Archive for category Rental Documents

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

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:

  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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New “Residential Lease Renewal or Notice To Vacate” Form Available at Wisconsin Legal Blank

Dec 6

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Rental Documents | 6 Comments

I have recently completed drafting a new landlord-tenant form that is now available at Wisconsin Legal Blank Co., Inc.

The new form is entitled “Residential Lease Renewal or Notice To Vacate” and a sample can be viewed here.

Essentially this is a form that a landlord could use when his tenant’s lease is ending (and does not automatically renew or revert to a month to month tenancy) and the landlord wants the tenant to remain as a tenant.  The tenant would be allowed to opt for 1 of 3 options on the form.

1.   Renew the lease for a specific term, thus creating another lease.

2.   Continue under a month to month tenancy

3.   Vacate at the end of the rental term.

With this form, the landlord should be filing in all of the blanks before offering to the tenant..  So for instance, if the landlord does not want to give the tenant the option to remain as a month to month tenant, that option could be stricken.  The landlord should fill in the dates of any new term and any new monthly rent amount.

Per the language of the form, all terms and conditions of the current (and soon to expire) lease, rules and regulations, nonstandard rental provisions etc. will continue in full force and effect.

The form provides the tenant with a DEADLINE to return the form to the landlord so that the landlord will know what the tenant intends to do.

It also states that if the tenant fails to return the form to the landlord by the deadline, that the landlord will assume that the tenant intends to vacate the rental at the end of the rental term.  So if a tenant does not return the form to you by the deadline, you should begin the process of re-renting the unit (or make a follow up call to the tenant to see if his unauthorized pit bull dog accidentally ate it, if you feel like enabling the tenant : )

I hope that the form proves to be helpful.

 

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Avoid Homemade Rental Agreements . . . Regardless of What the Tenant Resource Center Tells You

Jun 2

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Rental Agreements, Rental Documents | 13 Comments

I received a troubling call from a landlord last week.  This landlord had some questions regarding management of her rental properties and told me that she had previosuly called the Landlord-Tenant Resource Center for assistance.  I informed the caller that there is no such animal as the Landlord-Tenant Resource Center and that she had actually spoken with the Tenant Resource Center, a very pro-tenant organization.

The landlord continued to tell me that she has been using the Residential Rental Agreement sold at Wisconsin Legal Blank Co. Inc. for the last 10 years and has been very happy with it.  She advised me that when she mentioned this fact to the  person at the Tenant Resource Center that she was informed that she should stop using the WLB rental agreement immediately as it was vague and indefinite and would not stand up in court.  She was then told that she should  instead draft her own lease in the future.

As many of you know, I have been the author of Wisconsin Legal Blank’s residential rental agreement for the last 15 or so years, so this criticism was news to me.  I explained that I have been representing landlords throughout Southeastern Wisconsin for years and during those hundreds of court appearances, I have never had a tenant or a tenant’s attorney raise that argument.  More importantly, I had never had a court make a ruling the the WLB rental agreement was vague or lost a case based on the alleged vagueness of the WLB rental agreement.  I am also quite sure that if other lawyers or landlords had lost a case as a result of the wording of the WLB rental agreement, that either I or Wisconsin Legal Blank would have received an angry telephone call by now. 

I proceeded to tell this landlord about the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin and that it was an organization comprised of landlords and for landlords and that she should consider calling it in the future should she have any questions about the management of her rental properties, and not the Tenant Resource Center.  I also encouraged her to join the AASEW and believe that she is now a member.

What troubled me most about this call was not that someone was critical of the WLB rental agreement, but rather that the Tenant Resource Center advised this landlord that she would be better off drafting her own rental agreement in the future.  Those of you that have heard me speak on the topic of rental documents before know that one of my biggest concerns is when a landlord drafts their own rental agreement.  I would say that over 80% of the landlord-drafted rental agreements that I have reviewed over the years contain illegal clauses or provisions that would most likely render the rental agreement void in Wisconsin.

