The bill that would have voided Wisconsin ADU covenants — retroactively — died
The bill that would have voided Wisconsin ADU covenants — retroactively — died
2026-09-21 · Wisconsin · Legislation · Did not pass
A bill introduced in the 2025-26 Wisconsin Legislature would have wiped out every existing Wisconsin subdivision covenant and every association rule barring an accessory dwelling unit — not going forward, but reaching back to declarations recorded decades ago. It died on March 23, 2026 without a hearing, a committee vote or a floor vote.
2025 Assembly Bill 365 (LRB-3036/1) was introduced July 17, 2025 by Representatives Hong, Tenorio, Snodgrass, Rivera-Wagner, Brown, Palmeri, Bare, Roe, DeSmidt and Arney, and cosponsored by Senators Roys, Ratcliff, Wall and Keyeski. It was referred to the Committee on Housing and Real Estate and never left it. The Legislature's own record shows the standard end-of-session disposition: “Failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1,” 3/23/2026, Journal 688.1
The tell is in the relating clause. AB 365 related to “local and private regulation of accessory dwelling units.” Those two words are what separated it from every other ADU bill of the session.
What it would have done to covenants
SECTION 5 created a new statute, Wis. Stat. § 710.26:
“710.26 Prohibiting accessory dwelling units prohibited. Any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in a deed or other instrument affecting real property that prohibits or unreasonably restricts the construction, maintenance, or use of an accessory dwelling unit allowed under s. 59.69 (16), 60.61 (3o), or 62.23 (7) (j) is void and unenforceable.”
SECTION 4 added § 710.18(8), aimed directly at associations:
“710.18 (8) LIMITATIONS ON ASSOCIATION REGULATIONS; ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS. (a) Except as provided in par. (b), the association for a residential planned community may not adopt or enforce covenants and restrictions or any other rule or regulation, and may not enter into an agreement, that restricts or prevents the construction, maintenance, or use of an accessory dwelling unit allowed under s. 59.69 (16), 60.61 (3o), or 62.23 (7) (j). (b) The association for a residential planned community may adopt and enforce covenants and restrictions or any other rule or regulation, or may enter into an agreement, related to accessory dwelling units that is necessary to protect public health and safety.”
SECTION 6 supplied the rationale: “The legislature finds that any private law device such as a covenant, restriction, or condition contained in a deed or other instrument that has the effect of prohibiting the construction of an accessory dwelling unit on a single-family parcel is contrary to public policy.”
The retroactivity section, which went essentially unreported
Most preemption bills of this kind operate prospectively, leaving recorded instruments alone. AB 365 did not. SECTION 7:
“(1) RETROACTIVE APPLICATION; HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION REGULATIONS. The treatment of s. 710.18 (8) first applies retroactively to covenants and restrictions that are adopted before, or to an agreement that is entered into before, and applies to covenants and restrictions that are adopted on or after, the effective date of this subsection.
(2) RETROACTIVE APPLICATION; DEEDS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS. The treatment of s. 710.26 first applies retroactively to a deed or other instrument that contains a covenant, restriction, or condition described under s. 710.26 and that is created before, and applies to a deed or other instrument that contains a covenant, restriction, or condition described under s. 710.26 and that is created on or after, the effective date of this subsection.”
Read together with § 710.26, that language would have reached a covenant recorded in 1965 as readily as one recorded in 2025. The only authority an association would have retained over accessory dwelling units is rules “necessary to protect public health and safety” — a far narrower category than architectural control, setbacks, density or aesthetics.
The rival bill, and what it says about where this goes next
Wisconsin ran two ADU bills in the same session. 2025 Assembly Bill 449 (LRB-4469/1), with Senate companion SB 473, related to “local regulation of accessory dwelling units” — no “and private.” It created only the three zoning sections, §§ 59.69(16), 60.61(3o) and 62.23(7)(j). It created neither § 710.18(8) nor § 710.26, and contains no covenant or association language at all.2
AB 449 is also the one that moved. On October 3, 2025 the Committee on Housing and Real Estate reported it for passage as amended, Ayes 13, Noes 1. It then reached the Assembly calendar and was never voted on; its final status on the Legislature's history page is “A - Calendar,” and it failed to pass on March 23, 2026 with everything else.
That distinction matters for anyone reading secondary accounts. Reporting on the October 2025 Assembly housing package has been read to mean the ADU bill passed a house. It did not. The bill that passed the Assembly in that package was AB 455, the condominium-conversion grant bill.
What the law is today, because AB 365 failed
A Wisconsin municipality's decision to permit accessory dwelling units does not override a subdivision's restrictive covenants or an association's declaration. Milwaukee legalised ADUs citywide in July 2025 and its adopted ordinance says nothing about covenants, deed restrictions, homeowners associations or condominiums; Madison has expanded its ADU rules three times since February 2025 on the same municipal-only footing. In each case the zoning permission and the private restriction operate on separate tracks, and the private restriction survives.
Our Wisconsin ADUs and modifications page covers that division, and architectural review covers the approval process a covenanted owner still goes through.
What to watch next
Wisconsin does not pre-file bills. Drafts for the 2027-28 biennium are ordered after the November 3, 2026 general election, and cosponsorship memos normally circulate from December 2026 into the opening weeks of session in January 2027. Any 2027 Wisconsin LRB draft number circulating before then is not real.
When ADU preemption returns — and accessory dwelling units are on both the national and the Wisconsin Community Associations Institute watch lists — the question is which of the two 2025 models it copies. There is also a political variable: Representative Hong, the lead author of AB 365, is a candidate in an open-seat 2026 governor's race, and the next Legislature's ADU bill will be signed or vetoed by whoever wins it.
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