Top 10 New Year's Resolutions for Wisconsin Landlords

About 75% of my law practice involves representing landlords and management companies on issues that they confront on a daily basis (the other 25% involves business and general civil litigation). Devoting such a large segment of my law practice to representing landlords, I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with many of you, talk to you, learn from you, and sometimes even notice a few things that if they had been done differently, could've saved you some money and headaches.

Knowledge is power and I firmly believe that with more knowledge, landlords can make changes that will make their landlording or property management business prosper. I thought that some of my observations this past year would make for a pretty decent New Year's resolution list for Wisconsin landlords.

ASIDE: When applicable, I have linked each specific resolution to one of my blog posts that addresses that specific subject or provided a link to the law on that topic. It should be noted that sometimes the link is to a longer post that addresses more than one issue, so the direct reference may be a bit farther down in the post -- i.e. Resolution #3's link - the reference is way at the bottom of the post).

Tristan’s Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions for Wisconsin Landlords

1. I will review my current rental agreement and other rental documents to make sure that they do not include any of the seven prohibited provisions as set forth in ATCP 134.08. If you are using a rental agreement from ezLandlordForms.com, Office Depot, or OfficeMax – get rid of them, before a court throws them out for you.

2. If my rental property is owned by an LLC (even if I am the sole member of the LLC) and I need to file an eviction action (in Milwaukee County), I will ensure that I bring proof that I am a full-time employee of the LLC or I will hire an attorney to represent the LLC in court.

3. If my tenant and I make any modifications to the rental agreement, or if my tenant and I decide to modify an agreement that we signed in eviction court, I will make sure that those modifications are in writing and signed.

4. If I have an automatic renewal provision in my rental agreement, I will not attempt to enforce it unless I have sent my tenant a separate written reminder, at least 15 days but no more than 30 days -- in addition to any other notice period required -- prior to the beginning of the renewal period as required in ATCP 134. 09(3) and sec. 704.15, Wis. Stats. For example, if my tenant signed a lease for a specific term (as opposed to a month to month or some other periodic tenancy) I will remind myself over and over and over, that I cannot hold a tenant responsible for the next month's rent after the lease term ended, just becasue the tenant failed to give me written notice that they would be vacting at the end of the lease term. To do so would be a violation of the automatic renewal law.

5. If I am a relatively new landlord– or if I haven’t attended any landlord-tenant law refresher courses recently -- I will sign up and attend the AASEW’s Landlord Boot Camp, so that I will be better able to avoid costly mistakes while managing my rental properties.

6. If I do not already have a set of written screening criteria, which sets forth the minimum requirements that a rental applicant must meet in order to rent one of my rental units, I will spend the time and energy to draft such criteria and begin using it.

7. I will always remember to either: (a) return a tenant’s security deposit to them within 21 days of the date that they vacated, or (b) send a clear and understandable accounting of how the tenant’s security deposit was applied within 21 days of the tenant vacating. I will not attempt to make deductions from my tenant's security deposit for things that I am not legally entitled to deduct from it. Simply put, I will NOT play games with my tenant's security deposit.

8. I promise that despite whatever sad story a prospective renter provides me, I will still take the time to conduct a thorough background check, including running the applicant’s name on CCAP, vetting their current landlord, prior landlord and employer, obtaining a credit report, and require that the applicant supply me with the necessary documentation to substantiate that they can afford to consistently pay rent.

9. If I learn of any legislation that negatively affects me as a landlord, I promise to write and/or call my congressman, senator etc. etc., and clearly explain why I think they should vote against the proposed legislation. Landlords are one of the most regulated preofessions out there - I need to make my voice heard to try and mitigate this.

10. I will treat the management of my rental properties as a business. The government and court system treat the management of rental property as a business, so you need to do the same!

If you have any resolutions that you would like to add to this list please be sure to post a comment and include your resolution -- I'm sure there are more that I forgot to mention.

Here’s to a healthy and prosperous 2011.