Housing and Real Estate

The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided City of Grants Pass v. Johnson which held that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amendment does not restrict the government from enforcing laws prohibiting camping or sleeping in public against homeless individuals. This issue brief discusses prior precedents relevant to the 8th Amendment, summarizes the Court’s decision in Grants Pass, and describes the impact of the decision in Wisconsin.

This information memorandum provides an overview of the statutory framework for the eviction of a residential tenant in Wisconsin, as set forth in chs. 704 and 799, Stats., by summarizing the termination notice requirements and small claims court proceedings for eviction actions. Because the type of residential tenancy impacts the requirements that apply to the termination notice, this information memorandum begins with a summary of the different types of residential tenancies.

Under Wisconsin law, an unauthorized occupant cannot obtain tenant rights solely by occupying a dwelling for a certain amount of time. This means that the mere act of occupying a dwelling does not confer the protections of the eviction process to an unauthorized occupant; instead, the dwelling owner may ask law enforcement to remove the unauthorized occupant as a trespasser. This issue brief summarizes criminal trespass to a dwelling by an unauthorized occupant and then provides information on tenant rights, holdover tenants, and adverse possession. 

Housing discrimination is prohibited under the federal Fair Housing Act and Wisconsin’s Fair Housing Law, usually referred to as the “Open Housing Law.” The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity within the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development administers the federal Fair Housing Act and establishes national policies relating to fair housing. At the state level, the Equal Rights Division in the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) is primarily responsible for administering and enforcing Wisconsin’s Open Housing Law. DWD also provides technical assistance regarding enforcement matters to local government, as well as private and nonprofit organizations in the state. At the local level, in some areas, organizations such as fair housing councils help individuals understand their rights with respect to fair housing.

Wisconsin law establishes landlords’ and tenants’ rights and responsibilities relating to leasing, property maintenance, and rental payment, and identifies provisions that may render leases unenforceable. While much landlord-tenant law applies to both residential and nonresidential rental properties, this issue brief provides an overview of the rights and responsibilities that apply to residential properties.

Adverse possession is a legal doctrine by which a person who occupies another person’s property for a specified period of time may gain title to that property. Today, the law of adverse possession derives from a combination of statutes and court decisions. This information memorandum provides background information and an overview of relevant judicial decisions and statutes. It also describes two significant changes to the law of adverse possession made during the 2015 Legislative Session.

Eminent domain is the power of the government to condemn (i.e., “take”) private property for public use. Chapter 32 of the Wisconsin Statutes sets forth the general authorities and procedures governing the exercise of eminent domain in Wisconsin, including procedures governing negotiations with property owners, the commencement of condemnation proceedings, the calculation of compensation owed to property owners, and judicial review. This information memorandum describes those general authorities and procedures and briefly summarizes the historical development of the law of eminent domain.