Q&A: What A Landlord Should Do If Tenant Gives An Improper 28 Day Notice

Every now and then I like to highlight a question or comment that I receive on this blog that I think is especially educational. I recently received a great question from Peter which I have decided to reproduce as a blog post so that more people can view it and become better educated on the topic.

This specific question has to do with a month to month tenancy in which the tenant has served the landlord with an improper 28 day notice as the termination date does not coincide with the end of a rental period (i.e. end of the month) as required under Wisconsin Statute sec. 704.19.

Attorney Pettit,

This may be a little off subject, but I was hoping you could explain what a landlord's responsibility is when a tenant serves their landlord with a notice terminating their tenancy, but specifies an inaccurate termination date in the notice.

For example: a periodic tenant serves a 28 day notice to their landlord on 04-01-2012 terminating their tenancy on 05-05-2012. The notice was served with the proper length of time under Stat. 704.19(3), but it did not terminate the tenancy at the end of a rental period as required by Stat. 704.19(2)(b)1.

I know Stat. 704.19(5) says that such a notice would be valid, but would not be effective until the first date which could have been properly specified - i.e. May 31, 2012. My concern is the second-to-last sentence in Stat. 704.19(5) that says the party to whom the notice was served may “elect to treat the date specified in the notice as the legally effective date.”

Does that sentence mean the landlord has an obligation to inform the tenant that the termination date in their notice was inaccurate and will not be effective until May 31? If the landlord does not inform the tenant that the termination date in their notice was ineffective, could that be construed as the landlord’s “election” to treat the inaccurate date as the legally effective date?

There is no explanation in the chapter which describes what constitutes an “election” in this circumstance and that sentence seemingly creates an enormous loophole through which tenants can escape their responsibility to give a proper notice to vacate. Any thoughts or information you have on this matter are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Peter - Thanks for your question. Plese feel free to call me Tristan : )

You have cited the proper Wisconsin Statute that is applicable for this issue - 704.19. Sec. 704.19 is really the only guidance that we have on the issue. I am not aware of any caselaw interpreting 704.19 in Wisconsin.

I interpret the statute to mean that you, the landlord, can choose to accept the defective notice as it is and relieve the tenant for responsibility for rent after 5-5-12. If you do not want to accept the defective notice and relieve the tenant of responsibility as of 5-5 then I think it would be necessary to point out the tenant's error to the tenant, preferably in writing, to avoid an "waiver" argument that might be made by the tenant.

Each court (each judge, each court commissioner) is able to interpret the statute and the term "election" as they wish and to determine if you, the landlord, waived your right to the entire month's rent by failing to bring the tenant's error in the notice to his/her attention.

I don't know whether or not a court would decide that if you failed to bring the defective notice to the tenant's attention that you waived your right to collect the full month's rent. But sxperiencing how tenant-friendly many Wisconsin courts are, I wouldn't want to take the chance. To be safe -- and to "CYA" -- I would assume that a tenant might make the "waiver" argument and that a court could might make a ruling that because you did not bring this discrepency to the tenant's attention, that you waived your right to the full rent amount for May 2012.

From a practical standpoint, if I received an improper 28 day notice from a tenant, I would call the tenant and politely explain to them why the notice was improper and what the legal ramifications are --- that they are "on the hook" for all of May's rent. I would then follow that telephone call with a letter memorializing the discussion and explaining why the tenant's 28 day notice was improper-- explaining that the 28 day notice must coincide with the end of a rent paying period per 704.19(2)(b)(1).

Next, I would include in my letter that had the notice been drafted properly, that the tenant would be responsible for rent through the last day of the month - May 31st. I would then tell the tenant that you will treat the notice as effective on the last day of the month and remind them that while they can leave before the last day of the May that they are responsible for the full month's rent.

I would then wait and see what the tenant does.

Hopefully, after your explanation and showing them the statute, the tenant will understand that they made a mistake and pay you the entire month's rent.

If the tenant doesn't pay you any rent or only pays rent for 5 days of May, you should "5 day" them and then decide if you want to retain a portion of their security deposit to cover the rent that they are legally responsible for paying or if you would prefer to return the security deposit (to avoid any potential chance of the tenant being awarded double damages and attorney's fees) and sue them in a small claims (non-eviction) action for the rent they owe. There are pros and cons to either option and I am not suggesting one over the other but as I see it those are the two options that you have.

Thank you for your great question.