More New and Revised Landlord Forms Available at Wisconsin Legal Blank

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Rental Documents, Wisconsin Legal Blank / Comments

I have recently completed drafting some new landlord forms which are now available at Wisconsin Legal Blank, including:

1. Smoking Policy Addendum (Form 982) - This form may be used when a landlord wants to prohibit smoking on the rental premises or only allow smoking in specific location/s of the rental premises. This form also sets forth the terms, conditions and rules related to any smoking prohibition or restriction on smoking.

2. Co-Signer Agreement (Form 20) - I wanted to "beef up" the co-signer agreement section that previously was located in the lower left-hand corner of the Rental Agreement (Forms 19 and 19L). This new form will allow a landlord to obtain more information about the co-signer similar to the information requested of a potential tenant on a rental application lie address, DOB, SS#, place of employment etc. This information will aid a landlord in evaluating the collectability of a co-signer and provide necessary information should the co-signer need to sued or turned over to a collection agency. This form also explains in greater detail the obligations of a co-signer if the tenant fails to pay rent or violates other portions of the rental agreement.

I have also revised several of Wisconsin Legal Blank's current forms to make them better, including:

3. Applicant Screening Criteria (Form 990A) - This form needed to be modified in light of HUD's April 4, 2016 directive regarding the use of applicants' criminal history during the screening process. I also took this opportunity to make this form easier to use by combining all requirements into separate numbered paragraphs.

4. Nonstandard Rental Provisions (Form 984) - If you will recall, the main purpose of a NSRP is to list things that a landlord can deduct from a tenant's security deposit. Toward that end, I added a new provision that will allow a landlord to deduct any rental promotion or concession (i.e. first month free rent upon the signing of a 12 month lease) from a tenant's security deposit should the tenant skip out prior to the end of the lease or be evicted. Another provision that was added includes any costs incurred by a landlord associated with the removal of tenants' abandoned property. Finally, I also clarified that a landlord may deduct for "damage, waste or neglect" to the rental unit and not just "damage."

5. Landlord Reference Questionnaire (Form 12) - This form provides suggested questions that a landlord can ask a rental applicant's current or prior landlord during the screening process. Revisions were made to bring the form into compliance with HUD's directive (see reference above and prior blog post). I also made some grammatical changes to the questions.

6. 12 Hour Notice To Enter (Form 331) - I made some changes to this form so that it better explains the situations in which a landlord may enter a tenant's rental unit. I also clarified the portion of the form dealing with who the tenant may contact if s/he has any questions/concerns.

Happy Landlording!