New Landlord Omnibus Law: Odds and Ends

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, State of Wisconsin, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law), Commercial L-T Law / Comments

There has been a lot of discussion about the new Landlord Tenant law in Wisconisn (2011 Wisconsin Act 143) since it became law on March 31, 2012.  Some people's views seem similar to mine while others have interpreted the law completely differently than I do.  Here is a link to one law firm's summary that in my opinion is completely off base, but then again they are Minnesota lawyers so we may have to give them a pass : ).  But really guys, the new law did not create a new right for landlord's do deduct from a tenant's security deposit -- have you ever heard of ATCP 134.

I guess only time will tell how the law in interpreted by the courts in Wisconsin.  One thing that I know for sure is that the politicians in Madison will be unable to correct any errors, or clarify and vagueness, in the new law until 2013 when they are back in session.  So we are stuck with this for awhile and must make do.

The AASEW will be devoting it's June membership meeting (June 18, 2012 at 7 pm) to the new law and we hope to invite both landlord advocates and tenant advocates alike to present so that all sides can be presented.  You will not want to miss this meeting.  Come learn what the new law is and what you need to do in order to be in compliance.  There will be no charge to AASEW members but we will be charging $25 for non-members to attend.

While I personally do not have anything new to add on the new law that I haven't said already in prior posts, I thought I would provide links to several items relevant to the new law that people might find interesting and useful.

Here is a copy of the newly enacted law - Act 143

Here is an overview of the new law by the Wisconsin Legislative Council

Here is a copy of the newly revised Chapter 704 (Landlord and Tenant) of the Wisconsin Stattutes which includes all of the changes/additions -- so I no longer have to carry around Act 143 : )

Here is an article that I recently wrote on the new law for the Wisconsin State Bar's Inside Track blog which includes several interesting comments on the new law by local lawyers.

Here's a blog article by my friend Tim Ballering about how the new law affects those landlords who are currently using a crime free lease addendum or something similar.

Thanks for reading

T