Free Wisconsin Residential Lease Agreement

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A configurable Wisconsin residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to Wis. Stat. ch. 704 and Wis. Admin. Code ch. ATCP 134 — the 21-day deposit return, 12-hour entry notice, and the eleven clauses that void the whole lease.

Wisconsin ch. 704 + ATCP 134 21-Day Return Free PDF 2026 Edition

A Wisconsin residential lease agreement is governed by two books at once, and that is the single fact that decides whether a Wisconsin lease is enforceable. Wisconsin Statutes chapter 704 supplies the tenancy framework. Wisconsin Administrative Code chapter ATCP 134, the Residential Rental Practices rule made by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, supplies most of the operating duties — the check-in procedure, the twenty-one day deposit clock, the closed list of permitted deductions, the disclosure set, the twelve-hour entry notice and a list of prohibited lease provisions. A page built from chapter 704 alone is substantially incomplete, and every ranking Wisconsin lease page is built that way. The consequences are also unusual. Chapter ATCP 134 is a general order issued under Wis. Stat. 100.20, so a breach is an unfair trade practice, and Wis. Stat. 100.20(5) gives the tenant twice the pecuniary loss, plus costs, plus a reasonable attorney fee. And where a lease carries one of eleven prohibited clauses, Wis. Stat. 704.44 and ATCP 134.08 do not strike the clause out — they void the entire agreement, expressly overriding the severability section. Every figure below was verified on 6 August 2026 against the official chapter PDFs published under Wis. Stat. 35.18 and 35.93, and all 247 acts of the 2025-26 session were swept individually.

Complete the fields below to generate a Wisconsin residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field is written into the document, including both required identifications, the utility allocation basis, each disclosure you check, and the separate NONSTANDARD RENTAL PROVISIONS page, and the generated lease cites the controlling section of chapter 704 or chapter ATCP 134 at each point. Before you hand keys to anyone, run proper tenant screening — and note that Wis. Stat. 704.085 caps what you may charge for it. Pair the signed lease with a Wisconsin move-in / move-out checklist so the twenty-one day accounting rests on documented condition rather than memory.

Because the operating duties were written as a consumer-protection rule, not as a statute. Wisconsin Statutes chapter 704 is the tenancy framework: definitions, the writing requirement, repairs and untenantability, notices, holdover, mitigation, retaliation. But most of what a landlord actually has to do in a Wisconsin tenancy lives in Wisconsin Administrative Code chapter ATCP 134, promulgated by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection under the authority of Wis. Stat. 100.20(2). The chapter’s own opening note records the arrangement plainly: it is adopted under the authority of Wis. Stat. 100.20(2), violations may be prosecuted under Wis. Stat. 100.20(6) and 100.26(3) or (6), and a person who suffers a monetary loss because of a violation of this chapter may sue the violator directly under s. 100.20(5), Stats., and may recover twice the amount of the loss, together with costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees.

That is why a Wisconsin lease page built only from chapter 704 misses the check-in procedure, the deposit receipt, the earnest-money rules, the disclosure set, the twelve-hour entry notice, the late-fee conditions, the non-rent-charge duty, the promises-to-repair rules and the automatic-renewal prohibition. All nine live in ATCP 134. The two books also overlap deliberately in places — the deposit deduction list and the void-provision list each appear in both, at Wis. Stat. 704.28 and ATCP 134.06(3) and at Wis. Stat. 704.44 and ATCP 134.08 — and Wis. Stat. 704.95 explains the relationship: practices violating Wis. Stat. 704.28 or 704.44 may also constitute unfair trade practices under Wis. Stat. 100.20, but the department may not issue an order or promulgate a rule under 100.20 that changes any right or duty arising under chapter 704.

The Court of Appeals worked through exactly that boundary in State v. Lasecki, 2020 WI App 36. The court held that Wis. Stat. 704.28 speaks only to what a landlord may withhold and how long the landlord has to return the money; the duty to give the tenant a statement of withholdings arises only under ATCP 134.06(4). Because chapter 704 is silent on withholding statements, the rule alters nothing in the chapter, Wis. Stat. 704.95 does not bar it, and a landlord who fails to give the statement can be prosecuted criminally under Wis. Stat. 100.26(3). Our Wisconsin landlord-tenant laws guide maps the two books section by section.

Wisconsin recognises the ordinary range, and the type decides how the tenancy ends. A fixed-term lease under Wis. Stat. 704.01(1) runs for a definite period with a fixed commencement and expiration, or with both ascertainable by reference to an event, and expires on its own terms. A periodic tenancy under Wis. Stat. 704.01(2) is possession without a valid lease with rent paid on a recurring interval, and it continues until one party gives the Wis. Stat. 704.19 notice. A tenancy at will under Wis. Stat. 704.01(5) is possession with permission, without a valid lease, and without periodic rent.

Wisconsin also allows an oral agreement. Wis. Stat. 704.03(1) makes a lease for more than one year unenforceable unless it satisfies Wis. Stat. 706.02 and states the rent, the commencement and expiration, and a reasonably definite description of the premises. A term of one year or less can be oral — but Wis. Stat. 704.03(5) requires an unwritten agreement to be proved by clear and convincing evidence, and Wis. Stat. 704.03(2) converts a tenant who takes possession under an unenforceable long lease into a periodic tenant, month-to-month where the premises are residential and rent is payable monthly. ATCP 134.02(10) confirms that a rental agreement can be oral or written, so the whole of chapter ATCP 134 attaches either way.

What is outside these rules matters as much. ATCP 134.01 excludes seven categories from the rule: a unit operated by a public or private institution where occupancy is incidental to detention or to medical, geriatric, educational, counselling or religious services; a unit occupied by a member of the fraternal or social organisation that operates it; a unit occupied under a contract of sale by its purchaser or the purchaser’s successor; a unit in a hotel, motel or boarding house rented only to tourist or transient occupants, defined by ATCP 134.02(14) as people occupying for less than sixty days while travelling away from their permanent residence; a unit the landlord provides free of charge, or as consideration to a current employee who operates or maintains the premises; a unit occupied by a tenant engaged in commercial agricultural operations on the premises; and a unit owned and operated by government or a government subdivision or agency. Separately, Wis. Stat. 704.96, created by 2025 Wisconsin Act 29 and in force since 10 August 2025, provides that chapter 704 does not apply to an occupant or guest of a campground or camping resort licensed under Wis. Stat. 97.67.

Mobile and manufactured homes deserve their own line, because 2025 Wisconsin Act 67 rewrote the governing section on 11 December 2025. A site in a manufactured or mobile home community is governed by Wis. Stat. 710.15, not by this lease: every site agreement must be by written lease, for a term of at least one year unless the resident asks for less. The new Wis. Stat. 710.15(6) then routes the other case back here — a person who is not a resident or occupant, and who rents a mobile or manufactured home in a community from a resident or operator, is subject to chapter 704.

There is no cap — but Wisconsin’s definition of a deposit is wide enough to catch money most landlords do not think of as one. No Wisconsin statute or rule limits the amount. What ATCP 134.02(11) does instead is define a security deposit as the total of all payments and deposits given by a tenant to the landlord as security for the performance of the tenant’s obligations, and includes all rent payments in excess of 1 month’s prepaid rent.

Read that second clause carefully, because it does the work. A landlord who collects first month, last month and a one-month deposit at signing is holding two security deposits under Wisconsin law: the deposit itself, and the last month’s rent, because it is rent in excess of one month’s prepaid rent. The code’s own note to ATCP 134.06(2) says so directly — the chapter does not prevent a landlord collecting more than one month’s prepaid rent, but if the landlord still holds any prepayment above one month when the tenant surrenders the premises, the landlord must treat that excess as a security deposit under subsection (2). Pet deposits, key deposits and cleaning deposits are caught by the first clause on the same reasoning. That is why the builder above puts prepaid rent in its own field: so the real deposit total is visible at signing rather than discovered at move-out.

Wisconsin imposes no duty to segregate the deposit, no trust or escrow account requirement, and no duty to pay interest on it. Those duties exist in other states and are routinely imported into Wisconsin templates; nothing in chapter 704 or chapter ATCP 134 creates them. What Wisconsin regulates instead is the paperwork at both ends of the tenancy, and it regulates that very tightly. Our Wisconsin security deposit laws guide covers the disputes in more depth.

Four things, and three of them are commonly skipped. Wisconsin front-loads the deposit rules, so a landlord who does the paperwork only at move-out has already breached the rule.

One: furnish the lease for inspection first. ATCP 134.03(1) requires written rental agreements and any written rules and regulations to be furnished to prospective tenants for their inspection before a rental agreement is entered into, and before any earnest money or security deposit is accepted. Copies must then be given to the tenant at the time of agreement.

Two: identify the unit. ATCP 134.05(1) provides that a landlord may not accept an earnest money deposit or a security deposit from a rental applicant until the landlord has identified to the applicant the specific dwelling unit or units for which that applicant is being considered.

Three: give a written receipt immediately. ATCP 134.03(2)(a) provides that immediately upon accepting any earnest money or security deposit, the landlord shall provide the tenant or prospective tenant with a written receipt stating the nature of the deposit and its amount. The only excuse is payment by a check bearing a notation describing the purpose for which it was given — and even then the tenant may request a receipt. Wisconsin’s deepest ranking template page states the opposite, that landlords are not required to give a deposit receipt. The rule is a mandatory duty, and breaching it carries the Wis. Stat. 100.20(5) remedy like any other.

Four: give the ATCP 134.06(1) inspection notice. Before accepting a security deposit, or converting an earnest money deposit into one, the landlord must notify the tenant in writing that by a specified deadline date — not less than 7 days after the start of tenancy — the tenant may do two things: inspect the dwelling unit and notify the landlord of any preexisting damages or defects, and request a list of physical damages or defects charged to the previous tenant’s security deposit. If the tenant makes that second request, the landlord must supply the list within 30 days after receiving the request, or within 7 days after the landlord notifies the previous tenant of the deductions, whichever occurs later — regardless of whether the damage has since been repaired. The landlord need not disclose the previous tenant’s identity or the amounts withheld from that tenant. One ranking page collapses that two-limb “later of” test into a flat seven days.

No. There are two move-in documents, in two different books, with different triggers — and giving one does not satisfy the other. This is the most common structural error on Wisconsin lease pages, and every ranking page makes it.

