Published 2026-09-25 · 9 min read

West Virginia Landlord-Tenant Law 2026: The Plain-English Guide

West Virginia runs its rentals under W. Va. Code Chapter 37, Article 6 (§§ 37-6-1 et seq.), with a dedicated deposit article (§§ 37-6A-1 et seq.) and one of the fastest eviction statutes in the country — Chapter 55, Article 3A, which lets a landlord file a petition for summary relief for wrongful occupation without any pre-filing notice for nonpayment or lease breach. The headline facts, each stated below from the current text of the section cited, checked against the official code at code.wvlegislature.gov:

• No cap on security deposits; a 60-day deposit return that shrinks to 45 days after a new tenant occupies the unit if that period is shorter; and a penalty of the unreturned deposit plus 1.5× the amount wrongfully withheld — only where noncompliance was willful or not in good faith (§ 37-6A-5).
• No statutory grace period, no late-fee cap, and no rent control.
• Termination notice is measured in periods: year-to-year takes three months; a shorter periodic tenancy takes one full period — one month for month-to-month (§ 37-6-5).
• A real habitability code with no withholding or repair-and-deduct statute attached. Section 37-6-30 lists seven duties, suspends the repair duty while the tenant is in arrears, and contains no remedies subsection — enforcement runs through the courts, including the habitability defense in § 55-3A-3(b), under Teller v. McCoy's mutual-dependence rule.
• The fair-housing citation most summaries print is dead. The Fair Housing Act no longer lives at §§ 5-11A-1 et seq. — every section there now reads "[Repealed.]" It sits at §§ 16B-18-1 et seq., the ban at § 16B-18-5, protecting race, color, religion, ancestry, sex, familial status, blindness, disability, and national origin.

Our dedicated West Virginia security deposit law guide covers §§ 37-6A-1 to 37-6A-6 standing alone. Where it and this guide were found to disagree during verification, the statute text quoted here controls — see the penalty discussion below.

West Virginia landlord-tenant law at a glance

How much can a West Virginia landlord charge as a security deposit, and when must it be returned? (§§ 37-6A-1 to 37-6A-6)

West Virginia regulates deposits through a short, self-contained article enacted for residential rentals. It caps nothing, requires no special account, and pays no interest — but its return clock has a second trigger most landlords miss, and its penalty, while narrower than many summaries claim, is exact about what triggers it.

No cap — and a definition that decides what a "deposit" is — § 37-6A-1

Article 6A sets no maximum deposit amount — instead it defines the term, and the definition does real work. A "security deposit" is "any refundable deposit of money … to secure the performance of the terms and conditions of a rental agreement, or as security for damages to the leased premises" (§ 37-6A-1(14)). Rent and prepaid rent are excluded outright; a pet fee or application fee is excluded only if "the parties expressly agree, in writing, that a pet fee or application fee is nonrefundable" (§ 37-6A-1(14), proviso).

So a "nonrefundable pet deposit" collected without that written agreement is, by definition, a refundable security deposit — on the Article 6A clock, deductible only under § 37-6A-2(b), exposed to the § 37-6A-5 penalty. Market practice runs one to two months' rent; with no ceiling, the discipline is documentary, not numerical. See our deposit deductions guide and the dedicated West Virginia security deposit law guide.

One more definition matters: "rent" expressly excludes a security deposit, a nonrefundable fee, and money paid for tenant-caused damage (§ 37-6A-1(11)) — a deposit may not be recharacterized as rent at move-out.

The return clock: 60 days, or 45 days after re-rental — whichever is shorter — §§ 37-6A-1(7), 37-6A-2(a)

"Upon termination of the tenancy and within the applicable notice period, any security deposit held by the landlord, minus any deductions for damages or other charges, shall be delivered to the tenant, together with a written itemization of any such damages or other charges" (§ 37-6A-2(a)). The "notice period" is:

"(A) within 60 days of the termination of the tenancy; or (B) within 45 days of the occupation of the premise by a subsequent tenant, whichever time period is shorter" (§ 37-6A-1(7)).

Read the trigger carefully, because it is widely misstated. The 45-day period runs from the new tenant's occupation, not from termination — so re-renting does not automatically shorten your deadline; it shortens it only when 45 days after the new occupancy lands before day 60. Re-rent on day 10 and your deadline is day 55. Re-rent on day 20 and the 45-day mark (day 65) falls after day 60, so the 60-day deadline controls. Calendar both dates on every vacancy and work to the earlier one. The Security Deposit Deadline Finder computes the pair.

