Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog
AASEW Offers Realtors & Brokers The Perfect Closing Gift for Their Clients - A Reduced Rate AASEW Membership
For those Realtors and Brokers out there, the AASEW has a perfect closing gift for you to give your clients who just purchased a rental property.Realtors and/or Brokers can purchase an AASEW membership for only $29 through the end of the 2011 membership year for their clients. Your client will appreciate receiving such a gift as it will put them in touch with other landlords and educational opportunities.The AASEW ...
AASEW's Next Meeting Focuses On The Topic of Credit Reports - Monday, July 18th
Would you like to know if your prospective tenant is a good credit risk?Then join the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin (AASEW) at our General Membership meeting on Monday, July 18th, 7:00 p.m, at the Best Western, 1005 South Moorland Road in Brookfield. Kathy Haines, of Landlord Services, LLC will present "Credit Reports 101: How To Determine If Your Prospective Tenant is a Good Credit Risk" At 6:30 p.m. right before our meeting, ...
Small Claims Jurisdictional Limit Increased To $10,000
Wisconsin's small claims jurisdictional limit was increased from $5,000 to $10,000 effective July 1, 2011. This increase was included in Governor Walker's 2011-2013 Budget Bill.The jurisidictional limit for small claims in Wisconsin was set at $5,000 back in 1995 and has remained the same for 16 years.I see this as a positive change for debt collectors and potentially landlords. All eviction actions -- regardless of the amount of rent owed -- ...
Bedbugs . . . Coming Soon To A Rental Property Near You
No longer are bedbugs just a problem in foreign countries, New York City or Las Vegas. Bedbugs are alive and crawling in Wisconsin rental housing units. They have been found in single family rental homes and duplexes in addition to large multi-unit facilities. Unlike many other insects, bedbugs are not attracted to dirty living conditions or spilled food. So you may have a perfectly clean tenant with a spotless apartment ...
New Case Further Solidifies That A Landlord Is Not Liable For Injuries Caused By A Tenant's Dog
A recent Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision has been recommended for publication that will assist landlords in defending against any claims filed by a third party that was bitten by a tenant’s dog.The case of Ladewig v. Tremmel, (2010AP1925) involved a claim for negligence against two landlords by a neighborhood boy that was bitten by the landlords’ tenant’s pit bull.The Court of Appeals was reviewing the trial court decision ...
A Landlord Has Every Right To Enter His Rental Property . . . In Certain Situations.
Unbeknownst to many tenants, a landlord has a legal right to enter his tenant’s rental unit in certain circumstances. The rental unit is still the landlord’s property and the law provides a landlord with the right to access that property.Implied in all residential rental contracts is what is referred to as the "covenant of quiet use and enjoyment." This covenant basically means two things:1. That the landlord guarantees that ...
Don't Miss Bed Bug Boot Camp on June 28th, 2011
In response to the unprecedented spike in the resurgence of of bed bugs in the past year, Wil-Kil Pest Control is offerring a Bed Bug Boot Camp. From pest identification to the legal ramifications of bed bugs, both sessions offer property owners and managers the tools they need to effectively respond to the threat of bed bugs and includes a Bed Bug Canine Scent Detection Demonstration.Click here to see the Bed ...
Avoid Homemade Rental Agreements . . . Regardless of What the Tenant Resource Center Tells You
I received a troubling call from a landlord last week. This landlord had some questions regarding management of her rental properties and told me that she had previosuly called the Landlord-Tenant Resource Center for assistance. I informed the caller that there is no such animal as the Landlord-Tenant Resource Center and that she had actually spoken with the Tenant Resource Center, a very pro-tenant organization.The landlord continued to tell me that she ...
Happy Belated 2nd Birthday to Tristan's Landlord-Tenant Law Blog
I apologize for the recent scarcity of blog posts. I plan on changing that in the near future. Things have been a bit hectic lately -- so hectic in fact that I failed to notice that this blog that you are reading has now turned two years old. I have a toddler on my hands -- look out terrible twos.I made a big to-do with my post last year celebrating ...