The first is statutory. Wis. Stat. 704.08 provides that a landlord shall provide to a new residential tenant, when the tenant commences occupancy of the premises, a check-in sheet that the tenant may use to make comments about the condition of the premises. The tenant is given seven days from the date occupancy commences to complete the sheet and return it. The landlord is not required to provide it on renewal of a rental agreement, and the section does not apply to the rental of a plot of ground on which a manufactured or mobile home may be located.

The second is the ATCP 134.06(1) written notice described above, which is owed before the deposit is accepted rather than at occupancy, whose deadline is a floor of seven days rather than a fixed seven, and which carries the additional right to demand the previous tenant’s damage list. One ranking page cites a non-existent provision — “WI Adm. Code § 34.06(1)” — for the check-in sheet; another attributes the check-in sheet to ATCP 134.06 outright. Neither is right, and a landlord relying on either will give one document where Wisconsin wants two.

Practically, the check-in sheet is also the landlord’s best evidence. Because ATCP 134.06(3)(c) forbids withholding for normal wear and tear, a deduction dispute is almost always an argument about the condition of the unit on day one. A completed, returned check-in sheet, backed by dated photographs, is what converts that argument into a document. Pair it with our Wisconsin move-in / move-out checklist.

Within twenty-one days, and the clock has exactly three possible starting points. ATCP 134.06(2) and Wis. Stat. 704.28(4) are written in identical terms. The landlord shall deliver or mail the full deposit, less any lawfully withheld amount, within 21 days after whichever of these applies:

• (a) If the tenant vacates on the termination date of the rental agreement — the date on which the rental agreement terminates.
• (b) If the tenant vacates or is evicted before the termination date — the date the rental agreement terminates, or, if the landlord re-rents the premises before that, the date on which the new tenant’s tenancy begins.
• (c) If the tenant vacates or is evicted after the termination date — the date on which the landlord learns that the tenant has vacated or has been removed under Wis. Stat. 799.45(2).

Those are the only three. The deepest ranking Wisconsin page adds a fourth — that the clock starts when “the landlord has had a reasonable opportunity to inspect” — which appears nowhere in either provision and would let a landlord postpone the deadline indefinitely by not inspecting. Note also what limb (b) does for a landlord who re-rents quickly: it can move the deadline earlier, not later.

If any part is withheld, ATCP 134.06(4)(a) requires a written statement, within the same twenty-one day period and in the same manner, accounting for all amounts withheld, describing each item of physical damage or other claim and the amount withheld as reasonable compensation for each. Subsection (4)(b) adds that no landlord may intentionally misrepresent or falsify any claim against a security deposit, including the cost of repairs, or withhold under an intentionally falsified claim. Our Wisconsin security deposit itemization form and deposit return letter produce the statement in compliant form.

One narrow protection runs the landlord’s way. ATCP 134.06(5) provides that a landlord who has otherwise complied is not considered in violation solely because the postal service was unable to complete delivery to the person addressed. It does not otherwise affect the tenant’s right to the money.

Five things — and a sixth that only a separate document can create. ATCP 134.06(3)(a) and Wis. Stat. 704.28(1) are a closed list. The landlord may withhold only amounts reasonably necessary to pay for:

1. Tenant damage, waste, or neglect of the premises — subject to the normal wear and tear bar below.
2. Unpaid rent for which the tenant is legally responsible, subject to Wis. Stat. 704.29, so the landlord’s mitigation duty is built into the deduction itself.
3. Utility service provided by the landlord but not included in the rent, which the tenant owes under the rental agreement.
4. Direct utility service provided by a government-owned utility, to the extent the landlord becomes liable for the tenant’s nonpayment. A privately owned utility is not on the list.
5. Unpaid monthly municipal permit fees assessed against the tenant under Wis. Stat. 66.0435(3), to the extent the landlord becomes liable.
6. Any other payment for a reason provided in a NONSTANDARD RENTAL PROVISIONS document — and only in that document.

Cleaning is not on the list. Neither is re-letting, advertising, administrative time or a flat “damage fee”. Two of the ranking Wisconsin pages add cleaning costs and “breach of lease terms” as ordinary permitted deductions; neither appears in the rule, and reaching them requires the nonstandard document.

Normal wear and tear may never be withheld. ATCP 134.06(3)(c) and Wis. Stat. 704.28(3) provide that the section does not authorise withholding for normal wear and tear, or for other damages or losses for which the tenant cannot reasonably be held responsible under applicable law. The rule’s own published notes go further and give two examples by name: a landlord may not withhold for routine painting or routine carpet cleaning where there is no unusual damage caused by tenant abuse.

The carpet-cleaning position is worth stating precisely, because Wisconsin’s Attorney General addressed it in OAG 4-13 and the note reproduces the answer. A lease may include a contractual provision requiring the tenant to pay for routine carpet cleaning — because cleaning is not a landlord duty under Wis. Stat. 704.07(2), so assigning it does not waive a statutory obligation. But two limits follow. The cost may not be collected in advance, because any prepayment above one month’s rent is itself a security deposit. And it may not be deducted from the security deposit, because subsection (3) forbids withholding for normal wear and tear. The clause creates a debt the landlord can sue on; it does not create a deduction.

Twice the loss, plus costs, plus the tenant’s attorney fee — and the fee award is mandatory. The enforcement engine sits outside chapter 704 entirely, which is why pages built from the statutes alone never find it.

Chapter ATCP 134 is a general order promulgated under Wis. Stat. 100.20(2). A violation is therefore an unfair trade practice, and Wis. Stat. 100.20(5) provides that any person suffering pecuniary loss because of a violation of an order issued under that section may sue for damages therefor in any court of competent jurisdiction and shall recover twice the amount of such pecuniary loss, together with costs, including a reasonable attorney fee. The word is shall. In Boelter v. Tschantz, 2010 WI App 18, the Court of Appeals held that an attorney fee award under subsection (5) is mandatory on a successful claim. In Shands v. Castrovinci, 115 Wis. 2d 352 (1983), the Supreme Court held that fees are recoverable even where the tenant is represented at no charge by a legal services organisation, and that appellate fees are recoverable too. In Paulik v. Coombs, 120 Wis. 2d 431 (Ct. App. 1984), a prevailing tenant was entitled to fees irrespective of the amount the landlord recovered on a counterclaim.

The measure of the doubling turns on which failure occurred. Pierce v. Norwick, 202 Wis. 2d 587 (Ct. App. 1996), drew the line: where a landlord complies with the notification requirements and provides an accounting of amounts withheld, a double-damages award under subsection (5) is subject to offset for the landlord’s actual damages; but where the landlord fails to provide the accounting, a damage award of double the security deposit applies regardless of the landlord’s damages. A landlord with a genuine claim who simply never sends the ATCP 134.06(4) statement therefore loses the offset.

And the exposure is not only civil. In State v. Lasecki, 2020 WI App 36, the court held that a reasonably prudent landlord would understand, from reading the statutes and the administrative code, that failing to provide a statement of withholdings could result in a violation of Wis. Stat. 100.20 as an unfair business or trade practice and could therefore be criminally prosecuted under Wis. Stat. 100.26(3), and that the scheme is not void for vagueness. Wis. Stat. 100.26(3) reaches a person who intentionally refuses, neglects or fails to obey any regulation or order made under Wis. Stat. 100.20, and provides for a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, or both. Wis. Stat. 100.20(6) separately lets the department seek an injunction and a court order restoring pecuniary loss.

One limit is worth knowing. Snyder v. Badgerland Mobile Homes, 2003 WI App 49, holds that to sue for double damages, costs and fees under subsection (5) a party must establish a pecuniary loss because of the violation; a bare code violation with no loss alleged does not support recovery.

It is a separate written document, carrying exactly that title, that the landlord must specifically identify and discuss with the tenant before the tenant enters into the rental agreement. It is the single most misunderstood mechanism in Wisconsin residential leasing, and it is the only route to three different terms.

ATCP 134.06(3)(b) and Wis. Stat. 704.28(2) use it for deposit withholding beyond the closed list. ATCP 134.09(2)(c) uses it for entry in circumstances the standard rule does not authorise. ATCP 134.09(4)(b) uses it for any express agreement giving the landlord rights in the tenant’s property, which must additionally be executed in writing at the time of the initial rental agreement and is not effective unless signed or initialled by the tenant.

The formal requirements are identical in each: the provisions must be provided to the tenant in a separate written document entitled “NONSTANDARD RENTAL PROVISIONS”; the landlord shall specifically identify each provision with the tenant before the tenant enters into a rental agreement; and if the tenant signs or writes initials by a provision, it is rebuttably presumed that the landlord specifically identified it and that the tenant agreed to it. The code’s note confirms the document may be pre-printed.

Three practical consequences follow. First, a nonstandard term buried in the body of the lease does not take effect, however clearly it is drafted — the separate document is the form the rule prescribes. Second, the title matters: one ranking Wisconsin page tells landlords the addendum must be titled “NONSTANDARD PROVISIONS”, which is not the prescribed title. Third, the signature or initials are not merely evidential housekeeping; they are what creates the presumption that the identification conversation happened. Without them the landlord must prove it. The generator above prints the document as its own page, with its own signature block, whether or not any provision is claimed — because a page recording that none is claimed is itself useful evidence.

At least twelve hours — and the rule that says so is in the administrative code, not the statutes. ATCP 134.09(2)(a)2 provides that no landlord may enter a dwelling unit during tenancy except upon advance notice and at reasonable times, and that advance notice means at least 12 hours advance notice unless the tenant, upon being notified of the proposed entry, consents to a shorter time period.

Two ranking pages cite Wis. Stat. 704.05(2) for the twelve hours. That section contains no hour figure at all: it says the landlord may, upon advance notice and at reasonable times, inspect the premises, make repairs and show the premises to prospective tenants or purchasers. It is also a default rule, applying under Wis. Stat. 704.05(1) only in the absence of an inconsistent provision in writing signed by both parties — which is precisely why the operative rule is the code, whose protections a landlord cannot displace by an ordinary lease clause. The only route around ATCP 134.09(2)(a) is the nonstandard rental provision in paragraph (c).

The purposes are limited too. ATCP 134.09(2)(a)1 permits entry during tenancy only to inspect the premises, make repairs, or show the premises to prospective tenants or purchasers, as authorised under Wis. Stat. 704.05(2), and only for the amount of time reasonably required for that purpose. A general “landlord may enter for any reasonable business purpose” clause is wider than the rule allows.

