Mar 8
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Milwaukee County | No Comments
Milwaukee County recently released all dates that Eviction Court will be closed in 2012. Most of them are obvious closings for holidays but there are a few that are not holiday-related.
So make sure you don’t schedule a return date in eviction court for any of these days:
May 4, 2012
May 28, 2012
July 4, 2012
September 3, 2012
November 2, 2012
November 23, 2012
December 24, 2012
December 25, 2012
December 31, 2012
Tags: Eviction Court, Milwaukee County
Jan 3
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, City of Milwaukee, Collections, Credit Checks, De Novo Hearings, Earnest Money, Emergency Assistance, Evictions, Execution of Writ, Fair Housing / Discrimination, Holdover Damages, Landlord Liability, Late Fees, Lead-Based Paint, Milwaukee County, Mitigation of Damages / Re-Renting, Notices, Pets, Property Management, Protected Classes, Reasonable Accomodations, Reasonable Modifications, Rejecting Rental Applicants, Rental Agreements, Rental Documents, Right of Entry, Roommates, Screening Tenants, Security Deposit, Self-Help Evictions, Seminars, Small Claims Court, Smoke Detectors, State of Wisconsin, Tenant Damage, Untenantability, Walkthroughs | 2 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 organizations throughout the state for other state-wide semianr companies that charge attendees $300-$400. This is your opportunity to learn all of the same information at a huge discount through the Apartment Association.
Who: Taught by Attorney Tristan R. Pettit (who drafts the landlord tenant forms for Wisconsin Legal Blank)
When: Saturday, February 25th, 2012. 8:30 am – 5 pm
Where: Clarion Hotel 5311 S. Howell Avenue, Milwaukee [Map]
Included: 100 plus page manual/outline to help you put what you learn into practice plus helpful forms.
Cost: $159 for AASEW members and $249 for non-members. If you are not a member of AASEW but are a member of another landlord/apartment association the cost to attend will be $199.
Specials: Not a member? Pay just a dollar more and enjoy a 2012 AASEW membership.
Wisconsin landlord-tenant laws are constantly changing. To help keep you up to date we offer prior attendees a $50 discount.
Sign up by going to the AASEW’s Landlord Boot Camp landing page where you can sign up online and pay via PayPal.
What you will learn at the Apartment Association’s 2012 Landlord Boot Camp
Landlord Boot Camp covers everything that you need to know about residential Landlord Tenant law in Wisconsin, including:
. . . and much more. There will also be time for questions and answers.
You get all this for less than you would pay for an hour of an attorney’s time.
Last year’s AASEW Landlord Boot Camp was filled to capacity and we even had to turn a few people away. So call early to reserve your spot.
Call the Association at (414) 276-7378, email membership@apartmentassoc.org or go to our Landlord Boot Camp landing page to sign up online and reserve your spot.
Remember that “landlording” is a business — so take the time to educate yourself on how to better manage your business and avoid costly errors!
Tags: AASEW Landlord Boot Camp, Rental Property Management, Seminars
Oct 24
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Milwaukee County, Small Claims Court | 5 Comments
In a prior post I explained that the small claims jurisdictional limit was increased from $5,000 to $10,000 as of July 1, 2011. This change has necessitated a revision to the mandatory small claims summons form that is required to be used when filing an eviction, replevin, and collection actions under $10,000 (as well as arbitrations confirmations and personal injury claims less than $5,000).
So far, the Clerk of Courts has been accepting filings using the old mandatory summons (1 page form) as well as the revised mandatory summons (2 page form). However, as of November 1, 2011, they will only be accepting the new 2 page summons – SC-500. Remeber that in Milwaukee County you are required to use the Summons that is written in both English and Spanish. All mandatory small claims forms can be found here.
So if you still have some of the old forms available make sure you use them all up by October 31st.
Don’t have your eviction delayed because you are using an outdated form!
Tags: Evictions, Mandatory Small Claims Summons, Milwaukee County
Oct 14
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, Evictions, Milwaukee County | No Comments
On Monday, October 17, 2011, Milwaukee County Eviction Court Commissioner Rosa Barillas will speak at the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin’s general membership meeting.
The meeting will start at 7 pm and be held at the Best Western Midway Hotel located at 1005 S. Moorland Road in Brookfield, WI.
Commissioner Barillas will speak to the group about mistakes that she sees landlords make in eviction court and how they can avoid them. She will also be taking questions.
