Archive for October, 2009

LLC’s – PART 1: Why You Should Consider Using Them To Hold Your Rental Property

Oct 28

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, Investing In Rental Property, LLC's | 1 Comment

 
The AASEW’s October monthly membership meeting focused on the issue of LLC’s and why you should consider using this business entity to hold your rental properties.   Attorney Lydia Chartre of Petrie and Stocking S.C. spoke to the membership about several issues related to LLC’s including:
 
-  Why create an LLC?
 
-  Steps to create an LLC
 
-  Information that an attorney will need to assist you in creating an LLC
 
This meeting had the largest turnout of any AASEW membership meeting in the last 2 years — we had more than 70 people.  Both prior to the meeting and afterwords I received several telephone calls from people that wanted to attend the meeting but were unable to do so.  Because of this I have decided to post Atty. Chartre’s outline that was distributed to everyone in attendance at the meeting.  While you missed a great presentation from my law partner, Lydia, at least you will have the “nuts and bolts” of her presentation. Read the rest of this entry »

Milwaukee’s Residential Rental Certificate Program Is On It’s Way To The Common Council

Oct 28

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in DNS, Legislation, Mandatory Rental Inspections / Landlord Licensing | No Comments

On Tuesday, October 27, 2009, Milwaukee’s ZND (Zoning, Neighborhood and Development) committee voted 3-2 to send the proposed ordinance to the Common Council for a final vote.  The proposed ordinance, referred to as the Residential Rental Certificate Program, would require all rental property owners in 2 targeted areas of the city to apply for a certificate in order to continue renting out their property.  The cost would be $85 per unit and would require the landlord to allow a warrantless interior search/inspection of his/her property in order to obtain the certificate.  To read more about the proposed ordinance you should read my prior post on the topic.

A 2 plus hour hearing was held at which time the Department of Neighborhood Services Commissioner Art Dahlberg explained his reasoning for initiating the program and outlined the basic tenets of the ordinance.  Sponsors of the ordinance including Aldermen Kovac, Wade, and Davis, spoke in favor of the program and offered their reasons for supporting the ordinance. 

A large crowd turned out for the hearing and as a result an overflow room with a live feed had to be opened to accomodate all of the people in attendence.  The public was allowed to provide comments, concerns, and criticisms of the proposed program and approximately 20 individuals spoke out. Read the rest of this entry »

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Milwaukee County Eviction Court to Alter Court Times During Flu Season

Oct 23

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

A friend of mine who works in the courthouse sent me an email today which she asked that I pass along to my clients and friends in the rental industry.  Apparently in an attempt to reduce crowding during the flu season Milwaukee Co. Eviction Court has decided to have certain plaintiffs, based on the spellling of their last name or company name, to appear on intial appearances at 3 pm rather than 2 pm.
Below is the email info I received: 
 
TO ALL PLAINTIFFS in Small Claims eviction cases, effective 10/26/09
  
If you are a business whose name begins with A thru K or an individual whose last name begins with A thru K, your case will be scheduled in Room 400 at 2:00 p.m.
 
If you are a business whose name begins with L thru Z or an individual whose last name begins with L thru Z, your case will be scheduled in Room 400 at 3:00 p.m.

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Hearing On Milwaukee’s Residential Rental Certificate Program to be Held on October 27th at 10 am

Oct 22

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in City of Milwaukee, Legislation, Mandatory Rental Inspections / Landlord Licensing | No Comments

A hearing on Milwaukee’s proposed Residential Rental Certificate Program will be held before the Zoning and Development Committee on October 27, 2009 at 10 AM in room 301 of Milwaukee’s CIty Hall.

It is at this hearing that people may speak in favor or against the proposed ordinance.  The ZND committee will then decide whether or not the proposed ordinance should be referred to the common council for a vote by the alderpersons.

If you would like to read more about the proposed ordinance that will affect landlords in the UWM area and Lindsay Heights area on the north side of Milwaukee you should refer to my earlier post on the subject.

If you want to be heard.  You need to be present at this hearing.

To determine your alderman and contact information go here.

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City of Milwaukee’s “Residential Rental Certificate Program” Is Unveiled

Oct 21

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in City of Milwaukee, DNS, Legislation, Mandatory Rental Inspections / Landlord Licensing | 10 Comments

Well I have finally been able to get my hands on a preliminary copy of the city of Milwaukee’s proposed mandatory rental inspection ordinance.  The ordinance is sponsored by Alderman Kovac, Wade, Davis and Hines.  The ordinance refers to the proposed program as a “Residential Rental Certificate” program.  The program is really just a variation on “landlord licensing” and mandatorty rental inspection programs.  I would encourage you to read the enitre proposed ordinance, but I have also set forth the key points below:

-     This will be a 5 year pilot program.

-     The targeted area includes the UWM area on the city’s east side and the Lindsay Heights neighborhood on the city’s north side.  These areas were selected because the city believes the areas need to be monitored to prevent deterioration.  Allegedly these two areas include older housing stock, have a high density of rental properties, have a higher percentage of complaints, and have high tenant turnover.  The city feels that frequent inspections of the rental properties in these two areas are needed to maintain safe, decent, and sanitary living conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

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WHY ARE THE “BAD LANDLORDS” THE ONLY ONES WE EVER HEAR ABOUT?

Oct 19

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Collections, Tenant Damage | 5 Comments

I was catching up on some long overdue blog reading this weekend and I came across a great blog post that I thought was very timely.  I asked the author is I could re-post his thoughts and he agreed.  The author of the post is Bill Gray who runs Rent Recovery Service, a company that assists landlords with collecting past due rent and damage charges from ex-tenants.  I was fortunate enough to have met Bill this past September at the AASEW’s Annual Landlord Tradeshow when Bill was gracious enough to fly to Milwaukee from Florida in order to present a seminar on collection issues to the attendees.  Anyone that has met Bill knows that aside from being extremely knowledgable in the area of collections, he is also a great guy.  If you are trying to collect past due rent and damage charges from an ex-tenant you should definitely give Bill a call at 212-561-5492 or email him at bill@rentrecoveryservice.com. 

With the city of Milwaukee attempting to pass a version of “landlord licensing,” with state politicians trying to short-circuit a landlord’s ability to properly screen tenants, and with what I find to be a very prevalent negative attitude toward landlords in general – I thought Bill’s post was timely.

Read the rest of this entry »

FREE SEMINAR ON LLC’S – WHY YOU NEED THEM AND HOW TO INSURE THEY PROTECT YOU FROM PERSONAL LIABILITY

Oct 15

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

Lydia Chartre and I will be presenting a free seminar at the AASEW’s October monthly meeting on October 19, 2009 at 7 pm.  The meeting will be held at the Best Western Midway Hotel which is located at 1005 S. Moorland Road in Brookfield.

Lydia and I will be speaking on LLC’s and why you should consider using this form of business entity to hold your rental property and what you must do when handling your LLC to insure that your personal assets are protected.

Lydia will be discussing the nuts and bolts of  LLC’s including:

- Why you may want to form an LLC to hold your rental property

- The necessary steps to form an LLC

- Information that you (or an attorney) will need to form your LLC

I will speak on the topic of what formalities you will need to follow when handling your LLC to insure that your personal assets will be protected.  While the general law is that an LLC — just like a corporation – is a separate and distinct entity from its  individual members, there are instances where courts have allowed an injured party or a creditor to “pierce the corporate veil” or hold the individual personally liable for the actions and/or debts of the LLC.  Read the rest of this entry »

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