Residential Leases-Wisconsin Consumer Act

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WI Court of Supreme Court

Case Name: Koble Investments v. Elicia Marquardt

Case No 2022AP000182

Officials:

Focus: Residential Leases-Wisconsin Consumer Act

Koble served tenant Elicia Marquardt with an eviction notice for nonpayment of rent during Governor Evers’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium. Marquardt argued in circuit court that this violated the Wisconsin Consumer Act (WCA) and that her lease was void because it lacked a required domestic-abuse-protections notice.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court found that WIS. STAT. § 427.104 of the WCA does not apply to a standard residential lease requiring monthly rent payments. The statute applies only where there is an “agreement to defer payment.” The court reasoned that monthly rent is not a deferred debt because a tenant’s obligation to pay rent arises month by month as occupancy continues and the  tenant does not owe the entire lease amount at the outset.

The court also declined to award damages based on the allegedly defective lease. Even assuming the lease was void and unenforceable due to the missing domestic-abuse notice, Marquardt failed to prove any pecuniary loss caused by that violation. She received the benefit of her bargain, occupancy of the rental property in exchange for rent, and there was no evidence she paid improper fees or suffered financial harm because of the lease defect.

Because Marquardt could not prevail under either the WCA or the landlord-tenant statutes, neither she nor her former attorney, James Miller, were entitled to damages, attorney fees, or costs.

Decided 06/05/26

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