All Forum Posts by: Sean O'Gorman

Having just had to replace 5 feet of a broken sewer lateral under a basement floor yesterday, at a cost of $3k, I will from now on be paying for inspections of sewer laterals on all new purchases. Also just food for thought $3k was one of the lower bids that I received others came in at $5 and $6k. This is for a 5 foot repair. If they needed to go under the front porch or out toward the sidewalk tack on another $7 to $12k.

Emily, where in Wisconsin is the property located (county specifically)? While charging for carpet cleaning above normal wear and tear is acceptable. Taking the chance your tenant takes you to court on it is simply not worth the cost, IMO. If you want to charge for it in the future always take detailed pictures of the carpet before tenant takes possession and then of course taking damage picture(s) when the tenant moves out just in case the withholding is challenged. I have had some pretty bad carpet damage (iron burns in the carpet) in a place I have in Milwaukee, only to have the commissioner tell me that that was normal wear and tear - no joke. Same for rips.

I just heard that starting in 2019, the City of Cudahy is going to require all property owners with a property that has 4 units or more to pay for private trash and recycling pick up. Currently, trash pickup is done by the City and charged through taxes. Does anyone out there pay of private pick up in the City of Cudahy? It looks as though I am going to go from paying $250 a year to well above $2500 for the private pickup. This doesn't even address how people are going to fit two dumpsters on a city lot.

Yes, Tristan Pettit, over at Tristian's Landlord-Tenant Law Blog wrote a good article on what the ordinance means for landlords, definitely worth the time to read.  LINK

@Account Closed absolutely, I wasn't able to make the meeting but I am hopefully they will have another hearing before passing something like this.

Hello my fellow Milwaukee landlords, it been some time since I have posted on the forums but I thought this is a situation where a post is needed. As I am sure many of you are probably aware, one of the best resources for staying connected to Milwaukee/Wisconsin's changes affecting landlords is Tristan Pettit's Landlord Tenant Blog (http://petriepettit.com/blog/landlord-tenant). If you haven't been there already I would suggest you take a stroll over there, I believe you will find it every insightful, straightforward and overall a great resource.

That being said, it was because of Tristan's RSS feed that I was informed of this new Ordinance on Rent Abatement that is being considered in Milwaukee. 

Link to the article (http://petriepettit.com/blog/landlord-tenant/milwa...) 

I am not going to try and summarize the article but I copied over the beginning to hopefully give you an idea of the importance of the situation. A meeting to discuss this will be held this coming Monday (7/17). Details in the original post if you follow the link. 

"The Milwaukee County Board is considering a proposal that would permit your tenants to abate rent for maintenance issues not addressed within 24 hours.

For example, your tenant calls on Friday morning to say the bathroom faucet is not working correctly. You go out and fix it on Sunday, 50 hours after the call came in. This proposal would allow that tenant to deduct $200 from the rent - Yes! Under this proposal, the tenant can deduct TWO HUNDRED dollars even though you made a timely repair of a minor item that does not affect health or safety."

Mine also went up, not 31% that's for sure, but enough that I will go and talk with the assessor next year. The problem I have is the assessed value is just so off it is ridiculous. I have in the past argued successfully to have my assessment lowered and therefore my property tax bill lowered and it wasn't as hard as I thought it might have been. 

@William S. 31% is a pretty substantial jump where are you located in Milwaukee if you don't mine me asking?

@Ryan Rypel use the forms on WI Legal Blank if you are dealing with a property in Wisconsin. The forms are written by a lawyer and should not contain anything that may come back to bite you. Just pulling a lease from the internet is playing with fire. You do not want to find out when you are trying to get rid of somebody that just because you have a certain clause your entire lease is invalid (ex. making tenant pay legal fees, see http://petriestocking.com/blog/landlord-tenant/the...)

@Andrew Dicks honestly this isn't worth your time, chalk it up to the previous landlords error and move on. It's not worth the risk deducting it from the security deposit and hoping the tenant won't come back and take you to court for a wrongful withholding (which is a nightmare considering double damages and tenant's attorneys fee could be assessed, not factoring in Milwaukee is super lenient to tenants). My suggestion let it go, get out that 21 day letter (return receipt requested) and move on. Also if this is your first 21 day letter look at Tristan's Landlord Tenant blog (link) on how to write that 21 day letter and get on fixing the unit up and getting it re-rented.

Welcome to BP Alex