Wisconsin · Landlord Forms

Free Wisconsin Landlord Forms

Every Wisconsin landlord form we publish, organised by the stage of the tenancy it belongs to — paired not only with the statute but with the administrative rule most pages leave out, which is where the deposit rules and the entry rule actually live.

Every form linked on this page is free, fillable in your browser, and downloadable as a PDF with no account, no membership and no paywall. Wisconsin is unusual: its landlord rules sit in three places — Wis. Stat. ch. 704 for the tenancy, ch. 799 for eviction procedure, and ATCP 134, the consumer-protection rental-practices rule, which is where the twenty-one-day deposit deadline and the twelve-hour entry notice actually are. A page that cites only the statutes has missed half the law — and the half that carries mandatory double damages.

Six Notice Rules, Not Two

“Wisconsin gives five days to cure or fourteen days with no cure” is the summary you will find everywhere, and it is wrong in both directions depending on which tenancy you have. Section 704.17 actually contains six distinct rules. Here they are, separated.

Nonpayment of rent

Tenancy	Cure route	No-cure route
Month-to-month	At least 5 days to “pay rent or vacate”	At least 14 days to vacate — with no preconditions at all. § 704.17(1p)(a)
Week-to-week	At least 5 days to pay or vacate	The fourteen-day sentence in (1p)(a) names month-to-month only. We do not assert it is available here — see the limits section below
Lease of one year or less, or year-to-year	At least 5 days to pay or vacate	At least 14 days, but only on three cumulative conditions — see below
Lease of MORE than one year	At least 30 days to “pay the rent, repair the waste, or otherwise comply with the lease”, and “in case of failure to pay rent, all rent due must be paid on or before the date specified”. § 704.17(3)(a). There is no fourteen-day shortcut here.

Breach other than rent

• Month-to-month — either five days to “remedy the default or vacate”, or a straight fourteen days to vacate. Section 704.17(1p)(b) is an “any of the following applies” list, so the fourteen-day route needs no prior notice and no repeat breach.
• Lease of one year or less, or year-to-year — five days to remedy or vacate. There is no outright fourteen-day route; fourteen days becomes available only on a repeat breach within one year.
• Lease of more than one year — the same thirty-day comply-or-vacate notice covers waste and any other covenant breach.

What counts as complying with a cure notice is generous to the tenant. The statute deems a tenant compliant “if promptly upon receipt of such notice the tenant takes reasonable steps to remedy the default and proceeds with reasonable diligence, or if damages are adequate protection for the landlord and the tenant makes a bona fide and reasonable offer to pay the landlord all damages for the tenant’s breach”.

Criminal activity — five days, no cure, with mandatory contents

Section 704.17(3m)(b)1. permits termination “without giving the tenant an opportunity to remedy the default” where the tenant, a household member, or a guest or invitee engages in criminal activity threatening the health or safety of other tenants, of people living nearby, or of the landlord or their staff, or “engages in any drug-related criminal activity on or near the premises”. The notice runs at least five days.

But it must carry specific content: “The notice shall state the basis for its issuance; include a description of the criminal activity…, the date on which the activity took place, and the identity or description of the individuals engaging in the activity; advise the tenant that he or she may seek the assistance of legal counsel, a volunteer legal clinic, or a tenant resource center; and state that the tenant has the right to contest the allegations…”. If contested, the landlord must prove the allegation “by the greater preponderance of the credible evidence”.

No arrest or conviction is needed. But there is an absolute carve-out: the subsection “does not apply to a tenant who is the victim… of the criminal activity”. See our Wisconsin eviction notice laws guide.

Nuisance — five days, and it needs a letter you did not write

All three tenancy types have a parallel route where “the property owner receives written notice from a law enforcement agency… or from the office of the district attorney, that a nuisance… exists in that tenant’s rental unit or was caused by that tenant”. The notice to the tenant runs at least five days and must state its basis and the tenant’s right to contest.

Every Wisconsin Landlord Form, by Stage of the Tenancy

An alphabetical index is the least useful arrangement, because a landlord arrives knowing what has happened, not what the document is called. These are ordered by where you are in the tenancy.

Termination, Service, and the Mailing Days

A periodic tenancy takes at least twenty-eight days’ notice — “If rent is payable on a basis less than monthly, notice at least equal to the rent-paying period is sufficient; all agricultural tenancies from year-to-year require at least 90 days’ notice.”

