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Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog

Archive of: Landlords

GUEST POST: Is the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin Against the City of Milwaukee?

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, City of Milwaukee / Comments

Is the Apartment Association against the City of Milwaukee?After a recent meeting I received an email from an irate member who was offended by some of my commentary regarding the city of Milwaukee, it seemed the association had an anti-Milwaukee tone to its messages. Having committed much of my career to making Milwaukee, especially its central core, a better place to live I was initially surprised by the feedback, ...

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5 Things This Landlords' Attorney Wants For Christmas

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, Fair Housing / Discrimination, Legislation, Milwaukee County, Reasonable Accommodations, Small Claims Court / Comments

With the coming of the holidays, comes list of gifts that people want for Christmas.  So I thought I would put together one of my own.  So here is a list of the top 5 things that this landlords' lawyer would like for Christmas. 5.   That Tenants' Requests For Reasonable Accommodations To Allow for the Keeping of  Companion/Comfort Animals Would Actually Be "Reasonable"The past few years -- and especially this past ...

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CCAP Committee's Recommendation To Change Wisconsin's Expungment Laws Shot Down

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Screening Tenants, CCAP / Comments

Last year Wisconsin's Joint Legislative Council created a Special Committee On The Review of Records Access of Circuit Court Documents – what I affectionately referredto as the CCAP Committee. Landlords were very fortunate that in the end the committee made no recommendations to change or alter information on CCAP or limit its access by landlords or any other group. The committee's sole recommendation was to call for the ...

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Landlords & Wisconsin's New CCW Law

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Landlord Liability, CCW / Comments

As I'm sure many of you are aware, Wisconsin has a new Carrying Concealed Weapon (CCW) law.  Wisconsin Act 35 was signed into law on July 8, 2011 and took effect on November 1, 2011.Since the new law was published, I have received several calls from landlords and property management companies asking me how this new law will affect them.  Since the question has come up repeatedly I thought I would do ...

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Governor Walker Signs 2 Pro-Landlord Bills Into Law

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Attorney's Fees / Comments

Just wanted to let everone know that in the last few days Governor Walker has signed into law two bills that will positively affect landlords.-  On December 7th, Governor Walker signed SB 107 (2011 Wisconsin Act 108) which relates to prohibiting municipalities from creating ordinances that put limits on landlords.  If you would like more detail on this law please see my prior blog post on the topic.  Here ...

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New Case Further Solidifies That A Landlord Is Not Liable For Injuries Caused By A Tenant's Dog

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Dog Bites, Landlord Liability / Comments

A recent Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision has been recommended for publication that will assist landlords in defending against any claims filed by a third party that was bitten by a tenant’s dog.The case of Ladewig v. Tremmel, (2010AP1925) involved a claim for negligence against two landlords by a neighborhood boy that was bitten by the landlords’ tenant’s pit bull.The Court of Appeals was reviewing the trial court decision ...

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The Consequences of A Landlord Violating Wisconsin's Residential Rental Practices (ATCP 134)

Posted by admin in ATCP 134 / Comments

The Residential Landlord Tenant relationship is controlled by two main areas of law: (1) Chapter 704 of the Wisconsin Statutes, and (2) the Wisconsin Administrative Code, Chapter ATCP 134 entitled "Residential Rental Practices."ATCP 134 sets forth 21 regulations that a landlord must follow in a residential landlord tenant context.   ATCP 134, under its orginal name "Agriculture 134," was first introduced in ...

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Repeal of Expanded 1099 Requirements Signed Into Law

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, 1099's / Comments

President Obama has officially signed H.R. 4, the “Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011” into law.   This new law retroactively repeals  prior 1099 reporting rules for landlords that were added by 2010 legislation (i.e. the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- better known as Obamacare).Prior to the 2010 legislation, it was generally required that if you were ...

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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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U.S. Senate Repeals A Second New 1099 Reporting Law That Would Have Greatly Affected Landlords

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, 1099's / Comments

About a week ago I blogged about a new federal law that will require landlords to issue 1099's to any individual or business that provides the landlord with more than $600 in services in any 12 month period.  While this new law isn't going away anytime soon, another new federal 1099 reporting law has fortunately been repealed.Included in the new health care reform law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable ...

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