Berrada Properties is owned by Youssef “Joe” Berrada, the sole owner of a network of more than 250 limited liability companies that collectively hold over 10,000 rental units across the Milwaukee and Racine metro areas.1Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog. Joe Berrada, Billionaire Day-to-day operations run through a separate corporation, Berrada Properties Management, Inc., which handles leasing, maintenance, and rent collection for the entire portfolio.2Wisconsin Public Radio. Wisconsin DOJ Announces $1.7M Settlement with Milwaukee Landlord
Who Joe Berrada Is
Berrada built his portfolio by scaling quickly in the Wisconsin rental market, targeting distressed or undervalued multi-family buildings that other investors passed over and consolidating them under one management umbrella. By the end of 2025, parcel records showed his network had grown to over 880 apartment buildings totaling 10,223 units, with nearly 1,000 of those units acquired in 2024 and 2025 alone.1Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog. Joe Berrada, Billionaire
Most of those units sit inside Milwaukee: 9,720 there, 441 in Racine, 40 in St. Francis, and 32 in West Allis. That concentration makes him the largest private landlord in the region. Commercial mortgage-backed securities filings from late 2024 and 2025 put his approximate net worth at $1.027 billion, with roughly $94 million in liquidity.1Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog. Joe Berrada, Billionaire Individual control over a portfolio this size is unusual; operations at this scale typically involve institutional investors or multiple equity partners.
How the Ownership Is Structured
Berrada does not hold the units under one entity. Individual properties, or clusters of them, are owned by separate limited liability companies, and the network includes more than 250 distinct LLCs.3Urban Milwaukee. Berrada Settles DOJ Lawsuit Many follow a straightforward numbered sequence, like Berrada Properties 74, LLC or Berrada Properties 117, LLC. Others reference neighborhood landmarks or street names. The buildings themselves frequently display signs reading “BerradaProperties.com,” and the corporate registration paperwork for each LLC traces back to the same principal office addresses and PO boxes.1Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog. Joe Berrada, Billionaire
This kind of structure is standard for large real estate holdings. Under Wisconsin’s Uniform Limited Liability Company Law, each LLC is a legal entity separate from its owner, so a lawsuit or debt tied to one building generally cannot reach the assets held by a different LLC or by Berrada personally.4Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 183.0304 – Liability of Members and Managers
Sitting above the holding companies is Berrada Properties Management, Inc., a corporation rather than an LLC, which functions as the operational hub. This is the entity that employs maintenance staff and contractors, signs lease agreements, collects rent, and appears in housing court. When tenants interact with “Berrada Properties,” they are dealing with this management company, even though the legal owner of their building is one of the underlying LLCs.5Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Berrada Properties Management Settlement Frequently Asked Questions
The 2024 Wisconsin DOJ Settlement
In November 2021, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit against Youssef Berrada personally and against Berrada Properties Management, Inc., alleging a pattern of state landlord-tenant law violations.2Wisconsin Public Radio. Wisconsin DOJ Announces $1.7M Settlement with Milwaukee Landlord The complaint laid out several categories of conduct:
- Charging tenants $100-per-month late rent fees that the state alleged were not authorized under Wisconsin law.
- Requiring tenants to pay the company’s attorney fees and court costs for eviction proceedings.
- Conducting renovations with “little to no regard for tenants living in the building,” including discarding tenant property during renovation work.
- Pressuring existing tenants to vacate their apartments to make renovations cheaper and easier, even when those tenants had a contractual right to stay.2Wisconsin Public Radio. Wisconsin DOJ Announces $1.7M Settlement with Milwaukee Landlord
In December 2024, the case resolved through a consent judgment requiring a monetary payment of more than $1.7 million.6Wisconsin Department of Justice. News for Immediate Release – Berrada Settlement The judgment also set up restitution for tenants charged unauthorized late fees or attorney fees since 2015, rent assistance and move-out assistance funds, an income-based rental program for up to 300 tenants, and the vacating of eviction judgments affected by the illegal charges. These programs are overseen by Community Advocates of Milwaukee through the Milwaukee Rental Housing Resource Center, which can be reached at (414) 895-7368.5Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Berrada Properties Management Settlement Frequently Asked Questions Tenants who rented from a Berrada-owned building at any point since 2015 do not need to apply; their tenancy is automatically being reviewed, and qualifying tenants will be contacted directly by Berrada Properties Management or the Wisconsin DOJ.7Wisconsin Department of Justice. Attorney General Kaul, DATCP Launch FAQ Page for Those Impacted by Settlement with Milwaukee Landlord Berrada Properties Management Anyone wanting to verify a settlement-related contact can email the DOJ’s consumer protection office at consumerprotection@doj.state.wi.us.
How to Confirm a Building Belongs to the Network
Because the holdings are spread across hundreds of separately named LLCs, confirming that a specific building is a Berrada property takes some work. The most direct route is the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, which maintains a searchable database of all corporate and LLC filings in the state.8Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. Search Corporate Records You can search by entity name or by registered agent name to pull up formation documents and annual reports.
Every LLC registered in Wisconsin must designate a registered agent, meaning a person or business in the state authorized to receive legal documents on the company’s behalf.9Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 183.0115 – Registered Agent and Registered Office For Berrada-linked entities, the registered agent and principal office information typically point back to the same central addresses, which is how researchers connect seemingly unrelated LLCs to the larger network.1Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog. Joe Berrada, Billionaire The DFI’s advanced search lets you search by registered agent name specifically, which makes mapping the full portfolio much easier than searching one entity at a time.10Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions – Search Corporate Records
One limit of the DFI database is worth knowing. It does not record the names of individual LLC members or owners.8Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. Search Corporate Records You can confirm an LLC exists, see its registered agent and principal office, and review its filing status, but you will not find a field that says “owned by Joe Berrada.” The ownership connection becomes visible through the pattern of shared addresses and agent designations across hundreds of entities, combined with Milwaukee County property tax records, which list the legal owner of each parcel and the mailing address for tax bills. For Berrada-linked properties, those addresses reliably trace back to the same PO boxes and office addresses that appear on the LLC filings.