Senate to take up proposal to change eviction procedures, landlord-tenant law

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A proposal that would change the state’s eviction procedures and landlord-tenant laws is among the flurry of bills the Wisconsin Senate plans to vote on Tuesday.

Assembly Bill 771 would repeal certain statutes and replaces them with provisions forbidding landlords and sellers to discriminate against people with disabilities who have trained animals that do tasks for them because of their disabilities.

Alongside tenants’ interests, the legislation has provisions meant to protect landlords. It, for instance, would impose a $500 penalty ona nyone who, in order to get housing, lies about having a disability or a need for an emotional-support animal. That penalty would also apply to licensed health professionals who, in order to help somone obtain housing, knowingly state a patient has a disability or a need for an emotional-support animal.

Should the Senate pass AB 771, it would head to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk for his signature.

The same bill would make various other changes to landlord-tenant law, including:

• Increasing the maximum fees landlords could charge to Wisconsin residents for background checks, increasing the maximum from $20 to $25. Under the bill, out-of-state residents could be charged up to $25.

• Clarifying that in cases in which a landlord gives notice of terminating a lease for failure to pay rent, “rent” includes any unpaid late fees.

• Making certified mail sufficient notice to terminate a lease when a tenant fails to pay rent or violates a term of the lease.

AB 771 would also make these changes to the state’s procedures for eviction:

• Require lawyers who help self-represented parties draft pleadings or other documents in an eviction action to list their name and State Bar number on those documents. Current law only requires that the documents state that a lawyer helped draft them.
• Put limitations on when stays in eviction proceedings could be granted if a tenant applies for emergency assistance. The proposal would cap the length of the stay at 10 working days.
• Forbid tenants to raise a landlord’s previous waiver of violations or breaches of a rental agreement as a defense in eviction proceedings.
• Clarify that a hearing before a judge can be scheduled only if one of the parties in a case cites “valid legal grounds” for a contest. Current law allows for a contested hearing when any party “claims that a contest exists.”

The bill is opposed by several organizations, including Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments and Boards. Others have registered in support of the bill, including the Wisconsin Housing Alliance and the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin.

AB 771 is just one of dozens of bill the Senate is taking up on Tuesday. Here are some of the others:

• AB 114 would make it a Class H felony to threaten or harm current or former tribal judges, tribal prosecutors, tribal law enforcement officers and their family members. The bill passed the Assembly on Nov. 7.

• AB 607 would revise the state’s procedure for transferring interest in real property by a transfer-on-death deed. The proposed modification would allow a TOD beneficiary to be designated in any sort of document, not just a deed. The bill would also make changes to the procedures used in transfers by affidavit of small estates. AB 114 passed the Assembly on Jan. 23.

• AB 825 would make it a felony to harm or threaten the person and family of guardians ad litem, corporation counsel, attorneys and other court officers. The legislation passed the Assembly on Feb. 20.

• AB 829 would make changes to  state and local governmental agencies’s ability, under the state’s fair employment law, to deny a license to an someone because of the person’s arrest or conviction record. The bill passed the Assembly on Feb. 20.

• AB 935, which would allow owners of waterfront property to remove certain material from inland navigable waters without a permit from the DNR. The bill passed the Assembly on Feb. 22.
• AB 926 would exempt people from having to get permits from the DNR in order to do certain types of shoreline-maintenance work in certain parts of the state. The types of work in question include mowing, leveling sand and removing debris. The bill passed the Assembly on Feb. 22.