Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog
U.S. Senate Votes to Repeal New 1099 Reporting Requirements for Businesses and Landlords
The U.S. Senate has passed H.R. 4 which repeals the new 1099 reporting laws for businesses and rental property owners. The vote was 87-12. Since the House had already passed this bill -- and no modifications were made by the Senate -- the bill will now go to the President for his signature. While the President has indicated that he did not care for the "pay for" (offset) provisions that were included in ...
CCAP Committee Disbands Without Any Major Changes Negatively Affecting Landlords
On March 9, 2011, State Rep. Ed Brooks, the newly appointed Chair of the State of Wisconsin's, Joint Legislative Council's Special Committee on Review of Records Access of Circuit Court Documents (CCAP Committee) sent a memo to all members of the committee indicating that he had decided not to reconvene the committee for any additional meetings.For the most part, landlords came out unscathed by the reccomendations of the CCAP ...
Free Landlord-Tenant Law Seminar In West Allis on March 31, 2011
I will be presenting a seminar for the West Allis Landlord Training Program on Thursday, March 31, 2011 from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm. This seminar is sponsored by the West Allis Police Department and is open to the public at no cost.I will be speaking on two specific areas:1. Rental Documents -- specifically what rental documents you should be using with your tenants to protect yourself such as:
Has WE Energies Ever Tried To Hold You Responsible for An Ex-Tenant's Utility Bill?
Fellow blogger and AASEW Board member, Tim Ballering, runs a very informative blog for landlords entitled "Just A Landlord." Tim has graciously allowed me to reproduce one of his most popular posts on the topic of what a landlord can do when WE Energies attempts to hold the landlord responsible for an ex-tenant's utility bill. Please be sure and check out Tim's blog - there is some great stuff there._____________________________________________________________________________________What ...
The Ever Important Security Deposit Transmittal Letter (or "21 Day Letter")
Aside from evictions, issues regarding the failure to properly return a tenant's security deposit are, in my opinion, the single most litigated area in landlord-tenant law.In Wisconsin, if a tenant has deposited a security deposit to his/her landlord as part of a residential tenancy, the landlord must comply with one of two options within 21 days after the tenant "surrenders" the landlord's rental unit:1. Return the tenant's security deposit, or2. Send ...
D.N.S.' Update on Milwaukee's R.R.I. Program In U.W.-Milwaukee Area
The City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) recently spoke at a meeting on the east side of Milwaukee and provided an update of the Residential Rental Inspection (RRI) program which was instituted around UW-Milwaukee area and in the Lindsey Heights neighborhood. If you would like a refresher of what the RRI program is all about you should read my earlier blog posts on the issue.Much of the information set forth below was ...
A De Novo Hearing Is A "Second Kick at the Cat"
Under Wisconsin law, a Court Commissioner cannot decide a contested eviction action -- that must be decided by a judge. However a court commissioner can preside over and decide a hearing on a landlord's 2nd and 3rd causes for action for money damages. Typically this includes claims for past due rent, physical damages to the rental property or holdover damages.In Milwaukee County, due to ...
AASEW Cancels "Meet Your Legislators" Day Due To Protests In Madison
The Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin (AASEW) Board of Directors decided today to cancel its very popular "Meet Your Legislators" Day in Madison which was planned for Wednesday, March 16, 2011.The goal of "Meet Your Legislators" Day was to meet with several state politicians to voice the concerns of rental property owners with regard to our industry. Many of the politicians that we have spoken with recently indicated that they would not have ...
New Rule In Milwaukee County Eviction Court Will Limit The Number of New Evictions to 80 Per Day
In an effort to eliminate the congestion in eviction court, Milwaukee County has imposed a limit of 80 new eviction cases per day. In the past there have been days in which over 300 new eviction cases were scheduled to be heard in the same afternoon, which often became unmanageble.This new limit only applies to new case filings for eviction cases (the 1st cause of action) for return of the property. This new ...
