently signed into law 2009 WI Act 323 which creates a new section to Chapter 704 of the Wisconsin Statutes regarding Landlord-Tenant Law.The new section 704.165, Wis. Stats., is entitled "Termination of Tenancy at Death of Tenant"Below is a summary of the new law:1. If a residential tenant dies and had a term lease, his/her tenancy will be terminated 60 days after the landlord learns of the ...
What Is The Life Expectancy of the Carpet (or Refrigerator or Stove or Hardwood Flooring) In My Rental Unit?
Those of you that have appeared in eviction court in an attempt to obtain a money judgment against a tenant that has damaged your rental unit know that oftentimes the court will not allow you to recover the total cost to replace the damaged item. Even when the court agrees that the tenant caused the damage there will be times when a landlord cannot obtain the full replacement value.Often when this occurs it ...
Did Your Tenant Write You A Worthless Check? Consider New Restitution Program
One of my earliest blog posts, back when I had just started Tristan's Landlord-Tenant Law Blog, was about the fact that the City of Milwaukee Police Department had a policy in place where they refused to investigate crimes in which a tenant made their rent payment with a worthless check or stopped payment on the check. Shortly thereafter I wrote about a new diversion program that was being ...
TENANT MOVED OUT AND LEFT YOU HOLDING THE BAG!
With a short week ahead of us due to the Thanksgiving holiday, and the fact that I will be traveling to the wonderful land of flat terrain and tons of wind (a.k.a Kansas), I thought I would take this opportunity to re-post some very good advice from a friend of mine and fellow blogger, Bill Gray of Rent Recovery Services, who is also known as The Landlord Doctor. http://www.TheLanlordDoctor.comBill writes a blog that focuses ...
More (and More) Legislation Introduced That Will Affect Landlords
I'm not sure if it is just me but it seems like more and more legislation is popping up that affects landlords. Maybe it is just because I am paying more attention to the rental industry then I used to -- kind of like buying a new jacket, bike, or car and then noticing from that point forward how many other people also are wearing that same jacket, riding that same bike, or ...
WHY ARE THE "BAD LANDLORDS" THE ONLY ONES WE EVER HEAR ABOUT?
I was catching up on some long overdue blog reading this weekend and I came across a great blog post that I thought was very timely. I asked the author is I could re-post his thoughts and he agreed. The author of the post is Bill Gray who runs Rent Recovery Service, a company that assists landlords with collecting past due rent and damage charges from ex-tenants. I was fortunate enough ...
SUING AN EX-TENANT FOR PAST DUE RENT: What Factors To Consider
Your tenant has already vacated your rental unit - so there is no need to file an eviction action -- but they left owing you money. Is it worth your time and effort to sue them in order to obtain a money judgment? This is probably the third most frequently asked question that I receive when talking to landlords (the first two most asked questions in case you are curious ...
Worthless Check Diversion Program: An Opportunity To Collect On "Bad Checks"
The Miwaukee County District Attorneys Office has adopted a new program that will hopefully allow landlords to collect on bad checks that were passed by their tenants. The goal of the program is to get the bad-check writers to pay back the money owed in exchange for not being charged with a crime or referred to collections.This program, entitled the Worthless Check Diversion Program, is a positive step for landlords because currently ...
A NEW COLLECTIONS TOOL FOR LANDLORDS IS AVAILABLE
The Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin has recently entered into a contract with Rent Recovery Service so that AASEW members can receive a discount on this new collection tool for landlords.You can access Rent Recovery Services from the AASEW website. After providing Rent Recovery Service with the necessary information about your ex-tenant, RRS will send a letter to the debtor advising them of the debt. If the ex-tenant has ...