Wisconsin eviction law

Under a lease of one year or less, a year-to-year tenancy, or a month-to-month or week-to-week tenancy, a landlord may give a written notice to pay the rent or move out by a date at least 5 days after the notice is given. Under a lease of more than one year, the notice must give at least 30 days to pay.

Wis. Stat. § 704.17(1p)(a) Wis. Stat. § 704.17(2)(a) Wis. Stat. § 704.17(3)(a)

• A month-to-month tenancy can also be ended, while the tenant is behind on rent, by a notice to vacate at least 14 days later, with no right to pay and stay. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(1p)(a)
• Under a lease of one year or less or a year-to-year tenancy, if the tenant is late again within one year after an earlier notice for unpaid rent, you may give a 14-day notice to vacate with no right to pay. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(2)(a)
• Rent in these notices includes past-due rent and late fees owed on past-due rent. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(1g)
• A notice stating the wrong amount is still valid unless the error was intentional or the tenant paid or offered what the tenant believed was due. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(4m)
• The notice must be in writing and served in a way the statute allows: personal delivery, leaving it with a family member 14 or older, leaving it with a person in charge plus mailing, posting plus mailing when those fail, registered or certified mail, or service like a summons. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(4) Wis. Stat. § 704.21(1)
• Lease terms for ending a tenancy that differ from these rules are invalid, except in a lease of more than one year. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(5)(a)

For waste, a material breach of the tenant's repair duties, or a breach of another lease term, a landlord may give written notice to fix the problem or move out by a date at least 5 days later. Under a lease of more than one year, the notice must allow at least 30 days to comply.

Wis. Stat. § 704.17(1p)(b) Wis. Stat. § 704.17(2)(b) Wis. Stat. § 704.17(3)(a)

• A tenant complies by promptly taking reasonable steps to fix the problem and proceeding diligently, or, if money damages fully protect you, by making a good faith offer to pay them. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(2)(b)
• A repeat breach within one year of the first notice allows a 14-day notice to vacate with no right to cure. A month-to-month tenancy may also be ended for a breach by a 14-day notice to vacate. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(1p)(b) Wis. Stat. § 704.17(2)(b)
• If the tenant, a household member or a guest engages in criminal activity that threatens the health, safety or peaceful enjoyment of other tenants, neighbors, the landlord or staff, or in drug-related criminal activity on or near the premises, you may end the tenancy on at least 5 days' notice with no chance to cure. The notice must describe the activity, date and people involved and tell the tenant of the right to contest it and to seek legal help. This does not apply to a tenant who is the victim of the crime. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(3m)
• After written notice from police or the district attorney that a nuisance under the state nuisance statute exists in the unit or was caused by the tenant on the property, the owner may give a 5-day notice to vacate stating the basis and the tenant's right to contest. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(1p)(c) Wis. Stat. § 704.17(2)(c) Wis. Stat. § 704.17(3)(b)
• A tenant whose threats or acts put another tenant or that tenant's child at imminent risk of serious physical harm, and who is named in a qualifying injunction, no-contact order or criminal complaint, may be given a 5-day notice to vacate. Wis. Stat. § 704.16(3)
• A lease that lets you end a tenancy for a crime committed in relation to the property must include the statutory notice of domestic abuse protections, or the whole rental agreement is void. Wis. Stat. § 704.44(10) Wis. Stat. § 704.14 See Required disclosures and lease terms on the Wisconsin page

Evictions are filed in circuit court under the small claims procedure, whatever the amount of rent claimed. For a summons served on a Wisconsin resident, the return date is 5 to 25 days after issuance and service must occur at least 5 days before that date. A summons served on a nonresident has a return date at least 20 days after issuance.

Wis. Stat. § 799.01(1)(a) Wis. Stat. § 799.05(3)(b), (c)

