Madison, WI Rental Inspections: Tenant Complaint Process (2026)

15(1) protects any person or tenant from retaliation for complaining "to the landlord, or to the Building Inspection Division of the Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development or Public Health Madison and Dane County or to any state or local investigatory or enforcement agency" about violations of Chapters 7 (Health), 18 (Plumbing), 19 (Electrical), 27 (Minimum Housing), 28 (Zoning), 29 (Building), 30 (HVAC) or 32 (Landlord and Tenant): accurately reflecting that health complaints route through the joint city-county department while building and housing complaints go to the city's own Building Inspection Division.

15(2) defines retaliation broadly to include eviction, inconsistent rent increases, failure to perform promised repairs, refusal to renew a lease, or other harassment, whether committed directly or threatened. Any such act taken within six months of a tenant's complaint is presumed retaliatory; the landlord must then show by a preponderance of the evidence that the act was based on good cause to overcome that presumption. Subsection (3) declares any retaliatory act null and void and imposes a forfeiture of not less than $150 nor more than $900 for each act, on top of any other penalty available under Chapter 32. 12(4) may sue in court and recover twice the amount of damages, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees.