Posts Tagged Evictions

UPCOMING SEMINAR – How Evictions Work: Rules for Landlords and Property Managers

Jun 10

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Seminars | No Comments

I will be presenting a seminar for the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM Milwaukee Chapter #13) on several landlord – tenant law related topics in the near future

Topics to be covered:

1.   Causes for Eviction

2.   Notices To Terminate Tenancy

3.   The Judicial Eviction Process

This seminar will be held on Thursday, June 17, 2010 from 9am – 10:30 am.  Registration will start at 8:30 am.

The seminar will be held at The Wisconsin Club which is located at 900 W. Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee (right across from the Milwaukee County Courthouse – how appropriate : )

There will be handouts including a comprehensive outline on the topics covered and forms.

The cost will be $10 for ARM members, $25 for other IREM members and $45 for non-IREM members.  If you are interested in attending please contact Jennie Macaluso-Ruditys at (414) 476-4736.  Call Jennie ASAP as she will need to get a head count to the Wisconsin Club.

Hope to see you there.

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Finally, Some Legislation That Actually Assists Landlords – Senate Bill 607

Mar 11

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Legislation, Notices | 4 Comments

Senators Plale, Hansen, and Lasee introduced Senante Bill (SB) 607 yesterday.  What a breath of fresh air it is to read this bill.  Rather then making landlords jump through more and more hoops to protect our tenants and rental property, this bill actually assists us in doing our jobs.  I am so used to blogging about proposed legislation that hurts (or at the very least hinders) landlords that this is a nice change.

If passed, this bill will allow a landlord to terminate a tenant’s tenancy, regardless if they are a month-to-month tenant, tenant under a lease for 1 year or less, or a tenant with a lease for more than 1 year, if the tenant or the tenant’s guest, commits certain crimes, in property or near the property.

Currently if you have a tenant under a lease for one year or less or more than one year (as opposed to a periodic tenancy like a month-to-month) and if that tenant commits a crime you are legally prevented for terminating that tenant’s tenancy and evicting them.  The current law states that if a tenant under a lease commits a breach (including criminal activity) that they landlord MUST serve them with a 5 day notice that allows the tenant the opportunity to cure the breach. 

Currently the only two exceptions to the above, are the very limited situations in which the tenant has created a gang or drug nuisance at the property AND the landlord has received a written notice of drug or gang nuisance from a law enforecement agency.  Only in these two limited circumstances can a landlord serve a 5 day notice on the tenant that does not afford the tenant the right to cure the breach.

To better illustrate the current status of the law, here is an example: 

Tenant A gets drunk and runs around the apartment complex brandishing a gun and threatening to shoot anyone that he passes.  Assuming that Tenant A is not arrested and hauled off to jail,  Tenant A’s landlord is not legally allowed to terminate Tenant A’s tenancy and file an eviction action as a result of this criminal behavior if Tenant A is under a lease for one year or less or a lease for more than one year.  The only legal recourse that the landlord has is to serve Tenant A with a 5 day notice which affords Tenant A with the opportunity to cure the breach (the criminal activity) or vacate.  How does Tenant A cure the breach?  By not running around the apartment complex within the next 5 days brandishing a gun and threatening to shoot people.  Ridiculous I know, but that is all Tenant A must do to cure his breach and if he does that, the landlord is legally required to keep him as a tenant as long as the tenant is under a lease. Read the rest of this entry »

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How To Legally Serve A 5-Day Notice To Pay Rent or Vacate

Aug 25

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Notices | 7 Comments

There are basically 4 ways in which you can legally serve a tenant with a 5-Day Notice To Pay Rent or Vacate.  First, you can personally serve the tenant with the notice.  Second, you can serve them by what I refer to as a “substituted” service.  Third, you can “post and mail” the notice to the tenant.  Fourth, you can serve the tenant via certified or registered mail.