Delivery is by personal delivery or by mail to the tenant's last known or forwarding address; "[i]t shall be the responsibility of the tenant to provide an accurate address to the landlord" (§ 37-6A-2(g)). If the mailed deposit or notice comes back nondeliverable, the landlord must hold it for six months, available for personal delivery at the landlord's place of business during normal business hours within seventy-two hours after a written request (§ 37-6A-2(g)). Keep the returned envelope — it proves the hold was the right treatment.

Deposit worked example — the two-trigger clock. A tenancy terminates and the tenant vacates on Monday, March 2, 2026. The 60-day deadline is Friday, May 1, 2026 (§ 37-6A-1(7)(A)). You re-rent quickly: the new tenant occupies on Monday, March 9, 2026. Forty-five days after that occupation is Thursday, April 23, 2026 — earlier than May 1, so April 23 is your deadline (§ 37-6A-1(7)(B)). The deposit is $1,200. Lawful deductions total $350 — $200 of unpaid rent and a $150 invoice for repairing a tenant-damaged door, less wear and tear — so the package due by April 23 is the $850 refund plus the written itemization. Had the new tenant instead occupied on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, the 45-day mark would be Saturday, May 30, 2026 — after day 60 — and the deadline would stay May 1, 2026.

The five deduction categories — § 37-6A-2(b)

"Upon termination of the tenancy, any security deposit held by the landlord may be applied by the landlord only to" (§ 37-6A-2(b)):

1. "The payment of rent due, including the reasonable charges for late payment of rent specified in the rental agreement" (§ 37-6A-2(b)(1)) — note both qualifiers: the late charge must be in the agreement and must be reasonable to be deposit-eligible.

2. "The payment of the amount of damages which the landlord has suffered by reason of the tenant's noncompliance with the rental agreement, less reasonable wear and tear" (§ 37-6A-2(b)(2)).

3. "The payment of unpaid utilities that were billed to and paid by the landlord, are the obligation of the tenant under the rental agreement and unpaid by the tenant" (§ 37-6A-2(b)(3)) — all three conditions: tenant's obligation, billed to you, and actually paid by you.

4. "The payment of reasonable costs for the removal and storage of the tenant's personal property" (§ 37-6A-2(b)(4)), with disposal of that stored property governed by § 55-3A-3(h)(1)–(3).

5. "To other damages or charges as provided in the rental agreement, including but not limited to, paying for the services of a third party contractor to repair damages to the property caused by the tenant" (§ 37-6A-2(b)(5)) — the catch-all is agreement-bound: if the lease does not provide for the charge, this category does not create it.

Three companion rules close the section. Where damages exceed the deposit and require a third-party contractor, the landlord who gives the tenant written notice of that fact within the notice period gets "an additional fifteen day period to provide an itemization of the damages and the cost of repair" (§ 37-6A-2(c)) — the notice is the price of the extension; a silent landlord gets no extra time. The tenant, for their part, is not entitled "to an immediate credit against the tenant's delinquent rent account in the amount of the security deposit" at termination (§ 37-6A-2(d)) — the accounting happens through the itemization, not by self-help netting. And liability follows the property: "the holder of the landlord's interest in the premises at the time of the termination of the tenancy … is bound by this section and shall be required to return any security deposit received by the original landlord that is duly owed to the tenant," whether or not the deposit was transferred with the interest (§ 37-6A-2(e)). Buy a tenanted property in West Virginia and you have bought the deposit obligation with it. A landlord with an assignee or sublessee in the picture may hold a deposit from only one party (§ 37-6A-2(f)).

Contractor-overage worked example. Same March 2, 2026 termination, no re-rental, so the notice period ends Friday, May 1, 2026. The deposit is $1,200, but a contractor's flooring repair for tenant damage is quoted at $1,900 — more than the deposit. You send the tenant written notice of that fact on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, inside the period. Section 37-6A-2(c) then gives you 15 additional days: the itemization and the repair cost are due by Saturday, May 16, 2026 — as a practical matter, deliver by Friday, May 15, rather than testing a weekend deadline. Skip the April notice and the extension never exists: the May 1 deadline governs, overage or not.

