How much notice must a landlord give before entering in Wisconsin?

Verified July 9, 2026 All Wisconsin topics →

Wisconsin landlords must give at least 12 hours' advance notice before entering a rental unit, may enter only at reasonable times, and only to inspect, make repairs, or show the unit to prospective tenants or purchasers — unless the tenant agrees to shorter notice, requests or consents to the entry, a health or safety emergency exists, or the tenant is absent and entry is reasonably necessary to protect the premises from damage.

The 12-hour figure comes from the administrative code (ATCP 134.09(2)), not the statutes: Wis. Stat. 704.05(2) itself requires only 'advance notice,' and it also lets a landlord enter without notice, with such force as appears necessary, when an absent tenant's unit needs protection. The notice does not have to be written or name an exact entry time, though a lease may authorize delivering it electronically (Wis. Stat. 704.10). On entering, the landlord must announce their presence and identify themselves on request, and an unlawful entry supports a tenant suit for double damages plus attorney fees under Wis. Stat. 100.20(5).

Wisconsin entry notice at a glance

Advance notice required	12 hours
Notice standard	Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.09(2): 'Advance notice means at least 12 hours advance notice unless the tenant, upon being notified of the proposed entry, consents to a shorter time period.' The statute layer, Wis. Stat. 704.05(2), requires only unquantified 'advance notice' at 'reasonable times' — the 12-hour floor exists ONLY in the administrative code. No writing is required and the rule imposes no content requirements (the notice need not state an exact entry time).
Permitted reasons	Both layers allow entry only to inspect the premises, make repairs, or show the premises to prospective tenants or purchasers (Wis. Stat. 704.05(2); ATCP 134.09(2)). ATCP 134.09(2) adds exceptions where notice and purpose limits fall away: the tenant requests or consents in advance to the entry; a health or safety emergency exists; or the tenant is absent and the landlord reasonably believes entry is necessary to protect the premises from damage. On any entry the landlord must first announce his or her presence to persons in the unit and identify himself or herself upon request.
Emergency exception	Yes
Time-of-day restrictions	Entry must be at 'reasonable times' (704.05(2), ATCP 134.09(2)); neither layer fixes clock hours.

Notes and caveats

notice_hours encoded as 12 from ATCP 134.09(2) — the flagship example of Wisconsin's two-layer structure, since a statute-only read of 704.05(2) yields no number at all (704.05(2) history confirmed on direct read: last amended by 2013 Act 76; 2017 Act 317 did NOT touch it). Points a careful page should carry: (1) the 12 hours is a floor the TENANT can waive ad hoc ('consents to a shorter time period') — not lease-waivable in advance as a blanket term, since ATCP 134 rights cannot be contracted away; (2) purposes are a closed list in both layers (inspect/repair/show) — entry 'to deliver a notice' or 'to check on the tenant' is not among them absent consent; (3) the announce-and-identify duty of ATCP 134.09(2) is real and routinely omitted by summaries; (4) 2017 Act 317's entry-related contribution is Wis. Stat. 704.10: a rental agreement may authorize ELECTRONIC delivery of the 704.05(2) advance notice (plus leases and deposit accountings) — pre-2018 sources saying entry notice cannot be emailed are stale; (5) violation remedy is the 100.20(5) double-pecuniary-loss + attorney fee action because ATCP 134 is a 100.20 order. Trap check: the '24 hours' sometimes shown for Wisconsin is another-state import; both independent reads of ATCP 134.09(2) said 12 hours.

Statute citations

Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.09 (2) Official source
Wis. Stat. 704.05 (2) Official source
Wis. Stat. 704.10 Official source
Wis. Stat. 100.20 (5) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute and administrative code text on the official Wisconsin Legislature site (docs.legis.wisconsin.gov, which officially hosts both Wis. Stats. and Wis. Admin. Code): Wis. Stat. 704.28, 704.05(2), 704.19, and Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.06 and ATCP 134.09 each read TWICE via independent fetches of alternate stable deep links — all load-bearing figures (21-day deposit return and its three trigger events, 12-hour entry notice, 28-day periodic-tenancy termination notice, 7-day check-in window, the three late-fee paragraphs of ATCP 134.09(8)) matched verbatim across both reads. Also read in full once: Wis. Stat. 100.20(5), 704.95, 704.44, 704.45, 704.08, 704.10, 704.17(1g), 66.1015, 66.0104, and ATCP 134.01/134.02(11) (scope and 'security deposit' definition). Pending-bill statuses checked on docs.legis.wisconsin.gov 2026-07-09: the 2025-26 Legislature adjourned sine die and all landlord-tenant bills (AB 1064 application fees, AB 1048 repeal of 66.0104) failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1 on 2026-03-23; AB 202 (Wisconsin Consumer Act exemption / void-lease remedy rewrite) passed both houses but was VETOED, so no 2025-26 enactment changes any field.