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
Nov 3
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Notices, Seminars | No Comments
I will be the featured speaker at the upcoming East Side Landlord Think Small Conference on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 from 3 pm – 6:30 pm at UW-Milwaukee, Chapman Hall located at 2310 E. Hartford Avenue, in the Regent’s Room on the 2nd floor.
This conference is FREE to any and all interested landlords, with a special focus on Milwaukee’s East Side landlords.
This conference is composed of 3 componants:
1. Featured Speaker – I will be speaking on the issues of “Causes for Eviction and Termination of Tenancy” and “Notices Terminating Tenancy.” You will learn about the 4 basic notices that can be served on a residential tenant in Wisconsin (5 day, 14 day, 28 day and 30 day notices) and when you should be using each notice and why. While no one wants to have to evict a tenant . . . sometimes it is necessary. At the very least, landlords need to become comfortable with the various notice that can be served on a tenant when a tenant breaches his/her rental agreement or the landlord wants to terminate the tenant’s tenancy. I will also discuss the proper way to serve a tenant with one of these notices. I will be handing out a detailed 11 page outline on this topic that attendees can take home to refer to when needed in the future. Examples of properly drafted 5 day, 14 day, 28 day, and 30 day notices will also be distributed.
2. Round Table Discussion – This discussion will include a panel of UW-Milwaukee staff, City of Milwaukee staff, myself, and others and will focus on local topics and common problems that East Side landlords encounter.
3. Panel of Experts – The panel will be comprised of members of the Milwaukee Police Department, Campus Police Department, Department of Public Works, Department of Neighborhood Services, and UW-Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Housing and who will field any questions that you may have.
There will also be time to network with other landlords.
If you are interested in attending please RSVP to Heather Harbach, UW-Milwaukee Neighborhood Relations Liason at (414) 229-4451 or harbach@uwm.edu. You can also register for the event by clicking here.
I hope to see everyone there!!
Tags: East Side Landlord Think Small Conference, Seminars for Landlords
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
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
Mar 2
Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Milwaukee County | 2 Comments
In an effort to eliminate the congestion in eviction court, Milwaukee County has imposed a limit of 80 new eviction cases per day. In the past there have been days in which over 300 new eviction cases were scheduled to be heard in the same afternoon, which often became unmanageble.
This new limit only applies to new case filings for eviction cases (the 1st cause of action) for return of the property. This new limit does not include evidentiary hearings, adjourned matters, or return dates for 2nd and 3rd causes of actions (for money damages).
I was informed that the Clerk of Courts will be keeping a running tally of eviction cases scheduled for each return date/initial appearance. Once that tally reaches 80, no more cases will be allowed to be filed for that same return date.
While I understand the reasoning for this new policy, I do have some concerns. I agree that eviction court can become unmanageable due to the high volume of cases. Us “regulars” to eviction court have had to spend much of our lives sitting and waiting in good ol’ room 400 of the Milwaukee County Courthouse due to the high volume. Despite that I have always had my cases completed before 5 pm.
I work for several clients that have a high volume of evictions each month. One client in particular easily has 40 evictions per month and has topped out at 66 evictions on more than one occassion. In order to keep costs down for such clients I schedule all of that client’s evictions to be heard on the same day. This limits the amount of fees that they client has to pay me and allows them to only spend one day per month in court.
This new policy may prevent that client, and other landlords similarily situated, from having all of their cases heard on the same day — thus increasing their costs and encroaching on their valuable time. Let’s face it evicting a tenant is a a money-loser to a landlord. It is a necessary evil that they would like to keep to a minimum if at all possible.
Another foreseeable issue would be the landlord that has a smaller number of evictions each month – say 10 — who wants to have them all heard on one day in eviction court. What will happen when s/he goes to file the evictions and is told that there are only 3 spots left for evictions on the day s/he wanted to appear in court? That landlord weill either have to scheduled his/her 7 remaining evictions on a different day or choose to postpone all 10 evictions to another day in order to have them all heard at once. The former option wil require the landlord to spend 2 days in eviction court. the latter option will result in a non-paying tenant having additional time to live rent free. Either option causes the landlord money.
So while I understand the motivation for this new rule I am not sure that it will benefit Milwaukee County landlords. We will have to wait and see.
Tags: Evictions, Landlords, Limiting of Number of Evictions, Milwaukee County Eviction Court
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