State Specific Question About: WISCONSIN (WI)

May Landlord, after viewing all power is out and

suspecting an emergency enter property without notifing

tenant. Tennat was at work and it was evening and

electrician had just fixed circuit breakers day before.

What is your question? Are you a tenant or a LL?

In any case, based on what I think you may be asking... In general, a LL may enter without notice in the case of an emergency. If they thought there was some power issue that could cause harm to people or property then, yes, they could likely enter when the tenant was not home.

The lease should cover this -- and local/state laws may also apply to vary that some. But, in general, it would be fine in my area/state. Note that I would also leave a note that I had been there and state the reason/emergency so that it is clear to the tenant that I entered and why I did so without notice.

- John...

I would answer the question from the same point of view, but more carefully:

In general, a LL may enter without notice in the case of an emergency.

But the statement that "If they thought there was some power issue that could cause harm to people or property then, yes, they could likely enter when the tenant was not home." is not so responsible. There is no law that will answer the question for you. Probably every state allows immediate entrance in case of emergency. But what is meant is a GENUINE emergency, not simply some power ISSUE. Do you have any reason to believe that your immediate entrance is required to prevent genuine irreversible harm to life? or, genuine irreversible harm to property, the kind of harm that would rise to the level of "emergency"?

If you viewed that "all power is out", I guess that you looked at the power meter and observed no amperage consumption. That doesn't suggest an emergency, it points to no power available for danger.

The emergency rule is one that is overused on these pages. It is intended to protect a landlord (or any passerby) from liability from lending assistance to someone who desperately needs immediate help. The rule does not apply to any circumstances short of that level. It is not an excuse for landlord to go in and look around.

The emergency is going to be when the tenant gets home after the power was worked on the day before and there is a breaker off and food thawing in the refrigerator.

It's an emergency. Do you want to lose or pay for hundreds of dollars worth of food?

" The emergency is going to be when the tenant gets home after the power was worked on the day before and there is a breaker off and food thawing in the refrigerator.

Do you want to lose or pay for hundreds of dollars worth of food?"

Not wanting to pay for hundreds of dollars worth of food is an important concern to many landlords. But it is NOT an emergency. It may have serious consequences for landlord (paying money), it may make tenants upset (finding food thawed out), it may require landlord to call back electrician or to flip some switch, but it is NOT an emergency, and does not qualify under the rule allowing landlord entry without notice. All of the above reasons are landlord's responsibility and he cannot escape them, or even ameliorate them, by crying "emergency". Presumably, landlord was present when electrician fixed the circuit breakers, and supervised him at work. But he is responsible for electrician's work and the consequences.

Well ... I normally would CONTACT the tenant and advise them "hey, I just went by to check on the apartment and noticed that there seemed to be no power. I'm going to go in and make sure all is ok and if not, I will be contacting my electrician." Of course, I don't know how you would know that unless there was already an issue. I don't normally drive by a property and say "hey, there's no lights so lets go in and check to see what's going on".

I generally have a good relationship with my tenants with the fact that they know that when something is being corrected, I'm going to come by to ensure that everything is still working (of course, depending on the issue). Electrical? You bet I'm checking on it. They expect it from me and I expect it from myself ... and they seem to be appreciative.

Moshe -- you can feel that my statement is "not so responsible" if you'd like, but I disagree. I did NOT just say that "simply some power ISSUE" was an emergency as you implied I did. I very clearly stated that you needed some reason to believe that the power ISSUE "could cause harm to people or property." You seem to agree with that statement, correct? I will agree with you that whether or not you actually had any knowledge that that harm could occur is debatable and needs to be considered. But that doesn't make my statement irresponsible.

Heck, I'm one of the few people here that tends to side with YOU on this. Most people here just say "yeah, whatever, go in and see what it is and call it an emergency." I'm one of the FEW people here trying to make it clear that it does need to be a real emergency and that means harm to persons or property!

You seem to keep shooting the few people here that actually agree with you, Moshe.

Also, just to be clear... I am curious. In THIS thread, you seem to imply that only a situation where "someone who desperately needs immediate help" is an emergency and that it "does not apply to any circumstances short of that level". But, in a different thread, you seemed to indicate (from memory, correct me if I am wrong) that you could also enter if you had good reason to believe that harm to PROPERTY existed. Is that an emergency or not?

To give an example... Let's say that I can hear water running in the apartment and see it leaking out under the door. However, I know that no one is in the building and therefore no one is in immediate danger or "desperately needs immediate help." Can I go in under an emergency argument to prevent harm to my building or not?

I thought you COULD go in under that situation -- and I thought you even said so before. So, can you or not? According to what you said in this thread, it seems to imply that you could not because I have no reason to believe that anyone is "desperately needing immediate help."

Please clarify that for us. And, again, you may want to stop ripping into the ONE guy that tends to support you here...

- John...

I think no power can constitute an emergency. Obviously, it could quickly cause problems in cold weather. But, in the summer there are still potential issues. I have a few properties with sump pumps and without power the basement could flood.

For an occupied house, I usually do not go around checking the electric meters to see if the power is running, so I wouldn't know. I expect the tenant will contact me if there is an issue with their power other than non-payment of the electric bill.