Good news from Wisconsin the day we discover that we've elected a far right judge to the Supreme Court. Although I can also hear another complaint that will be made -- "Women will just PRETEND to be battered in order to get out of paying their rent!"

I was curious about how it would work but the article says you need to provide some sort of proof. Getting the documentation is another hurdle, but I guess they didn't want to step on landlord's feet too much, considering the complaining they do in the article.

“I don’t know if it really protects anyone else in the building if that victim moves out,� Kintopf said.
Er, wtf. Is she unfamiliar with the term domestic violence or the definition?

That is good news. I hope it works and that it's enforced. I wonder if it applies only to women who live with their abuser, or women who need to move away from a known residence.

This seems like a no-brainer. What tenant wants to live next to a domestic abuse situation?

And I'd think the landlord would want to safeguard their property. With a violent abuser, I'm guessing there's damage to property, not just to the victim. And do they want to let the abuse escalate to murder, which would really drive down the rental rate?

This law seems like common sense for everyone involved.

I hope that other states consider this importance of this law. While I agree that providing proof of domestic violence may be difficult in some cases, at least this is a step in the right direction. It sounds like they still have some kinks to work out, but once they do I think this law has the possibility of helping so many women stuck in a bad situation.

I don't know if this would actually work out, but the abuser should be the one that has to leave. Residents wouldn't want a violent person living near them, even if it was domestic. The person being abused shouldn't have the burden of finding a new place to live. Of course, this could create more problems since the abuser would know where they lived, etc.

“I don’t know if it really protects anyone else in the building if that victim moves out,� Kintopf said.

Uh. What the fuck?

First of all, what Outcrazyophelia said. Does she not get that domestic violence has a specific target?

Second, what is she saying, that the victim has a social obligation to keep getting beaten and eventually killed in order to prevent the abuser from moving on to a new target?

Akeeyu Buttmansion, I thought maybe she was intimating that neighbors wouldn't want to live around a violent person but, if the abuse victim can leave the situation, how does it hurt anyone else? Furthermore, how does it help anyone in the building if she is unable to leave?
“Where does it stop? Would the bank let me out of my mortgage? Landlords are in favor of helping people, but I’m not convinced this is the best way.�
Renting is in no way equal to a mortgage since well, you can sell your house and move away. Renting binds you to the property. I'm not sure what she's missing here.

Seems like a reasonable move. I can understand why they require some sort of documentation, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I wonder if we have more and more laws like these if men too will be more willing to report it and get some sort of documentation so they can leave physically/emotionally abusive women as more and more reports are showing women initiate violence as much or more so than men. Women get hurt more but to me its the act, not the result that matters. Only question is if a guy moves out to get away from an abuser, where does he go?

I wonder if there is any way to protect the landlords as well. While I EMPHATICALLY agree that women's safety comes first, as a landlord, I would be financially vulnerable if I had to lose the rent on one of my apartments on very short notice. That is why the law guarentees me two months to rerent an apartment. If a domestic abuse victim is protected from her abuser by the law, shouldn't the landlord be protected as well. Shouldn't the abuser be required to pay the rent? Why should the onus be on EITHER the victim or the landlord when neither one of them did anything wrong?

I wonder if there is any way to protect the landlords as well. While I EMPHATICALLY agree that women's safety comes first, as a landlord, I would be financially vulnerable if I had to lose the rent on one of my apartments on very short notice. That is why the law guarentees me two months to rerent an apartment. If a domestic abuse victim is protected from her abuser by the law, shouldn't the landlord be protected as well. Shouldn't the abuser be required to pay the rent? Why should the onus be on EITHER the victim or the landlord when neither one of them did anything wrong?

this is great but i worry if the fact that it screws over landlords (necessarily, mind) will have unintended effects. i know it can be hard to find rentals in some areas (right now i am looking for an apartment in the bay area) and I wonder if landlords will now be looking at couples and trying to figure out whether it could be a problem, and just avoiding renting to couples who don't seem like they'd stay together (unmarried, no kids, etc). I'm sure this is a shaky thing to do, legally speaking, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

@ Beth: That's why, every lease I've ever signed with roommates had a bit where each leasee was responsible for the entire rent if the other(s) didn't pay it. That way, the the abuser does have to pay the victim/survivor's share. Am I a bad person for getting amusement out of a domestic abuser being finacially screwed over? :)

@ bc: I think that that's just one of the reasons the law required documentation. If they just break up, the law doesn't apply. Hopefully landlords wouldn't want to rent to a batterer anyway, and there's really no way you can predict that sort of thing (reliably, at least) just by looking at the couple.

Thank goodness! if only this was in practice when I was having problems. I went to the landlord and asked to be released from the lease, explained the stalking/violence issue and they basicly told me tough luck, id have to pay the violation fine and everything.

I wish this new gig was more common place.

Well, beth, if the woman can't get out of the lease and can't afford two rent payments, she risks serious injury or death. A landlord who may not be able to find a tenant quickly risks money.

At least theoretically, most legal scholars have agreed for quite a while that life trumps money and property.

And dan/danica, the bill reads HE or she, so it doesn't matter whether the victim is a man or woman and the gender of the abuser is irrelevant.

“I don’t know if it really protects anyone else in the building if that victim moves out,� Kintopf said."
Er, wtf. Is she unfamiliar with the term domestic violence or the definition?"

I live in Wisconsin, and I'm glad they passed this bill. About ten years ago, a girl who lived in my building was being battered by her boyfriend.
She told me that she wanted to get out of her lease because she was breaking up with said boyfriend, and she was afraid that he would come after her. Of course, asshole landlord would not let her. In the meantime, she had a guy who was just a friend staying in her apartment because she was afraid of her ex. This asshole came in the middle of the night and shot both this girl and her guy friend. Later on, after a manhunt, they found him, and after a shootout, the jerk committed suicide. This girl and her guy friend might both be alive today if she might have been able to move to a location where her ex-boyfriend couldn't locate her. It's great to have this bill, but I wish we had it ten years ago.

That's terrible, Virago. I'm so sorry to hear that, but thank you for sharing the story. It's so important to remind people about what's at stake.

So often people blame women for not doing enough to get out of abusive situations. As a society we need to stop blaming, stop putting all the onus on the victim, and start helping them. This bill is a step, at least. It's too bad the victim has to put herself at further risk by actually following through with a complaint/restraining order/etc before she can get out of the lease. Especially since sometimes asshole judges won't grant the restraining order, as seen in another post today.