And it must land correctly: “A periodic tenancy can be terminated by notice under this section only at the end of a rental period. In the case of a tenancy from year-to-year the end of the rental period is the end of the rental year even though rent is payable on a more frequent basis.”

The five service methods

1. Personally, or by leaving a copy at the tenant’s usual place of abode “in the presence of some competent member of the tenant’s family at least 14 years of age, who is informed of the contents”.
2. With any competent person apparently in charge of or occupying the premises, and mailing a copy by regular or other mail.
3. Affixing a copy conspicuously where it can be conveniently read, and mailing — available only “if notice cannot be given under par. (a) or (b) with reasonable diligence”.
4. Registered or certified mail to the tenant’s last-known address.
5. Service as for a summons.

Two helpful backstops. A notice served the wrong way but actually received is deemed properly given — though “the burden is upon the party alleging actual receipt to prove the fact by clear and convincing evidence”. And notice to one of several cotenants “is deemed to be given to the others also”. Section 799.40 adds that where notice is given by certified mail, “proof of certified mailing from the United States post office shall be sufficient to establish that proper notice has been provided”.

The Deposit Rules Are Not in the Statutes

This is the single most important structural point about Wisconsin. There is no security deposit section in chapter 704. The rules are in ATCP 134.06 — and breaching them carries a remedy chapter 704 does not.

Rule	Detail
Itemised statement	Where any portion is withheld, the landlord must, “within the time period and in the manner specified” for the return itself, deliver or mail “a written statement accounting for all amounts withheld”, describing “each item of physical damages or other claim… and the amount withheld as reasonable compensation for each item or claim”
Falsified claims banned	“No landlord may intentionally misrepresent or falsify any claim against a security deposit, including the cost of repairs, or withhold any portion… pursuant to an intentionally falsified claim”
Permitted deductions — a closed list	Tenant damage, waste or neglect; unpaid rent for which the tenant is legally responsible “subject to mitigation of damages obligations”; utility service provided by the landlord but not in the rent; direct utility service from a government-owned utility where the landlord becomes liable; unpaid monthly municipal permit fees where the landlord becomes liable; and anything permitted by a nonstandard rental provisions document
Normal wear and tear barred	“This subsection does not authorize a landlord to withhold any amount from a security deposit for normal wear and tear, or for other damages or losses for which the tenant cannot reasonably be held responsible under applicable law”
Nonstandard rental provisions	To deduct for anything outside the list, the term must be in “a separate written document entitled ‘NONSTANDARD RENTAL PROVISIONS’”, specifically identified with the tenant before the agreement is entered. A tenant’s signature or initials beside a provision creates a rebuttable presumption that it was identified and agreed
Pre-tenancy condition check	Before accepting a deposit, the landlord must notify the tenant in writing that they may check the unit and report existing damage or defects, and may request a list of damage charged to the previous tenant’s deposit — by a deadline “not less than 7 days after the start of tenancy”
Previous tenant’s damage list	On request, the landlord must give the list “regardless of whether those damages or defects have been repaired”, within thirty days of the request or seven days after telling the previous tenant of their deductions, whichever is later. The previous tenant’s identity and amounts need not be revealed
Undeliverable mail	A landlord who has otherwise complied is not in violation merely because the postal service could not deliver

See our Wisconsin security deposit laws guide.

Ten Clauses That Void the Whole Lease

1. Allows the landlord to raise rent, cut services, sue for possession, refuse to renew or threaten any of those “because a tenant has contacted an entity for law enforcement service, health services, or safety services”.
2. “Authorizes the eviction or exclusion of a tenant from the premises, other than by judicial eviction procedures”.
3. Provides for “an acceleration of rent payments… or otherwise waives the landlord’s obligation to mitigate damages”.
4. Requires the tenant to pay “attorney fees or costs incurred by the landlord in any legal action or dispute arising under the rental agreement” — though a court may still award costs or fees under the small claims or costs chapters.
5. Authorises the landlord “to confess judgment against the tenant”.
6. States that “the landlord is not liable for property damage or personal injury caused by negligent acts or omissions of the landlord”.
7. Imposes liability on the tenant for “personal injury arising from causes clearly beyond the tenant’s control” or for “property damage caused by natural disasters or by persons other than the tenant or the tenant’s guests or invitees”.
8. Waives the landlord’s obligation “to deliver the premises in a fit or habitable condition or to maintain the premises”.
9. Allows termination “based solely on the commission of a crime… if the tenant, or someone who lawfully resides with the tenant, is the victim”.
10. Allows termination for a crime committed in relation to the property where the agreement omits the required domestic-abuse notice under § 704.14.

