Archive for May 15th, 2009

MILWAUKEE CO. TO REQUIRE LLCs TO BE REPRESENTED BY AN ATTORNEY

May 15

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, LLC's | No Comments

It has recently come to my attention that Milwaukee County small claims court will in the very near future prohibit any individual other than a lawyer to represent a LLC’s in court. This would mean that a landlord that owns his rental property in an LLC would no longer be able to appear in court to pursue his/her eviction case against a tenant. This is a change from how things have operated in the past and also different from what the law says in my opinion.

For those crafty landlords reading this who think that they will be able to circumvent this roadblock by merely filing the lawsuit in their individual names rather than in the name of the LLC that actually owns the property – you may want to read my earlier post entitled WHO MAY BRING AN EVICTION LAWSUIT.

As background, Wisconsin corporations have been required to appear in court through an attorney in large claims court since 1997 (Jadair Inc. v. U.S. Fire Insurance Co., 209 Wis.2d 187, 562 N.W.2d 401 (1997)). To date there is no case or statute that specifically requires an LLC to be represented by an attorney in large claims court although the reasoning for why only an attorney can appear in court on behalf of a corporation can quite easily be applied to an LLC as well.

Small claims court has been much different then large claims court however. In small claims court landlords have been able to appear in court themselves on behalf of their LLC because of §799.06(2), Wis. Stats. In essence the law says that as long as you are a full time employee of the LLC, or a member of the LLC yourself, you to represent the LLC in small claims court. While the statute prohibited most management companies from appearing in court for an LLC (since most management company employees are not full-time members of the LLC that owns the property but rather a full time employee of the management company that has been hired to manage many properties owned by various LLCs) at least the smaller landlord that owned and operated his/her own rental property could appear in court.

Apparently this will no longer be allowed as a friend of mine informed me that just this week he was warned by a Milwaukee County court commissioner that Milwaukee is preparing to require LLCs to appear in small claims court by attorneys only. Obviously this is going to put a financial strain on many smaller landlords that do not have the financial resources to retain a lawyer to represent their LLC every time they need to evict a tenant.

Tags:

DNS COMMISSIONER TO SPEAK AT JUNE AASEW MEETING

May 15

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, DNS | No Comments

I hope that AASEW members and non-members will all come out in force to attend the AASEW’s June membership meeting on June 15, 2009.  Our main speaker will be the Department of Neighborhood Services new Commissioner Mr. Art Dahlberg. We are not yet certain what Mr. Dahlberg’s speaking topic will be at this time but check back to this Blog for updates. Mr. Dahlberg has been more than willing to meet with the AASEW, its Board of Directors, and landlords in general to assist in fostering a good working relationship between the City and rental property owners.

The AASEW’s meeting are always held on the 3rd Monday of each month – and held at the Best Western Midway Hotel located at 1005 S. Moorland Rd. in Brookfield.

Tags:

NEW LEGISLATION TO MAKE VICTIMS OF ABUSE A NEW PROTECTED CLASS

May 15

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Fair Housing / Discrimination, Legislation, Protected Classes | 2 Comments

On May 14, 2009, Wisconsin Senator Spencer Coggs along with 7 other state senators introduced 2009 Senate Bill 204 entitled the “Victim Fair Housing Act.”

This bill will prohibit discrimination in housing on the basis of a person’s status as a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking. The bill also prohibits the owner of housing from requiring that a rental applicant supply information concerning the person’s status as a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking.

If passed (and there appears to be a great many co-sponsors to date) this bill will create an additional protected class in Wisconsin for victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and/or stalking with regard to housing. Discrimination in housing includes such actions as rejecting a person who applies to rent your property or causing the eviction of a current tenant solely because they are a member of a protected class. Wisconsin currently prohibits discrimination in housing based on a person’s sex, race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religion, national origin, marital status, family status, lawful source of income, age, or ancestry. Some municipalities like the City of Madison and Dane County have even more protected classes then the twelve mentioned above.

While I am not aware of any landlord that would refuse to rent to a victim of abuse in theory it is when that theory is dropped into the “real world” that sticky situations may arise. One concern I have is the fact that the abuser often follows his/her victim. This could pose noise and safety issues for the other tenants that reside in the same building with the abuse victim. What happens if the abuser shows up at the victim’s apartment banging on doors and disturbing the quiet enjoyment of the other tenants? Is a landlord allowed to evict the abuse victim/tenant in this situation? Or worse, what if the abuser shows up at the property and engages in criminal acts such as destroying the landlord’s property or assaulting other tenants who get in his/her way? Will the landlord be prohibited under this new law from evicting the abuse victim/tenant under this scenario? While I don’t think it is fair to evict the abuse victim in these situations I also don’t think it is fair that the other tenants and neighbors should have to endure such situations either. What is the landlord who is providing housing to that abuse victim to do? The landlord also owes his/her other tenants the right to quiet use and enjoyment of the property and to be free from criminal activity and harm.

Another concern is the fact that under the City of Milwaukee’s nuisance ordinances a landlord can be fined for having repeated calls to the police from the same property within a certain period of time. If the abuser should try to contact the abuse victim/tenant there is a strong probability that the victim will call the police (and they should). But under the nuisance laws, even if the police calls are legitimate, if there are too many of them the owner of that property may be fined. If the landlord doesn’t pay the fine it will be added to his/her property tax bill. While I have no supporting data, I think it stands to reason that a victim of abuse may need to contact the police more often than a non-victim of abuse

I don’t know what the answer is or should be. I certainly don’t think that victims of abuse should be discriminated against in housing but I also hope that the legislators, the police, the city and others that will be drawn into this dialogue will understand that there needs to be some protections or accommodations made to a landlord who may be stuck between the proverbial “rock and a hard place.”

Tell me what you think about this new legislation and how it might affect your rental properties.

Here is a link to view the press conference regarding the Victim Fair Housing Act.

Tags: ,