Three situations need no advance notice, under ATCP 134.09(2)(b): the tenant, knowing the proposed time of entry, requests or consents in advance; a health or safety emergency exists; or the tenant is absent and the landlord reasonably believes entry is necessary to protect the premises from damage. Note the third: it requires the tenant’s absence and a reasonable belief about damage, not merely a suspicion of abandonment.

And there is a rule about the doorstep itself. ATCP 134.09(2)(d) provides that no landlord may enter a dwelling unit during tenancy without first announcing his or her presence to persons who may be present in the dwelling unit, and identifying himself or herself upon request. The code’s note says knocking or ringing the doorbell satisfies the announcement. An unlawful entry is a breach of an order under Wis. Stat. 100.20, so the remedy is the double damages and mandatory attorney fee of Wis. Stat. 100.20(5). Our Wisconsin notice to enter property form produces a compliant notice, and the Wisconsin landlord entry laws guide covers the edge cases.

Wisconsin fixes no rent due date, no grace period and no late-fee cap — but it attaches three conditions to any late fee, and one prohibited-practice rule to how rent is advertised.

ATCP 134.09(8) supplies the conditions. Paragraph (a): no landlord may charge a late rent fee or late rent penalty except as specifically provided under the rental agreement — so a landlord whose lease is silent may charge nothing. Paragraph (b): before charging a late rent fee or penalty, the landlord shall apply all rent prepayments received from that tenant to offset the amount of rent owed. Paragraph (c): no landlord may charge any tenant a fee or penalty for nonpayment of a late rent fee or late rent penalty — which rules out interest, compounding, or a second charge stacked on the first.

One ranking page states that ATCP 134.09(8) caps a late fee at “twenty dollars or twenty per cent of the monthly rent payment, whichever is less” and bars any late fee before the sixth day after rent is due. None of those numbers is in ATCP 134.09(8), which contains no dollar figure, no percentage and no day count. They come from Wis. Stat. 704.90(4b) — the self-service storage facility section — where the operator may charge a reasonable late fee for each month rent is not paid by five days after it is due, and a fee of twenty dollars or twenty per cent of the monthly rental amount, whichever is greater, is presumed reasonable. Wis. Stat. 704.90(1)(b) defines a leased space as one that is not rented or provided to the lessee in conjunction with property for residential use. The imported rule is from the wrong section, inverts greater into less, and turns a presumption of reasonableness into a ceiling.

Non-rent charges have their own rule, and it is one of Wisconsin’s quiet strengths. ATCP 134.09(9)(a)3 makes it a prohibited practice, for the purpose of inducing a person to enter into a rental agreement, to fail to disclose, in connection with any representation of rent amount, the existence of any non-rent charges which will increase the total amount payable by the tenant during tenancy. Parking, pet rent, mandatory trash or utility flat fees and administrative charges all have to be on the table when the rent figure is stated. Paragraphs (a)1, (a)2 and (b) round out the section, prohibiting misrepresentation of the location, characteristics or equivalency of units, misrepresentation of the amount of rent or non-rent charges, and the bait-and-switch practice of representing that a person is being considered for a different unit.

Returned payments are governed by Wis. Stat. 403.414(7), not by a flat statutory fee. A person who issues a check or other draft that is not honoured on presentment, because there is no account or insufficient funds or credit, is liable for all reasonable costs and expenses in connection with the collection of the amount for which the check was written. Three ranking pages instead print a fifteen dollar Wisconsin returned-check fee citing Wis. Stat. 422.202(1); that provision sits in the Wisconsin Consumer Act’s consumer credit transactions chapter, and Wis. Stat. 421.301(10) and (11) define a consumer credit transaction as one in which property, services or money is acquired on credit, and a consumer lease as a lease of goods. A residential tenancy is neither. Wis. Stat. 403.414(7) even carves itself out where a 422.202 charge could have been collected, so the two provisions cannot both apply to the same payment. Our Wisconsin late fee laws guide and Wisconsin late rent notice cover the practical side.

Rent increases have no dedicated Wisconsin statute. Rent under a fixed-term lease cannot be changed unilaterally during the term; rent under a periodic tenancy changes by terminating that tenancy on the Wis. Stat. 704.19 notice and offering new terms, or by agreement. See the Wisconsin rent increase laws guide and the Wisconsin rent increase notice form.

Actual cost, capped at twenty-five dollars — and nothing at all in one common situation. Wis. Stat. 704.085(1)(a), added by 2017 Wisconsin Act 317, permits a landlord to require a prospective tenant to pay the landlord’s actual cost, up to twenty-five dollars, to obtain a consumer credit report from a consumer credit reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis. Two duties come with it: the landlord shall notify the prospective tenant of the charge before requesting the report, and shall provide the prospective tenant with a copy of the report.

Wis. Stat. 704.085(1)(b) then removes the charge entirely in one case: a landlord may not require payment for a credit report if, before the landlord requests one, the prospective tenant provides the landlord with a nationwide consumer credit report less than 30 days old. ATCP 134.05(4) carries the same rule in the administrative code and pegs its ceiling to the statute, and its note records that the landlord remains free to obtain a more current report at the landlord’s own expense.

Wis. Stat. 704.085(2) adds a separate and narrower permission: a landlord may require a prospective tenant who is not a resident of this state to pay the landlord’s actual cost, up to twenty-five dollars, to obtain a background check, again on notice beforehand and with a copy of the report. It does not extend to Wisconsin residents.

Earnest money is regulated separately and tightly. ATCP 134.05(2)(a) requires a landlord who receives an earnest money deposit to send it by first-class mail or deliver it in full by the end of the next business day after any of three events: the landlord rejects the application or refuses to enter into a rental agreement; the applicant withdraws before acceptance; or the landlord fails to approve the application by the end of the third business day after accepting the deposit, or by a later written-agreed date no more than twenty-one calendar days out. Where the landlord does enter into a rental agreement, ATCP 134.05(2)(b) requires the earnest money to be applied as rent or as a security deposit, or returned. ATCP 134.05(3) allows withholding only where an approved applicant then fails to enter into the agreement, and not where the landlord significantly altered the rental terms previously disclosed — limited to actual costs and damages, with no lost rents unless the landlord mitigated under Wis. Stat. 704.29. Our Wisconsin tenant screening laws guide goes further.

Wis. Stat. 704.07 splits the duties, and subsection (1) makes any waiver of it in a residential tenancy void. The section applies to all residential tenancies, and to a nonresidential tenancy only where there is no contrary writing signed by both parties. An agreement to waive its requirements in a residential tenancy, including an agreement in a rental agreement, is void.

The landlord’s duties under Wis. Stat. 704.07(2)(a), except for repairs made necessary by the tenant’s negligence or improper use, are to keep in a reasonable state of repair the portions of the premises over which the landlord maintains control; to keep in a reasonable state of repair all equipment under the landlord’s control necessary to supply services the landlord expressly or impliedly agreed to furnish, such as heat, water, elevator, or air conditioning; to make all necessary structural repairs; except for residential premises subject to a local housing code and except as subsection (3)(b) provides, to repair or replace any plumbing, electrical wiring, machinery or equipment furnished with the premises and no longer in reasonable working condition; and, for a residential tenancy, to comply with any local housing code applicable to the premises. Paragraph (b) adds that where the premises are part of a building with other tenants, one tenant’s negligence does not relieve the landlord as to the others.

The tenant’s duties under Wis. Stat. 704.07(3) are narrower than most templates assume. Paragraph (a) is a cost-allocation rule: where the premises are damaged, including by an infestation of insects or other pests, due to the tenant’s acts or inaction, the landlord may elect to let the tenant remediate and redecorate, or may do the work itself and require reimbursement of the reasonable cost, which is presumed reasonable unless the tenant proves otherwise. The statute then lists what counts as reasonable cost: materials provided or labour performed by the landlord, and at a reasonable hourly rate the landlord’s time purchasing or providing materials, supervising an agent, and hiring a third-party contractor. Paragraph (b) puts plumbing, electrical wiring, machinery and equipment furnished with the premises on the tenant where repair can be made at a cost minor in relation to the rent — except for residential premises subject to a local housing code. Paragraph (c) requires a residential tenant to comply with any applicable local housing code.

Promises to repair have their own rule, and it is one no ranking page carries. ATCP 134.07(1) requires every promise or representation by a landlord that the dwelling unit or any other portion of the premises, including furnishings or facilities, will be cleaned, repaired or otherwise improved to specify the date or time period on or within which the work is to be completed. ATCP 134.07(2) requires all promises made before the initial rental agreement to be in writing with a copy furnished to the tenant. ATCP 134.07(3) forbids failing to complete on time unless the delay is for labour stoppage, unavailability of supplies or materials, unavoidable casualty or another cause beyond the landlord’s control — and then requires timely notice of the reason and of when the work will be completed. “We’ll take care of that after you move in” is a promise the rule requires to be dated and, if made before the first lease, written.

Neither. Wisconsin has no repair-and-deduct statute and no rent-escrow procedure. This is the single largest error in the Wisconsin SERP, and it appears on the deepest ranking page.

What Wis. Stat. 704.07(4) actually provides is this. If the premises become untenantable because of damage by fire, water or other casualty, or because of any condition hazardous to health, or if there is a substantial violation of subsection (2) materially affecting the tenant’s health or safety, the tenant may remove from the premises unless the landlord proceeds promptly to repair, rebuild, or eliminate the hazard or violation. The tenant may also remove if the inconvenience from the nature and period of the work would impose undue hardship. If the tenant instead remains in possession, and the condition materially affects health or safety or substantially affects the use and occupancy of the premises, rent abates to the extent the tenant is deprived of the full normal use of the premises. The subsection then says, in terms: This section does not authorize rent to be withheld in full, if the tenant remains in possession.

A tenant who justifiably moves out is not liable for rent after the premises became untenantable, and the landlord must repay any advance rent apportioned to the period after that. The subsection does not apply where the damage or condition is caused by the tenant’s negligence or improper use.