That last one is a trap in reverse: § 704.14 says a residential rental agreement shall include the “NOTICE OF DOMESTIC ABUSE PROTECTIONS” in the agreement or an addendum. Omit it and you lose the crime-related termination right — and the agreement is void if you try to use it anyway.

Entry: Twelve Hours, in the Rule Rather Than the Statute

Section 704.05(2) states the principle: until expiration or termination, “and so long as the tenant is not in default, the tenant has the right to exclusive possession”. The landlord may “upon advance notice and at reasonable times inspect the premises, make repairs and show the premises to prospective tenants or purchasers”, and where the tenant is absent and the landlord “reasonably believes that entry is necessary to preserve or protect the premises, the landlord may enter without notice and with such force as appears necessary”.

See our Wisconsin landlord entry laws guide.

The Remedy That Makes ATCP Matter: Double Damages

Self-help is banned at both layers: 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 ch. 799”, and § 704.44 voids any lease authorising it.

Retaliation is also covered twice, and the ATCP version is broader. Section 704.45(1) bars a landlord from increasing rent, decreasing services, bringing a possession action, refusing to renew or threatening any of those where there is “a preponderance of evidence that the action or inaction would not occur but for” retaliation for a good-faith complaint to an official or to the landlord, or for “exercising a legal right relating to residential tenancies”. It carries an exception: the landlord may still sue for possession “if the tenant has not paid rent other than a rent increase prohibited by sub. (1)”. ATCP 134.09(5) adds the ground chapter 704 omits — a tenant who has “joined or attempted to organize a tenant’s union or association” — and it carries the double-damages remedy.

What You Must Tell a Tenant Before They Sign

ATCP 134.04 imposes three pre-lease duties, and the timing on two of them is before you take any money at all.

Duty	Timing and detail
Who you are	At or before the agreement is entered: the name and address of the person authorised to collect rent and manage the premises “and who can readily be contacted by the tenant”, and of the owner or the person authorised to accept service of process. That address “shall be an address within the state at which service of process can be made in person”. Changes must be notified within ten business days. Does not apply to an owner-occupied structure of four units or fewer
Code violations	Before entering into the agreement or accepting any earnest money or deposit: any building or housing code violation of which the landlord has actual knowledge, that affects the unit or a common area, that presents a significant threat to health or safety, and that has not been corrected
Six uninhabitable conditions	Same timing, and the standard is what the landlord knows or could know on the basis of a reasonable look over the property: no hot or cold running water; heating not in safe operating condition or unable to maintain sixty-seven degrees Fahrenheit in all living areas during occupiable seasons, measured at the centre of the room midway between floor and ceiling; no electricity or unsafe electrical components; structural or other conditions constituting a substantial hazard or unreasonable risk of injury; plumbing not in good operating condition; sewage disposal not in good operating condition
Utilities	Same timing. If water, heat or electricity is not included in rent, say so — and if units and common areas are not separately metered, disclose “the basis on which charges… will be allocated among individual dwelling units”

See our Wisconsin habitability laws guide.

Court: Return Dates, the Early Jury Deadline, and the Writ

Stage	Rule
Return date	“In eviction actions, the return date for a summons served upon a resident of this state shall be not less than 5 days nor more than 25 days from the issue date, and service shall be made not less than 5 days prior to the return date”
Contested matters	Where a party raises valid legal grounds for a contest, the matter is scheduled “as soon as possible before a judge and… not more than 30 days after the return date”
Jury demand — the trap	“In eviction actions, the demand shall be filed at or before the time of joinder of issue; in all other actions within 20 days thereafter.” And “If no party demands a trial by jury, the right to trial by jury is waived forever.” A jury is six persons
Judgment and writ	The court shall immediately enter judgment for restitution and shall immediately order a writ. “No writ shall be executed if received by the sheriff more than 30 days after its issuance.”
Hardship stay	On the defendant’s application with notice, the court may, “in cases where it determines hardship to exist, stay the issuance of the writ by a period not to exceed 30 days”, conditioned on paying everything due at judgment and the reasonable value of occupancy during the stay
Sheriff — 10 days	“Within 10 days of the receipt of the writ, the sheriff shall execute the writ” and return it with a statement of expenses. The statutory writ form commands the sheriff to immediately remove the defendant and return the writ within ten days
Accepting rent does not end the case	“the action may not be dismissed because the landlord accepts past due rent or any other payment from the tenant”. And prior waiver of a breach is not a defence
Emergency assistance stay	The court shall stay the action if the tenant applies for emergency assistance — “except that no stay may be granted after a writ of restitution has been issued”

