IMPORTANT WEBSITES TO ASSIST WITH SCREENING TENANTS

As I have mentioned before, the screening process is in my opinion the single most important aspect of the rental process. Sufficient time should be spent by the landlord to attempt to ensure that the chosen tenant will be able to live up to and abide by the rental agreement.

Below are some websites that I find very helpful during the screening of my tenants.

CCAP - Wisconsin's Consolidated Court Automation Program - This is a free tool that allows you to access to all state court filings within Wisconsin with the exception of paternity lawsuits and juvenile delinquency petitions. It includes criminal lawsuits, civil lawsuits including eviction actions, divorces, harassment injunctions, replevins (repossession of vehicles), foreclosures, money judgments etc.

Milwaukee Municipal Court Case Information System (MMCCIS) - This is a free website that allows you to enter a persons name and determine if they have received any municipal tickets in the city of Milwaukee for such things as possessions of drugs, possession of drug paraphenelia, battery, traffic violations etc. It should be noted that receiving a municipal ticket is not the same as being charged with a crime. Municipal tickets are just civil forfeitures (fines).

Family Watchdog - This is a free website that allows you to search for convicted sex offenders thoughout the United States by name or location.

Wisconsin's Sex Offender Registry - Run by Wisconsin's Department of Corrections this free website allows you to search by name or location to determine whether or not a person has been convicted as a sex offender within the state.

PACER - Bankruptcy filings in Eastern District of Wisconsin - This website allows you to search (for a nominal cost) to determine if a person has ever filed a bankruptcy in the Eastern District (includes Milwaukee) of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions - This free website proves helpful for commercial landlords who want to check the status of a prospective status of a tenant that is a business entity (LLC, SC, INC, LP etc). It allows you to search its database and willlet you know if such an entity exists and who its registered agent is and his/her address, and whether or not the business entity is delinquent in its filing with the state.

Landlord Services, LLC - This company based in Green Bay is endorsed by the Apartment Association of Wisconsin (AASEW) and will run credit checks on your rental applicants as well as criminal background checks etc.

City of Milwaukee Property Recording Data and Department of Neighborhood Services Property Recording - Both of this sites will allow you to enter an address and find out who owns the property. This is an especially useful tool when screening applicants and you want to verify that their prior landlord is really their prior landlord - and not a family member or friend who will tell you what a great tenant they are.

SSN Validator: This site will allow you to enter a social security number and it will provide you basic information such as if the SSN was issued, approximate date that it was issued, state where it was issued, and if the person that it was issued to is deceased. This information will allow you to better determine if the SSN that an applicant lists on your rental application is legitimate. Use of this site is free.

SCREENING PROSPECTIVE TENANTS

UPDATE - APRIL 15, 2016 ---- Please review my April 15, 2016 blog post on HUD's new guidance regarding the consideration of a rental applicant's criminal history in the screening process as it may impact or alter the information in this blog post.

Screening prospective tenants is the single most important aspect of the rental process regardless of whether you are renting residential or commercial property. If done properly, screening can save a landlord a lot of money, a lot of time, and a lot of headaches. Setting up a proper and legal screening process, which includes the drafting of a Rental Application and written Screening Criteria, can help reduce the need to evict a tenant, defend yourself against a claim that you violated the Wisconsin Administrative Code's Residential Rental Practices (ATCP 134), defend yourself against a claim for discrimination under the Fair Housing laws, and preserve your property from physical damage.

There are several steps to a good screening process. First, you must verify that the applicant is who s/he says there are. The best way to do this is to require each adult applicant to completely fill out a rental application. You should also ask each adult to provide you with a valid photo identification. Request a copy of the applicant's prior utility bill or cable bill as well. You want to ensure that the address on the bills is the same as the address listed on the photo identification and the rental application. You should also obtain the applicant's date of birth and social security number. Require that they provide you with any prior names that they have used in the past few years such as maiden names, if they are recently married, or married names if they are recently divorced. If you are renting to a business entity verify its existence with the Secretary of State's Department of Financial Institutions. Obtaining all of this information early will greatly assist you later in the screening process.

Second, have written screening criteria in place before you start accepting rental applications and ensure that your criteria is applied consistently. Your criteria should set forth the minimum requirements that are necessary to rent your property as well as what will cause an applicant to be denied. You can provide the written screening criteria to each prospective applicant along with the application, or at the very least, you should memorialize the criteria in writing, date it, and keep it for at least 3 years. It is important to remember that if you make an exception to your screening criteria for one applicant that you have now lost the protection of having the criteria in the first place ---- so avoid making any exceptions.

Your screening criteria should not be subjective. Rejecting an applicant because they give you a "bad feeling" or because you did not "connect" with them will only run you afoul of Fair Housing laws. You criteria needs to be objective. Federal laws contain seven (7) different protected classes and the state of Wisconsin has twelve (12) protected classes. You may not deny an applicant because they are a member of any of the following protected classes in Wisconsin: race, color, national origin, sex, religion, familial status, handicap, marital status, sexual orientation, lawful source of income, ancestry and age (18 years old and over). Some local municipalities (the city of Madison comes to mind) have added additional protected classes. So it is important to check all local ordinances where your rental properties are located prior to drafting your screening criteria.

A common misconception is that you cannot reject an applicant who is a smoker, who has a money judgment against them, or who has previously been evicted. Smokers, debtors, and people with past evictions are not members of a protected class and therefore legal screening criteria can exclude them without violating Wisconsin or federal discrimination laws. Other examples of proper screening criteria include the following: (1) Applicant must have monthly income of 3 times the monthly rental amount; (2) Applicant must have no unsatisfied money judgments against them; (3) Applicant must have a credit score of at least 600; (4) Applicant must complete all questions on the rental application; failure to answer all questions or provide an acceptable reason for not answering all questions are grounds for denial of your application.