The deepest ranking Wisconsin page states that under Wis. Stat. 704.07(4) tenants “may arrange for necessary repairs and deduct the reasonable cost from rent (up to one month’s rent)” after “at least 14 days’ written notice”. There is no repair-and-deduct right, no one-month cap and no fourteen-day notice anywhere in chapter 704 or chapter ATCP 134. Another ranking page tells tenants they “may withhold rent” under the same subsection, which the statute’s own closing sentence contradicts. The correct remedies are: move out where the section allows it; rent abatement in proportion while in possession; the local code enforcement route, which Wis. Stat. 704.07(2)(a)5 makes a landlord duty; and the Wis. Stat. 100.20(5) action for any ATCP 134 breach. Our Wisconsin habitability laws guide works through the abatement calculation.

Rent abatement is also the one place a Wisconsin municipality retains real power, and the legislature capped it: Wis. Stat. 704.07(5) provides that an ordinance enacted by a city, town, village or county regulating abatement of rent shall permit abatement only for conditions that materially affect the health or safety of the tenant or substantially affect the use and occupancy of the premises.

Three sit outside chapter 704 and are commonly missed. Wis. Stat. 704.06 requires a landlord of premises served by a water heater serving only those premises to set the thermostat no higher than 125 degrees Fahrenheit before any new tenant occupies, or at the minimum setting if the minimum is higher.

Wis. Stat. 101.145 governs smoke detectors in a residential building, which the section defines as a public building used for sleeping or lodging, including an apartment house, rooming house or dormitory. The owner must install and maintain a functional smoke detector in the basement and at the head of any stairway on each floor level, and either in each sleeping area of each unit or elsewhere in the unit within six feet of each sleeping area and not in a kitchen. Here is the part the deepest ranker gets backwards: subsection (3)(c) provides that the occupant of a unit shall maintain any smoke detector in that unit. The owner maintains detectors in common areas. Where an occupant, or a state or local officer with inspection duties, gives the owner written notice that a detector in the unit is not functional, the owner must provide the necessary maintenance within five days. A violation carries a forfeiture of up to fifty dollars per day.

Wis. Stat. 101.149 sets the parallel carbon monoxide rules. Detectors are required in units containing a fuel-burning appliance, units served by a fuel-burning forced-air furnace, units in buildings containing fuel-burning appliances outside the units, and units in buildings with attached private garages, each with its own carve-outs. Placement is outside each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the sleeping rooms, and inside a sleeping room where a fuel-burning appliance is in that room or its attached bathroom. The owner must reasonably maintain every detector; and where an occupant gives written notice that a detector is not functional or has been removed by someone else, the owner must repair or replace it within five days. Tampering with, removing, destroying, disconnecting or removing batteries from an installed detector is prohibited.

ATCP 134.09(1) adds a flat prohibition: no landlord may rent or advertise for rent any premises that have been placarded and condemned for human habitation, or on which a notice of intent to placard and condemn, or an order to raze or to rehabilitate or raze, has been received — until all repairs bringing the property into compliance are complete.

A fixed term expires; a periodic tenancy takes twenty-eight days’ written notice ending at the end of a rental period. Wis. Stat. 704.19 governs periodic tenancies and tenancies at will. Subsection (2)(a) requires written notice complying with the section unless the parties expressly agreed another method and that agreement is established by clear and convincing proof, or the tenancy ended by surrender, or subsection (6) applies. Subsection (2)(b)1 requires the notice to terminate the tenancy at the end of a rental period; for a year-to-year tenancy the end of the rental period is the end of the rental year, even where rent is payable more often.

Subsection (3) sets the length: at least 28 days’ notice, except that where rent is payable on a basis less than monthly notice at least equal to the rent-paying period is sufficient — seven days for a week-to-week tenancy — and all agricultural tenancies from year-to-year require at least ninety days.

The section is forgiving about form and unforgiving about timing. Subsection (4) requires the notice to be in writing, formal or informal, substantially informing the other party of the intent to terminate and the date of termination, and provides that a notice is not invalid because of errors in the notice which do not mislead, including omission of the name of one of several landlords or tenants. Subsection (5) rescues a notice with an inaccurate termination date: it remains valid but is not effective until the first date that could properly have been specified, though the recipient may elect to treat the stated date as effective. Subsection (7) fixes when notice counts as given for each service method — the day of personal delivery; the day of leaving or affixing, or the date of mailing, whichever is later, for the substituted methods; the second day after mailing to an address within Wisconsin and the fifth day after mailing in all other cases for registered or certified mail; and the day of actual receipt where subsection (5) of Wis. Stat. 704.21 applies.

Subsection (6) covers a tenant who simply leaves: where a periodic tenant vacates without notice and fails to pay rent when due, the tenancy terminates on the first date it would have terminated had proper notice been given on the day the landlord learns of the removal. Our Wisconsin lease termination laws guide, tenant notice to vacate and notice of non-renewal handle the paperwork.

Automatic renewal has its own trap. Wis. Stat. 704.15 provides that a provision in a residential lease for automatic renewal or extension unless the tenant or either party gives contrary notice is not enforceable against the tenant unless the lessor, at least 15 days but not more than 30 days before the time specified for giving that notice, gives the tenant written notice in the manner of Wis. Stat. 704.21 calling the tenant’s attention to the renewal provision. ATCP 134.09(3) makes enforcing or attempting to enforce such a provision without that notice a prohibited practice in its own right — so the landlord who forgets is not merely unable to renew, but exposed under Wis. Stat. 100.20(5).

Three routes, and “landlord harassment” is not one of them. Two ranking Wisconsin pages list landlord harassment as a ground for early termination of a fixed-term lease. No Wisconsin statute provides it.

Wis. Stat. 704.16(1) lets a residential tenant terminate and remove where the tenant or a child of the tenant faces an imminent threat of serious physical harm from another person if the tenant remains, and the tenant gives the landlord notice complying with Wis. Stat. 704.21 together with a certified copy of one of six documents: an injunction under Wis. Stat. 813.12(4) protecting the tenant; an injunction under 813.122 protecting the tenant’s child; an injunction under 813.125(4) based on stalking under 940.32; a condition of release under chapter 969 ordering no contact; a criminal complaint alleging stalking under 940.32; or a criminal complaint filed after an arrest for a domestic abuse offence under Wis. Stat. 968.075.

Since 2025 Wisconsin Act 90, enacted 6 March 2026, Wis. Stat. 704.16(1m) adds a separate sexual-assault route with no imminent-threat requirement. A residential tenant may terminate on notice complying with Wis. Stat. 704.21 plus a certified copy of either an injunction under Wis. Stat. 813.125(4) based on an act that would constitute sexual assault under Wis. Stat. 940.225, 948.02 or 948.025, or attempting or threatening the same; or a criminal complaint alleging that the person sexually assaulted the tenant or the tenant’s child under those sections. This is new law that no competing Wisconsin lease page carries.

In either case the money rule is the same. Wis. Stat. 704.16(2) and (2m) provide that the tenant shall not be liable for any rent after the end of the month following the month in which he or she provides the notice or removes from the premises, whichever is later, subject to the landlord’s duty to mitigate under Wis. Stat. 704.29(2).

Wis. Stat. 704.16(4) then adds a 48-hour lock duty. At the request of a residential tenant who provides a certified copy of a qualifying document, the landlord shall change the locks to the tenant’s premises, or may give the tenant permission to change them, within 48 hours of receiving the request and the document. The tenant bears the cost and must give the landlord a key within a reasonable time. Where the person named in the document is also a tenant of the same premises, the landlord need not change the locks unless the document directs that person to avoid the residence or orders no contact with the requesting tenant. The landlord is not liable for civil damages for any action taken to comply.

The landlord has a mirror-image right under Wis. Stat. 704.16(3): the tenancy of an “offending tenant” may be terminated where that tenant’s acts, including verbal threats, cause another tenant or that tenant’s child in the same rental unit, multiunit dwelling, apartment complex or manufactured home community to face an imminent threat of serious physical harm; the offending tenant is the named offender in one of seven qualifying documents; and the landlord gives written notice complying with Wis. Stat. 704.21 requiring the offending tenant to vacate on or before a date at least five days after the notice, stating the basis for its issuance and the right to contest the termination in an eviction action under chapter 799. If contested, the tenancy may not be terminated without proof by the greater preponderance of the credible evidence.

Death of a tenant is handled by Wis. Stat. 704.165: the tenancy terminates on the earlier of sixty days after the landlord receives notice, is advised or otherwise becomes aware of the death, or the expiration of the term; and for a periodic tenant or tenant at will, sixty days after the landlord becomes aware, notwithstanding Wis. Stat. 704.19. The deceased tenant and the estate are not liable for rent after termination, subject to mitigation, and the landlord may not contact or communicate with a member of the deceased tenant’s family for the purpose of obtaining rent for which that family member has no liability. The Wisconsin breaking a lease guide covers the tenant’s remaining exposure.

It depends on the tenancy type and the breach, and the subsections are cited wrongly across the whole SERP. Wis. Stat. 704.17 is organised by tenancy, not by breach, and Wis. Stat. 704.17(1g) first defines “rent” for the section to include any rent that is past due and any late fees owed for rent that is past due — so a pay-or-vacate notice may demand the late fee too.

• Month-to-month and week-to-week — Wis. Stat. 704.17(1p). Nonpayment: a notice to pay rent or vacate on or before a date at least five days after it is given; or, for a month-to-month tenancy while the tenant is in default, a notice to vacate on at least fourteen days with no right to cure. Other breach by a month-to-month tenant — waste, a material violation of Wis. Stat. 704.07(3), or breach of any covenant other than rent: a five-day remedy-or-vacate notice, or a fourteen-day notice to vacate.
• Lease for one year or less, and year-to-year — Wis. Stat. 704.17(2). The same five-day pay-or-vacate for nonpayment; and where the tenant paid or was allowed to stay after such a notice and then fails to pay again within one year, a fourteen-day notice to vacate. For a non-rent breach, a five-day remedy-or-vacate notice, with a fourteen-day notice to vacate on a repeat within one year. Wis. Stat. 704.17(2)(d) provides that this whole subsection does not apply to week-to-week or month-to-month tenants.
• Lease for more than one year — Wis. Stat. 704.17(3). For nonpayment, waste, or breach of any other covenant: a notice to pay, repair the waste or otherwise comply on or before a date at least thirty days after it is given. In the case of failure to pay rent, all rent due must be paid on or before the specified date.
• Criminal and drug-related activity — Wis. Stat. 704.17(3m). A five-day notice to vacate with no opportunity to remedy.
• Nuisance on a law-enforcement referral — Wis. Stat. 704.17(1p)(c), (2)(c) and (3)(b). Where the owner receives written notice from a law enforcement agency or district attorney that a nuisance under Wis. Stat. 823.113(1) or (1m)(b) exists in the unit or was caused by the tenant, a five-day notice to vacate.

