Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, the parties to a real estate transaction can generally negotiate as to whether certain items need to be brought into "code compliance" when doing a transaction. However, there are two things you can consider: first, there could be a local ordinance, either county or city, village or town, that requires the electrical be brought into code compliance; and second, it is difficult for a buyer to find a lender who will provide mortgage money if the electrical system is substandard. You can check with local building inspectors on the first one.

So you can see, that the practical answer may be: if you want to sell a home, it may be necessary to bring items up to code compliance for a buyer to be able to get a mortgage to buy it.