Free Wisconsin Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A Wisconsin commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a storefront, an office, a warehouse, a workshop — to a tenant who will run a business there. Chapter 704 is the Landlord and Tenant chapter, and its notice provisions are organised by the length and shape of the tenancy rather than by property type.

That structure means a business tenancy is reached directly. Which subsection applies depends on whether the lease runs for more than a year, a year or less, or on a periodic basis.

The notice periods step up as the lease gets longer.

Leases for More Than One Year

Wis. Stat. § 704.17(3)(a) covers a tenant under a lease for more than one year who fails to pay rent when due, commits waste, or breaches any other covenant or condition. The tenancy is terminated if the landlord gives notice requiring the tenant to pay the rent, repair the waste, or otherwise comply on or before a date at least 30 days after the giving of the notice, and the tenant fails to comply.

The tenant is deemed to be complying if, promptly on receipt, they take reasonable steps to remedy the default and proceed with reasonable diligence — or where damages are adequate protection and the tenant makes a bona fide and reasonable offer to pay them. Unpaid rent is treated more strictly: all rent due must be paid on or before the date the notice specifies.

Leases for One Year or Less

Under § 704.17(2)(a), a tenant under a lease for a year or less, or a year-to-year tenant, who fails to pay an instalment of rent when due may be given notice to pay or vacate on or before a date at least five days out.

A repeat default is treated harder. Where the tenant paid after such a notice or was allowed to remain, and then within one year fails to pay a subsequent instalment on time, the tenancy terminates on a notice to vacate at least 14 days out — with no opportunity to pay.

Only if it runs more than a year. Wis. Stat. § 704.17(5)(a) provides that provisions in a lease or rental agreement for termination contrary to the section are invalid except in leases for more than one year.

That single sentence makes the term length a drafting decision with real consequences. A three-year commercial lease can set its own default and termination machinery; a one-year lease attempting the same is void on that point and falls back to the statutory five-day and fourteen-day periods.

Periodic tenancies run on their own section. Under § 704.19(3), at least 28 days’ notice is required to end a periodic tenancy or a tenancy at will, except that where rent is payable on a basis less than monthly, notice equal to the rent-paying period is sufficient. Agricultural year-to-year tenancies take at least 90 days.

1. Agree the rent, the escalation mechanism, the term length, and the outgoings split.
2. Decide the term length deliberately, since § 704.17(5)(a) turns on whether it exceeds one year.
3. If the term is longer than a year, draft the termination and cure provisions you actually want.
4. Note the rent-paying interval, because it can shorten the § 704.19 periodic notice below 28 days.
5. Execute the lease and keep the notice provisions with the term dates.

Chapter 704 supplies notice; a Wisconsin commercial lease agreement supplies the commercial substance:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the unit, together with any shared corridors or service areas.
• Rent, the interval on which it is payable, and how it increases.
• A term stated precisely, with its length relative to one year in mind.
• Termination and cure provisions, where the term permits them.
• Responsibility for the tax bill, the insurance, the utilities, and each repair category.
• The trade permitted, the limits on transferring the lease, and where notices go.