Last summer two friends (married to each other) and I decided we wanted to move together out to a little town where I had lived before several years ago. I called my old landlord, who remembered me, and made arrangements with him to rent one of his duplexes. It was a couple of months before we moved because he was evicting the previous tenants and then he completely remodeled the entire unit. I did tell him about my friends moving with me. Just before moving he requested that we only put one name on the lease because he didn’t want to deal with several people when it came to collecting rent. The three of us roommates decided to put the guys name on the lease because I figured he could be the one to deal with the landlord when it came to things like the furnace breaking down etc… I paid $733 of the $800 security deposit and we moved into the unit.

A few weeks after moving in it became clear that my "friends" had decided that they wanted the duplex for themselves and things got ugly. The landlord was out of state for a couple of months due to a family illness and they used this time to try their best to drive me out. He is back now and I have told him some of what has gone on. Recently my ex-friends gave me a letter stating that they have spoken to a lawyer and police officer who have told them that I have no legal rights to the apartment and giving me two weeks to vacate. Then sent a copy to the landlord. In response to this letter the landlord has stated to me that as far as he is concerned I was the person that he dealt with and rented the unit to and it was only his request that resulted in only one name on the lease. He says that it takes a court order to remove a person’s belongings from a dwelling and if it comes to that he will tell a judge that I am the person he rented the apartment to. Apparently verbal leases are legal and binding in Wisconsin so I am wondering if I have a verbal lease with him, despite the written lease with one person’s name on it.

I should also point out that shortly after we moved in he wanted to evict them because they were allowing their ferrits to deficate and urinate on the new carpeting. After they promised me it would stop I assured him it would be okay and he did not go through with the eviction. They continued to let the ferrets do this the entire time he was out of the state and are only now cleaning carpeting and being more careful since he returned home for Christmas. He is planning to leave again in February to be with his ill family member and I’m certain they will return to their old shenanigans again.

What are my options here in the state of Wisconsin?