Wisconsin: Tenant Abandoned Property Notice, Storage, and Disposal Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law, trigger, and routes

Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5) begins when a tenant moves out or is evicted and leaves
personal property. Unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing, the landlord
may presume the property abandoned. What happens next depends on whether the
landlord gave the required written no-storage disclosure when the tenant entered
or renewed the rental agreement.

With that disclosure, the current fast-disposal route applies, subject to the
medical, titled-property, third-party, and post-writ limits. Without it, §
704.05(5)(bf) requires compliance with the more protective 2009 storage and
disposition procedure.

Initial handling, inventory, and storage

The disclosed no-storage route does not require ordinary storage. The landlord
may dispose of presumed-abandoned property in an appropriate manner, with no
separate inventory, photographs, witness, packaging, insurance, or care
standard stated. Prescription medication and prescription medical equipment
must nevertheless be held for seven days.

The incorporated 2009 route offers storage on or off the premises with a lien,
storage by the landlord at its actual and reasonable value, or storage without
a lien and return. In a writ execution, § 799.45 separates sheriff handling
from the landlord's elected removal/storage/disposal alternative.

Notice recipients, method, and contents

The fast route's prerequisite is written notice at entry or renewal that the
landlord will not store left property, except for the medical-item rule. A
manufactured home, mobile home, or titled vehicle requires a later notice of
intended sale or other disposition to the tenant and each actually known
secured party, personally or by regular or certified mail to the last-known
address.

Under the legacy route, lien storage requires notice within 10 days after
charges begin, personally or by ordinary mail to the last-known address, stating
the daily storage charge. Alternatively, the landlord sends a personal or
ordinary-mail notice of intended sale or other disposition.

Claim and retrieval deadlines

The disclosed fast route states no general claim period. Prescription medicine
and equipment are held seven days from discovery and must be promptly returned
if requested before disposal. The special titled-property notice has no fixed
waiting period in § 704.05(5)(b).

Under the legacy route, the tenant has 30 days after personal service or mailing
of the disposition notice to repossess the goods. After a sale, the tenant has
60 days to claim the net proceeds. Under the current third-party rule, the
tenant or secured party may redeem before disposal or a disposition contract.

Retrieval conditions and storage charges

In the current route, the tenant or a secured party redeems before disposition
by paying expenses the landlord incurred with respect to disposition. The
seven-day medical-item return provision does not state a payment condition.

The legacy lien may include actual and reasonable removal and storage costs or
the actual and reasonable value of landlord-provided storage. It may not include
premises damage, past or future rent, or rent for the premises relabeled as
storage. Medicine and medical equipment are lien-free and promptly returnable
on request.

Low-value, perishable, and protected property

The statute gives no low-value, trash, perishable, hazardous, document,
photograph, keepsake, clothing, tool, or bedding threshold. It protects
prescription medication and prescription medical equipment for seven days in
the disclosed fast route.

Manufactured homes, mobile homes, and titled vehicles receive special notice.
The disposal power otherwise reaches property owned by the tenant or another
person, but remains subject to secured-party redemption and the cited
service-member protections.

Sale or disposal method

With the disclosure, the landlord may use private or public sale or another
method the landlord determines appropriate. There is no general auction,
publication, competitive-bidding, donation, or destruction formula. Medical
items and titled property keep their separate limits.

Without the disclosure, the old route permits private or public sale or another
appropriate means only after the 30-day notice period. The landlord may instead
choose a storage-and-return option.

Proceeds, accounting, and unclaimed funds

In the current fast route, a landlord who sells may send proceeds, less sale
costs and any prior storage charges, to the Department of Administration for
the homeless-services appropriation. The current text does not impose a tenant
surplus-hold period or say the landlord must use that remittance option.

The legacy route is different. It deducts sale and qualifying storage costs,
holds the net proceeds for the tenant for 60 days after sale, and then sends
unclaimed net proceeds to the Department of Administration.

Remedies, liability, and special limits

A contrary written agreement defeats the fast-route abandonment presumption.
Third-party ownership or a security interest does not independently block the
disposal power, but the tenant or secured party may redeem before the landlord
disposes of the property or contracts for disposition. Service-member
protections also apply.

Self-storage units are excluded. Most importantly, a landlord that did not give
the entry-or-renewal no-storage notice cannot use the fast route; the
incorporated 2009 procedure controls.

What trips people up

Wisconsin does not have one universal 30-day rule. Thirty days belongs to the
legacy route triggered by omission of the no-storage disclosure. When the
disclosure was properly given, ordinary property has no general statutory hold,
while prescription medication and equipment receive seven days.

The no-storage disclosure is not the same as a notice sent after move-out. It
must be provided when the tenant enters into or renews the rental agreement.

Common questions

Can the landlord immediately discard ordinary belongings?

Generally yes under the current route if the required entry-or-renewal
no-storage disclosure was given, there is no contrary written agreement, and no
medical, titled-property, writ, third-party, or service-member limit applies.

How long must prescription medicine be kept?

Seven days from discovery under the disclosed fast route. A request received
before disposal requires prompt return.

What if the landlord never gave the no-storage disclosure?

The landlord must follow the incorporated 2009 process, including the applicable
storage or disposition notice, charge limits, 30-day claim period, and
sale-proceeds rules.

Can a secured party recover the property?

The tenant or secured party may redeem before disposal or a disposition contract
by paying the landlord's disposition expenses.

Statutes and sources

• Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5). Abandonment presumption, no-storage disclosure,
  medical hold, titled-property notice, third-party redemption, proceeds, and
  self-storage exclusion. Official current
  statute (accessed
  July 22, 2026).
• Wis. Stat. § 704.05(5), 2009 stats. Incorporated legacy storage,
  notices, charge limits, 30-day disposition period, and 60-day proceeds claim.
  Official amendatory text reproducing the prior
  provisions
  (accessed July 22, 2026).