There is a lot to consider now that the eviction moratorium has been lifted, including the delays facing the eviction courts as well as if the tenant is still waiting to receive unemployment or other payments.
Vacancies and evictions are expensive for owners and disruptive for tenants. When there is a better option, take it. In some cases, mediation may be a better answer than court.
In all cases, you should talk to your tenants before filing, both to understand their situation as well as giving them time to make arrangements to pay or move.
Suggest they attempt to get on the WI Rent Assist Program waiting list as well as apply for Emergency Assistance. We have links to these as well as a list of other resources for tenants on the Affordable Rental Associates, Tenant Resource page that you can share with your tenants.
I am reading more and more that both state and federal unemployment is not being paid as it should be. Part of the problem is many employers are closed and therefore are not responding to UC separation notices. Part of the problem is the state computers they are trying to process the deluge of new applications on is less powerful than your kids Nintendo.
The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program has not paid one of three who should be eligible to receive it:
Almost one-third of unemployment benefits estimated to be owed to the millions of Americans who lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus slump haven’t been paid yet, as flagship policies struggle to cope with the unprecedented wave of layoffs.
Source: Bloomberg
Likewise, Wisconsin has 728,000 unpaid/unprocessed Unemployment claims, which is also about one in three:
As of Monday, [May 27th] the state had yet to pay more than 728,000 of 2.4 million weekly claims that had been filed since March 15, when the coronavirus pandemic began to batter the state’s economy. Others have encountered problems that have prevented them from filing claims.
Source: Milwaukee Journal