5 Day Notice Terminating Tenancy for Drug or Gang Nuisance In Wisconsin
I thought I would try something new with this blog post. I've imbedded a video clip from a seminar that I have given in the past. Let me know what you think.This clip focuses on a very specific -- and often misunderstood -- type of 5 day notice in Wisconsin called a 5 Day Notice for gang and/or drug ...
U.S. Senate Repeals A Second New 1099 Reporting Law That Would Have Greatly Affected Landlords
About a week ago I blogged about a new federal law that will require landlords to issue 1099's to any individual or business that provides the landlord with more than $600 in services in any 12 month period. While this new law isn't going away anytime soon, another new federal 1099 reporting law has fortunately been repealed.Included in the new health care reform law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable ...
New 1099 Law Will Greatly Affect Landlords In 2011
A new federal will greatly affect how landlords do business in 2011.In September 2010, a small provision affecting landlord was tucked into the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which has now become a subject of concern to many of us. Not only will this new law create a lot of additional paperwork for landlords, but it may open up Pandora’s Box should you be audited.The new law requires all ...
Don't Miss Landlord Boot Camp on February 26th!
The Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin's (AASEW) will be offering its third annual Landlord Boot Camp on Saturday, February 26, 2011 from 8:30 am - 5:30 pm. Learn everything that you need to know about Landlord-Tenant law in Wisconsin at this all-day seminar.Yours truly will be the presenter and I will be addressing the following topics: - Screening Rental Applicants- Written Screening Criteria- Fair Housing (Discrimination) law- Rental Documents (Rental Agreements, Nonstandard ...
New Carbon Monoxide Detector Notice Forms Available at Wisconsin Legal Blank
As I mentioned in my previous post, as of February 1, 2011 a new Wisconsin law requiring owners of single family and two-family properties throughout Wisconsin (including owner-occupied properties) went into effect.In light of this new law, I have drafted a new Carbon Monoxide Detector Notice form that landlords can give to their tenant's that explains the new law and provides both the tenant and the landlord with notice as ...
Notices Available To Landlords In Residential Tenancies
There are several types of notices that a landlord can serve on a tenant when a landlord wishes to terminate the tenancy or when a tenant commits a breach of their residential rental agreement. Most of these notices can be used in both periodic tenancies -- like a month to month -- and a lease for term -- like a 12 month lease -- but under different situations. But there ...
To "Walkthrough" or Not To "Walkthrough" That Is The Question
At the end of a tenancy a tenant or a landlord often requests a walkthrough of the rental unit prior to turning in the keys and delivering possession of the unit back to the landlord. A walkthrough is just that --- the tenant and the landlord walk through the rental unit and make observations of the condition of the unit. It is at this time that a landlord may point ...
Rejecting A Rental Applicant: The Do's and Dont's
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.Let's face it, most landlords would prefer to never have to reject a rental applicant. It would be great if every application that we received from ...
Don't Miss DR. RENT at AASEW's Next Meeting on Monday, January 17th!!
On Monday, January 17, 2011 at 7 p.m., John "Dr. Rent" Fischer will be the featured speaker at the AASEW's February membership meeting. John will be presenting his most requested seminar entitled "Top Ten Mistakes That Landlords Make." The meeting will be held at the Best Western Midway Hotel which is located at 1005 S. Moorland Road in Brookfield.Besides, being a blogging buddy of mine --- John's blog is ...
A Landlord's Primer on "Reasonable Accommodations"
I am seeing an increase in tenants making "reasonable accommodations" requests during their tenancy. While similar to "reasonable modifications," which I blogged about a few weeks ago, reasonable accommodations are different.A reasonable accommodation request is one in which a tenant who has a disability asks his/her landlord to make an accomodation to the landlord's rules, policies, practices or services as a result of that disability. Wisconsin's ...
Carbon Monoxide Detector Law for Single Family Homes and Duplexes To Take Effect Feb. 1st
The new state law requiring that carbon monoxide detectors be installed in all single family homes and duplexes takes effect on February 1, 2011. The law requires that a functional CO2 detector be installed in the basement and on each floor (except the attic, garage or storage area) of each property. This law can be found at sec. 101.647 of the Wisconsin Statutes. The only exception to this would be if the building has all-electric heat ...