Sep 30

A lot has changed in Milwaukee County eviction court over the past nine months. Recently a property owner we do work for faxed in a five-day notice she filled out herself, requesting we give it to the attorney and proceed with an eviction.

Our staff immediately noticed two problems with the notice that would cause the eviction to fail:

  1. The owner listed late fees on the notice
  2. She had used an older “fill in the date” 5-day notice. The date she entered was five days after the day she mailed it certified.

I had to call the owner and tell her she needed to start over with a new five day. She was upset and said this was the last financial straw – she is ready to walk away from the properties.

While hopefully she rethought this, it reminded me of the need to post these changes again so the rest of us do not make the same mistakes.  So what are these are  changes … Continue reading »

Sep 26

PUBLIC HEARING on bill AB 340
Thursday, October 1, 2009 10:15 AM
Room 328 Northwest, State Capitol, Madison WI

More details on bill

Sep 18

Listen to Charlie Syke’s Pod Cast

Sep 18
Sept 17th, 2009 Milwaukee Journal Interview with Tristan Pettit and Tim Ballering on rental housing issues
The Department of Neighborhood Services until lately was a particular
cross. “There was a real culture of hatred in the city towards
property owners,”
[snip]
The Public Policy Forum a few months back said Milwaukee’s really
short of low-cost rentals. If more people went into the business,
researchers said, it could help. Yet Ballering, who’s owned for 32
years, told his son to find another occupation: “It’s such a difficult
business,” said Ballering. “There’s better things to do with your life.”
Not what a city in need of rental housing wants to hear from
entrepreneurs who provide it.
Read entire article
[My son was not happy to hear this from me a dozen years ago. He is
now the morning drive DJ on 92.5 FM and loving it]
From the Sept 17th Milwaukee Journal
“The Department of Neighborhood Services until lately was a particular cross. “There was a real culture of hatred in the city towards property owners,”
[snip]
The Public Policy Forum a few months back said Milwaukee’s really short of low-cost rentals. If more people went into the business, researchers said, it could help. Yet Ballering, who’s owned for 32 years, told his son to find another occupation: “It’s such a difficult business,” said Ballering. “There’s better things to do with your life.”
Not what a city in need of rental housing wants to hear from entrepreneurs who provide it.” Read entire article
My son was not happy to hear this from me a dozen years ago. Today he is much happier than had he become a landlord.  He is  the morning drive DJ on WBWI 92.5 FM (Fuzz Martin) as well as doing freelance photography and marketing.
Sep 13

I was listening to NPR while clearing some paperwork off my desk.  They had a half  hour segment “How We Survive: Renters, Rights, and Resistance

Under the guise of protecting tenants from foreclosure related evictions the speakers were  promoting just cause eviction laws – starting with CA but their goal is nationwide.  Let’s face it in most foreclosures the tenants live rent free for months.

More alarming was the second half the program where they discussed tactics used to avoid eviction for non-payment. Continue reading »

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