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Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog

Archive of: City of Milwaukee

Milwaukee Common Council Approves Legislation Requiring Lead-Safe Certification Before a Property can Be Rented To Public

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Lead-Based Paint, Legislation, City of Milwaukee / Comments

On July 7, 2020, the full City of Milwaukee Common Council approved legislation to create a program certifying that rental properties are lead-safe before they can be rented to tenants. Authored by Alderman Ramsey, this resolution directs the Department of Administration-Intergovernmental Relations Division to seek the introduction and passage of state legislation that would permit the City of Milwaukee to create a program requiring rental property owners to certify that rental ...

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GUEST POST: Views on "Landlords Games" Series and the City of Milwaukee's Task Force on LLC's

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in LLC's, Investing In Rental Property, City of Milwaukee / Comments

This is a Guest Blog Post authored by Tim BalleringRecently the Milwaukee Journal ran a series “Landlord Games" that inaccurately portrayed LLCs as being used simply to avoiding paying property taxes and fines. The result is the Milwaukee Common Council is creating a committee to study LLCs and rental housing. Text of proposal. The rental industry is again, noticeably absent from those invited to the table.View ...

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City of Milwaukee Looking to Expand Its Residential Rental Inspection Program (a.k.a Landlord Licensing)

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in City of Milwaukee, Residential Rental Inspection (RRI) Program / Mandatory Rental I / Comments

The Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) of the city of Milwaukee is looking to expand its Residential Rental Inspection (RRI) program to additional parts of Milwaukee. Simply put the RRI program is "landlord licensing" at its heart and it may very well be coming to your neighborhood.As background, the RRI program was created in December of 2009 as a so-called "pilot" program. It allowed the city to enter ...

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ACT 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant Law - Part 3: Speeding Up the Eviction Process

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Evictions, City of Milwaukee, City of Madison, Act 76 (SB 179) / Comments

Several of the provisions of Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant law, Act 76 (SB 179), were created or amended to speed up the eviction process.  Evictions are supposed to be summary proceedings and per the Wisconsin Supreme Court (Scalzo v. Anderson, 87 Wis. 2d 834 (1979)) there are very limited number of issues permissible in an evictions action.  Nonetheless, tenants were finding ways to delay the process.  Hopefully Act 76 will resolve much of ...

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ACT 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant Law - Part 2: Restrictions on Local Ordinances

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, City of Milwaukee, Residential Rental Inspection (RRI) Program / Mandatory Rental I, City of Madison, Act 76 (SB 179) / Comments

As I mentioned in Part 1, the soon to be new law contains new provisions as well as some corrective provisions (which will correct unintended consequences from last year's new law Act 143).  In this blog post I will talk about one of the new provisions of the law which will restrict a local municipality from creating and/or enforcing certain local ordinances.The new law will creates sec. 66.0104(2)(c) and (d), Wis. ...

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GUEST POST: Is the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin Against the City of Milwaukee?

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, City of Milwaukee / Comments

Is the Apartment Association against the City of Milwaukee?After a recent meeting I received an email from an irate member who was offended by some of my commentary regarding the city of Milwaukee, it seemed the association had an anti-Milwaukee tone to its messages. Having committed much of my career to making Milwaukee, especially its central core, a better place to live I was initially surprised by the feedback, ...

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GUEST POST: The Importance of Rentals In Milwaukee

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Foreclosures, City of Milwaukee / Comments

Below is a very thought provoking guest post from fellow blogger (and friend and fellow AASEW Board Member) Tim Ballering:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Journal is reporting:Over the next three years, Barrett said raze orders in the city are expected to grow to 1,600 homes, with a cost of $24 million.  ”We have a very severe problem right now,” Barrett said.No kidding we have a “severe problem ”  This a problem that continues to ...

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You Will Not Want To Miss AASEW's Fourth Annual Landlord Boot Camp on Saturday Feb. 25th

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Tenant Damage, Credit Checks, AASEW, Lead-Based Paint, Fair Housing / Discrimination, Protected Classes, Evictions, Late Fees, Notices, Collections, Emergency Assistance, City of Milwaukee, Screening Tenants, Rental Agreements, Rental Documents, Seminars, Pets, Security Deposit, Milwaukee County, Property Management, Mitigation of Damages / Re-Renting, Untenantability, Execution of Writ, State of Wisconsin, Self-Help Evictions, Right of Entry, Reasonable Modifications, Reasonable Accommodations, Rejecting Rental Applicants, Walkthroughs, De Novo Hearings, Earnest Money, Landlord Liability, Small Claims Court, Holdover Damages, Roommates, Smoke Detectors / Comments

Landlording can be pretty complex, with a seemingly never ending myriad of paperwork, rules, landlord-tenant laws and simple mistakes that can cost you thousands of dollars.The Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin's Fourth Annual “Landlord Boot Camp” can help you navigate these treacherous waters and teach you how to run your properties with greater profit and less hassles.I have given similar landlord-tenant law seminars to fellow attorneys, landlords, and property manager ...

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For Those of You Who Thought The Installation of A Smoke Detector Was Simple . . . READ THIS.

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in City of Milwaukee, Smoke Detectors / Comments

AASEW Board member Tim Ballering wrote the City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) back in June to ask for clarification about the proper placement of smoke detectors in his residential rental units in the city of Milwaukee.Ballering was prompted to write to DNS becasue he felt there was some confusion among DNS inspectors as to where smoke detectors should be installed.Below is the entire text of Ballering's email ...

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Don't Miss the 2nd Annual East Side Landlord Think Small Conference on Wednesday November 9, 2011

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Notices, City of Milwaukee, Seminars, Milwaukee County / Comments

I will be the featured speaker at the upcoming East Side Landlord Think Small Conference on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 from 3 pm - 6:30 pm at UW-Milwaukee, Chapman Hall located at 2310 E. Hartford Avenue, in the Regent's Room on the 2nd floor.This conference is FREE to any and all interested landlords, with a special focus on Milwaukee's East Side landlords.This conference is composed of 3 componants:1.   Featured Speaker - I ...

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