Two corrections follow directly. First, the ranking pages that cite Wis. Stat. 704.17(2)(a) and (2)(b) for month-to-month notices are citing a subsection that excludes month-to-month tenants by its own paragraph (d). Second, the widely repeated claim that the fourteen-day notice is what follows an uncured five-day notice is wrong: under both (1p)(b) and (2)(b) the fourteen-day route is either a standalone alternative or the consequence of a repeat breach within one year.

The 704.17(3m) notice has four mandatory contents, and a notice missing any of them is defective. It must state the basis for its issuance; include a description of the criminal activity, the date it took place, and the identity or description of the individuals engaging in it; advise the tenant that he or she may seek the assistance of legal counsel, a volunteer legal clinic or a tenant resource centre; and state that the tenant has the right to contest the allegations before a court commissioner or judge if an eviction action is filed. No arrest or conviction is required, but if the tenant contests, the tenancy may not be terminated without proof by the greater preponderance of the credible evidence. Paragraph (c) then removes the route entirely where the tenant is the victim, as defined in Wis. Stat. 950.02(4), of the criminal activity. And Wis. Stat. 704.17(5)(b) makes any lease provision for termination contrary to subsection (3m) invalid.

Getting the amount slightly wrong is survivable. Wis. Stat. 704.17(4m) provides that a notice for failure to pay rent or any other amount due that includes an incorrect statement of the amount due is valid — unless the landlord’s statement is intentionally incorrect, or the tenant paid or tendered payment of the amount the tenant believes to be due.

The cure standard is generous to the tenant. Under both (1p)(b)1 and (2)(b), a tenant is treated as complying with a five-day notice if promptly upon receipt the tenant takes reasonable steps to remedy the default and proceeds with reasonable diligence, or if damages are adequate protection and the tenant makes a bona fide and reasonable offer to pay all damages for the breach. Our Wisconsin 5-day notice to pay rent or quit, notice to cure or quit and unconditional quit notice generate each route, and the Wisconsin eviction notice laws guide covers service.

Wis. Stat. 704.21(1) gives a landlord exactly five methods, and there is no sixth. By giving a copy personally to the tenant, or by leaving a copy at the tenant’s usual place of abode in the presence of a competent member of the tenant’s family at least fourteen years of age who is informed of its contents. By leaving a copy with any competent person apparently in charge of the rented premises or occupying them, and mailing a copy by regular or other mail to the tenant’s last-known address. If neither of those can be done with reasonable diligence, by affixing a copy in a conspicuous place on the premises where it can be conveniently read and mailing a copy. By mailing a copy by registered or certified mail to the last-known address. Or by serving the tenant as Wis. Stat. 801.11 prescribes for a summons.

Subsection (2) supplies the tenant’s four methods, subsection (3) adds special rules for corporations and partnerships, and subsection (4) provides that notice to one of two or more landlords or cotenants is deemed given to the others. Subsection (5) is the safety net: where notice is not properly given by one of the specified methods but is actually received, it is deemed properly given — but the party alleging receipt must prove it by clear and convincing evidence.

One procedural gift for landlords sits in the eviction chapter. Wis. Stat. 799.40(1g) provides that where a landlord gives a notice terminating tenancy under Wis. Stat. 704.16, 704.17 or 704.19 through certified mail in accordance with Wis. Stat. 704.21(1)(d), proof of certified mailing from the United States post office shall be sufficient to establish that proper notice was given, and an affidavit of service may not be requested.

Eviction is judicial only, and it runs through the small claims chapter. ATCP 134.09(7) provides that no landlord may exclude, forcibly evict or constructively evict a tenant from a dwelling unit other than by an eviction procedure specified under chapter 799. ATCP 134.09(5) makes clear that constructive eviction includes the termination or substantial reduction of heat, water or electricity. And a lease clause purporting to authorise eviction or exclusion other than by judicial procedure voids the whole agreement under Wis. Stat. 704.44(2m) and ATCP 134.08(2).

The deepest ranking page attributes the self-help ban to Wis. Stat. 704.11. That section is Lien of landlord: it provides that except as Wis. Stat. 704.90 and 779.43 or an express agreement provide, the landlord has no lien on the tenant’s property and the common-law right to distrain for rent is abolished. It is a real and useful section — it is simply not the self-help eviction rule.

The procedure. An eviction action is commenced under Wis. Stat. 799.40(1) by a person entitled to possession, or an agent authorised in writing. Under Wis. Stat. 799.05(3)(b), the return date on a summons served on a Wisconsin resident in an eviction action is not less than 5 nor more than 25 days from the issue date, and service must be made not less than 5 days before the return date — against the eight-day figures for ordinary small claims. Wis. Stat. 799.41 requires a written complaint identifying the parties and the property and stating the facts authorising removal; a street address suffices as a description. Wis. Stat. 799.43 lets the defendant plead orally or in writing, and treats any claim related to the rented property as arising out of the same transaction for counterclaim purposes.

Under Wis. Stat. 799.44(1), if the court finds the plaintiff entitled to possession it enters an order for judgment for restitution immediately, and subsection (2) requires it to order a writ of restitution at the same time. The writ may not be executed if received by the sheriff more than 30 days after issuance. Subsection (3) lets the court, on the defendant’s application with notice and a finding of hardship, stay issuance of the writ for up to 30 days, conditioned on the defendant paying all rent and charges due at judgment and the reasonable value of occupancy during the stay, and possibly on a bond.

Two Wisconsin rules defeat arguments landlords lose elsewhere. Wis. Stat. 799.40(1m) provides that where a landlord commences an eviction against a tenant whose tenancy has been terminated for failure to pay rent or for any other reason, the action may not be dismissed because the landlord accepts past due rent or any other payment after serving notice of default or after commencing the action. Wis. Stat. 799.40(1s) adds that it is not a defence that the landlord or tenant previously waived any violation or breach, including by accepting rent, or that a custom or practice developed between the parties, so as to waive or lessen the right to insist on strict performance.

Two stays are mandatory. Wis. Stat. 799.40(4)(a) requires the court to stay the proceedings where the tenant applies for emergency assistance under Wis. Stat. 49.138, though no stay may be granted after the writ has issued and the stay may not exceed ten working days. Paragraph (b) requires a stay against a foreclosed homeowner as provided in Wis. Stat. 846.40(9).

Eleven of them — and the consequence is not that the clause is struck out. Wis. Stat. 704.02 is Wisconsin’s severability section: the provisions of a rental agreement are severable, and if one is rendered void or unenforceable by a statute, rule, regulation or judicial order, that does not affect other provisions which can be given effect without it.

Both Wis. Stat. 704.44 and Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.08 open with the words “Notwithstanding s. 704.02”, and then provide that a residential rental agreement is void and unenforceable if it does any of the following. Severance is expressly displaced. The agreement goes, not the clause.

1. Allows the landlord to increase rent, decrease services, bring an action for possession, refuse to renew, or threaten any of those, because the tenant contacted an entity for law enforcement services, health services or safety services.
2. Authorises the eviction or exclusion of the tenant other than by judicial eviction procedures under chapter 799.
3. Provides for an acceleration of rent on tenant default or breach, or otherwise waives the landlord’s obligation to mitigate damages under Wis. Stat. 704.29.
4. Requires payment by the tenant of attorney fees or costs incurred by the landlord in any legal action or dispute arising under the rental agreement.
5. Authorises the landlord or an agent to confess judgment against the tenant.
6. States that the landlord is not liable for property damage or personal injury caused by the landlord’s own negligent acts or omissions.
7. Imposes liability on the tenant for personal injury arising from causes clearly beyond the tenant’s control.
8. Imposes liability on the tenant for property damage caused by natural disasters, or by persons other than the tenant or the tenant’s guests or invitees.
9. Waives any statutory or other legal obligation of the landlord to deliver the premises in a fit or habitable condition, or to maintain them during the tenancy.
10. Allows the landlord to terminate based solely on the commission of a crime in or on the rental property where the tenant, or someone lawfully residing with the tenant, is the victim of that crime as defined in Wis. Stat. 950.02(4).
11. Allows the landlord to terminate for a crime committed in relation to the rental property where the agreement does not include the Wis. Stat. 704.14 notice of domestic abuse protections.

Items 6 and 8 carry a saving: they do not affect ordinary maintenance obligations of a tenant under Wis. Stat. 704.07, or obligations a tenant assumes under the rental agreement or another written agreement. And OAG 4-13, reproduced in the code’s own note, holds that a provision requiring the tenant to pay for professional carpet cleaning, absent negligence or improper use, does not void the agreement, because routine carpet cleaning is not a statutorily imposed landlord obligation.

Item 11 is the one that has already destroyed leases. In Koble Investments v. Marquardt, 2024 WI App 26, 412 Wis. 2d 1, 7 N.W.3d 915, a lease prohibited the “use of the premises for an unlawful purpose” and did not include the Wis. Stat. 704.14 notice. The Court of Appeals held the lease void and unenforceable under Wis. Stat. 704.44(10), and held expressly that the fact the clause would have been valid under Wis. Stat. 704.17(3m) had no impact on whether it violated the distinct requirements of 704.44(10). A landlord whose lease carries any crime-related termination language and omits the notice has, on the face of that decision, an unenforceable lease. One ranking Wisconsin page describes the 704.14 notice as language a landlord “can include”.

No — and there is no prevailing-party exception, which is the point most templates get wrong. Wis. Stat. 704.44(4m) and ATCP 134.08(4) void the whole agreement over a clause requiring payment by the tenant of attorney fees or costs incurred by the landlord in any legal action or dispute arising under the rental agreement.

