Over 100 changes have been made to local and state rental laws since late 2011. These changes are complex because these bills passed on different dates, and each bill has different implementation dates for different provisions within the bill. We have worked hard to make these changes clear on the website and here you will find several summaries of the law changes.
It is important to realize that, depending upon when a lease is signed or an action takes place, different laws will apply. Please read carefully. The laws will remain confusing for several more years, and will continue to be confusing if the state legislature continues to change laws every two years.
For specific issues, please visit our "Your Rights" page. Below is an explanation of the bills themselves.
2017-2018 Changes
On 4/16 the Governor signed AB771 into law. It was published today as 2017 Wis. Act 317 (4/17/18) and goes into effect tomorrow (4/18/18). We are in the process of getting the links to the new laws and updating our website this week, please be patient with us as we make the needed revisions since the laws were not available in the statutes on-line until 4/28/18. A summary of these changes can be found here.
2015-2016 Changes
2015 Wis. Act. 176, Effective March 2, 2016.
The language of the bill is here. As of 3/9/16 the language in the statutes has not been updated. (UPDATE: They're finally in there.) Please be patient with us as we update our staff, volunteers, training materials, website, brochures, etc.
These changes went into effect March 2, 2016 and affect tenants and landlords statewide.
DATCP Changes
Surprise! At least we were surprised! We have been expecting changes since 2012, and we expected the changes to conform with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection law changes that became effective 2011 - 2014. While we knew that consumer protections could not conflict with state law, we were not expecting removal of regulations where the state law was silent, resulting in additional changes to tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities! These changes went into effect November 1, 2015 and affect tenants and landlords statewide.
Helpful documents:
- An itemized list of changes to ATCP 134
- The old version of ATCP 134
- The new version of ATCP 134, effective November 1, 2015
2013-2014 Law Changes
2013 Wis. Act 76 - Effective March 1, 2014
2013 Wisconsin Act 76 went into effect on March 1, 2014. This law changes many statewide tenant landlord laws and removes local control over even more laws in Madison, Fitchburg and Dane County. For more information about how the changes affect Dane County, see the summary of local laws linked below. We have also published two comprehensive summaries of these law changes:
Summary of 3/1/2014 Wisconsin Law Changes
These effect ALL tenants and landlords in Wisconsin, including Dane County, Madison, and Fitchburg.
Summary of 3/1/2014 Dane County, Madison & Fitchburg Law Changes
These are additional changes ONLY effecting tenants and landlords in Dane County, Madison, and Fitchburg.
2011-2012 Law Changes
2011 Wis. Act 143 - Effective March 31, 2012
2011 Wisconsin Act 143 went into effect on March 31, 2012 and changed laws statewide in Wisconsin, including Dane County, Madison, and Fitchburg. Here is a comprehensive list of the laws that changed:
Summary of 3/31/2012 Wisconsin Law Changes
2011 Law Changes
2011 Wis. Act 108 - Effective December 21, 2011
2011 Wisconsin Act 108 went into effect on December 21, 2011 and removed local control over several matters changing laws in Dane County, Madison, and Fitchburg. Here is a comprehensive list of the laws that changed:
Summary of 12/21/2011 Dane County, Madison & Fitchburg Law Changes