• The written complaint must identify the parties and the property and state the facts that allow removal; you may join claims for unpaid rent and damages. Wis. Stat. § 799.41 Wis. Stat. § 799.40(2)
• A notice ending the tenancy sent by certified mail is proven by the post office's proof of certified mailing. Wis. Stat. § 799.40(1g)
• Accepting past-due rent after the notice or filing does not require the case to be dismissed. Wis. Stat. § 799.40(1m)
• The court must pause the case, for up to 10 working days, if the tenant applies for emergency assistance before a writ is issued. Wis. Stat. § 799.40(4)(a)
• If you win, the court orders a writ of restitution. On hardship, the court may delay the writ up to 30 days if the tenant pays the rent due and the value of occupancy during the delay. A writ received by the sheriff more than 30 days after issuance may not be executed. Wis. Stat. § 799.44
• The sheriff executes the writ, removing the tenant, within 10 days after receiving it. Wis. Stat. § 799.45
• If the domestic abuse notice is missing, a lease that allows ending a tenancy for a crime related to the property is void. Wis. Stat. § 704.44(10) Wis. Stat. § 704.14
• Under section 799.06(1), pleadings after the initial complaint may be oral. A circuit court may adopt a rule requiring written pleadings, and a judge or circuit court commissioner may require them in an individual case. Follow the actual summons and court directions when deciding what to file and when to appear. Wis. Stat. section 799.06(1) Wis. Stat. section 799.05
• Section 799.445 sets a 15-day appeal period after entry of an eviction judgment or appealable order. It separately addresses orders for restitution or denial of restitution and orders on additional causes of action; a later decision on a money claim does not replace the stated deadline for the possession order. Incorporated appellate provisions and case-specific deadline calculations require separate review. Wis. Stat. section 799.445
• A tenant's appeal does not stay possession enforcement by itself. Section 799.445 requires an undertaking served and filed with the notice of appeal, in an amount and with surety approved by the judge, covering appeal costs, compliance with the appellate order, and rent and other damages during appeal. Serving the notice and approved undertaking on a sheriff holding an unexecuted writ stops further enforcement pending appeal. Failure to pay rent or another undertaking default ends the stay and requires execution. Wis. Stat. section 799.445
• Writ execution requires payment of the sheriff's statutory fee. Unless the landlord elects to handle belongings under section 799.45(3m), the sheriff may also require a reasonable deposit for expected removal and deputy costs; the court resolves a dispute over that deposit. The amount depends on the incorporated fee provisions, which were not freshly reviewed here. Wis. Stat. section 799.45(1)

A landlord may not lock out, forcibly evict or force out a tenant by any means other than a court eviction. A rental agreement that allows eviction or exclusion outside the courts is void.

Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.09(7) Wis. Stat. § 704.44(2m)

• Cutting off or substantially reducing heat, water or electricity to retaliate against a tenant is prohibited. Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.09(5)
• Deliver possession on the agreed move-in date unless circumstances beyond your control prevent it. Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.09(6)
• A landlord has no lien on a tenant's belongings and may not seize or hold them except as statutes allow or under a signed agreement in a separate NONSTANDARD RENTAL PROVISION document made with the first rental agreement. Wis. Stat. § 704.11 Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.09(4)

If a tenant moves out or is evicted and leaves belongings, the landlord may presume them abandoned and dispose of them as it sees fit, unless a written agreement says otherwise, but only if the landlord gave the tenant written notice, when the lease was signed or renewed, that it will not store items left behind.

Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5)(a) Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5)(bf)

• Hold prescription medication and prescription medical equipment for 7 days after you find it, and return it promptly if asked before you dispose of it. Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5)(am)
• Before disposing of a manufactured home, mobile home or titled vehicle, give notice of your intent to the tenant and any secured party you know of, personally or by mail. Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5)(b)
• The tenant or a secured party may redeem property before you dispose of it by paying your expenses. If you sell it, the statute lets you send the proceeds, minus sale and any storage costs, to the state Department of Administration. Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5)(a) Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5)(c)
• Without the no-storage notice, a different, older version of the statute governs what you must do with the property. That older text was not read for this page. Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5)(bf)
• After an eviction, you may tell the sheriff that you will remove and store or dispose of the property yourself under these rules; otherwise the sheriff removes it. Wis. Stat. § 799.45(3m)
• If the sheriff handles belongings under section 799.45(3), goods ordinarily go to safekeeping within the county. Within three days after removal, the sheriff mails notice of the location and supplies documents needed to retrieve them; later storage charges are the tenant's responsibility. The sheriff may instead send property determined with ordinary care to have no monetary value to an appropriate refuse facility, with notice within three days. This sheriff procedure is separate from the landlord's section 704.05 duties and the lease's no-storage notice. Wis. Stat. section 799.45(2)-(4)

A landlord may not raise rent, cut services, sue for possession, refuse to renew, or threaten any of these when the evidence shows the action would not happen but for retaliation against a tenant for a good faith complaint about a defect to an elected official or housing code agency, a complaint to the landlord about repairs or code violations, or exercising a legal right as a tenant.

Wis. Stat. § 704.45(1)

• You may still sue for possession when the tenant has not paid rent, other than a prohibited rent increase. Wis. Stat. § 704.45(2)
• The protection does not cover complaints about defects the tenant caused by negligence or misuse. Wis. Stat. § 704.45(3)
• The rental practices code also bars ending a tenancy, blocking an automatic renewal, or forcing a tenant out, including by cutting heat, water or electricity, in retaliation for reporting violations, joining or organizing a tenants' union, or asserting a legal right. Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.09(5)
• A rental agreement that allows retaliation for contacting police, health or safety services is void. Wis. Stat. § 704.44(1m) Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.08(1)