# Wisconsin — Landlord retaliation presumption period by US state

For Wisconsin, what the presumption does is a landlord in a residential tenancy may not increase rent, decrease services, bring an action for possession of the premises, refuse to renew a lease or threaten any of the foregoing, if there is a preponderance of evidence that the action or inaction would not occur but for the landlord’s retaliation against the tenant; example of a protected activity is Making a good faith complaint about a defect in the premises to an elected public official or a local housing code enforcement agency; statute is Wis. Stat. 704.45, recorded from its source on 2026-09-02.

- **State:** Wisconsin _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **What the presumption does:** a landlord in a residential tenancy may not increase rent, decrease services, bring an action for possession of the premises, refuse to renew a lease or threaten any of the foregoing, if there is a preponderance of evidence that the action or inaction would not occur but for the landlord’s retaliation against the tenant _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Example of a protected activity:** Making a good faith complaint about a defect in the premises to an elected public official or a local housing code enforcement agency _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Statute:** Wis. Stat. 704.45 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> (1) Except as provided in sub. (2) , a landlord in a residential tenancy may not increase rent, decrease services, bring an action for possession of the premises, refuse to renew a lease or threaten any of the foregoing, if there is a preponderance of evidence that the action or inaction would not occur but for the landlord’s retaliation against the tenant for doing any of the following:

## Where each value comes from

This source states these in separate places, so each value is shown with the passage that states it.

### Example of a protected activity

> (a) Making a good faith complaint about a defect in the premises to an elected public official or a local housing code enforcement agency.

## Source

- https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/704/45

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Review by: 2027-09-02.
Part of [Landlord retaliation presumption period by US state](https://referencesource.org/landlord-retaliation-presumption-period-by-state/).