Inadvertently, landlords who draft their own rental agreements, often will include a provision that violates one of ATCP 134.08’s seven prohibited rental agreement provisions (“The Seven Deadly Sins”).  The result of making such a mistake is that  the landlord now has a rental agreement that is unenforceable against the tenant (but yet is still enforceable by the tenant against the landlord).  One needs to look no further than the 2001 Wisconsin Supreme Court case of Baierl v. McTaggart, 245 Wis.2d 632, 629 N.W.2d 277, to see the disastrous results of using a poorly drafted lease.

In actuality, a landlord is better served by using a pre-printed rental agreement that has been drafted by a lawyer knowledgeable in Wisconsin residential landlord tenant law — and is reviewed regularly by that lawyer – then they are by drafting their own rental agreement or cutting and pasting together a conglomeration of  rental agreements  found on the internet.

Incidentally, many of the so-called state specific rental agreements that can be purchased on the internet also contain illegal provisions that will render them unenforceable in Wisconsin.  One of these online companies actually contacted me to draft a lease for them about 5 years ago, but when they balked at actually paying me for my work, I opted to not assist them.  Apparently they found an attorney who was willing to work for free but who — unfortunately for the unsuspecting landlords that purchase this company’s online rental agreements — did not know Wisconsin residential landlord-tenant law very well and included language that would violate ATCP 134.08.  There are similar issues with the rental agreements sold at Office Depot and Office Max.

I have been mulling over the possible intent of the Tenant Resource Center employee that advised this landlord to draft her own rental agreements in the future.  All I can come up with is that tenant advocates must be putting out this so-called “advice” hoping that uneducated landlords will follow it, thus increasing a tenant’s chance of prevailing in court due if the landlords’ self-drafted rental agreement contains an illegal provisions thus making it unenforceable against the tenant.

Call me jaded, but I can’t come up with any other reasonable motivation.

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Free Landlord-Tenant Law Seminar In West Allis on March 31, 2011

Mar 25

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Rental Agreements, Rental Documents, Screening Tenants, Seminars | No Comments

I will be presenting a seminar for the West Allis Landlord Training Program on Thursday, March 31, 2011 from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm.  This seminar is sponsored by the West Allis Police Department and is open to the public at no cost.

I will be speaking on two specific areas:

1.  Rental Documents – specifically what rental documents you should be using with your tenants to protect yourself such as: Rental Agreement, Nonstandard Rental Provisions, Rules and Regulations, Rental Application, Pet Agreement, Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Forms, Carbon Monoxide Detector Forms, Check-In & Check-Out forms and more.

2.  Screening Prospective Tenants – this topic will include discussion of the federal and state Fair Housing laws, written screening criteria, credit checks, CCAP, and how to reject an applicant.

The Seminar will be held in the West Allis Municipal court room which is located at 11301 W. Lincoln Avenue in West Allis.  Seating is limited so I would encourage anyone that is interested in attending to arrive early to insure a seat.

A detailed outline on the above topics will be given to each attendee and Wisconsin Legal Blank Co. will be on hand  with their landlord tenant law forms available for purchase.

Hope to see everyone there.

New Rental Agreement for Self-Service Storage Units Now Available at Wisconsin Legal Blank

Oct 11

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Rental Agreements, Rental Documents, Self-Service Storage Units | No Comments

I have recently drafted a Self-Service Storage Unit Rental Agreement that is now available and being sold at Wisconsin Legal Blank Co., Inc.  Additionally I have drafted two seperate default notices that should be sent to the tenant who has breached the rental agreement for the self-service storage unit.  The two default notices contain differernt language as required per Wisconsin’s new law regarding self-service storage facilities and units.

Self-service storage facilities in Wisconsin are governed by sec. 704.90, Wis. Stats., which is the chapter that deals with landlord tenant relationships.  While a self-service storage unit involves a landlord tenant relationship, the laws governing these facilities and units is very different than the laws governing an apartment unit or other rental property.

Sec. 704.90 is specific to self-service storage facilities and units.  It does not apply to storage units that are incidental to the rental of a apartment unit.  For example, sec. 704.90 (and the new forms that I have drafted) would not be used if a tenant is renting an apartment unit that includes the use of a storage unit in the basement.

The laws regarding self-service storage units were significantly changed by 2009 Wisconsin Act 380 (2009 Assembly Bill 707) which is the reason that I decided to draft the new rental agreement and notice of default forms.

