Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Wisconsin

Returning Security Deposit to Residential Tenants in WI

Tenants in WI must promptly have 100% of their security deposits refunded (within a few weeks) after they vacate a property unless the landlord has a legally enforceable claim for rent or a claim for damages to the apartment against the tenants. Even with such a claim, if the landlord wants to keep any portion of the security deposit, he or she must send an accounting to the tenant's last known address before the expiration of the time limit, together with a refund of any unused portion of the security deposit. Failure to give a timely accounting results in the landlord losing the case as well as landlord responsibility to pay additional amounts to the tenants. Even if the landlord provides the timely accounting, he can still be held responsible for the tenants’ actual reasonable attorney fees for any litigation over the deposit which the landlord loses. Therefore, I could not begin to advise you without knowing much more. Therefore, no landlord who is not an expert is such matters should ever attempt to keep any portion of a tenant’s security deposit without first getting legal advice from an experienced real estate attorney who is knowledgeable of the WI administrative code relating to such matters.