Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog
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Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog
Archive of: Legislation
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 ...
Read MoreACT 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. ...
Read MoreACT 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant Law - Part 1: Background and Overview
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law), Act 76 (SB 179) / Comments
Senate Bill 179, which is commonly referred to as the "Landlord-Tenant Law Bill," is on its way to becoming law in the near future. For many of us it has been a long wait.After initially being introduced in the Wisconsin Senante on May 8, 2013, the Senante concurred to some changes made to SB 179 by the Assembly on October 16, 2013. It is expected that Governor Walker will sign ...
Read MoreSB 179 ("Landlord-Tenant Bill") Is On It's Way To Governor Walker To Be Signed Into Law
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, Legislation, Evictions, State of Wisconsin, Small Claims Court, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law) / Comments
At about 6:40 pm on October 16, 2013, SB 179 (commonly referred to as the Landlord-Tenant Bill) was concurred by the state Senate after a minor amendment was made in the state Assembly earlier. The bill passed 18-15 despite attempts to delay the bill via a motion to non-concur. The bill now goes to the Governor who has 30 days to "call" for the bill and sign it.If you would like to ...
Read MoreCCAP Is Under Attack Again
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Evictions, Screening Tenants, CCAP / Comments
When Senator Marlin Schneider lost re-election a few years ago, I thought that the attacks against Wisconsin's Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP) would disappear. Well they did -- for a while. But Senator Lena Taylor along with Representatives Goyke, Sargent, Kessler, Hebl and Pope haven taken up the torch and are trying to prevent the public from accessing CCAP once again via Senate Bill 234/Assembly Bill 253.These two bills were ...
Read MoreMilwaukee's Amended Smoke Alarm Ordinance To Take Effect June 1, 2013.
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, Legislation, Smoke Detectors / Comments
On November 8, 2012, Milwaukee's Common Council passed a revised smoke alarm ordinance by a vote of 13 to 2.Effective June 1, 2013, all battery-operated smoke alarm must be powered by 10-year or more non-removable (sealed) batteries. Compliance with this requirement must be met when replacing any current battery operated smoke alarm after June 1st next year or by October 1, 2017 -- whichever is sooner. ...
Read MoreCCAP Committee's Recommendation To Change Wisconsin's Expungment Laws Shot Down
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Screening Tenants, CCAP / Comments
Last year Wisconsin's Joint Legislative Council created a Special Committee On The Review of Records Access of Circuit Court Documents – what I affectionately referredto as the CCAP Committee. Landlords were very fortunate that in the end the committee made no recommendations to change or alter information on CCAP or limit its access by landlords or any other group. The committee's sole recommendation was to call for the ...
Read More"Landlord Preemption Bill" Signed Into Law
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation / Comments
It is nice to finally see some landlord-friendly laws being passed in the state of Wisconsin.On December 7, 2011, Senate Bill 107 (commonly referred to as the “Landlord Preemption Bill”) was signed into law by Governor Scott Walker as 2011 Wisconsin Act 108. This new law creates Section 66.0104 of the Wisconsin Statutes and prohibits municipalities from enacting an ordinance that places certain limits or requirements on a landlord.Specifically, section ...
Read MoreGovernor Walker Signs 2 Pro-Landlord Bills Into Law
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Attorney's Fees / Comments
Just wanted to let everone know that in the last few days Governor Walker has signed into law two bills that will positively affect landlords.- On December 7th, Governor Walker signed SB 107 (2011 Wisconsin Act 108) which relates to prohibiting municipalities from creating ordinances that put limits on landlords. If you would like more detail on this law please see my prior blog post on the topic. Here ...
Read MoreUpdate on Landlord Pre-Emption Bill
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Screening Tenants, State of Wisconsin, City of Madison / Comments
It has been awhile since I updated everyone on the pro-landlord legislation that is being addressed in Madison. Senate Bill 107 (SB 107) -- referred to as the Landlord Pre-Emption Bill -- has been passed by the Wisconsin Senate and is currently being reviewed by the House this term (AB 155).You may recall that SB 107 prohibits any municipality from enacting any ordinance that limits a ...
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