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Attorney General States That A Tenant Can Be Required To Pay For Carpet Cleaning Upon Vacating

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in ATCP 134, State of Wisconsin, Carpet Cleaning / Comments

It is not often that I get to report good news for landlords, so when the opportunity arises I am especially happy to do so.  Today is one of those times.  Earlier today the Wisconsin Attorney General issued a formal legal opinion that states that it is legal for a residential landlord in Wisconsin to require an outgoing tenant to pay to have the carpet in the unit professionally cleaned ...

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Joint Legislative Council Gives Clarification To Wisconsin's New Landlord's Omnibus Law

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in ATCP 134, AASEW, Legislation, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law) / Comments

You will recall from my earlier post that I had some concerns about the new Landlord's Omnibus Law (Act 134).  One of my main concerns was that it was unclear from the wording of Act 143 whether or not a violation of chapter 704 would give rise to a claim by a tenant that would entitle the tenant to double damages and attorney's fees if successful.The portion of ...

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2011 Wisconsin Act 143 (Landlord Omnibus Law) Also Applies To Commercial Landlord-Tenant Law

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in ATCP 134, Legislation, Rental Agreements, Rental Documents, Security Deposit, Property Management, State of Wisconsin, Landlord Liability, Holdover Damages, Attorney's Fees, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law), Commercial L-T Law / Comments

While this blog primarily focuses on residential landlord-tenant law, on occasion I also touch on issues applicable to commercial landlord-tenant law.  This is one such instance.Commercial landlord-tenant is more straightforward than residential in my opinion because commercial tenancies are less regulated than residential.  Typically what a commercial landlord and tenant agreed to and placed into their lease agreement is what governs.  The Wisconsin Administrative Code's ATCP 134 does not ...

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Landlord's Omnibus Bill Signed Into Law - Read It Now

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in ATCP 134, AASEW, Legislation, Rental Agreements, Rental Documents, State of Wisconsin, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law) / Comments

Governor Walker did sign the Landlord's Omnibus Bill into law.I appreciate the effort of everyone that called the Governor's office asking him to veto the bill due to its deficiencies.Here is a link to the new law.  Much easier to read than having to go back and forth between the orginal bill, the Substitute bill and the two amendments.The two main concerns that I have with the law and which caused ...

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Landlord's Omnibus Bill -- with Amendments -- To Be Signed Into Law Today

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in ATCP 134, Legislation, Rental Agreements, Rental Documents, State of Wisconsin, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law) / Comments

One of the biggest pieces of pro-Landlord legislation in quite some time was passed by the Wisconsin Senate and adopted by the Assembly recently and will be signed into law by Governor Walker today.  Unfortunately some of the pro-Landlord provisions were amended, diluted, or removed.I am certainly not denouncing this new law.  Many aspects of it will be very helpful to landlords.  I just wish that more time had been allowed -- ...

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New Bills Would Limit Tenant's Attorney's Fees When Suing Landlords

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in ATCP 134, Legislation, State of Wisconsin / Comments

There are two new proposed laws that if passed would limit the amount of attorney’s fees that could be awarded to a tenant that has sued his/her landlord for violation of ATCP 134 to 3 times the amount of compensatory damages in Wisconsin.  The proposed legislation (Special Session Assembly Bill 12 & Special Session Senate Bill 12) was introduced by the committee on Senate Organization and the ...

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The Consequences of A Landlord Violating Wisconsin's Residential Rental Practices (ATCP 134)

Posted by admin in ATCP 134 / Comments

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 ...

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Landlords Should Periodically Inspect Their Rental Property . . . or Risk $98,465 In Damage

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in ATCP 134, State of Wisconsin, Right of Entry / Comments

Last night I read an article about a Virginia landlord that had $98,465 in damage to one of his rental units.  Apparently his tenant was a compulsive hoarder and every room in the home was full from floor to ceiling with trash, soiled clothing, old newspaper, rotten food, and other deberis and excrement.  It cost the landlord over $98,000 to get the unit back into rentable condition.  The landlord's ...

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Self-Help Evictions (or Why You Should Not Remove The Roof In An Attempt To Evict Your Tenant)

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in ATCP 134, Evictions, Self-Help Evictions / Comments

I apologize for the delay in drafting a new post but this has been a crazy week with two trials in the early part of the week and another one tomorrow  (all tenants fighting evictions and none of these trials have been or will be easy).  But enough with the excuses . . .I saw a recent article about a landlord in Lusaka, Zambia (Africa) that actually attempted ...

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BLOG COMMENT: What If Tenant Does Not Give You Proper Notice To Vacate? . . . and Other Questions.

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in ATCP 134, Rental Agreements / Comments

I recently received a very good question through my blog but because it was posted under my "About The Author" section I don't think enough people would see it so I decided to reprint it as a post.THE QUESTION:Good Morning,I will start by saying thank you for this forum, I find it very helpful and one of a kind.  I know you must be very busy but I was ...

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