Wisconsin Landlords & eviction bans

Wisconsin Landlords & eviction bans

Member since 2018 · 37 posts · 21 votes

I issued a 28 day notice to vacate to a tenant who has gone bad after more than 2 years of good behavior, and on time rent. The notice was issued February 26, before the ban on evictions in WI. The move out date was set to March 31st, and on March 31st, I noticed he was still there so I sent him a message basically offering to extend the notice to vacate out until May 31st because of Covid-19 and I thought I couldn't evict him anyway so might as well work with him. The agreement was only if he paid April and May rent at the normal rent rate by the 4th of the month. He said he would pay half that friday and the other half in two weeks, I agreed but he has not paid, and I'm getting nothing but excuses. I believe he is going to take advantage of this and not pay. This is a tenant who has several lease violations in the past several months such as unapproved tenants living there, sneaking pets in, ect. I noticed in Governor Ever's Emergency Order this provision "However, if the tenant is holding over on the property, in violation of Wisconsin Statute § 704.25, the Emergency Order does not bar a landlord’s right to seek relief against the hold-over tenant."

Would my offer to extend the notice, even though it was based on him paying April and May rent as usual, constitute him as not a holdover tenant anymore and therefore, I would have to wait to file the eviction? I understand that contacting an attorney is the best option however I am just curious if any other WI landlord has any input on the situation. 

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  • Investor · Milwaukee - Mequon, WI · Member since 2010 · 5k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    6y

    @Dean Klein that's a tough one - to get the correct legal answer and I would call the office of Tristen Pettis. And while you are on his website, subscribe to his news letter about Wisconsin Landlord Tenant law.

    Practically speaking, you can't evict at the moment, but you probably will be able to in June. Actions have consequences, even if they are delayed like in this case. Who will take a tenant with a recent eviction? That's the leverage you have. We follow the same policy and usually work out a flexible arrangement, because some rent is better then no rent these days (even though we collected close to 100% for April). 

    The problem with being cooperative and nice is that some (not all) tenants will loose respect once they have been able to string you along once and now think they can keep doing that. They are mistaking your kindness for weakness. So you have to quickly increase the pressure. I would follow eviction protocoll, give notice again, cut off direct communication and announce that your attorney will handle things from here and file against him as soon as legally possible. Hopefully that will compell them to honor the agreement with you until they move out.

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