By Gren · September 17, 2026
Wisconsin wrote its wholesaling law in 2024 and amended it in 2025, which already puts it ahead of most of the summaries floating around. The law is short. The penalty is not a fine — it's rescission, and in one direction it costs you your deposits.
Here's what Wis. Stat. §710.13 actually requires, what the 2025 amendment changed, and where the common write-ups are off.
Who the statute thinks you are
Start with the definitions in §710.13(1), because they're wider than the word "wholesaler" suggests.
A real property wholesaler is a person who signs a purchase agreement as buyer and intends to assign the buyer's rights to a third party for consideration. That's it. No volume test, no self-identification.
And a purchase agreement isn't just a purchase contract. The definition sweeps in a sale, an exchange, an option, and a rental. If your strategy is to option a property and sell the option, you're inside §710.13. A lot of people assume options sit outside wholesaling statutes. In Wisconsin they don't.
The section covers residential property in Wisconsin with 1 to 4 dwelling units.
Two notices, two deadlines
The statute asks for written notice twice, to two different people, each with its own cutoff.
Notice to the seller — §710.13(2)(a). Delivered no later than the signing of the purchase agreement. It has to say you are a real property wholesaler.
Model clause (seller): Seller acknowledges that Buyer is a real property wholesaler as defined in Wis. Stat. §710.13 and intends to assign Buyer's rights under this Agreement to a third party for consideration.
Notice to the assignee — §710.13(2)(b). Delivered no later than the signing of the assignment. This one carries more content: that you're a real property wholesaler, that you hold an equitable interest as buyer, and that you're conveying your interest in the purchase agreement and not title.
Model clause (assignee): Assignee acknowledges that Assignor is a real property wholesaler holding only an equitable interest in the property as buyer under the underlying purchase agreement, and that Assignor is assigning its contract rights, not title to the property.
No form is prescribed. No wording, no font size. The content above is the floor, not a template you're obliged to copy. But note the deadlines are "no later than signing," which means a notice dated after the document it attaches to is simply a missed notice. Date discipline is most of compliance here.
What a missed notice costs
§710.13(3) gives the un-noticed party a right to rescind by written notice before closing, with no liability. Then it splits the money, and the split is not symmetric:
- Seller rescinds under (3)(a) — the seller keeps the wholesaler's deposits and option fees.
- Assignee rescinds under (3)(b) — the assignee gets its own deposits and fees back.
You'll see this described as "the non-disclosing party forfeits deposits." That's only half right, and the half it gets wrong matters. On the seller side your money is gone. On the assignee side nobody's money comes to you — your buyer is simply made whole. Either way the loss runs one direction.
Two more things about the window. It opens at the missed notice and runs until closing; there's no fixed day count. And it closes permanently once that party proceeds to closing. A seller who takes the money at the table has no rescission claim afterward.
The part you can't draft around
§710.13(4) says these rights cannot be waived. Contract language purporting to waive them is void. So a clause in your purchase agreement saying the seller waives §710.13 notice is worse than useless — it's void, and it tells anyone reading the file that you knew about the statute and tried to get around it.
What the 2025 amendment added
2025 Wis. Act 60 (SB 193), enacted December 9, 2025, added §710.13(3)(c). It lets an escrow holder disburse deposits without liability once it receives a rescission notice: to the seller under (3)(a), or to the assignee under (3)(b).
This is plumbing, not policy, but it changes how the money actually moves. Before it, an escrow holder facing a rescission notice had a reason to freeze and wait. Now it can pay out and walk away clean. If you were counting on escrow inertia to buy you time to negotiate after a missed notice, that time is gone.
Most summaries don't mention Act 60 at all. Worth checking whether yours does.
The effective date everyone gets slightly wrong
§710.13 was created by 2023 Wis. Act 208 (AB 918). You will read that it took effect March 22, 2024. That's the enactment date. Publication was March 23, 2024, and under Wisconsin's general rule an act takes effect the day after publication — March 24, 2024.
Two days, and for most people it will never matter. It matters if you have an agreement or an assignment signed in that window, because the Act applies to agreements and assignments entered into on or after its effective date. If your deal is from late March 2024, check the date rather than trusting a blog.
One thing we could not confirm: the exact effective date of the Act 60 amendment. It's a December 2025 act; the precise date is unverified and we're not going to guess it for you.
Licensing and marketing
Act 208 did not create a wholesaler license. There is no registration, no filing, no renewal. It also did not add a "publicly marketing an equitable interest" trigger to Wisconsin's brokerage chapter, which some states have done.
What still applies is ordinary brokerage licensing under Wis. Stat. ch. 452, and it applies to anyone who negotiates or markets property for others for compensation. That's the line, and it's the same line as everywhere else:
- Market the assignable contract position, never the house as your own.
- Say plainly that what's on offer is an assignment of contract rights.
- Stay off MLS-style listings.
The statute prescribes no advertising wording and sets no frequency threshold. Its remedy is private rescission between the parties, not an agency fine — there is no wholesaling-specific penalty schedule to be scared of. The exposure is the deal and the deposits.
Red flags in a file
- A notice dated after the contract or the assignment it belongs to
- A notice buried in boilerplate that never plainly identifies you as a wholesaler
- An assignee notice that skips the "not title" statement
- Any clause purporting to waive §710.13 rights
- No assignment clause in the purchase agreement
- Marketing that describes the house as yours
The short version
Two written notices — seller by contract signing, assignee by assignment signing. Options and exchanges count. Miss one and that party rescinds any time up to closing; on the seller side your deposits and option fees stay with them. Rights are non-waivable, and they die when that party closes. No license, no registration. Effective March 24, 2024, whatever the enactment date says.
Wisconsin is moderate, not hostile. Get the dates right and the statute barely touches you. Get your numbers right first with the free MAO calculator, then get the notices out before the pens move.
Cut the noise. Catch the signal.
— Gren
This is general information about Wisconsin law as of September 2026, not legal advice. Statutes change and facts differ. Before you rely on any of it for a specific deal, talk to a Wisconsin real estate attorney. Citations: Wis. Stat. §710.13; 2023 Wis. Act 208 (AB 918); 2025 Wis. Act 60 (SB 193); Wis. Stat. ch. 452.