Welcome to Tristan's Landlord-Tenant Law Blog
Welcome. My name is Tristan Pettit, and I am an attorney with Petrie & Stocking S.C. One of my areas of focus is landlord-tenant law. I am also the current President of the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin (AASEW). I have practiced landlord-tenant law for over 13 years. I appear in eviction court several times per month in various counties. I also give seminars on all aspects of landlord-tenant law to landlords, property managers, and others affiliated with the rental housing industry, including other lawyers. Needless to say, I enjoy the exciting (and often frustrating) area of landlord-tenant law.
One day, I searched the internet for a landlord-tenant law website or blog in Wisconsin to connect with others in the industry. I was surprised to find only one Wisconsin blog that even touched on the topic (Dr. Rent Chronicles from the Wausau area). I expanded my search a bit, hoping to find some L-T law blogs outside Wisconsin; I found fewer than a handful, and none seemed to cover the nuts and bolts of landlord-tenant law. While tons of blogs and websites focus on real estate law, I believe landlord-tenant law is a specific sub-category of general real estate law and deserves its own voice. This lack of a forum for landlords and others in the rental housing industry led to the creation of Tristan's Landlord Tenant Law Blog.
It is amazing to learn how many landlords there are just in the Milwaukee area alone. You have the reluctant landlords, those who bought a new home and, because of the poor economy, couldn't sell their existing home and were forced to rent it out. You have the rehabbers, who bought a property that needed work, hoped to fix it up and sell it, only to find that in this poor real estate economy there were too many properties and not enough buyers. Then you have the intentional landlords, those crazy individuals who enjoy chasing down rent money at all hours of the night and taking calls on weekends and holidays about clogged toilets and broken water heaters. I hope this blog offers something to intentional landlords, reluctant landlords, and others involved in the rental housing industry.
Landlord-tenant law can be confusing at best and downright contradictory at worst. Statutes, administrative code provisions, and case law all must be read, digested, and applied to the specific facts of your situation. Add to that that every county in Wisconsin has its own local rules for its court system, which often differ from other counties. Further complicating matters, even within the same county, judges and court commissioners interpret the law differently, often resulting in very different outcomes.
In my opinion, Wisconsin is a very tenant-friendly state. One need only look to the Wisconsin Administrative Code chapter entitled "Residential Rental Practices" (ATCP 134) to see that. ATCP 134 contains twenty-one rules that landlords must follow. Failing to follow these rules can expose the landlord to a lawsuit for double damages and require payment of the tenant's attorney's fees. Needless to say, no such rules set forth similar requirements for tenants.
I plan to discuss all aspects of landlord tenant law in this blog including: screening tenants, rental documents, Notices for Breach and/or Terminating Tenancy, ATCP 134, evictions, collections of money owed, security deposits, Fair Housing laws (discrimination), rent abatement, abandoned property, late fees and much more.
Because Wisconsin is such a tenant-friendly state, landlords, owners, and managers need to have a firm grasp of landlord-tenant law. I sincerely hope this blog will serve as a forum for those involved in the rental industry to learn, discuss, argue (politely), and interact with each other. To do that, I will need your support, readership, comments, and involvement. I hope Tristan's Landlord-Tenant Law Blog becomes a place where we can exchange ideas, answer questions, blow off some steam, make connections, and generally have fun.
Thanks
T
