Important Update - Office Closures, Rent Payment Procedures, and Managing COVID-19
Lucy Telkamp • March 17, 2020
During these extraordinary times and extraordinary circumstances, we are working ahead in an effort to maintain the health and safety of our tenants and employees and to do our part to slow the spread of illness in our community. To this end, there are several key items each of you should know:
• We will be having reduced office hours, and the office doors will be locked
at all times.
• All residents are to pay rent online. If and only if you do not have internet capabilities may you submit rent as a check or money order. Cash will not be accepted
at any of our offices. If you need help accessing your online Tenant Portal for free eCheck payment of rent, please contact the office. Important Note: Expect delays in processing any of your physical payments.
• Only emergency maintenance will be done
until this threat passes. We will still accept requests for general maintenance to be addressed in the future, but unless the concern is an emergency, it will be differed to a future date. When it is necessary for maintenance to enter your apartment, we ask that you keep your distance from them. They will not touch anything but the problem area and will wipe down, as necessary, any area involved.
• At applicable properties, pools and community rooms will be temporarily closed
to help avoid further spread of the virus to our residents.
Our Course of Action and
Yours
• We’d like to remind everyone that proper hand-washing is a vital part of preventing the spread of disease.
o The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends washing hands for at least 20 seconds with soap on a routine basis to control the spread of germs and illness.
o You can do the most good by washing your hands and avoiding touching your face.
• The virus is most commonly spread by people coming in direct contact with someone affected, or through droplets disbursed by sneezing, coughing or standing too close.
• It is possible to spread the virus by touching a surface with the virus on it, and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth, though this is not the most common way it is spread.
• For more information, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website
We encourage each of you to routinely disinfect the surfaces of your living spaces, paying special attention to doorknobs, light switches, handles, faucets, and other commonly touched surfaces.
For disinfection, most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should be effective. If you do not have disinfectant products, a diluted household bleach solution (4 teaspoons for a quart of water), or an alcohol solution with at least 70% alcohol will be effective (source CDC). Please use caution when using chemicals as they can cause damage to surfaces, skin, and be harmful to breathe.
We have implemented increased surface cleaning and hand-washing procedures for all of our staff. Employees who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 are required to stay away from work and seek medical attention to be tested as soon as possible.
We’re confident this situation shall pass, and until it does, we want each of you to be safe and will do our part to make sure others are as well.
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Maybe you're purchasing your first home, or you've found the apartment of your dreams. Maybe it's just time to part ways with your roommate. In any case, you know that you'll be moving out of your home with us. In all circumstances, if you are on a term lease agreement with us, you are required to give signed , written Notice to Vacate a minimum of 60 days prior to the last date of your last month of tenancy. If you're on a full-term lease agreement with us, your term expires July 31st (for example), and you plan to move out, you must submit signed, written notice to vacate on/ before June 2nd. If you move out sooner than July 31st, you will still owe full rent until July 31st unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than July 31st. If you are looking to vacate sooner than 60 days from now, during the No Winter Vacate period, or before your lease expires, please see our post on B reaking Your Lease & Moving Out Early . If you will be vacating but at least one of your current roommates with us will be staying, please see our post about Roommate Changes . If (and only if) you are on a month-to-month extension of your lease agreement, you required to give signed , written Notice to Vacate a minimum of 28 days prior to the last date of your last month of tenancy. Basically, if you are on a month-to-month agreement with us and decide in the middle of March that you will be moving out, you have until April 2nd to submit signed, written notice that you will be vacating on April 30th. If you will be moving out sooner than April 30th, that's just fine- you will still owe full rent until April 30th unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than April 30th. There is no specific form you need use to submit notice to vacate; you may use any old piece of paper to write We/I, [all adult resident names], will vacate [your unit's address] on/ before [your move-out date]. Signed, [all adult resident signatures] then either take a photo or scan the signed notice and send it as an attachment to us via email ( Lucy@WEUhomes.co m ). In the state of Wisconsin, an oral statement or an emailed statement without an ink signature do not suffice as notice to vacate. Any notice to vacate must be signed by all adult residents; if only one of multiple adult residents signs the notice to vacate, the notice to vacate will not be valid or binding. If you are on a month-to-month extension of your lease agreement with us, the No Winter Vacate clause does apply. You agreed to and signed off on the No Winter Vacate clause in your original lease agreement (sections 1.2 & 1.7) with us; that clause still (and specifically) applies when you are on a month-to-month extension with us. The No Winter Vacate clause is a pretty standard lease clause in the state of Wisconsin; it simply states that you may not vacate between November 1st and February 27th. If you do vacate between November 1st and February 27th, you will be held liable for rent until the end of February. If you submit notice to vacate less than 60 full days in advance (even if it's 59 days in advance), your liability for the unit and for monthly rent will extend beyond your move-out date unless the unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than the end of your liability. For example: - If your lease term ends April 30th and you submit your notice to vacate on March 10th, the 60 day requirement continues into May and, as tenancies may not end mid-month (see lease section 1.2 & 1.7), you would be liable for rent until May 31st unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than May 31st. - If you're on a month-to-month extension with us and you submit signed, written notice on March 10th to vacate on April 30th, the 60 day requirement continues into May and, as tenancies may not end mid-month (see lease section 1.2 & 1.7), you would be liable for rent until May 31st unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than May 31st. An improper notice to vacate, one given less than a full 60 days in advance, can be particularly problematic starting September 3rd. If your lease agreement expires September 30th or October 31st OR if you are on a month-to-month extension AND you submit your signed, written notice to vacate within 60 days after September 3rd, the 60-day requirement falls after November 1st, during the No Winter Vacate period. You would remain liable for monthly rent for your unit until the end of February unless your unit is rerented with a move-in date earlier than the end of February.
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