In many states a reciprocal, prevailing-party fee clause rescues an otherwise prohibited one. It cannot here, because a reciprocal clause still requires the tenant to pay the landlord’s fees on the occasions when the landlord prevails, and that is precisely what both provisions forbid. In Baierl v. McTaggart, 2001 WI 107, 245 Wis. 2d 632, the Supreme Court considered a lease provision requiring a tenant to pay all of the landlord’s attorney fees in violation of the rule, held it unenforceable, and refused to sever it — because severing the clause would undermine the goals of eliminating such clauses and preventing the intimidation of tenants they cause. The follow-on decisions in Dawson v. Goldammer, 2003 WI App 3 and 2006 WI App 158, add that a tenant who chooses to enforce the lease may sever the offending provision and enforce the rest, but by seeking to enforce it the tenant reaffirms the landlord’s reciprocal right to enforce the remaining terms. The asymmetry is deliberate.

The carve-out is real but small. Neither provision prevents a landlord or tenant from recovering costs or attorney fees under a court order under chapter 799 or chapter 814. Here is what that is worth to a Wisconsin landlord in an eviction. Wis. Stat. 799.25(10)(b) provides that in an action of eviction the attorney fees taxable shall be $10, plus such sum as is taxable under paragraph (a) on account of the recovery of damages. Paragraph (a) points to Wis. Stat. 814.04(1), whose schedule is one hundred dollars where the amount recovered is under one thousand dollars, three hundred dollars where it is at least one thousand dollars but not above the small claims ceiling in Wis. Stat. 799.01(1)(d), and five hundred dollars above that ceiling; three hundred dollars where there is no amount recovered and no property involved. Wis. Stat. 814.04(6) halves those on a default judgment, and 814.04(1)(c) allows nothing where the party appears without an attorney. A pure judgment for possession therefore taxes a ten dollar attorney fee.

Running the other way, the tenant’s entitlement is uncapped and mandatory. Wis. Stat. 100.20(5) awards a reasonable attorney fee — the real figure, not a schedule — on any successful claim for a breach of chapter ATCP 134, and Boelter v. Tschantz, 2010 WI App 18, makes the award mandatory. That asymmetry, not the ban itself, is the practical reason a Wisconsin landlord cannot afford a defective lease.

Wisconsin voids in three other places too. Wis. Stat. 704.07(1) makes any agreement to waive the repair and untenantability requirements of that section in a residential tenancy void, including an agreement in a rental agreement. Wis. Stat. 704.17(5)(a) makes lease provisions for termination contrary to that section invalid except in leases for more than one year, and 704.17(5)(b) makes provisions contrary to the criminal-activity subsection invalid in every case.

Seven state duties and one federal one — and most are owed before the agreement is entered into, not at move-in. Wisconsin’s disclosure set is among the largest in the country, and almost all of it lives in the administrative code.

• Two identifications — ATCP 134.04(1). In writing, at or before the time the agreement is entered into: the name and address of the person authorised to collect or receive rent and manage and maintain the premises, who can readily be contacted by the tenant; and the name and address of the owner or other person authorised to accept service of legal process and other notices and demands on the owner’s behalf. The second address must be an address within Wisconsin at which service of process can be made in person. Changes go out in writing within ten business days. ATCP 134.04(1)(c) exempts an owner-occupied structure containing no more than four dwelling units from this subsection — and from this subsection only.
• Code violations — ATCP 134.04(2)(a), repeated at Wis. Stat. 704.07(2)(bm). Before entering into the agreement or accepting any earnest money or security deposit: any building or housing code violation meeting all four tests — the landlord has actual knowledge of it; it affects the unit or a common area; it presents a significant threat to health or safety; and it has not been corrected.
• Six habitability conditions — ATCP 134.04(2)(b). A separate and wider duty, reaching conditions the landlord knows or could know on the basis of reasonable inspection, whether or not any notice has been received from code enforcement. The six are: no hot or cold running water; heating facilities not in safe operating condition, or not capable of maintaining a temperature in all living areas of at least 67 degrees Fahrenheit during all seasons of occupancy, measured at the approximate centre of the room midway between floor and ceiling; no electricity, or unsafe wiring, outlets, fixtures or other components; any structural or other condition constituting a substantial hazard to health or safety, or creating an unreasonable risk of personal injury from reasonably foreseeable use; no plumbing facilities in good operating condition; no sewage disposal facilities in good operating condition. This block appears on no ranking Wisconsin page.
• Utility charges and allocation basis — ATCP 134.04(3). Before entering into the agreement or accepting money: that charges for water, heat or electricity are not included in the rent; and, where units and common areas are not separately metered, the basis on which utility charges will be allocated among units.
• Check-in sheet and inspection notice — Wis. Stat. 704.08 and ATCP 134.06(1). Two separate documents, as set out above.
• Notice of domestic abuse protections — Wis. Stat. 704.14. A residential rental agreement shall include the prescribed notice, in the agreement or in an addendum. The generator prints the statutory wording verbatim.
• No-storage notice — Wis. Stat. 704.05(5)(bf). A landlord who does not intend to store personal property left behind shall provide written notice of that when the tenant enters into or renews a rental agreement. This one is conditional, but the penalty for skipping it is severe and is described below.
• Federal lead-based paint — 42 U.S.C. 4852d and 24 C.F.R. Part 35. For housing built before 1978. Federal, not Wisconsin. Our Wisconsin lead-based paint disclosure form handles it.

Wisconsin requires nothing else. There is no Wisconsin radon disclosure, no flood-history disclosure, no insect or bed bug history disclosure, no asbestos disclosure, no methamphetamine or drug-lab disclosure, no mould disclosure and no ordnance-proximity requirement. Those are duties of other states, and a template that prints one and cites a Wisconsin section was written elsewhere.

The sex offender registry is a special case worth stating precisely, because it runs in both directions. Wis. Stat. 704.50(1) provides that a landlord or agent has no duty to disclose any information about whether a particular person is required to register under Wis. Stat. 301.45, or about the registry itself. But subsection (2) provides that where a person requests such information in connection with the rental of real property, the landlord or agent has a duty to disclose it if the landlord has actual knowledge. Subsection (3) then grants immunity from liability for any act or omission related to that disclosure where the landlord instead gives the requester timely written notice that the information may be obtained from the Department of Corrections, including the department’s telephone number and internet site.

Wisconsin gives landlords one of the strongest disposal powers in the country — but only if a notice was given at signing. Wis. Stat. 704.05(5)(a)1 provides that where a tenant removes from or is evicted from the premises and leaves personal property, the landlord may presume, in the absence of a written agreement to the contrary, that the tenant has abandoned the property and may, subject to paragraph (am) and Wis. Stat. 799.45(3m), dispose of it in any manner that the landlord, in its sole discretion, determines is appropriate. There is no storage duty and no notice-and-reclaim procedure for ordinary belongings.

The condition is paragraph (bf). A landlord who does not intend to store property left behind shall provide written notice to a tenant, when the tenant enters into or renews a rental agreement, that the landlord will not store items left behind. And then: Notwithstanding pars. (a), (am), and (b), if the landlord has not provided to a tenant the notice required under this paragraph, the landlord shall comply with s. 704.05, 2009 stats. — the older, more onerous regime. A landlord who omits a single sentence from the lease loses the entire modern power. No ranking Wisconsin template carries this notice.

Two categories are carved out. Paragraph (am) requires the landlord to hold prescription medication and prescription medical equipment for seven days from the date the landlord discovers it, and to return it promptly on request before disposal. Paragraph (b) requires advance notice of the intent to dispose of a manufactured home, mobile home or titled vehicle — to the tenant personally or by regular or certified mail to the last-known address, and to any secured party of which the landlord has actual notice.

One ranking Wisconsin page states that “if a tenant leaves behind any property, the landlord must store the items for 7 days and return them immediately when asked”, citing Wis. Stat. 704.05. That seven-day hold is paragraph (am), and it applies to prescription medication and prescription medical equipment only. The general rule is the opposite.

Paragraph (c) preserves redemption: the tenant or any secured party may redeem the property at any time before the landlord has disposed of it or contracted for its disposition, by paying the landlord’s expenses. And Wis. Stat. 704.055, added in 2015, gives a trespasser — a person who is not a tenant and who enters or remains without consent — a seven-day hold on any personal property left behind, after which the landlord may presume abandonment.

Double the daily rental value, as a minimum. Wis. Stat. 704.27 provides that where a tenant remains in possession without the landlord’s consent after expiration of a lease, termination of a tenancy by notice given by either party, or termination by valid agreement, the landlord shall recover the damages suffered because of the failure to vacate — and in absence of proof of greater damages, the landlord shall recover as minimum damages twice the rental value apportioned on a daily basis for the time the tenant remains in possession.

The section defines rental value as the amount for which the premises might reasonably have been rented, but not less than the amount actually paid or payable by the tenant for the prior rental period, and it includes the money equivalent of any obligations the tenant undertook as part of the rental agreement, such as payment of taxes, insurance and repairs. In Vincenti v. Stewart, 107 Wis. 2d 651 (Ct. App. 1982), the court confirmed the section requires a minimum award of double rent where greater damages are not proved. Nothing in the section prevents the landlord from also recovering any other damages to which the landlord is entitled. No ranking Wisconsin page mentions Wis. Stat. 704.27 at all.

Wis. Stat. 704.25 handles the other consequence of holding over — what tenancy, if any, is created. For residential premises leased for any period, the landlord may elect to hold the tenant on a month-to-month basis; where the lease provides for weekly or daily rent, the landlord may hold the tenant only on that periodic basis. Acceptance of rent for a period after expiration, or other conduct manifesting an intent to allow the tenant to remain, is that election, unless the landlord has already commenced proceedings to remove the tenant. The new periodic tenancy is on the same terms as the original lease, except that any right to renew, extend or purchase, and any restriction on the landlord’s power to sell without first offering to the tenant, does not carry over. Subsection (4) makes the whole section subject to contrary agreement.

Yes, and the landlord bears the burden of pleading and proving it. Wis. Stat. 704.29(1) applies where a tenant unjustifiably removes before the effective termination date and defaults in rent, or is removed for failure to pay rent or another breach. The landlord can recover rent and damages except amounts which the landlord could mitigate, unless the landlord expressly agreed to accept a surrender.

Subsection (2)(a) defines reasonable efforts as the steps the landlord would have taken to rent the premises had they been vacated in due course, provided that those steps are in accordance with local rental practice for similar properties. Subsection (3) then splits the burden in a way most summaries omit: the landlord must allege and prove that the landlord has made efforts to comply; the tenant then has the burden of proving those efforts were not reasonable, that a refusal of an offer was not reasonable, that the terms of an actual re-rental were not reasonable, and of proving the amount that could have been obtained.

