Wisconsin Landlords & eviction bans

[Dean Klein]

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.