Third, you should run every applicant's name through Wisconsin's Consolidated Court Automation Program (CCAP). This website lists all criminal and civil legal actions filed throughout the state. By becoming adept with CCAP's search capabilities you will be able to discover if a prior landlord has started an evictions action against your applicant, if your applicant has ever been charged with a crime, or if they have been sued for owing money to someone and whether or not they have satisfied that judgment. Best of all CCAP is free and open to the public.

Fourth, you should obtain a credit check for applicant that is still under consideration after checking CCAP. A landlord may require the applicant to pay the actual cost of the credit check up to $20 if they so wish. In order to charge this fee however you must obtain the credit report from a consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis (TransUnion, Experian or Equifax) and you must notify the applicant of the cost before ordering the report and provide them with a copy after it is received.

These four steps for screening and qualifying a prospective applicant for your rental property are the bare minimum that should be done to ensure that you are protecting your investment.

UPDATE - APRIL 15, 2016 ---- Please review my April 15, 2016 blog post on HUD's new guidance regarding the consideration of a rental applicant's criminal history in the screening process as it may impact or alter the information in this blog post.

ATCP 134 - RESIDENTIAL RENTAL PRACTICES

If you are a landlord are you familiar with ATCP 134? If not, you definitely need to be. ATCP 134 is a chapter of the Wisconsin Administrative Code that applies to residential rental practices. While these rules were updated in 1998 many well-intentioned landlords are still unfamiliar with their provisions and the rather extreme consequences that may result if you fail to abide by them.

The most overlooked - and the most litigated - rule is ATCP 134.06 (2) which pertains to the return of a tenant's security deposit. This rule states that a landlord shall return a tenant's security deposit to that tenant within 21 days after the tenant surrenders the premises to the landlord. This applies whenever the tenant leaves your unit whether that be at the end of the rental period or as the result of being evicted.

If the tenant has damaged the premises or owes back rent such amounts can be deducted from the tenant's security deposit however the 21-day letter must still be sent to the tenant showing the itemized deductions that were taken form their security deposit. The security deposit and/or 21-day letter must be sent to the tenant's forwarding address or if that was not provided then to the tenants last known address.

The consequences to the landlord who fails to follow the above rules are severe. Together, ATCP 134 and the Wisconsin Statutes, allow a tenant to sue a landlord who fails to return the security deposit or mail the 21-day letter to the tenant within the 21 day time period, for double the amount of the security deposit, together with the costs of the lawsuit and the tenant's reasonable attorney's fees. Yes, that is correct, that same tenant that you were forced to evict for failing to pay their rent or for disturbing their neighbors by playing their music too loud, can now come back and sue his/her landlord. Adding insult to injury, besides receiving a damages judgment against you, the landlord, you will also be stuck having to pay the fees of the lawyer who was hired by your ex-tenant to sue you.

If you are a landlord and are unaware of the above residential practice rule or are unfamiliar with ATCP 134 in general, I urge you to become knowledgable before you become mired in such a situation.

Welcome to Tristan's Landlord Tenant Law Blog

Welcome. My name is Tristan Pettit and I am an attorney with the law firm of Petrie & Stocking S.C. One of my specialties is the area of landlord tenant law. I am also the current President of the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin (AASEW). I have been practicing in the area of 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 was searching the internet to see if I could find a landlord tenant law website or blog in Wisconsin to connect with others in the industry. I was surprised to find only one blog in Wisconsin that even touched on the topic (Dr. Rent Chronicles from the Wausau area). I expanded my search a bit hoping to locate some L-T law blogs outside of Wisconsin - I found less than a handful and none of them seemed to discuss the nuts and bolts of landlord tenant law. While there are tons of blogs and websites devoted to real estate law, it is my opinion that landlord tenant law is a very specific sub-category of general real estate law and one that deserves it own voice. This lack of a forum for landlords and others related to the rental housing industry gave birth to 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 due to the poor economy were unable to sell their existing home and therefore were forced to rent it out. You have the rehabbers who bought a property that needed some work who hoped to fix it up and then sell it off only to find that in this poor real estate economy that there was a glut of 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 for clogged toilets and broken water heaters. It is my hope that this blog will offer something to both the intentional landlords and the reluctant landlords as well as others involved in the rental housing industry.

The area of landlord tenant law can be confusing at best and down right contradictory at worst. There are statutes, administrative code provisions, and case law out there all of which must be read and digested and applied to the specific facts of your situation. Add to that the fact that every county in Wisconsin has their own local rules for their respective court systems which often differ from the other counties. Further complicating matters is that even within the same county you have judges and court commissioners that interpret the law differently often resulting in very different outcomes.

It is my opinion that 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. Failure to abide by these rules opens the landlord up to being sued for double damages by their tenant and being required to pay the tenant's own attorney fees. Needless to say there are no such rules setting 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 of Wisconsin being such a tenant-friendly state, landlords, owners, and managers need to have a firm grasp of landlord tenant law. It is my sincere hope that this blog will serve as a forum for those involved in the rental industry to learn, discuss, argue (politely), and interact with each other. In order to accomplish this I will need your support, readership, comments, and involvement. I hope that TRISTAN'S Landlord Tenant Law Blog will become a place where we can exchange ideas, answer questions, blow off some steam, make connections, and generally have fun.

Thanks

T