Subsection (4) privileges four landlord acts so they do not amount to acceptance of surrender: entry, with or without notice, to inspect, preserve, repair, remodel and show; re-renting with or without notice, with the rent applied against damages and in reduction of accruing rent; the landlord’s own use of the premises for up to one year until re-renting at a reasonable rent is practical, on prompt written notice to the tenant that the landlord is doing so and will credit the reasonable value of that use; and any other act reasonably interpretable as mitigation that does not unequivocally show an intent to release the tenant. Subsection (2)(b) lets the landlord recover all reasonable expenses of listing and advertising in re-renting, over and above rent and other damages.

Mitigation also reaches into the deposit. ATCP 134.06(3)(a)2 and Wis. Stat. 704.28(1)(b) permit withholding for unpaid rent only subject to Wis. Stat. 704.29 — so a landlord who never tried to re-rent cannot take the balance of the term out of the deposit. And a lease clause that waives the mitigation duty, or accelerates rent, voids the entire agreement under Wis. Stat. 704.44(3m).

Yes, in two places — and neither contains a presumption. Wis. Stat. 704.45(1) bars a landlord in a residential tenancy from increasing rent, decreasing services, bringing an action for possession, refusing to renew a lease, or threatening any of those, if there is a preponderance of evidence that the action or inaction would not occur but for the landlord’s retaliation against the tenant for making a good faith complaint about a defect in the premises to an elected public official or a local housing code enforcement agency; complaining to the landlord about a violation of Wis. Stat. 704.07 or a local housing code; or exercising a legal right relating to residential tenancies.

Subsection (2) preserves a possession action where the tenant has not paid rent other than a rent increase prohibited by subsection (1). Subsection (3) removes the protection for complaints about defects caused by the negligence or improper use of the complaining tenant.

The deepest ranking Wisconsin page states that “if a landlord takes adverse action in close temporal proximity to a tenant exercising a protected right, a rebuttable presumption of retaliation may arise.” Wis. Stat. 704.45 contains no presumption, no time window and no burden-shifting provision. The but-for test above, on a preponderance, is the whole of it — and the tenant carries it. Presumption-and-window rules of that shape exist in several other states and are among the most commonly imported errors in this family of pages.

ATCP 134.09(5) is the second, and separate, retaliation rule. No landlord shall terminate a tenancy, give notice preventing the automatic renewal of a lease, or constructively evict a tenant by any means including the termination or substantial reduction of heat, water or electricity, in retaliation because the tenant has reported a violation of the chapter or of a building or housing code to a governmental authority or filed suit alleging one; joined or attempted to organise a tenants’ union or association; or asserted or attempted to assert any right specifically accorded to tenants under state or local law. The tenants’-union ground has no equivalent in Wis. Stat. 704.45. Because it is a rule under Wis. Stat. 100.20, a breach carries double damages and a mandatory attorney fee.

No to the first, and mostly no to the second — and the second is the preemption statute nobody cites.

Wis. Stat. 66.1015(1) is the one every ranking page names: no city, village, town or county may regulate the amount of rent or fees charged for the use of a residential rental dwelling unit. Note that it reaches fees as well as rent. Subsection (2) preserves a municipality’s or housing authority’s power to set rent for units it owns or operates, and to enter agreements with private persons who choose to regulate rent themselves. Subsection (3), added in 2017 and amended in 2021, separately bars any inclusionary zoning requirement.

Wis. Stat. 66.0104 is the one that actually governs a lease, and it appears on no ranking Wisconsin page. Its title is Prohibiting ordinances that place certain limits or requirements on a landlord, and its reach is wide:

• 66.0104(2)(a) — no municipality may prohibit or limit a landlord obtaining and using a tenant’s or prospective tenant’s monthly household income, occupation, rental history, credit information, publicly accessible court records including arrest and conviction records, or social security number or other proof of identity; nor limit how far back in time credit information, a conviction record or previous housing may be taken into account; nor limit entering into a rental agreement with a prospective tenant, or showing the premises, during the current tenant’s tenancy.
• 66.0104(2)(b) — no municipality may place requirements on a residential landlord with respect to security deposits, earnest money, or pretenancy or posttenancy inspections that are additional to the requirements under administrative rules related to residential rental practices. Chapter ATCP 134 is therefore both the floor and the ceiling on those subjects.
• 66.0104(2)(c) — no ordinance may limit a tenant’s responsibility, or a landlord’s right to recover, for damage, waste or neglect during the tenancy, or for other costs the tenant owes under the rental agreement or applicable law.
• 66.0104(2)(d) — no ordinance may require a landlord to communicate to tenants information not required under federal or state law, subject to a carve-out for ordinances with a reasonable and clearly defined objective of regulating the manufacture of illegal narcotics.
• 66.0104(2)(e) — inspections may be required only on complaint, under a designated blight-district programme, under Wis. Stat. 66.0119, or as state or federal law requires; inspection fees are capped and indexed; registration may require only a name, address, telephone number and, if available, an electronic contact, with a one-time fee capped at ten dollars per building outside a first-class city.
• 66.0104(2)(f) — no municipality may impose an occupancy or transfer-of-tenancy fee on a rental unit.

Subsection (3) then disapplies inconsistent ordinances that were in effect on 21 December 2011, 1 March 2014 and 2 March 2016 respectively. The 2015 decision in Olson v. City of La Crosse, 2015 WI App 67, illustrates the limit: 66.0104(2)(d)1.a preempted an ordinance requiring landlords to notify tenants of city inspections, but it does not stop local governments running rental inspection and registration programmes as part of a housing code, let alone preclude other substantive housing code regulation.

ATCP 134.10 supplies the older, softer rule, and it still operates where 66.0104 does not: the chapter does not prohibit or nullify a local ordinance with which it is not in direct conflict; in direct conflict, such that compliance with one can only be achieved by violating the other, the chapter controls; and compliance with a local ordinance does not relieve anyone of the duty to comply with the chapter. Read together, a Milwaukee or Madison ordinance on deposits, earnest money or move-in and move-out inspections that adds to ATCP 134 does not survive 66.0104(2)(b), while a genuine local housing code continues to bind — and Wis. Stat. 704.07(2)(a)5 makes complying with it a landlord duty.

No witnesses and no notary — but a lease for more than one year has real formal requirements. Wis. Stat. 704.03(1) provides that a lease for more than a year, or a contract to make one, is not enforceable unless it meets Wis. Stat. 706.02 and in addition sets forth the amount of rent or other consideration, the time of commencement and expiration, and a reasonably definite description of the premises. The alternative route in the same subsection is a writing — including by means of electronic mail or facsimile transmission — signed by both landlord and tenant setting out rent, duration and a reasonably definite description, with the commencement date established by the tenant’s entry into possession under that writing.

Wis. Stat. 706.02(1) requires a conveyance to identify the parties; identify the land; identify the interest conveyed and any material term, condition, reservation, exception or contingency; be signed by or on behalf of each grantor; be signed by or on behalf of all parties, if a lease; be signed or joined in by each spouse where it alienates an interest in a homestead under Wis. Stat. 706.01(7); and be delivered.

Two Court of Appeals decisions from 2025 sharpen this. In MPI Wright LLC v. Goodin Co., 2025 WI App 18, the court held that subsection (1) requires only a reasonably definite description, not a legal or pictorial one — an address plus a parcel number, with a statement that the lease applied to all land and buildings on the property, sufficed. The same case held that amount of rent means the total number of dollars payable in a period, and that a lease failed the test where it neither stated the base rent nor supplied all the information needed to calculate it nor gave a foundation, link or key to extrinsic documents that could.

Where the writing does not meet subsection (1) and the tenant takes possession paying periodic rent, Wis. Stat. 704.03(2) converts the tenancy: month-to-month for residential premises where rent is payable monthly, year-to-year for agricultural or nonresidential use regardless of the rent-payment period. Wis. Stat. 704.03(3) requires an assignment of a leasehold with more than a year unexpired to be in writing signed by the assignor, and 704.03(4) requires an agreement to terminate more than one year before the stated expiration date to be in writing signed by both. Wis. Stat. 704.03(5) requires any lease or agreement enforceable under the section without a signed writing to be proved by clear and convincing evidence.

Electronic delivery is expressly permitted, but only for four things. Wis. Stat. 704.10, added by 2017 Wisconsin Act 317, allows a rental agreement to include a provision permitting the landlord to provide, and to indicate agreement, by electronic means: a copy of the rental agreement and any related document; a security deposit and any documents related to its accounting, disposition and refund; a promise made before the initial rental agreement to clean, repair or improve any portion of the premises; and advance notice of entry under Wis. Stat. 704.05(2). It does not extend to a notice terminating a tenancy, which must go by one of the Wis. Stat. 704.21 methods.

A non-resident party has a filing duty. Wis. Stat. 704.22 requires a party to a Wisconsin residential tenancy who is not a resident of the state to designate an agent to accept service of process here — a Wisconsin resident or a corporation authorised to do business in Wisconsin, or, for a corporate party, its registered agent — and to make that designation in writing and file it with the Department of Financial Institutions. It is a genuine filing, not a lease recital, and out-of-state owners routinely miss it.

We rendered and read the full visible text of the ten deepest pages ranking for Wisconsin lease-agreement queries before writing this one. The errors below are quoted or closely paraphrased from those pages as they stood on 6 August 2026, and each correction was checked against the official chapter PDFs of the Wisconsin Statutes and the Wisconsin Administrative Code.

