How to Fill Out a Wisconsin 28-Day Notice to Terminate Tenancy

In Wisconsin, a 28-day notice to terminate tenancy is a written statement from a landlord or tenant announcing the end of a month-to-month rental, delivered at least 28 days before the last day of a rental period as required by Wis. Stat. § 704.19.¹ The statute does not prescribe a form. What it does require is a date that lands correctly and a delivery method the law recognizes, and mistakes on either one usually push the move-out back by a full month.

When the 28-Day Notice Applies

Two living arrangements use this notice. The first is a periodic tenancy: a standard month-to-month situation where rent is paid at regular intervals with no fixed end date, often what remains after a written lease expired and the tenant stayed on with permission. The second is a tenancy at will, where someone occupies a property with the owner’s consent but without a written lease or set rent schedule.¹

The 28-day minimum applies when rent is payable monthly or longer. If rent is paid weekly, the notice period only needs to match that shorter interval. Agricultural year-to-year tenancies are separate and require at least 90 days.¹

Fixed-term leases do not use this notice at all. They end on the date written in the lease unless the lease itself says otherwise. The 28-day notice is built for open-ended arrangements where no move-out date has been agreed.

What to Put in the Notice

Wis. Stat. § 704.19(4) sets a low bar for content. The notice must be in writing and must “substantially inform” the other party that you intend to terminate the tenancy and the date it ends. The statute says the notice can be “formal or informal,” so a letter on plain paper carries the same weight as a preprinted form.¹

A practical notice includes the following:

The name of the person giving the notice and the person receiving it.
The street address and unit number of the rental.
A clear statement of intent, such as “This letter is to notify you that I am terminating my tenancy at [address].”
The specific termination date, which must be the last day of a rental period at least 28 days away.
The date you signed the notice and your signature.

The statute says minor errors do not invalidate the notice as long as they do not mislead the recipient. Leaving out one tenant’s name when there are several, for example, does not kill the notice.¹ The question is whether the other side understands what you are telling them.

Calculating the Termination Date

This is where the notice goes wrong most often. Two rules apply at the same time. The notice must give at least 28 days of lead time, and the termination date must fall on the last day of a rental period.¹

Say rent is due on the first of the month, so the rental period runs from the 1st through the last day of the month. Deliver the notice on June 1 and the termination date can be June 30. That is 29 days away, which clears the 28-day minimum, and June 30 is the last day of the rental period. Wait until June 3 and only 27 days remain before June 30. The earliest valid termination date then jumps to July 31, a full extra month.

When rent is due on the 15th, the rental period runs from the 15th of one month through the 14th of the next. A notice delivered on June 15 could terminate the tenancy as early as July 14, which is 29 days away and the last day of the rental period.

If the Date Is Wrong

Wisconsin’s statute is surprisingly forgiving about date mistakes. If you write the first day of the next rental period instead of the last day of the current one — July 1 instead of June 30 — the notice is still valid if you gave it early enough for the 28-day clock. A landlord who receives this notice from a tenant can hold the tenant to a June 30 move-out, and a tenant who receives it from a landlord can leave on the date the landlord actually wrote.¹

For other date errors, such as too few days or a date in the middle of a rental period, the notice is not thrown out. The law pushes the termination to the next date that would have been valid. The recipient, however, can choose to treat the date you wrote as binding if it works in their favor. So a wrong date rarely kills the notice, but it can delay the end of the tenancy by a month or hand the other side a scheduling advantage.

How to Deliver the Notice

Wis. Stat. § 704.21 sets out specific delivery methods, and the list is different depending on which direction the notice is going. Using a method the statute does not list gives the other side grounds to argue the notice was never properly given.²

Landlord to Tenant

Hand the notice directly to the tenant.
Leave a copy at the tenant’s home with a family member who is at least 14 years old, and tell that person what the notice says.
Leave a copy with someone who appears to be in charge of or occupying the rental unit, and also mail a copy to the tenant’s last-known address.
If the landlord cannot reach the tenant or anyone at the unit with reasonable effort, attach the notice to a visible spot on the property and mail a copy to the tenant’s last-known address.
Mail the notice by certified or registered mail to the tenant’s last-known address.
Have the notice served the same way a court summons would be served.

Tenant to Landlord

Hand the notice to the landlord, the property manager, or whoever has been collecting rent.
Leave a copy at the landlord’s home with a family member who is at least 14 years old, and inform that person of the contents.
Give the notice to a competent person at the landlord’s office or the location where rent is paid.
Mail the notice by certified or registered mail to the landlord’s last-known address or the agent who manages the property.
Serve the landlord through the procedure used for court summonses.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection notes that personal delivery and certified or registered mail are the most straightforward options for tenants.³ Whichever method you use, keep a copy of the notice and any mailing receipts. Those records are the only way to prove when the 28-day clock started if the matter later lands in court.

When the Landlord Is a Business Entity

If the landlord is a corporation, personal delivery narrows considerably. The notice must go to an officer, director, registered agent, or managing agent, or be left with an employee at that person’s office during business hours. For a partnership, deliver it to a general partner or managing agent. Certified or registered mail still works and sidesteps the question of who qualifies.²

If the Tenant Stays Past the Termination Date

A 28-day notice is not an eviction. It ends the tenancy, but if the tenant does not leave on the termination date, the landlord cannot change the locks, shut off utilities, or remove belongings. The only legal path is to file a small claims eviction action in Wisconsin circuit court after the notice period expires. Filing before the 28 days have fully run gets the case dismissed and forces the landlord to start over.

1
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 704.19 – Notice Necessary to Terminate Periodic Tenancies and Tenancies at Will
2
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 704.21 – Manner of Giving Notice
3
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Tenants’ Rights and Responsibilities