The small claims limit changes on 1 January 2027

Late Fees: No Cap, but Three Real Restrictions

ATCP 134.09(8) sets no dollar or percentage cap, and imposes three rules instead:

• “No landlord may charge a late rent fee or late rent penalty to a tenant, except as specifically provided under the rental agreement.” No clause, no fee.
• Before charging one, the landlord “shall apply all rent prepayments received from that tenant”.
• “No landlord may charge any tenant a fee or penalty for nonpayment of a late rent fee or late rent penalty.” No compounding.

See our Wisconsin late fee laws guide.

Which Wisconsin Form Do I Need?

1. Month-to-month tenant has not paid. Five days to pay or vacate, or fourteen days no cure — your choice, no conditions.
2. Lease of a year or less, first default. Five days to pay or vacate. The fourteen-day route is not available yet.
3. Lease of a year or less, second default within a year of the first. Fourteen days, no cure — if the first notice was given and the tenant paid or was allowed to stay.
4. Lease of more than a year. Thirty days, and all rent due must be paid by the date stated.
5. Non-rent breach, month-to-month. Five days to remedy, or fourteen days outright.
6. Non-rent breach, lease of a year or less. Five days to remedy. Fourteen only on repeat.
7. Criminal or drug activity. Five days, no cure — with the full mandatory contents, and not against a victim.
8. No fault. Twenty-eight days, ending at a rental period.
9. Entry. Twelve hours, for one of the three permitted purposes.
10. Tenant has moved out. Twenty-one days from whichever of the three triggers applies.

How to Fill Out a Wisconsin Notice

1. Identify the tenancy type first. Month-to-month, week-to-week, lease of a year or less, year-to-year, or lease over a year. Everything follows from this.
2. Check whether a prior notice exists and when the previous default occurred, if you are reaching for fourteen days on a lease.
3. Include late fees in the rent figure — the statute defines rent to include them for notice purposes.
4. On a criminal-activity notice, put in all four required elements: the basis, the description of the activity, the date, and who did it — plus the legal-help advice and the right to contest.
5. Serve it by one of the five methods, and remember the substituted and posted routes each require mailing as well.
6. Count the first day correctly — and if you used registered or certified mail, build in the two or five days rather than assuming they do not apply.
7. For a twenty-eight-day termination, land it at the end of a rental period. If you get the date wrong the notice survives but slides forward.
8. Keep proof. Certified mailing proof is statutorily sufficient to establish notice in the eviction action.

What Happens If the Form Is Wrong

The distinctively Wisconsin failure is serving a fourteen-day notice on a first default under a lease. It is the route everyone has heard of, and for a lease tenant it is unavailable until the three conditions are met.

The second is using five or fourteen days on a lease of more than one year, where the answer is thirty.

The third is the lease itself. Ten clauses void the whole agreement, and several of them — an attorney-fee clause, an acceleration clause, a negligence disclaimer — appear routinely in generic online templates.

And the fourth is treating ATCP 134 as guidance. It is not. Its breach carries double damages plus fees, mandatorily.

What This Page Does Not Have

We would rather scope this honestly than promise documents we do not host. Wisconsin landlords also commonly want a rental application, a sublease, a roommate agreement, a commercial lease, a pet addendum, a lease amendment and an adverse action notice. Those are not published here as Wisconsin-specific forms.

