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Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog

Archive of: Landlord Liability

I Think That My Tenant Has Vacated the Rental Unit, What Do I Do Now? PART 1: Surrender of the Rental Unit

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Self-Help Evictions, Landlord Liability / Comments

In an ideal world, the tenant would return their keys, remove all personal property (including trash), and leave the rental unit spotless. Then it would be clear that the tenant has surrendered the rental unit and, as there wouldn’t be any personal property remaining, there would be nothing to debate its abandonment. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. In this situation, there are generally two main issues: (1) Has ...

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Part 2: Landlords Can Be Liable for the Discriminatory Acts of Their Tenants

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Caselaw, Fair Housing / Discrimination, Protected Classes, Landlord Liability / Comments

I received an email from a reader regarding my last post about the Wetzel case.  The reader essentially asked me what a landlord could do to make sure that they do not become liable for the discriminatory acts of their tenants like what happened to the landlord in the Wetzel case. While I cannot give legal advice (i.e. applying the law to a certain set of facts) via this blog, I ...

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Landlords Can Be Liable for the Discriminatory Acts of Their Tenants

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Caselaw, Fair Housing / Discrimination, Protected Classes, Landlord Liability / Comments

Perhaps one of the most important cases to be published in 2018 affecting landlord-tenant law was the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals case of Wetzel v. Glen St. Andrew Living Community, LLC, 2018 WI 4057365 (7th Cir. Aug 27, 2018).  In the Wetzel case the Seventh Circuit (which includes Wisconsin) held that a landlord may be liable under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) for failing to protect a tenant from ...

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Portland Landlord Sentenced to Jail For Apartment Fire That Resulted In The Death of Six Tenants

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Landlord Liability / Comments

There has been a lot of news reports lately about fires in rental buildings. Recently there was the Oakland, California "Ghost Ship" fire that killed 36 people. Just a few days before that fire, a landlord was sentenced to serve time in jail as a result of one of the deadliest fires in 4 decades in Portland Maine. This was the first jail sentence for a ...

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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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Landlords & Wisconsin's New CCW Law

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Landlord Liability, CCW / Comments

As I'm sure many of you are aware, Wisconsin has a new Carrying Concealed Weapon (CCW) law.  Wisconsin Act 35 was signed into law on July 8, 2011 and took effect on November 1, 2011.Since the new law was published, I have received several calls from landlords and property management companies asking me how this new law will affect them.  Since the question has come up repeatedly I thought I would do ...

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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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New Case Further Solidifies That A Landlord Is Not Liable For Injuries Caused By A Tenant's Dog

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Dog Bites, Landlord Liability / Comments

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 ...

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