If you have never been to an AASEW meeting (or haven’t been to one in awhile) please join me at our next meeting on October 17, 2011. You will not be sorry.
T
Tags: AASEW, Court Commissioner Rosa Barillas, Eviction Court
Sep 14
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Notices, Seminars | No Comments
I wanted to let you know about a FREE landlord-tenant law seminar that I will be presenting for the City of Milwaukee on Saturday, September 24, 2011.
The seminar will start at 9am and run through 11:30 am or so. It will be held at the Anderson Building which is located at 4001 S. 6th Street – 3rd floor in Milwaukee.
I will be covering three main topics:
If you are interested in attending this seminar pre-registration is required so you will need to contact Jeanne Hagner at (414)286-2954 or jhagne@milwaukee.gov
It is necessary that you register so that we can insure that there will be enough outlines and handouts for everyone.
I hope to see many of you there.
Tags: Evictions, Landlord-Tenant Law Seminar, Notices Terminating Tenancy
Jul 13
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Legislation, Small Claims Court, Tenant Damage | 2 Comments
Wisconsin’s small claims jurisdictional limit was increased from $5,000 to $10,000 effective July 1, 2011. This increase was included in Governor Walker’s 2011-2013 Budget Bill.
The jurisidictional limit for small claims in Wisconsin was set at $5,000 back in 1995 and has remained the same for 16 years.
I see this as a positive change for debt collectors and potentially landlords.
All eviction actions — regardless of the amount of rent owed — must be brought in small claims court as small claims has exclusive jurisdiction of all eviction actions. Because of this, a landlord is allowed to receive a judgment for past due rent well beyond $5,000. So this jurisdictional change will not affect the amount of any past due rent judgement. But until now, a landlord was limited to obtaining a judgment for $5,000 or less in small claims for any physical damages to the rental property caused by the tenant. So this increase in small claims jurisdictional limit will be advantageous for landlords in such a situation.
Additionally, this change will also positively affect landlords bringing straight collection actions (which does not include a cause of action for eviction) against ex-tenants that skipped out owing past-due rent and/or damages greater than $5,000.
Since most tenants are not collectible, I am not sure if this change will greatly affect landlords . . . but it certainly won’t hurt them.
It should be noted that this increase in the small claims jurisdictional amount does NOT apply to third-party complaints, personal injury lawsuits, or tort claims.
May 4
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Milwaukee County | No Comments
I wanted to update everyone about some recent news in Milwaukee County Eviction Court. Each of the items are too small for there own blog post, so I thought I would combine them as “Odds & Ends.” This might be a regular blog post column in the future : )
1. Out with the old and in with the new — commissioners, that is.
Most of the court commissioners that had been serving in small claims/eviction court have rotated out onto other assignments. Thh only commissioner that remains from the last group is Court Commissioner Rosa Barillas. Commissioners Julia Vosper, Barry Phillips, and Dennis Cook have all rotated out. The new commissoners include: Grace Flynn, Cedric Cornwall, and Kevin Costello, all of which have served a small claims/eviction court rotation before. Chief Court Commissioner Laura Grambling-Perez will also assist in small claims/eviction court. Since the rotation I have also seen Commissioner Barry Phillips stopping by to help out when needed. However, the court commisioners that are now officially assigned to Eviction court currently are Rosa Barillas, Grace Flynn, Cedric Cornwall and Kevin Costello.
2. New Judge takes over Small Claims calandar as of August 1st
Most judicial rotations last 3 years, but due to the high volume and stress level of small claims court, the rotation for a small claims duty judge is only for one year. As of Agust 1, 2011, Judge Jane Carroll will be rotating into another division and Judge Paul Van Grunsven (currently filling a Felony Drug rotation) will be the new small claims duty judge.
3. Eviction Court closure dates
Eviction court will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, May 5th, and Friday, May 6th. I don’t believe that the clerks in the Clerks of Courts office have allowed any cases to be filed for those days — so expect a higher case load next week.
Eviction Court will also be closed on Thursday, May 12, 2011. Many cases have already been scheduled for that day but since no court commissioners will be available to hear/review/decide any cases, any cases that are currently scheduled for May 12th will need to be rescheduled. As such, if you have any cases scheduled for May 12th (as I do) you still must come to court and the clerks (Henrietta and Dyan) will give you a new court date.
Eviction Court will also be closed on Monday, May 30th, for Memorial Day.
Tags: Court Commissioners, Eviction Court, Judges
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