5 Day notice or something else for someone with year lease

[Alexis Zion]

Hey Folks

One of my tenants who has paid regularly for the past 4 months suddenly did not pay.  Is it best to serve him a 5 day notice or is there a better notice to give.  

We called and he says he is waiting for is disability to come.  But Last week he said the payment was going to be this week...Blah Blah Blah

What do you guys recommend ?  

[Kevin Stautz]

Alexis, due to time restraints I was not able finish my previous post so here I go. First the disclaimer:

I am not an attorney, I am the owner of Hollywood Homes LLC a WI licensed real estate company. Any advice I give You should always be checked with an attorney ( preferably a real estate attorney who does at least 70% of his practice practicing real estate.)

With that being said there are three types of eviction notices in WI.

1. The 5 day to pay rent or vacate premises. This form works for either month - month tenants od for 1 year lease tenants. WI statutes 714.17 

2. 14 day notice to vacate premises for non payment of rent  or other  breach  of tenant agreement. This only works for month-month tenants NOT tenants with 1 year lease's or less. So this option most likely will not work for you. WI statutes 704.17

3. 28 day notice to terminate tenancy. This works with tenants who have a 1 year lease or less, or, month-month tenants. WI statutes 704.19

So, you actually have two choices. First the 5day notice which gives the tenant 5 day to pay from the date you leave the notice which can be taped to the door, mailed or given in person to the tenant (s) or who ever answerers the door including a minor. If they pay within that 5 day's which are concurrent (not business day's)  you go on as nothing ever happened and the 5 day notice is automatically cancelled. If they don't pay, you now must head down to the Sheriffs office ( in Washington county) pay a fee to start the process and either get the sheriff's dept. or find a person who delivers summons to deliver to your tenant (s) another fee. After the summons delivery person delivers they will set another date to meet  usually with the judge.  Again, Milwaukee county does do evictions differently than what my county's I have my rentals located in.

Your other choice is the 28 day to terminate tenancy. If you use this you are stating that you want the tenant (s)  out. Now with having a tenant that has a 1 yr. lease and using this method it gets a little more involved and I would recommend the help of an attorney to guide you through the process.

Please note, there is quite a difference when doing an eviction of a tenant who is month-month and one having 1 yr lease.  And for that reason alone that is why I do all my rentals on a month to month basis as its much easier to obtain the eviction on a month-month than  a lease. Now, if your have  yr lease with a tenant and do not renew that  lease it automatically converts to a month -month lease in WI.  

Alexis, before I started my real estate company I joined the WI apartment association and got my certification in tenant-landlord laws. It was the best thing I ever did when I became a landlord. You might want to check out there website. I know there is a chapter in Waukesha. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! Especially in real estate! I wish all the luck with your current situation.