Can Rent be raised when adding Tenant to Lease in WI

[Pat Daniels]

We are in Wisconsin.  I have a tenant who allowed a friend to move in with out notifying us prior to the move.  Upon discovery we required that they complete and application and be added to the lease.  We also told them that the rent would increase by $50.  The current tenant if fighting the increase stating that she has a lease.  We had an attorney review and they see no rules in Wisconsin prohibiting an increasing rent considering we are issuing an addendum to the original lease with the increase.  Any insights on this would be appreciated as they have taken it to their attorney for review.

[Scott Schultz]

depending on your lease, the original tenant may be harboring the other tenant and be violating, I may consider discussing with the tenant (assuming the lease specifies who can live there for how long) that they are in violation of the lease, and you can remidy 2 ways, volunatilly terminate the lease and resign a new one with the additional tenant, or you can go down the eviction route.  This is why having a great Property Manager is worth every penny, because its not your problem.