Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Wisconsin

I have a friend that lives in racine wisc, she has been living in an apartment for almost 3 years, now here's the issue, she never signed a lease so she has been living basically on a month to month basis, paying cash no receipts. The property was sold to another management company and in sept. she was called by the new m/c and was told that she need to pay them $1400, she asked them how and was told on several occasions will get back to you, so then in the beginning of jan. the amount jumps to $2400 and still no one can explain how she owe this amount, so she decided to give them a 30day notice that she is moving out around the 12th of jan and now when she looking at places and they are doing background checks its coming up as an eviction, is there anything that she can do.


Asked on 1/26/14, 5:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
JAY Nixon nixon law offices

As a tenant seeking new housing, there is nothing worse for you than having a past eviction case in your public court records. In WI, most court records are available within 30 seconds on the internet to anyone who has a computer and current law prohibits removing anything from most public records, even if the case was eventually dismissed. Your best bet is therefore to avoid the eviction lawsuit in the first place, because once it is started, there is no way to get rid of its tracks, even if you pay the landlord in full. Regrettably, I therefore cannot offer any good options for your friend with a past eviction who is searching for housing other than homeless shelters or other government programs such as title 8 federally guaranteed rental assistance. An experienced lawyer might be able to reopen and dismiss an old eviction (after settlement with the former landlord) to make it look better, but that will not prevent future landlords from seeing it. The only way to change this is to talk to your representatives in the state legislature about backing various laws which propose to allow people to eventually remove these records once they have settled up. While it is technically illegal to consider a case which did not lead to a judgment, everyone still does it. There is no way to enforce these laws other than removing old entries that did not lead to a judgment from your record short of having the NSA monitor landlord's web viewing habits.

Do not assume that I am your attorney due to this answer, but feel free to call my office in Racine (262-633-3090 or email [email protected]) for clarifications or further questions. I would not normally be taking any further action on your case without your making these additional arrangements. See me on the web at www.jayknixonlaw.com. View my past answers at http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/53401-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html?sort=recency , or http://www.lawguru.com/answers/search/attorney/jknixon.

Read more
Answered on 1/29/14, 5:21 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Landlord & Tenants questions and answers in Wisconsin