Some of the changes in the new law include the following:

1.     The new law makes current statutory provisions governing self-service storage facilities also apply to self-service storage units.  A self-service storage units include a box, shipping container, or trailer that is leased by a tenent primarily for use as a storage space whether the unit is located at a facility owned or operated by the owner or at a locations designated by the tenant.  This change in the law was made to address the new PODS type units that are being leased to people who store the units off-site from the self-service storage facility.

2.   The new law requires that if a self-service storage facility rental agreement includes a provision that limits the value of the property stored, that the clause must be printed in bold or underlined type of the same size as the rest of the agreement.  The limit listed in any agreement is presumed to be the maximum value of the property stored in the unit.

3.     After the termination of the rental agreement, an owenr may deny the tenant access to the personal property remaining in the leased space until the tenant redeems the property by paying the owner any rent and other charges that are due. 

4.   The owner may sell the property after providing two notices to the tenant, and if the tenant does not redeem the property within fourteen days after the date of the second notice. 

5.   The new law provides that the second notice of default may be sent via certified mail or by first class mail with a certificate of mailing.

6.   If the tenant does not redeem the property, then an owner who wishes to sell the property, must publish an advertisement of the sale once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation where the self-service storage facility is located.

6.     The new law eliminates the old requirement that an owner’s advertisement of the sale of the abandoned property include the nubler of the space where the property was located.

7.     The old law required that any sale of the abandoned property be conducted in a “commercially reasonable manner.”  The new law states that the sale must meet one of the following requirements: (a) the property is offerred as a single parcel or multiple parcels at a public sale attended by three or more bidders, (b) the property has been offerred to at least three persons who deal with the type of personal property offerred for sale and is sold in a provate transaction, or (c) the property is sold in another manner that is commercially reasonable.

8.   The new law allows the owner or operator of the self-service storage facility to do the following with the property if they do not want to sell the property, if the value of the property is less than $100 and proper notice is provided: (a) donate it to a non-profit organization, (b) dispose of it in a solid waste facility, (c) recycle it, (d) remove it in another reasonable manner.

9.   The old law allowed “any person” to bring a civil lawsuit for a violation of the self-service storage facility laws — this resulted in a very well known 2008 lawsuit entitled Cook v. Public Storage Inc., in which the owner/operator was sued by the parents of a tenant, who happened to also store some of their belongings in the tenant’s self-service storage units.  The new law allows only the “lessee” (tenant) to bring such a lawsuit.

For those of you owning and operating self-service storage facilties and units I hope the new rental agrrement, Notice of Default #1, and Notice of Default #2, prove helpful in assisting that you follow the applicable laws.

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New Carbon Monoxide Detector Notice Form (and Others) Available at Wisconsin Legal Blank

Sep 30

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Rental Documents | No Comments

I have recently completed drafting 3 new forms that Wisconsin Legal Blank Co., Inc. now has available for purchase that should assist landlords and property managers with their rental units..

The new forms are:

1.  Carbon Monoxide Detector Notice:

As of April 1, 2010, state law requires that an owner of a residential property must install a carbon monoxide detector  in various locations within the property.   This new notice sets forth the state requirements as to where the detectors must be located.  The notice also alerts owners that state law requires the owner maintain the detector.  The new law, which can be found at Sec. 101.149, Wis. Stats., also requires a tenant to provide an owner with written notice if the carbon monoxide detector is not working.  Once the owner receives this notice s/he has 5 days to repair or replace the carbon monoxide detector.

This new form sets forth all of the pertinent requirements under the new law and acknowledges that the the owner has complied with this law.  A tenant’s signature on the form acknowledges that the detectors in the rental unit are working and that the tenant is aware that they must notify the owner in writing should any detector stop working or not work properly.

2.   Miscellaneous Complaint Form:

This document will provide landlords with a standardized form that s/he can use  and provide to all tenants so that if a tenant has a complaint it can be documented properly in writing. 

As we all know, it is easier for a landlord to monitor and address tenants complaints if they are provided in writing.  Additionally, a tenant will often testify in court that they didn’t  pay rent becasue the landlord failed to remedy some problem in the unit which the landlord was never notified of.  If a landlord has a policy and procedure in place to provide all tenants with blank written complaint forms at the outset of the tenancy and require them to document any complaints in writing,  the fact that a tenant failed to provide written notice of a problem (when a form was provided) should help to avoid those “he said – she said” situations in court.

