Eviction Notice Requirements in Wisconsin

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Notice for unpaid rent

If you fall behind on rent, the ordinary notice is short: the landlord must give "notice requiring the tenant to pay rent or vacate on or before a date at least 5 days after the giving of the notice," and if you pay within those 5 days the eviction stops (§ 704.17(1p)(a) for a month-to-month or week-to-week tenant; § 704.17(2)(a) for a lease of a year or less). The amount you must pay to cure includes late fees: the statute defines "rent" to include "any rent that is past due and any late fees owed for rent that is past due" (§ 704.17(1g)).

Wisconsin has an important twist most states lack: the landlord can choose to skip the cure option. For a month-to-month tenant who is in default, the landlord "while the tenant is in default in payment of rent" may instead give "notice requiring the tenant to vacate on or before a date at least 14 days after the giving of the notice" — a 14-day termination with no right to cure. And for any tenant, a second missed payment within one year of an earlier 5-day notice lets the landlord use the 14-day no-cure notice too.

Notice for a lease violation

For waste or a non-rent lease breach — an unauthorized pet, extra occupants, property damage — the landlord ordinarily serves a 5-day remedy-or-vacate notice under § 704.17(1p)(b)1 or § 704.17(2)(b). Wisconsin defines cure generously: you are "deemed to be complying with the notice if promptly upon receipt... the tenant takes reasonable steps to remedy the default and proceeds with reasonable diligence," or if damages are adequate and you make "a bona fide and reasonable offer to pay the landlord all damages." As with rent, a repeat of the same or another breach within one year drops the tenant to a 14-day notice to vacate with no cure. For a month-to-month tenant, § 704.17(1p)(b)2 also lets the landlord elect a 14-day notice to vacate for the initial non-rent breach instead of offering the 5-day cure route.

Unconditional quit (no cure allowed)

One no-cure notice is tied to nuisance activity. If the landlord "receives written notice from a law enforcement agency... or from the office of the district attorney, that a nuisance under s. 823.113" — the state's drug-house/criminal-nuisance law — "exists in that tenant's rental unit or was caused by that tenant," the landlord may give a written notice "requiring the tenant to vacate on or before a date at least 5 days after the giving of the notice" (§ 704.17(1p)(c) for periodic tenants; § 704.17(2)(c) for leases). There is no cure, but the notice must state the basis for its issuance and the tenant's right to contest the termination in an eviction action, and the landlord must prove the allegation by the greater weight of the evidence if you contest it. Section 704.17(3m) separately permits a 5-day no-cure notice for specified criminal or drug-related activity threatening tenants, neighbors, or the landlord, subject to a victim exception and the same right to contest. The 14-day month-to-month and repeat-violation routes are additional no-cure choices.

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

To end a month-to-month tenancy when the tenant has done nothing wrong, the landlord (or the tenant) must give "at least 28 days' notice" (§ 704.19(3)), and that notice is effective "only at the end of a rental period" (§ 704.19(2)(b)1). So a 28-day notice served mid-month generally terminates the tenancy at the end of the following rental period, not exactly 28 days later. For a tenancy where rent is payable more often than monthly (a weekly tenancy), the notice need only equal the rent-paying period.

How the notice must be served

The statute lists the valid ways to deliver a notice (§ 704.21(1)): hand it to the tenant or leave it at the tenant's home "in the presence of some competent member of the tenant's family at least 14 years of age, who is informed of the contents"; leave it with a competent person in charge of the premises and mail a copy; "if notice cannot be given" that way "with reasonable diligence," post it conspicuously on the premises and mail a copy; send it by registered or certified mail to the last-known address; or serve it like a court summons. The notice must be in writing and "substantially inform" the tenant "of the intent to terminate the tenancy and the date of termination" (§ 704.19(4)); minor errors that don't mislead don't void it.

Tenant's right to cure/reinstate

For unpaid rent, paying within the 5-day period reinstates the tenancy — but only if the landlord used the 5-day pay-or-vacate notice. If the landlord chose the 14-day no-cure notice (available for a month-to-month tenant in default, or after a repeat default), paying does not automatically save the tenancy. For a lease breach, the "deemed complying" standard means promptly starting a good-faith fix, or offering to pay all damages, counts as compliance. Separately, Wisconsin bars retaliatory eviction: a landlord "may not... bring an action for possession... if there is a preponderance of evidence that the action... would not occur but for the landlord's retaliation" against a tenant for a good-faith code complaint or "exercising a legal right relating to residential tenancies" (§ 704.45(1)) — though the landlord may still evict for rent the tenant genuinely owes (§ 704.45(2)).

What trips people up

The landlord can take away your right to pay and stay. In many states a 5-day pay-or-quit notice always lets you cure by paying. In Wisconsin, a landlord dealing with a month-to-month tenant in default — or any tenant who missed a second payment within a year — can instead serve a 14-day notice to vacate that carries no cure right. Read which notice you received: a "pay rent or vacate" notice is curable; a bare "vacate" notice may not be.

28 days does not always mean 28 days. A no-fault termination notice for a month-to-month tenancy takes effect only at the end of a rental period, so a notice given partway through the month runs to the end of the next full period. Count to the end of a rental period, not just 28 days on the calendar.

Late fees are part of what you must pay to cure. Because § 704.17(1g) folds past-due late fees into "rent," paying only the base rent may not be a full cure. Pay the full amount the notice demands, including any late fees the lease authorizes.

Common questions

My landlord gave me a 5-day notice to pay rent. If I pay, can I stay? Yes — if it is a "pay rent or vacate" notice, paying the full amount demanded (including authorized late fees) within the 5 days reinstates your tenancy. If instead you received a 14-day notice simply telling you to vacate, that notice carries no cure right, and paying may not stop the eviction.

Can my landlord evict me for no reason? For a month-to-month tenancy, yes — by giving at least 28 days' written notice ending at the end of a rental period. Wisconsin has no statewide "just cause" requirement.

What is the 14-day notice for? It covers repeat problems within one year and, for a month-to-month tenancy, the landlord's choice to terminate an initial rent or non-rent default without offering a cure. It is a notice to vacate, not a chance to fix things.

Can I be evicted right away for drug activity? Not without a notice, but the notice is short and carries no cure: if law enforcement or the district attorney notifies the landlord that a nuisance under Wisconsin's drug-house law exists at your unit, the landlord can serve a 5-day notice to vacate. You can contest it in the eviction case, where the landlord must prove the allegation.

Statutes and sources

• Wis. Stat. § 704.17 — notice terminating tenancies for failure to pay rent or other breach: "rent" includes late fees (1g); 5-day pay-or-vacate and 14-day no-cure for month-to-month (1p)(a); 5-day remedy-or-vacate and repeat 14-day for breaches (1p)(b), (2)(b); 5-day pay-or-vacate / repeat 14-day for leases ≤1 yr (2)(a); nuisance 5-day no-cure (1p)(c), (2)(c). https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/704.17 (accessed 2026-08-13)
• Wis. Stat. § 704.19 — notice to terminate periodic tenancies: at least 28 days, effective at the end of a rental period; contents of notice. https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/704.19 (accessed 2026-08-13)
• Wis. Stat. § 704.21 — manner of giving notice: personal, substituted, post-and-mail, certified mail, or summons-style service. https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/704.21 (accessed 2026-08-13)
• Wis. Stat. § 704.45 — retaliatory conduct in residential tenancies prohibited; nonpayment exception. https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/704.45 (accessed 2026-08-13)