NEW PUBLISHED CASE ON EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE STAYS

We will soon have a published Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision on emergency assistance stays in eviction actions that will help us, as landlords, remove the non-paying tenant.

Sec. 799.40(4) of the Wisconsin Statutes states that a court must stay an eviction action brought against a tenant that has applied for emergency assistance. The stay remains in effect until the court determines whether the tenant is eligible for assistance and, if so, until the tenant receives it. For those of you who have been in this situation, you know this stay can cause substantial hardship for the landlord, who is now required to allow a tenant to remain in his/her property for free. Even if the tenant is eventually awarded emergency assistance, it typically does not cover the full amount of past-due rent owed; as a result, the landlord declines the money and asks for his/her writ. The tenant then uses the assistance money for the security deposit on their next apartment.

This stay can delay an eviction for months. Such a situation is frustrating at best and, at worst, an improper "taking" of a landlord's property. In the case of McQuestion v. Crawford (Appeal No. 2008AP1096) from District I (Milwaukee) of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, it was held that "implicit in the statute's mandate that a stay is required until the tenant receives the emergency assistance is a requirement that the tenant seek and find suitable permanent housing within a reasonable period of time."

A judge will still need to determine what is a "reasonable" amount of time on a case-by-case basis, but at least there will now be required inquiry into the tenant's efforts to locate new housing and consideration of how long it takes. Wisconsin landlords now have case law to support our arguments that the length of the stay is no longer reasonable.