Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Wisconsin

I have recently signed a "lease" that I'm not even sure is valid, but I have a lawyer set up to check that out already. my problem is that it wasn't made 100% clear to me that I was signing a lease. I haven't even seen the place yet. all I did was signed a piece of paper in one place. there were no places to initial. the landlord and I didn't even sit down and read anything together making sure we agreed on everything. it was a single sided piece of paper he printed off at home with no more than a paragraph or two on it. does this sound like a legal document? I live in Wisconsin by the way.


Asked on 12/12/13, 10:01 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
JAY Nixon nixon law offices

Since a tenancy can be created in WI without a lease, only by making payments and moving in, a one page document could certainly be a valid lease. Otherwise, I would have no way of knowing if yours if valid without seeing it. You should probably assume that you have a statutory month to month tenancy if you move in, and that the landlord likewise has the right to evict you for any reason with 28 days notice or five days notice for failure to pay rent. Even if a lease has invalid parts under WI law, the remaining good parts can still bind the parties. Please do not assume that I am your attorney because of my response here, but feel free to call my office in Racine (262-633-3090 or email [email protected]) for clarifications regarding my answer. Otherwise, under the rules of this website, I would not be taking any further action on your case. 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 see an even larger collection of responses at http://www.lawguru.com/answers/search/attorney/jknixon, . Answers may contain attorney advertising materials..

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Answered on 12/13/13, 5:48 am


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