Archive for category Evictions

Milwaukee County Releases Dates That Eviction Court Will Be Closed in 2012

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

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You Will Not Want To Miss AASEW’s Fourth Annual Landlord Boot Camp on Saturday Feb. 25th

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:

  1. How to properly screen prospective tenants.
  2. How to draft written screening criteria to assist you in the selection process and protect you from discrimination complaints.
  3. How to comply with both federal and state Fair Housing laws including how to handle with “reasonable modifications”  and “reasonable accommodations” requests.
  4. How to legally reject an applicant.
  5. What rental documents you should be using and why.
  6. When you should be using a 5-day notice versus a 14-day notice, 28-day notice, or 30-day notice and how to properly serve the notice on your tenant.
  7. Everything you wanted to know (and probably even more than you wanted to know) about the Residential Rental Practices (ATCP 134) and how to avoid having to pay double damages to your tenant for breaching ATCP 134.
  8. When you are legally allowed to enter your tenant’s apartment.
  9. How to properly draft an eviction summons and complaint.
  10. What to do to keep the commissioner from dismissing your eviction suit.
  11. What you can legally deduct from a security deposit.
  12. How to properly draft a security deposit transmittal / 21 day letter.
  13. How to handle pet damage.
  14. What to do with a tenant’s abandoned property and how this may affect whether or not you file an eviction suit.
  15. How to pursue your ex-tenant for damages to your rental property and past due rent (and whether it is even worth it to do so).

. . .  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!

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Revised Small Claims Summons Required To Be Used As of November 1, 2011

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!

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Milwaukee County Eviction Court Commissioner To Speak At Next AASEW Meeting on Oct. 17th

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

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FREE Landlord-Tenant Law Seminar – September 24th, 2011

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:

  1. Causes for Eviction (including the 5 day, 14 day, 28 day and 30 day notice and under what circumstances you can serve each one)
  2. Notices Terminating Tenancy (how to draft them properly and how to serve them legally)
  3. The Judicial Eviction Process (everything you need to know about how to draft and file an eviction lawsuit and what you will need to present to the court to
    prove your eviction as well as your collection of past-due rent, damages,
    holdover damages etc.)

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.

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Small Claims Jurisdictional Limit Increased To $10,000

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.

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Milwaukee County Eviction Court “Odds & Ends”

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.

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