Earnest Money Deposits . . . A Trap for the Uneducated Landlord
An earnest money deposit is defined as "the total of any payments or deposits . . . given by a prospective tenant to a landlord in return for the option of entering into a rental agreement in the future, or for having a rental agreement considered by a landlord." The applicable section of the Administrative Code that deals with earnest money is ATCP 134.05 (1) ...
Two Pro-Landlord Bills Are Proposed
Two new bills have been proposed in Madison and both of them are pro-landlord.Landlord Pre-Emption BillRep. Robin Voss has proposed what is being referred to as the Landlord Pre-Emption Bill (LRB 1296/3). This bill prohibits any municipality from enacting an ordinance that does any of the following to a residential landlord:1. Prohibits or limits a landlord from obtaining or using various types of information about a tenant or ...
The Thoughts of One Over-Assessed Rental Propety Owner
This is helpful information for landlords that feel that their rental properties have been over-assessed and provides one landlord's view of the vicious cycle of over assessing rental property in certain areas of the city. I would like to thank Tim Ballering for allowing me to reprint his article on my blog.The tax assessment appeal period will close on Monday the 16th at 4:45 PM. You can get paper forms at the ...
Must A Landlord Actually Repair Tenant-Caused Damage Before The Landlord Can Deduct The Cost From A Tenant's Security Deposit?
This issue keeps raising its head over and over and over . . . so I feel compelled to address it. The question: Must a landlord have completed the repair of tenant-caused damages to a rental unit before being legally able to deduct the repair costs from the tenant's security deposit?I personally believe the answer to that question is "No" -- the repair work does not need to be completed prior to a landlord being able ...
Milwaukee County Eviction Court "Odds & Ends"
I wanted to update everyone about some recent news in Milwaukee County Eviction Court. Each of the items are too small for there own blog post, so I thought I would combine them as "Odds & Ends." This might be a regular blog post column in the future : )1. Out with the old and in with the new -- commissioners, that is.Most of the court commissioners that had been serving in small ...
The Consequences of A Landlord Violating Wisconsin's Residential Rental Practices (ATCP 134)
The Residential Landlord Tenant relationship is controlled by two main areas of law: (1) Chapter 704 of the Wisconsin Statutes, and (2) the Wisconsin Administrative Code, Chapter ATCP 134 entitled "Residential Rental Practices."ATCP 134 sets forth 21 regulations that a landlord must follow in a residential landlord tenant context. ATCP 134, under its orginal name "Agriculture 134," was first introduced in ...
A Legal Explanation To Landlords About Who Can Appear In Eviction Court on Behalf of a LLC and Why
In the last few months I have been asked by many landlords why Milwaukee County will not allow members of an LLC to represent the LLC in eviction court. I would like to address this issue with the hope that I can shed some light on this subject.First, let’s deal with the elephant in the room which happens to be wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase (and writing this blog ...
Repeal of Expanded 1099 Requirements Signed Into Law
President Obama has officially signed H.R. 4, the “Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011” into law. This new law retroactively repeals prior 1099 reporting rules for landlords that were added by 2010 legislation (i.e. the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- better known as Obamacare).Prior to the 2010 legislation, it was generally required that if you were ...
Pursuing a Money Judgement Against An Ex-Tenant . . . Should You Even Bother?
Once you have evicted a tenant and have your property returned to you, you are confronted with the decision of whether to invest the time and money to pursue the ex-tenant for money damages or not.Some of my landlord clients always pursue the ex-tenant for money judgments. Of that segment of landlords, some will obtain their ...
City of Waukesha's Free Landlord Training Program Tomorrow
For those of you who own and/or manage rental properties in the city of Waukesha or the surrounding areas, the City of Waukesha Police Department will be holding its Landlord Training Program tomorrow, April 13, 2011.The program will be held at the Rotary Building which is located at 1150 Baxter Street (behind the Frame Park baseball diamond).I will presenting a free seminar as part of the program starting at 12:30 pm. ...
CCAP Might Be Affected by Governor's Proposed Budget
Just when we thought CCAP would be left alone for awhile (after the dismantling of the CCAP Comittee) word comes of another potential attack on CCAP --- this time it is financial. The Wisconsin Law Journal recently published a post by Jason Smathers of the Associated Press indicating that court officials are concerned that CCAP may be affected if the governor's proposed budget breaks up its funding.The Governor's proposed budget apparently would ...