A bill set to see an Assembly Committee vote today invalidating many Madison ordinances that protect tenants has sparked ire in the student and city community. 

As each municipality is currently able to have its own set of renting ordinances, the bill aims to make a uniform set of laws statewide, thereby overturning these location-specific ordinances, according to the bill. 

The bill was introduced to the Assembly and referred to the Committee on Housing and Real Estate on April 30. The bill, if passed out of committee, could reach the Assembly floor next week, according to the Legislature’s website.

 “At this point, the sheer speed that [the bill] is going through has really caught me by surprise,” Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs Committee member Ryan Prestil said. “It came to committee before people could even figure out what it was about. It’s difficult to get the full idea of what’s going on.” 

Prestil said, if passed, the bill would make many changes to state statute that would affect student tenants in particular. For instance, the first section of the bill outlines that municipalities are not allowed to have laws in place that require landlords give their tenants any contact information not required at the federal or state level. 

With this new regulation, landlords would only be able to give out their name and address to tenants.
Additionally, if the landlord’s building is in code violation, he or she is solely required to tell potential renters if there is a written order from a building inspector. 

More than half of Madison’s residents are renters, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said. He said he was concerned the list of potential new laws will entirely override the city’s comprehensive list of ordinances in place to protect renters. 

He said the bill would make it illegal for landlords to provide voter registration information to tenants. 

The bill also gives landlords the right to tow cars on
site without first getting permission from police or parking enforcement, which
would throw off the balance between tenant and landlord, Brenda Konkel, Tenant Resource Center executive director, said.

“Students in particular get taken advantage of because they have no idea what their rights are,” Konkel said. “I think this bill sets them up to get taken advantage of even more.” 

In an April 29 email sent to legislators when the bill was being circulated for co-sponsors, Sen. Frank Lasee, R-De Pere, and Rep. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, said the bill streamlines state tenant laws and “updates, cleans up and standardizes” Wisconsin law. 

“Current law presents questions, and often time, uncertainties regarding the landlord/tenant relationship,” the two said in the email. “This bill helps to clarify some of these questions, while also making improvements to current law…[it] also clarifies and enhances the rights and responsibilities of both the tenant and landlord in aspects related to personal property, rental agreements and civil procedure.” 

Prestil said he hopes legislators will make amendments to those statutes significantly affecting students, but said details such as eviction are more of a gray area.

 “The majority of the ordinances to be overturned have been on the books for a long time,” Verveer said. “I hope some legislators will realize that this is a very hastily rushed and outrageous proposal.”