3.   Rent Promotion/Concession Agreement:

With the recession in full force, I have noticed that many of my clients and other landlords are offerring new tenants some form of concession in order to induce them to move-in.  A common problem that I have noticed with the self-drafted promotion/concession agreements that are being used, is that many of them are not clear and do not accurately set forth the agreement. For example, many of the agreements that I have seen do not clearly state that if the tenant does not perform all obligations under the rental agreement for the term of the lease, that the concession will be forfeited.  Failure to have this clearly stated in any concession agreement will allow the tenant to receive the benefits of the concession (such as first month’s rent free or reduced rent for first month’s rent) and still break or breach the lease.

It is my hope that with this form, landlords will at the very least have the necessary language to use — if they wish to offer a concession or promotion — so that should the tenant vacate prior to the end of the rental term, or be evicted prior to the rental term, or if the tenant’s tenancy is terminated by the landlord for any reason, that the tenant will forfeit ther rent concession.

I have been working on some additional forms for WLB that should be available in the near future — I will let you know when they are ready.

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NEW LANDLORD FORM NOW AVAILABLE REGARDING TENANT’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR LAWN CUTTING AND SNOW REMOVAL

Mar 23

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Rental Agreements, Rental Documents | 5 Comments

I have recently completed drafting a new form for landlords to use that is now being sold at Wisconsin Legal Blank Co., Inc.

Addendum To Residential Rental Agreement: Responsibility for Yard Care and Exterior Upkeep

Form #985 is entitled Addendum To Residential Rental Agreement.  This document sets forth a tenant’s responsibility for yard care and exterior upkeep of the rental property.  This form should only be used if the landlord is renting out a single-family home or a duplex and wishes the tenant to be responsible for yard care and exterior upkeep (such as snow and ice removal and the cutting the lawn).  This form should not be used for multi-unit apartment buildings. 

This document addresses the following tenant responsibilities:

1.   Snow and ice removal

2.   Cutting of grass

3.   Disposal of garbage

4.   Disposal of recyclables

5.   Removal of litter/debris

6.   Special pick-up of large items

7.   Exterior lighting

8.   Porches

9.   Windows

10.   Damage to exterior

11.   Parking of vehicles

12.   Washing of vehicles

13.   Swimming/wading pools

14.   Watering of grass, and

15.   Yard tools

This form states that if the tenant fails to perform any of the listed duties that the landlord can choose to do the work  himself or herself or hire someone to complete the work and that the tenant will be responsible for repayment of any and all associated costs.  Additionally the form indicates that failure to complete the listed duties is a material breach of the rental agreement and may be grounds for eviction.

This addendum is a nonstandard rental provision document (refer to ATCP 134.06(3)(b)) and as such it allows a landlord to deduct the actual costs incurred by the landlord (should the tenant fail to complete the duties) from the tenant’s security deposit.

It is important to remember that form #985 is just that — a form.  Some of the paragraphs may not be applicable to your specific situation.  Some landlords may decide that they do not want the tenant to perform some of the listed work.  In that case the landlord should cross out the provisions that are not applicable and then initial the change and have the tenant also initial the change. 

There will be other situations where a landlord may want the tenant to be responsible for additional duties which are not listed in the form.  In that case the landlord should attach a separate sheet which will list the additional duties.  This attachment should clearly be labeled as page two of the Addendum To Residential Rental Agreement: Responsibility for Yard Care and Exterior Upkeep and should also be signed and dated by all adult tenants.  As always, if you are unsure whether any additional provisions that you add to this form are allowed under Wisconsin landlord-tenant law, you should have those additions reviewed by an experienced landlord-tenant law attorney.

Since many landlords of duplexes and single-family rentals do require their tenants to perform yard care and other related duties, it is my hope that this form will assist landlords in specifying in writing what duties the tenant will be responsible for and what will happen if the tenant shirks those responsibilities.

I would like to thank Attorney Heiner Giese for his review and suggestions to this form.

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