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Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog

Archive of: Evictions

ACT 76 - Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant Law - Part 3: Speeding Up the Eviction Process

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Evictions, City of Milwaukee, City of Madison, Act 76 (SB 179) / Comments

Several of the provisions of Wisconsin's New Landlord-Tenant law, Act 76 (SB 179), were created or amended to speed up the eviction process.  Evictions are supposed to be summary proceedings and per the Wisconsin Supreme Court (Scalzo v. Anderson, 87 Wis. 2d 834 (1979)) there are very limited number of issues permissible in an evictions action.  Nonetheless, tenants were finding ways to delay the process.  Hopefully Act 76 will resolve much of ...

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SB 179 ("Landlord-Tenant Bill") Is On It's Way To Governor Walker To Be Signed Into Law

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, Legislation, Evictions, State of Wisconsin, Small Claims Court, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law) / Comments

At about 6:40 pm on October 16, 2013, SB 179 (commonly referred to as the Landlord-Tenant Bill) was concurred by the state Senate after a minor amendment was made in the state Assembly earlier.  The bill passed 18-15 despite attempts to delay the bill via a motion to non-concur.  The bill now goes to the Governor who has 30 days to "call" for the bill and sign it.If you would like to ...

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Next AASEW Meeting - The Ins & Outs of Evicting - March 18th

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, Evictions / Comments

The next AASEW meeting will focus on the "The Ins & Outs of Evicting."The meeting will be held on Monday, March 18th, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at the Best Western Hotel located at 1005 S. Moorland Road in Brookfield.The speakers will be Attorney Tristan Pettit of Petrie & Stocking S.C. and Detective Jon Nilsen of the Milwaukee County Eviction Squad.Atty. Pettit will discuss the top reasons that the courts dismiss landlord's evictions and ...

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Accepting Past Due Rent After Termination of Tenancy: The New Law and Traps To Avoid

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Evictions, Notices, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law) / Comments

The Landlord's Omnibus Law (Act 143) introduced a new statutory section to Chapter 799 regarding situations when a landlord accepts past due rent from a tenant after the tenant's tenancy has been terminated.  Newly created sec. 799.40(1m) states as follows:If a landlord commences an action under this section against a tenant whose tenancy has been terminated for failure to pay rent, the action under this section may NOT be dismissed solely because ...

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

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Milwaukee County, Small Claims Court / 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 ...

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

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Notices, Seminars / 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:Causes for Eviction (including the ...

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A Legal Explanation To Landlords About Who Can Appear In Eviction Court on Behalf of a LLC and Why

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, LLC's / Comments

In the last few months I have been asked by many landlords why Milwaukee County will not allow members of an LLC to represent the LLC in eviction court.  I would like to address this issue with the hope that I can shed some light on this subject.First, let’s deal with the elephant in the room which happens to be wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase (and writing this blog ...

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A De Novo Hearing Is A "Second Kick at the Cat"

Posted by admin in Tenant Damage, De Novo Hearings / Comments

Under Wisconsin law, a Court Commissioner cannot decide a contested eviction action -- that must be decided by a judge.  However a court commissioner can preside over and decide a hearing on a landlord's 2nd and 3rd causes for action for money damages.  Typically this includes claims for past due rent, physical damages to the rental property or holdover damages.In Milwaukee County, due to ...

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New Rule In Milwaukee County Eviction Court Will Limit The Number of New Evictions to 80 Per Day

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Milwaukee County / 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 ...

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SMALL CLAIMS BENCH/BAR MEETING: Milwaukee County Gives Clarification Regarding Including Late Fees In 5 Day Notices and Other Issues

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Late Fees, Notices, Milwaukee County / Comments

The Milwaukee County Small Claims court has reinstituted its monthly Bench/Bar meetings.  These meetings allow the Milwaukee County Small Claims Court, including Judge Jane Carroll (presiding small claims judge) and the court commissioners, to come together with attorneys that appear regularly in small claims court, to discuss issues and concerns.The most recent small claims bench/bar meeting was held on Monday, December 6, 2010.  I was able to attend the meeting ...

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