Landlord Won't Make Repairs in Wisconsin: What Can I Do?
Wisconsin law sets rules for keeping your home in safe, working condition. This page explains what your landlord must fix, how to ask for repairs, and what to do if the problem continues.
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Your landlord must keep in reasonable repair the parts of your home the landlord controls. Your landlord must also keep in reasonable repair any equipment under the landlord's control that provides services promised to you. Examples include heat, water, an elevator, or air conditioning. Your landlord must also make all necessary structural repairs. None of these duties apply to damage you caused yourself by carelessness or misusing your home.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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Your landlord must repair or replace plumbing, electrical wiring, and other equipment that came with your home when it stops working properly. This does not apply if your home is covered by a local housing code. In that case, your landlord must follow that local code instead. It also does not apply if the repair is minor and its cost is small compared to your rent. In that case, you must keep it in working order yourself.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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If you rent your home to live in, your landlord must follow any local housing code that applies to your home.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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Ask your landlord to make the repair. Put your request in writing, such as a text, an email, or a letter, and keep a copy for your records.
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A local building inspector can check your home for code problems and order your landlord to fix them. If the inspector decides your home is not safe enough to live in, your home can be closed, called condemning it. If that happens, everyone must leave, even if you have nowhere else to go right away.
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Your home counts as legally unfit to live in if it is damaged by fire, water, or another accident. It also counts as unfit to live in if it has a condition that is dangerous to your health. It also counts as unfit to live in if your landlord substantially breaks a repair duty, materially affecting (really affecting) your health or safety. None of this applies if you caused the damage or condition yourself through carelessness or misuse of your home.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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If you stay living in your home after it becomes legally unfit to live in, your rent can go down. This only happens if the problem materially affects (really affects) your health or safety, or substantially affects how you use your home. Your rent goes down by the amount you are deprived of full normal use of your home. Wisconsin law does not let you stop paying rent completely while you stay in your home. This rule does not apply if you caused the problem yourself through carelessness or misuse.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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If your home becomes legally unfit to live in, you may move out. This right ends if your landlord quickly repairs or rebuilds the damage, or removes the health hazard. It also ends if your landlord quickly fixes the serious repair problem that was affecting your health or safety. You may move out if the repair would take so long, or cause so much trouble, that staying would be too hard for you. Moving out is risky. If a court later decides your home did not meet this legal test, you could still owe rent for the time after you left.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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You may have the legal right to move out because your home is unfit to live in. If so, you owe no rent for the time after your home became unfit to live in. Your landlord must give back any rent you already paid for that time.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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Your landlord cannot punish you for using your rights as a renter. This is called retaliation. If your landlord punishes you this way, your landlord cannot raise your rent or cut your services. Your landlord also cannot try to evict you or refuse to renew your lease. Your landlord cannot threaten to do any of these things either.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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You are protected if you make a good faith complaint (an honest complaint, not just to cause trouble) about a problem in your home. This includes complaining to a city official or a local housing code office, or complaining to your landlord directly. You are also protected when you use any other legal right you have as a renter. This protection applies only if the evidence shows your landlord would not have acted this way without that reason.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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Wisconsin's rule against landlord retaliation has limits. Your landlord can still file an eviction case if you have not paid rent. This is allowed unless the case is really about a rent increase that broke the rule. The rule also does not cover a complaint about a problem you caused by carelessness or misuse.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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If your landlord promises, before you sign your lease, to clean, repair, or improve your home, the promise must be written. You must get a copy of that written promise. The written promise must include a date or time period for finishing the work.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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Your landlord must finish that promised work by the date given. A delay is allowed if it is caused by a labor stoppage (workers not able to work), a shortage of supplies, or an accident. A delay is also allowed for another cause beyond your landlord's control. If there is a delay, your landlord must promptly tell you why and when the work will be finished.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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