If you are a landlord or property manager, using an effective, enforceable lease for your residential investment property is essential to protect your property and establish a healthy landlord-tenant relationship.
However, certain actions and lease provisions can render your lease void and unenforceable in Wisconsin. It’s crucial to understand these pitfalls so that you avoid legal problems down the road.
How Do I Make Sure My Lease Remains Valid?
Let’s explore a sampling of provisions that no Wisconsin residential lease should contain:
- Punishing Tenant for Seeking Help: It’s common sense, but it’s worth reiterating: A lease cannot contain language that allows the landlord to retaliate against a tenant for contacting law enforcement or health or safety services.
- Illegal Eviction: No one likes dealing with an eviction. But if it comes to that, make sure you follow the proper legal procedure to remove the tenant. Language in your lease that permits the landlord to lock out the tenant or to remove the tenant without a court order is illegal and will void the lease.
- Eliminating Landlord’s Duty to Mitigate Damages: A landlord always has a duty to mitigate, or minimize to the greatest extent possible, his damages. For example, if a tenant moves out before the expiration of the lease, the landlord has a duty to find a new tenant as soon as possible; the landlord cannot let the unit sit vacant and hold the prior tenant liable for the unpaid rent unless the landlord is making reasonable efforts to rerent the unit. Language in a residential lease that eliminates a landlord’s duty to mitigate his damages renders the lease void.
- Forcing Tenant to Pay Legal Fees: A residential lease cannot contain language that requires the tenant to pay legal fees associated with enforcing the lease except legal fees that are specifically permitted by law. When in doubt, do not include language regarding legal fees.
- Avoiding Responsibility for Damage or Injury: Landlords cannot evade liability for the landlord’s negligence, and language in a residential lease that purports to limit the landlord’s liability renders the lease void.
- Blaming Tenant for Uncontrollable Events: The lease cannot hold tenants responsible for damages or injuries caused by events beyond the tenant’s control, such as natural disasters.
- Disregarding Living Standards: A safe and habitable living environment is non-negotiable. Landlords must fulfill their obligation to provide and maintain habitable conditions throughout the tenancy, and any language in a residential lease to the contrary renders it void.
- Unfairly Evicting Crime Victims: A landlord cannot terminate a tenancy solely because the tenant (or another who resides with the tenant) was a victim of a crime. Language that allows the landlord to terminate the tenancy in such a situation will render a residential lease void.
Making sure your lease is legally sound is crucial. By avoiding these pitfalls, you not only protect yourself, but also strengthen your relationship with your tenants.
The Heller Law Offices Differences
Experience matters when navigating the complexities of landlord-tenant law, and Attorney Michael Heller brings over 14 years of expertise to the table.
Having assisted hundreds of clients in managing thousands of rental units, he understands the intricacies of crafting leases that protect both landlords and tenants.
At Heller Law Offices, we’re dedicated to providing personalized legal solutions tailored to your specific needs. Whether you’re looking for help with your lease, have a tenant dispute that needs the attention of a lawyer, or you want to retain a lawyer for any other landlord-tenant concern, Attorney Heller is here to help.
Take the first step towards safeguarding your investment property by booking a free consultation with Attorney Heller today.
With his guidance, you can ensure your leases are legally sound and your landlord-tenant relationships thrive.
The information published by Heller Law Offices, LLC is available for the reader’s convenience, is general in scope, and shall not be considered legal advice on any subject matter. No attorney-client relationship exists between the reader and Heller Law Offices solely because the reader engages with this Website and blog. Only a formal written retainer agreement establishes an attorney-client relationship.
The information contained in the blog is not a substitute for legal advice from a licensed attorney. Each situation is unique, and the information in the blog may not pertain to the reader’s situation. An analysis of the reader’s specific situation is required to provide accurate legal advice.
All information contained in the blog is based upon, or relates to, the laws and administrative code of the State of Wisconsin.