Common Wisconsin Landlord Form Mistakes

• Serving fourteen days on a first lease default. Three cumulative conditions apply.
• Serving five or fourteen days on a lease over one year. Thirty days.
• Assuming month-to-month tenants get more protection. On the fourteen-day route they get less.
• Treating the three repeat-breach clocks as one. Default, receipt and giving are different triggers.
• Serving a criminal-activity notice without the date, the description or the identity.
• Serving one on a tenant who was the victim. Expressly excluded.
• Ending a periodic tenancy mid-period. It slides to the next valid date.
• Ignoring the mailing days on registered or certified mail.
• Citing only chapter 704 for deposits. The rules are in ATCP 134.06.
• Counting twenty-one days from move-out when you re-rented early, or when you only learned of the departure later.
• Deducting for something outside the closed list without a signed nonstandard rental provisions document.
• Deducting for normal wear and tear.
• Taking a deposit before giving the written condition-check notice.
• Refusing the previous tenant’s damage list because the damage was repaired. It must still be given.
• Using an attorney-fee, acceleration or negligence-disclaimer clause. Each voids the entire lease.
• Omitting the domestic abuse notice and then relying on a crime-related termination.
• Entering on less than twelve hours, or without announcing your presence.
• Charging a late fee with no lease clause, or a fee on an unpaid late fee.
• Missing the jury demand, which in an eviction closes at joinder of issue.
• Publishing or relying on the fifteen thousand dollar small claims figure before 1 January 2027.

Free Fillable Forms Versus the Paid Wisconsin Form Sites

Wisconsin’s results page runs to about two thousand words at its deepest, and it shares a single blind spot: it treats the statutes as the law. The deposit deadline, the entry notice, the pre-lease duties and the double-damages remedy are all in the administrative code, and a form page that never mentions ATCP 134 cannot tell a landlord why a technically valid deduction still costs them twice the amount plus the tenant’s fees.

The other thing the shallow pages miss is that Wisconsin’s notice rules turn on facts a template cannot know: what kind of tenancy this is, whether a prior notice was given, and when the last default was. That is why this page leads with a table of six rules rather than a single number.

Every form linked from this page is free, fills in the browser, and downloads as a finished PDF. There is no account, no trial and no upsell attached to the documents themselves. What we ask in return is straightforward: if you are about to hand keys to someone, run the screening first, because nearly every dispute described on this page is cheaper to prevent than to litigate.

Wisconsin Landlord Forms: FAQ

Related Wisconsin Guides

• Wisconsin landlord-tenant laws — the full statutory and administrative overview.
• Wisconsin eviction notice laws — all six notice rules and the service methods.
• Wisconsin security deposit laws — the ATCP rules and the three triggers.
• Wisconsin rent increase laws — what the law does and does not prescribe.
• Wisconsin lease termination laws — the twenty-eight-day rule and the writ.
• Wisconsin breaking lease laws — early termination and the mitigation duty.
• Wisconsin late fee laws — the three ATCP restrictions.
• Wisconsin landlord entry laws — the twelve-hour rule and its exceptions.
• Wisconsin habitability laws — the pre-lease duties and the six conditions.
• Wisconsin pet and ESA laws — pets, deposits and assistance animals.
• Wisconsin tenant screening laws — screening, reports and adverse action.

About the Author

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check · Editorial Team

Established 2004. Our editorial team has spent two decades helping landlords and property managers run lawful tenant screening and follow state landlord-tenant codes across all fifty states. Wisconsin took three passes because the official statute page for small claims already displays a figure that does not take effect until 2027, and because a first reading of the entry section silently dropped the condition limiting no-notice entry to preserving the premises. Where the text left a genuine gap — week-to-week breach notices, rent increase timing — we say so rather than fill it.

Updated 2026

Screen Wisconsin Applicants Before They Sign

Most Wisconsin landlord-tenant disputes trace back to a tenant a thorough screening would have flagged. Order FCRA-ready credit, criminal and eviction reports and start every tenancy on solid ground.

Start Tenant Screening Compare Report Options

Last reviewed 2026. This page is general information about Wisconsin landlord-tenant law, not legal advice. It rests on the Legislative Reference Bureau’s statutes and the administrative code; independent publishers were unreachable on this pass, so nothing here is second-sourced. The small claims limit displayed on the official statute page takes effect 1 January 2027 and is not the current figure. We publish no rent increase notice period, no eviction court form number and no bounced-cheque rule because none could be verified. Milwaukee, Madison and other municipalities may add requirements. Confirm the current position with the court or a Wisconsin attorney before serving a notice or filing a case.