Updated Nonstandard Rental Provisions form Now Available at Wisconsin Legal Blank

Hi Everyone - I hope that you are all well on this rainy Friday afternoon.  I just wanted to alert those of you that use the Landlord-Tenant forms that I draft for Wisconsin Legal Blank, that I recently re-wrote the Nonstandard Rental Provisions (NSRP) form for clarity and legal conformity.  I recommend that you update your NSRP form accordingly to better protect yourself and your rental property.

Thanks

T

New & Improved Nonstandard Rental Provisions Form Available at Wisconsin Legal Blank

As many of you know, I draft the various landlord-tenant law forms that are sold at Wisconsin Legal Blank Co., Inc. In light of the recent court of appeals decision (Keyes & Gruner v. Waldbillig et. al) that I referenced in an earlier blog post, I have made some additions and revisions to WLB's Nonstandard Rental Provisions Form. As such, a new and improved Nonstandard Rental Provisions form is now being sold at Wisconsin Legal Blank.

The date of the new form is May 29, 2013.

I would strongly encourage landlords and management companies to start to using the new form as soon as is legally possible.

The new form includes an added provision that allows alandlord to deduct re-rental costs as allowed under Wis. Stats. sec. 704.29 from a tenant's security deposit -- this was the specific deduction that was at issue in the Keys & Gruner v. Waldbillig et. al. Court of Appeals case referenced in my earlier post.

The new Nonstandard Rental Provision form also includes a provision addressing the withholding of "holdover" damages as set forth in Wis. Stats. sec. 704.27, from a tenant's security deposit.

Finally, I made some grammatical changes and reworded a few provisions in the old Nonstandard Rental Provisions form to make them more straightforward and clear.

So to best protect yourself, I would encourage you to pick up the new Nonstandard Rental Provision form dated May 29, 2013 from Wisconsin Legal Blank.

DISCLAIMER: For those of you who may think that I am "pushing" the new Nonstandard Rental Provisions form because I receive a portion of the sale proceeds, that unfortunately is not the case : ). I am paid up front by WLB for my time to draft the forms and revise them as needed based on changes in the law. So I have no vested interest in you purchasing the new form other than I don't want you to be caught in the same situation as the landlord was in the Keyes & Gruner v. Waldbillig et. al court of appeals case. : )

Court of Appeals Decision Reminds Landlords To Review Their Nonstandard Rental Provisions Before Making Deductions from A Tenant's Security Deposit

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals, in an unpublished decision dated May 9, 2013, held that a landlord wrongfully withheld a portion of his tenants' security deposit for costs incurred when attempting to re-rent the rental unit.

As I have mentioned in a prior post, Wisconsin law essentially allows a landlord to deduct only three things from a tenant's security deposit: (1) damage, waste, or neglect, (2) rent, (3) utilities. Any other items that a landlord would like to deduct from a tenant's security deposit must be included in a separate written document entitled "Nonstandard Rental Provisions" (NSRP), in order to be legally deducted. So if what you want to deduct something from your tenant's security deposit and it is not one of the 3 items listed above and not set forth in your NSRP, it will most likley be considered an illegal deduction.

In Keyes and Gruner v. Waldbillig et. al (2012AP1180), two tenants broke their lease with their landlord by moving out prior to the last day of the lease term. The landlord wrote the tenants a letter explaining to them that there would be charges against the their security deposit to cover the cost of advertising and marketing the apartment and that his property management company charged him $100 per showing to show the unit to potential new tenants.

The landlord's managment company showed the tenants' vacated unit 6 times for a total of $600 in costs to the landlord prior to finding a new tenant for the unit. The landlord sent the tenants their security deposit itemization letter explaining that he witheld $600 of their security deposit to cover the costs to re-rent the unit.

Under Wisconsin law, specifically Wis. Stats. 704.29, if a tenant breaks their lease or is evicted, a landlord is required to make reasonable efforts to mitigate the tenant's damages by trying to re-rent the unit. The same statute also says that a tenant who has broken his/her lease or is evicted can be held responsible for all lost rent and all reasonable expenses of listing and advertising the vacant unit which were incurred by the landlord while trying to re-rent the unit.

But this landlord failed to have a NSRP that allowed him to deduct for the re-rental costs. As an aside, if the landlord had just opted to withhold the lost rent incurred while trying to re-rent the unit from the tenants' security deposit instead of the re-rental costs, he also most likley would have prevailed even without having the NSRP regarding re-rental costs since rent owed is an allowable security deposit deduction. Instead, the landlord deducted $600 in showing fees from the tenants' security deposit even though he did not have a NSRP in place that allowed him to do so.

Had the landlord had such a NSRP in place, it is my opinion that his deductions from the tenants' security deposit would have been proper (assuming that the court would agree that $100 per showing is reasonable) and he would not have lost the case and been required to pay double damages and the tenants' attorney's fees.

The moral of the case is that just because the law allows a landlord to hold tenants responsible for the costs to re-rent if they break their lease, does not mean that the landlord can legally withhold those costs from the tenants' security deposit. In order to be able to legally do that, the landlord must have a NSRP in place which allows for the deduction of re-rental costs allowed under Wis. Stats. 704.29.

Does your NSRP contain such a clause? Do you even have a NSRP docuement? If not you may want to contact Wisconsin Legal Blank, which sells a very good Nonstandard Rental Provisions document which I have drafted, that will protect you.