Wisconsin Rental Application Form

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   A nationwide-agency credit report less than 30 days old, handed over first, takes the Wisconsin charge to zero, and the waiver is mandatory rather than a courtesy. Wis. Stat. Section 704.085(1)(b), repeated at Wis. Admin. Code Section ATCP 134.05(4)(b), provides that a landlord may not require a prospective tenant to pay for a consumer credit report under paragraph (a) if, before the landlord requests a consumer credit report, the prospective tenant provides the landlord with a consumer credit report, from a consumer credit reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis, that is less than 30 days old. Four conditions have to hold: a credit report, from a nationwide agency, under 30 days old, and provided before the landlord requests its own. Be precise about what is mandatory. The note printed under the rule reads that paragraph (b) does not prohibit a landlord from obtaining a more current consumer credit check at the landlord's expense. The fee waiver is compulsory; relying on the applicant's report is not.

2. 2

   The duty and the number are in different instruments, which is why both get cited. ATCP 134.05(4)(a) caps the charge at the amount specified in Section 704.085(1)(a), Stats., a cross-reference rather than a figure, and the rule's own history shows how it got that way: the paragraph was amended effective November 1, 2021 to point at the statute. The $25 itself is in Wis. Stat. Section 704.085(1)(a), created by 2017 Wisconsin Act 317, whose history line carries no later amendment. Neither figure is indexed, so nothing here is republished annually.

3. 3

   Both limbs of the ceiling bind, and so does the agency restriction. The permitted charge is the landlord's actual cost, up to $25, to obtain a consumer credit report from a consumer credit reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis. A charge above the actual cost of the report is outside the rule even where it is under the figure, and a report that cost more than the figure does not lift the charge above it. The nationwide-agency wording also matters: it is the kind of report the charge is authorized for.

4. 4

   Wisconsin requires the charge to be disclosed before the report is pulled, not after. The sentence runs that the landlord shall notify the prospective tenant of the charge before requesting the consumer credit report, and shall provide the prospective tenant with a copy of the report. The sequencing is the point: an applicant is told what the screening will cost while there is still a decision to make about it, and the duty is identical in Wis. Stat. Section 704.085(1)(a) and in ATCP 134.05(4)(a).

5. 5

   The copy of the report is a Wisconsin duty on the landlord and it does not wait for an adverse decision. Where the landlord charged for the report, it shall provide the prospective tenant with a copy of the report, in both of the parallel provisions and again for the background check in Section 704.085(2). That copy has a second use in Wisconsin: a nationwide-agency credit report under 30 days old is exactly what Section 704.085(1)(b) says the next landlord may not charge for.

6. 6

   There is a second, separately scoped $25. Wis. Stat. Section 704.085(2) provides that a landlord may require a prospective tenant who is not a resident of this state to pay the landlord's actual cost, up to $25, to obtain a background check on the prospective tenant, and that the landlord shall notify the prospective tenant of the charge before requesting the background check and shall provide the prospective tenant with a copy of the report. The scope limit is residence in Wisconsin, so this charge sits on top of the credit report charge only for an applicant who is not a Wisconsin resident.

7. 7

   Wisconsin has a separate application-stage payment with a far tighter clock than the fee, and the rule keeps the two apart. ATCP 134.02(3) defines an earnest money deposit as the total of any payments or deposits, however denominated or described, given by a prospective tenant to a landlord in return for the option of entering into a rental agreement in the future, or for having a rental agreement considered by a landlord, and then states that it does not include a fee which a landlord charges for a credit check in compliance with ATCP 134.05(3). ATCP 134.05(2)(a) requires the landlord to send or deliver the full deposit back by the end of the next business day after rejecting the application, after the applicant withdraws before acceptance, or after failing to approve the application by the end of the third business day following acceptance of the deposit, a date the tenant may extend in writing by no more than 21 calendar days. ATCP 134.05(1) also bars taking an earnest money or security deposit before the specific unit the applicant is being considered for has been identified.

Wisconsin Requirements for Rental Application Form

• The Credit Check Charge: Actual Cost, Up to Twenty Five Dollars

  Wis. Stat. Section 704.085(1)(a) provides that except as provided under paragraph (b), a landlord may require a prospective tenant to pay the landlord's actual cost, up to $25, to obtain a consumer credit report on the prospective tenant from a consumer credit reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis. Both limbs bind: a charge above what the report actually cost is outside the provision even where it is under the figure, and a report that cost more does not lift the charge above the figure. The figure was created by 2017 Wisconsin Act 317 and is not indexed, so there is no annual republication.

