SB 206

Under current law, a residential lease is void and unenforceable if it contains certain provisions (voidable provisions). Examples of voidable provisions include provisions that: 1) allow landlords to refuse to renew a lease because a tenant has contacted an entity for law enforcement, health, or safety services; 2) waive a landlord’s obligation to mitigate damages; 3) impose liability on a tenant for personal injury arising from causes clearly beyond the tenant’s control, and; 4) allow landlords to terminate a tenancy for a crime committed in relation to the rental property when the tenant’s lease did not include a statutorily required notice of domestic abuse protections.

This bill provides that if court of competent jurisdiction finds that a residential lease includes a voidable provision, a tenant may elect to: 1) void the lease and have their tenancy converted into a periodic tenancy, or; 2) sever the voidable provision from their lease and continue under the remainder of the lease.

In addition, in April 2024, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals published a decision,

Koble Invs. v Marquardt

, 2024 WI App 26, regarding certain landlord and tenant matters. As of February 28, 2025, the case was on appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, with parties’ first briefings due to the court in March 2025.

Among the holdings in

Koble

, the court of appeals determined that a particular landlord was acting as a “debt collector” and that landlord’s tenant was a “customer” as those terms are defined under Wisconsin Consumer Act. The court of appeals also held that because the landlord violated a provision of the Wisconsin Consumer Act, the tenant’s attorney was entitled to recover reasonable attorney fees and court costs. Under this bill, the Wisconsin Consumer Act does not apply to residential leases or mobile home leases.

In the same case, the court of appeals held that the tenant’s lease was void and unenforceable under landlord and tenant law, and that, under another law enforcing fair methods of competition, the tenant could recover twice the amount of the tenant’s pecuniary loss, together with reasonable attorney fees and court costs. The bill provides that under landlord and tenant law, a person injured by a voidable provision can recover twice the amount of the pecuniary loss, together with reasonable attorney fees and court costs, and provides that such pecuniary loss does not include any rent paid by the tenant. The bill also limits the remedies a person may seek when a rental agreement includes a voidable provision to only those remedies provided in the bill.