Landlords in Wisconsin are legally allowed to serve the notice to pay or quit on the tenant themselves.  This is very different from the service of the eviction lawsuit (summons and complaint) which Wisconsin law will not allow to be served by a landlord or his/her agent. Read the rest of this entry »

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Update On Who May Represent A LLC in Eviction Court: New Rules To Start September 1st

Jul 30

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, LLC's | 2 Comments

Those of you that have been following my blog are aware that Milwaukee County Small Claims Court has indicated that it will not allow non-attorneys to represent LLC’s in court in the near future.

My earlier posts on this topic can be read here and here.

A fellow board member from the AASEW informed me today that one of the owner’s of a property he manages was handed the notice that I reproduced in my earlier post (you can read it here here), as he was leaving small claims court.  The notice indicated that he would no longer be allowed to represent his LLC’s in small claims court as of September 1, 2009.

He indicated to the commisioner that handed him the notice that he was a full-time employee of the LLC and therefore can appear on behalf of the LLC in small claims court as allowed under Sec. 799.06(2) of the Wisconsin Statutes.  The court commissioner’s reply was something to the effect that, ” I see you down here [small claims court] a lot, and you have many LLC’s.  There is no way that you can be a full-time employee of all of them or you would have to work hundreds of hours per week.”

This issue seems to coming to a head very soon.  Unless you are a full-time employee of an LLC, and you have written records to prove this, it looks as if September 1, 2009, will be the deadline by which you will need to have made arrangements to have an attorney represent your LLC’s in Milwaukee County Small Claims Court or risk having your case either adjourned or dismissed.

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Milwaukee’s Chronic Nuisance Ordinance and It’s Improper Use Against Landlords

Jul 29

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, City of Milwaukee, Evictions, Nuisance Properties | 4 Comments

 
The City of Milwaukee’s Chronic Nuisance Ordinance (80-10) is a thorn in the side of many landlords.  Essentially the ordinance says that if your property generates more than 3 calls for police service for “nuisance activities” within a 30 day period  that the city will charge you  for the costs associated with abating the alleged nuisance. 
 
Nuisance activities include the following: harassment, disorderly conduct, battery, indecent exposure, prostitution, littering, theft, possession, manufacture or delivery of drugs, gambling, illegal possession of firearms, keeping a dangerous animal, trespass to land, conspiracy to commit a crime, discharge of a firearm, excessive noise, loitering, public drinking, sale of liquor, possession of counterfeit items, possession or selling of drug paraphenalia, selling or giving tobacco products to children, misuse of emergency telephone numbers, harboring an animal that causes a disturbance, illegal use or sale of fireworks, and truancy.  In summary, a nuisance activity is pretty much anything and everything you can think of. Read the rest of this entry »

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State’s Budget Bill Amends Tenant Protection Act

Jul 22

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, Foreclosures, Legislation | No Comments

On June 29, 2009 Governor Jim Doyle signed the 2009-11 state biennial budget bill into law.  This law in part made modifications to the Tenant Protection Act (starts on page 108) which offers tenants certain protections during the foreclosure process.  My earlier post on the Tenant Protection Act can be read here. Read the rest of this entry »

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Milwaukee County to Post Notice on Who Can File and Appear in Court on Eviction Actions

Jul 21

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, LLC's | 3 Comments

A friend of mine who is an employee at the courthouse and does much work in small claims court, and more specifically eviction court, forwarded to my attention earlier today a copy of a notice that will soon be posted in Room 400 (Eviction Court) and Room 104 (Clerk of Courts) of the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

The notice addresses the issues of who may sign an eviction summons and complaint and who may appear in court on an eviction lawsuit.

The notice that will be posted reads as follows:

_____________________

PLEASE NOTE

 In Small Claims Eviction cases, you may only sign complaints and appear in court on behalf of a property owner if you are one of the following:

  • The property owner (if the property is not owned by a corporation/limited liability corporation)
  • A full time employee of the property owner
  • An attorney

Employees of management companies or other outside service providers may not sign complaints or appear on behalf of property owners 

__________________

If this notice is going to be posted then it appears as if the clerks, court commissioners and judges will be dismissing eviction lawsuits that violate the above notice.

To read my earlier posts on these topics just click here and here.

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