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Wisconsin landlord · tenant screening
Download the Wisconsin residential rental application — screens prospective tenants with application-money elections, a standalone screening-report authorization, and the disclosures federal and Wisconsin law require — in fillable Word and fillable PDF, with the Wisconsin Completion & Use Guide.
Renting out property in more than one state? This page is the Wisconsin application — each state's edition is built to its own screening and application-money law.
Every file below is included: the six-page fillable Word and PDF Wisconsin application, the Wisconsin Completion and Use Guide, and the federal FCRA Summary of Your Rights.
The real document — not a mockup. Page 1 of the form included in your download.
Every part of the form, in order — the application summary, 17 sections, and the office-use panel.
About this form
A residential rental application is the landlord's first line of protection: it collects the applicant's identity, household composition, rental history, employment and income, and references, and it carries the disclosures and signed authorizations that make lawful tenant screening possible before a lease is signed.
Wisconsin requires unusually careful application-money handling. Section 1 uses stackable owner-completed categories: no payment; a consumer-credit-report charge at actual cost up to a fixed $25 with advance notice and a copy; a separately capped background-check charge only for non-Wisconsin residents; and earnest money. A timely applicant-supplied nationwide-agency credit report less than 30 days old prevents a new credit-report charge.
All other application money is earnest money under ATCP 134.05, with unit-identification, receipt, next-business-day refund, lease-stage application or return, and limited actual-loss withholding rules. The guide covers Wisconsin protected classes, the unsettled DWD/Knapp voucher issue, Madison guidance, Milwaukee caution, screening and adverse action.
ILRG provides self-help legal forms and download support. PublicLegal landlord forms are provided for you to complete with your own property and screening information. Screening rules vary by state and change frequently — the Completion & Use Guide explains the rules in your state and the steps that keep this application within them. If you are not 100 percent satisfied after purchasing from us, contact us for a refund.
A consumer-credit-report charge may equal actual cost up to a fixed $25, with advance notice and a copy. No charge is allowed if the applicant first supplies a less-than-30-day-old nationwide-agency report. A separate actual-cost charge up to $25 is allowed only for a non-Wisconsin resident’s background check, again with advance notice and a copy.
Application money other than a compliant report charge is generally earnest money. Identify the unit before collection, provide the required receipt, and follow ATCP 134.05 next-business-day refund and lease-stage application or return rules.
This application does not. Wisconsin supplies no statewide housing inquiry-timing or lookback rule to add, so records screening—if used—is handled separately under lawful, consistently applied criteria and federal requirements.
Use source-neutral standards and conservatively accept lawful vouchers. Current DWD guidance includes vouchers, while Knapp creates uncertainty about the statewide Section 8 issue; the guide flags that tension.
The six-page Wisconsin application in fillable Word and PDF, the Wisconsin Completion & Use Guide, and the federal FCRA Summary of Rights. A completed Madison sample is optional.