• A repair-and-deduct remedy Wisconsin does not have. The deepest ranker states that under Wis. Stat. 704.07(4) tenants “may arrange for necessary repairs and deduct the reasonable cost from rent (up to one month’s rent)” after “at least 14 days’ written notice”. There is no repair-and-deduct right in Wisconsin, no one-month cap and no fourteen-day notice. Section 704.07(4) gives the tenant the right to move out, or abatement while in possession.
• A right to withhold rent that the statute expressly denies. Another ranker says a tenant “may withhold rent” under Wis. Stat. 704.07(4) where a hazard is not remedied. The subsection’s own closing words are that it does not authorize rent to be withheld in full, if the tenant remains in possession.
• Self-help eviction attributed to the landlord’s-lien section. The deepest ranker cites Wis. Stat. 704.11 for the self-help ban. 704.11 abolishes distraint and gives the landlord no lien. The ban is ATCP 134.09(7), and a lease clause authorising non-judicial exclusion voids the whole agreement under Wis. Stat. 704.44(2m).
• A retaliation presumption that does not exist. The deepest ranker says “if a landlord takes adverse action in close temporal proximity to a tenant exercising a protected right, a rebuttable presumption of retaliation may arise.” Wis. Stat. 704.45 has no presumption, no time window and no burden shift; it requires a preponderance of evidence that the action would not have occurred but for retaliation.
• A mandatory deposit receipt reported as not required. The deepest template ranker states flatly that “landlords are not required to give tenants a receipt for their security deposit payment.” ATCP 134.03(2)(a) requires a written receipt immediately upon accepting any earnest money or security deposit.
• The domestic abuse notice described as optional. The same page says Wisconsin “provides landlords with language for a disclosure … that they can include in their lease agreement”, citing Wis. Stat. 704.14. The section says a residential rental agreement shall include the notice, and Koble Investments v. Marquardt, 2024 WI App 26, held a lease omitting it void and unenforceable under Wis. Stat. 704.44(10).
• A citation that does not exist. The same page cites “WI Adm. Code § 34.06(1)” for the move-in checklist. There is no such provision. The check-in sheet is Wis. Stat. 704.08; the written inspection notice is ATCP 134.06(1).
• A fifteen dollar returned-check fee imported from consumer credit law. Three pages give a fifteen dollar Wisconsin NSF fee citing Wis. Stat. 422.202(1). Chapter 422 is the Wisconsin Consumer Act’s consumer credit transactions chapter; Wis. Stat. 421.301(10) defines a consumer credit transaction as one in which property, services or money is acquired on credit, and 421.301(11) defines a consumer lease as a lease of goods. A residential tenancy is neither. Wis. Stat. 403.414(7), which does apply, awards all reasonable costs and expenses of collection and expressly steps aside where a 422.202 charge could have been collected — so the two cannot both govern the same payment.
• A late-fee cap lifted from the self-storage statute. One page states that under ATCP 134.09(8) a late fee “may not exceed $20 for monthly rent payments or 20% of the monthly rent payment, whichever is less” and “may not be charged before the 6th day after the rent is due”. ATCP 134.09(8) contains no dollar figure, no percentage and no day count. Those numbers are from Wis. Stat. 704.90(4b), the self-service storage facility section, where the fee is whichever is greater, is a presumption of reasonableness rather than a cap, and applies to a space that by definition is not rented in conjunction with property for residential use.
• A two-limb deadline flattened into one. The same page says the previous tenant’s damage list is due “within 7 days of the tenant’s request”. ATCP 134.06(1)(b) requires it within thirty days after the request, or within seven days after the landlord notifies the previous tenant of the deductions, whichever occurs later.
• Deductions added to a closed list. The deepest ranker lists “cleaning costs” and “breach of lease terms” as permitted deposit deductions. ATCP 134.06(3)(a) is closed at five grounds plus a nonstandard-provision route, and normal wear and tear, routine painting and routine carpet cleaning may never be withheld.
• An invented trigger for the 21-day clock. The deepest ranker says the period begins when “the landlord has had a reasonable opportunity to inspect”. ATCP 134.06(2) and Wis. Stat. 704.28(4) give three triggers and that is not one; the invention would let a landlord postpone the deadline indefinitely.
• Double damages sourced to the wrong provision. The same page cites ATCP 134.06(3)(a) — the permitted-withholdings list — as the source of double damages. They come from Wis. Stat. 100.20(5), and Pierce v. Norwick governs whether the landlord’s own damages offset them.
• The abandonment rule stated backwards. One page says a landlord “must store the items for 7 days and return them immediately when asked”, citing Wis. Stat. 704.05. The seven-day hold in 704.05(5)(am) covers prescription medication and prescription medical equipment only; the general rule in 704.05(5)(a) permits disposal at the landlord’s sole discretion — provided the 704.05(5)(bf) written notice was given at signing, which no ranking template carries.
• Month-to-month notices cited to a subsection that excludes them. Several pages cite Wis. Stat. 704.17(2)(a) and (2)(b) for month-to-month notices. Section 704.17(2)(d) provides that subsection (2) does not apply to week-to-week or month-to-month tenants; those run under 704.17(1p). Criminal activity is 704.17(3m), not (2)(b).
• The 14-day notice described as step two. Rankers present the fourteen-day notice as what follows an uncured five-day notice. Under 704.17(1p)(b) and (2)(b) it is a standalone alternative, or the consequence of a repeat breach within one year.
• The twelve hours sourced to a statute that has no hours in it. Two pages cite Wis. Stat. 704.05(2) for the twelve-hour entry notice. That section says only “advance notice and reasonable times”, and applies solely in the absence of a contrary signed writing. The twelve hours is ATCP 134.09(2)(a)2.
• An inverted detector duty. The deepest ranker lists maintaining smoke and carbon monoxide detectors as an unqualified landlord duty. Wis. Stat. 101.145(3)(c) puts maintenance of the in-unit smoke detector on the occupant, with a five-day owner duty triggered by written notice.
• The wrong preemption statute. Every ranking page names Wis. Stat. 66.1015 and none names Wis. Stat. 66.0104 — the statute that forbids local ordinances on security deposits, earnest money, pretenancy and posttenancy inspections, tenant-screening information and occupancy fees. Pages that tell Milwaukee or Madison landlords to check for extra local deposit rules are pointing at ordinances the legislature disapplied.
• The prescribed addendum title given wrongly. One page instructs that the addendum must be titled “NONSTANDARD PROVISIONS”. The rule prescribes “NONSTANDARD RENTAL PROVISIONS”, and a document in the wrong form has not been given in the form the rule requires.
• An early-exit ground that is not Wisconsin law. Two pages list “landlord harassment” as a ground for terminating a fixed-term lease early. Wisconsin’s statutory routes are Wis. Stat. 704.16, Wis. Stat. 704.07(4) untenantability, and the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
• Three rules no ranking page carries at all. Wis. Stat. 704.27’s minimum double-rent holdover award; Wis. Stat. 799.25(10)(b)’s ten dollar taxable attorney fee in an eviction; and the ATCP 134.04(2)(b) six-condition habitability disclosure with its 67-degree heating standard.

• Carrying an attorney-fee clause. Wis. Stat. 704.44(4m) and ATCP 134.08(4) void the entire agreement, and a reciprocal prevailing-party version does not save it.
• Omitting the Wis. Stat. 704.14 domestic abuse notice while keeping crime-related termination language. That is exactly the combination that failed in Koble Investments v. Marquardt.
• Collecting first, last and a deposit without counting the last month as a deposit. ATCP 134.02(11) makes it one, and it comes back on the twenty-one day clock.
• Giving one move-in document. Wisconsin wants the Wis. Stat. 704.08 check-in sheet and the ATCP 134.06(1) written inspection notice.
• Skipping the immediate deposit receipt. ATCP 134.03(2)(a) is mandatory unless the payment was by check with a purpose notation.
• Giving only one identification. ATCP 134.04(1)(a) wants the rent collector and manager and the person authorised to accept service of process at a Wisconsin address.
• Burying a nonstandard term in the lease body. It has to be in a separate document titled NONSTANDARD RENTAL PROVISIONS, identified with the tenant before signing.
• Deducting cleaning, re-letting or advertising from the deposit. None is on the ATCP 134.06(3)(a) list, and normal wear and tear is barred outright.
• Sending the deposit but not the itemization. ATCP 134.06(4) requires the written statement within the same twenty-one days, and Pierce v. Norwick makes its absence cost the landlord the offset.
• Charging a late fee the lease never mentioned, or stacking a charge on an unpaid late fee. ATCP 134.09(8)(a) and (c) forbid both.
• Advertising a rent figure without the parking, pet or utility charges. ATCP 134.09(9)(a)3 makes that a prohibited practice.
• Charging more than twenty-five dollars for a credit check, or charging at all where the applicant supplied a report under thirty days old. Wis. Stat. 704.085(1) governs, and a copy of the report must go to the applicant.
• Holding earnest money past the next business day after a rejection. ATCP 134.05(2)(a) sets that deadline, and the third-business-day approval rule sits behind it.
• Leaving out the no-storage notice. Without Wis. Stat. 704.05(5)(bf), a landlord falls back to the 2009 statutes for anything a tenant leaves behind.
• Relying on an automatic renewal clause without the 15-to-30 day notice. Wis. Stat. 704.15 makes it unenforceable and ATCP 134.09(3) makes trying to enforce it a prohibited practice.
• Entering on less than twelve hours, or for a purpose outside inspecting, repairing and showing. ATCP 134.09(2)(a) limits both, and (d) requires the landlord to announce their presence.
• Serving a termination notice by ordinary mail alone. Wis. Stat. 704.21(1) lists five methods; regular mail appears only as the second half of a two-step substituted service.
• Refusing rent after serving a notice for fear of waiver. Wis. Stat. 799.40(1m) and (1s) remove that risk in Wisconsin.
• Assuming the local ordinance adds to the deposit rules. Wis. Stat. 66.0104(2)(b) disapplies it.
• Importing a radon, flood, bed bug, asbestos or drug-lab disclosure and citing a Wisconsin section. Wisconsin requires none of them.

A well-drafted lease decides who wins a dispute; screening decides whether there is a dispute at all. Wisconsin’s arithmetic makes that unusually stark. A landlord who prevails on possession taxes a ten dollar attorney fee under Wis. Stat. 799.25(10)(b). A tenant who proves a single ATCP 134 breach recovers twice the loss plus a reasonable attorney fee, mandatorily, under Wis. Stat. 100.20(5) — and where the defect is in the lease itself, Wis. Stat. 704.44 can take the whole agreement with it. Wisconsin also protects the landlord’s screening ability more strongly than most states: Wis. Stat. 66.0104(2)(a) forbids municipalities to limit what income, occupation, rental history, credit and public court-record information a landlord may obtain and use, or how far back it may look. Verifiable income, a clean payment history and no prior eviction filings remain the strongest predictors of a quiet tenancy. Our tenant screening report covers credit, eviction filings, criminal background and employment verification — and Wis. Stat. 704.085 tells you exactly what you may pass on to the applicant. Screen first, then paper the tenancy with this lease.

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