Wisconsin Legislative Win: Knight Barry Plays Key Role in Anti-Exploitation Bill
Knight Barry Title Group is proud to announce our direct involvement in shaping legislation that protects Wisconsin real property owners from deceptive real estate practices by bad actors. Over the past year, General Counsel Cheri Hipenbecker and Agency Counsel Meghan Grulkowski played an instrumental role in helping draft and testify in favor of Wisconsin
Senate Bill 172/
Assembly Bill 157 (a/k/a the MV Realty Bill). The MV Realty Bill prevents the recording of "non-improvement contracts" in the real property records and creates a new cause of action against such bad actors.
The MV Realty Bill was designed to address certain bad actors within the real estate industry, including
MV Realty, who targeted vulnerable real property owners by offering upfront cash incentives in exchange for the owner entering into non-improvement contracts with the bad actor. Unbeknownst to the property owners, these non-improvement contracts created a lien on the owner's real property and often resulted in steep monetary penalties if/when the owner later tried to terminate the contract.
In other states, including our neighbor to the West, Minnesota, Attorneys General have been active in stopping MV Realty and similar companies from operating in their states. In fact, the Minnesota Attorney General initiated a lawsuit against MV Realty BPC, LLC and MV Realty of Minnesota LLC in December 2024 (Ramsey County Case No. 62-CV-24-5877), which resulted in a Consent Judgment against the defendants in April 2025. In its Complaint against the MV Realty entities, the Minnesota Attorney General stated:
MV Realty deceptively tells homeowners that they need never sell their home, and that homeowners need never pay MV Realty back. If the homeowner agrees that they would like up-front money in exchange for using MV Realty as their realtor in the future, MV Realty sends the [Home Owner Benefit Agreement] ("HBA") with a third-party notary who has no knowledge of the contract they carry to the homeowner's home. Once there, homeowners are faced with high-pressure "take-it-or-leave-it" contracts, replete with legalese in fine print, with a live human waiting for their signature.
The HBA contains terms and conditions that few, if any, homeowners would accept if they were adequately disclosed. For example, the HBA lasts for 40 years and purports to run with the land, binding homeowners' heirs and successors to its terms should the original signor pass away.
As of June 24, 2025, Wisconsin's MV Realty Bill has passed both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature and now awaits Governor Evers' signature. This Bill is essential to protect the interests of Wisconsin real property owners from such exploitation.