• Both Instruments, and Which One Carries the Figure

  Wis. Admin. Code Section ATCP 134.05(4)(a) imposes the same duty but states no amount: it caps the charge at the amount specified in Section 704.085(1)(a), Stats. The rule's history line records that paragraph (4)(a) was amended effective November 1, 2021, which is when it came to point at the statute. So the statute carries the figure and the rule carries the duty, and the rule also carries the enforcement route, because chapter ATCP 134 is adopted under the authority of Wis. Stat. Section 100.20(2) and administered by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Citing only one of the two instruments gives an incomplete answer.

• Notice of the Charge Before the Report Is Requested

  Both instruments state it in the same sentence as the ceiling: the landlord shall notify the prospective tenant of the charge before requesting the consumer credit report. The sequencing is the substance. The applicant is told the amount while the decision to proceed is still open, rather than being handed a figure after the report has been bought. Wis. Stat. Section 704.085(2) repeats the duty for the background check it authorizes, so a non-resident applicant is owed advance notice of both charges.

• A Copy of the Report to the Applicant

  The same sentence continues that the landlord shall provide the prospective tenant with a copy of the report, and Wis. Stat. Section 704.085(2) and ATCP 134.05(4)(a) say the same. Two features make this a Wisconsin duty rather than a restatement of ordinary practice. It is not conditioned on the application being denied, so an approved applicant who paid the charge is owed the copy too. And it puts the obligation on the landlord to hand the document over. Keep it: a nationwide-agency credit report under 30 days old is precisely what the next landlord may not charge for.

• The Mandatory Waiver for a Report Under Thirty Days Old

  Wis. Stat. Section 704.085(1)(b), repeated at ATCP 134.05(4)(b), provides that a landlord may not require a prospective tenant to pay for a consumer credit report under paragraph (a) if, before the landlord requests a consumer credit report, the prospective tenant provides the landlord with a consumer credit report, from a consumer credit reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis, that is less than 30 days old. Four conditions: a credit report, a nationwide agency, under 30 days old, and provided before the landlord orders its own. The waiver is mandatory. What it removes is the charge and nothing else: the note under the rule states that paragraph (b) does not prohibit a landlord from obtaining a more current consumer credit check at the landlord's expense.

• The Separate Background Check Charge for a Non-Resident Applicant

  Wis. Stat. Section 704.085(2) provides that a landlord may require a prospective tenant who is not a resident of this state to pay the landlord's actual cost, up to $25, to obtain a background check on the prospective tenant, and that the landlord shall notify the prospective tenant of the charge before requesting the background check and shall provide the prospective tenant with a copy of the report. The scope limit is residence in Wisconsin. An applicant who is not a Wisconsin resident may therefore face this charge in addition to the credit report charge, each at actual cost up to the statutory figure, and each with its own notice and copy duties. Also from 2017 Wisconsin Act 317.

• The Earnest Money Deposit, Returned by the End of the Next Business Day

  ATCP 134.05(2)(a) requires a landlord who receives an earnest money deposit from a rental applicant to send the full deposit by first-class mail, or deliver it, by the end of the next business day after the landlord rejects the application or refuses to enter into a rental agreement; after the applicant withdraws before the landlord accepts the application; or after the landlord fails to approve the application by the end of the third business day following acceptance of the deposit, or by a later date the tenant agrees to in writing, which may not be more than 21 calendar days. Two boundaries. ATCP 134.02(3) provides that an earnest money deposit does not include a fee which a landlord charges for a credit check in compliance with ATCP 134.05(3), so this clock does not reach the credit check charge. And under ATCP 134.05(1) no earnest money or security deposit may be taken before the specific unit under consideration has been identified.

• No Wisconsin Municipality May Limit the Use of Arrest and Conviction Records

  This is a jurisdictional fact rather than a screening rule, and it is the reason there is no local fair chance layer here to look for. Wis. Stat. Section 66.0104(2)(a) provides that no city, village, town, or county may enact an ordinance that places any of the following limitations on a residential landlord: prohibiting a landlord from, or placing limitations on a landlord with respect to, obtaining and using or attempting to obtain and use listed categories of information about a tenant or prospective tenant, among them court records, including arrest and conviction records, to which there is public access, and a social security number or other proof of identity. Subparagraph 2. separately bars an ordinance limiting how far back in time a prospective tenant's credit information, conviction record, or previous housing may be taken into account by a landlord, and Section 66.0104(2)(b) bars local requirements on security deposits, earnest money or pretenancy and posttenancy inspections beyond the administrative rules. The text above is stated as published; no enactment year for this section could be established, so none is given.