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Tristan’s Landlord-Tenant Law Blog

Archive of: Screening Tenants

East Side Landlord "Think Small" Seminar Event on March 13th

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Screening Tenants, Seminars, Act 143 (Landlord's Omnibus Law) / Comments

Make plans to attend the fourth East Side Landlord Think Small event hosted by UWM! This event is free and open to all interested landlords, with a special focus on Milwaukee's East Side.This spring's event promises to be very engaging with featured presenter Attorney Tristan Pettit, who focuses his practice on representing landlords and management companies in landlord-tenant law matters.Topics will include screening potential tenants and recent updates to landlord-tenant laws ...

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HUD Issues New Rule On "Discriminatory Effect" a.k.a Disparate Impact

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, Fair Housing / Discrimination, Legislation, Protected Classes, Screening Tenants / Comments

HUD has issued a new Fair Housing “disparate impact” rule that may cause problems for landlords during the screening process.  The new rule creates a new provision entitled “Prohibiting Discriminatory Effects” which defines “discriminatory effect” as situations in which a facially neutral (i.e. not discriminatory) housing practice can become discriminatory if it actually or predictably has an effect on a group of persons that are members of a protected ...

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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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Update on Landlord Pre-Emption Bill

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Legislation, Screening Tenants, State of Wisconsin, City of Madison / Comments

It has been awhile since I updated everyone on the pro-landlord legislation that is being addressed in Madison.  Senate Bill 107 (SB 107) -- referred to as the Landlord Pre-Emption Bill --  has been passed by the Wisconsin Senate and is currently being reviewed by the House this term (AB 155).You may recall that SB 107 prohibits any municipality from enacting any ordinance that limits a ...

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AASEW's Next Meeting Focuses On The Topic of Credit Reports - Monday, July 18th

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

Would you like to know if your prospective tenant is a good credit risk?Then join the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin (AASEW) at our General Membership meeting on Monday, July 18th, 7:00 p.m, at the Best Western, 1005 South Moorland Road in Brookfield.  Kathy Haines, of Landlord Services, LLC will present "Credit Reports 101:  How To Determine If Your Prospective Tenant is a Good Credit Risk" At 6:30 p.m. right before our meeting, ...

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What Questions Should You Ask An Applicant's Current and/or Prior Landlord During The Screening Process

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

Screening applicants/potential tenants is the single most important element of landlording in my opinion.  As I have mentioned in prior posts, if you properly screen your applicants you will have a better chance of finding a good tenant that pays rent on time and does not abuse your investment property.Landlords should require each adult person to completely fill out a written rental application.  After you have all this good information about your applicant you now need to confirm that info.  ...

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UPDATE ON AB-340 (CCAP BILL)

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Screening Tenants, CCAP, Rep. Marlin Schneider / Comments

As many of you know a public hearing was held on AB340 - the proposed bill by Rep. Marlin Schneider that would restrict who can use CCAP and what information would be contained on CCAP -- at the State Capitol in Madison last week.Several board members from the AASEW (Dave Ohrmundt and Richard Bishop) and the head of Milwaukee RING (Brian Fleming) attended the hearing to make sure that landlords' voices ...

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WTMJ News Radio Discusses Proposed Legislation That Will Restrict Access To and Limit Information Contained on CCAP on Charlie Sykes Radio Show

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Screening Tenants, CCAP, Rep. Marlin Schneider / Comments

Thursday, September 17, 2009 was quite a good PR day for landlords.  Not only did the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel commentator Pat McIlheran publish a very good article criticizing the state and the city of Milwaukee for not treating  landlords like second class citizens but later that same morning Charlie Sykes spent a good amount of time discussing something near and dear to a landlord's heart -- CCAPSykes spent a large portion of his ...

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SSN Validator: Free Website That Allows You to Verify A Social Security Number

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

I attended last night's AASEW monthly meeting which featured Kathy Huens of Landlord Services, LLC as the main speaker.  Landlord Services, LLC is a company that provides credit reports to landlords to assist them in the screening process of rental applicants.  Landlord Services, LLC is a business member of the AASEW and comes highly reccomended.  During Kathy's speech she alerted the audience to a website that allows you to ...

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Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8 Rent Assistance) Are Not A "Lawful Source of Income" In Wisconsin

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Fair Housing / Discrimination, Protected Classes, Screening Tenants / Comments

I am often asked whether or not a landlord is able to legally decline to rent to a tenant that is receiving "rent assistance."   I believe that the primary reason that landlords are unsure of the answer to this question  is because Wisconsin's Open Housing Act (Sec. 106.50, Wis. Stats.) prohibits a landlord from discriminating against a tenant or a prospective tennat based on their "lawful source of income."  For more information on Wisconsin's protected ...

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