The Wisconsin Supreme Court voted Monday to reduce from 20 years to two years the time when most eviction records must be kept on the state court website, commonly referred to by the acronym CCAP.
Legal Action of Wisconsin sought the change for cases where there is no money judgment against a tenant. At a hearing last month, tenant advocates said the change would help renters with eviction histories, since many landlords rely solely on the statewide court website for determining whether to rent to someone.
Numerous landlord groups, including the Wisconsin Realtors Association, opposed the proposal. They argued that changing the rule could result in landlords charging higher rental deposits to protect themselves, a change that will negatively affect all renters.
Last year in Wisconsin, there were 25,819 filings for eviction with 1,621 resulting in judgment of evictions being granted, according to the Wisconsin Department of Administration.