Records: one year, inspectable within 72 hours — § 37-6A-3

The landlord shall "(1) Maintain and itemize records for each tenant of all deductions from security deposits … made by reason of a tenant's noncompliance with the rental agreement for one year after the termination of the tenancy; and (2) Either permit a tenant or his or her authorized agent or attorney to inspect the tenant's records of deductions at any time during normal business hours within seventy-two hours of a written request, or, at the landlord's option, provide a copy of the record within the same window" (§ 37-6A-3).

That is the whole rule — and there is no three-year period in the current text, as earlier versions of this guide stated. (The "three years after the deduction or one year after termination, whichever is less" formulation circulates in old bill drafts; it is not the enacted text.) Keeping records longer is still good practice, but the statutory floor is one year, with a 72-hour production duty once a written request lands.

No waiver — and a fee-shifting trap for landlords who try — § 37-6A-4

"A rental agreement may not contain a provision that the tenant agrees to waive or forego rights or remedies under this article"; a prohibited provision is unenforceable, and a landlord who brings an action to enforce one owes the tenant actual damages and reasonable attorney's fees (§ 37-6A-4). So a waiver clause is dead paper — delete it — and note where the article's only fee award lives: here, not in the penalty section below.

The penalty: 1.5× the amount wrongfully withheld, willfulness required — § 37-6A-5

If noncompliance with the article "is willful or not in good faith, the tenant is entitled to a judgment for: (1) The amount of any unreturned security deposit; and (2) Damages for annoyance or inconvenience … equal to one and a half times the amount wrongfully withheld" — credited against any rent the tenant owes (§ 37-6A-5(a)). Jurisdiction is in magistrate or circuit court in the county of the premises, and the section preserves other-law remedies (§ 37-6A-5(b)–(c)).

Three precision points, because this is the most-misquoted number in West Virginia landlord law:

• The multiplier base is the amount wrongfully withheld, not the whole deposit. Withhold $350 without basis from a $1,200 deposit and return the rest on time, and the 1.5× runs on $350 ($525), not $1,200. Summaries stating "1.5 times the deposit" — or "three times the deposit" — are not quoting this section.
• Willfulness is an element. A good-faith, documented deduction a court later disagrees with does not trigger the penalty by the section's terms. The contemporaneous paper trail — invoices, itemization, mailing receipt — is both your deduction defense and your good-faith defense.
• Section 37-6A-5 awards no attorney's fees. The article's only fee award is § 37-6A-4's, for a landlord who sues to enforce a waiver clause. Do not price your risk off summaries promising "the deposit, triple damages, and attorney fees."

Penalty worked example. Deposit $1,200; you return nothing and send no itemization by the deadline, with no § 37-6A-2(c) notice and no defense. Amount wrongfully withheld: $1,200. If the court finds the failure willful or in bad faith, the judgment is $1,200 (unreturned deposit) + $1,800 (1.5 × $1,200) = $3,000 (§ 37-6A-5(a)). If the tenant separately owed $400 of rent, the court credits the award against it. If instead you had returned $850 with a timely itemization and withheld only the disputed $350, the same willfulness finding prices at $350 + $525 = $875 — the arithmetic reason partial, documented compliance is worth so much more than silence.

Holding the money

Nothing in §§ 37-6A-1 to 37-6A-6 requires a separate account, escrow, or interest. The money may sit in your operating account as a matter of statute — but keep a per-tenancy ledger anyway: the itemization, the § 37-6A-3 records duty, and the § 37-6A-5 good-faith inquiry all assume you can reconstruct what was collected, deducted, and returned, and when.

Are there rent caps or increase limits in West Virginia?

West Virginia's rent law is mostly an absence — and the absences are the rules a landlord prices on.

• No rent control, no increase cap. No statute limits the amount of rent or the size or frequency of an increase. The code regulates termination, not price — do not cite § 37-6-5 as an "increase notice" statute; its periods are termination periods. See how to raise rent legally.
• A fixed term is a contract. Rent changes mid-term only as the agreement provides. The often-repeated claim that West Virginia law lets a landlord raise rent during a term unless the lease says otherwise comes from no section of Chapter 37 — no section grants a mid-term increase right. Want an escalation or pass-through mechanism? Draft it expressly.
• Due date is contractual. No statutory default due date, payment method, or reminder duty. Write all three into the agreement. See how to handle late rent.
• No mandatory grace period. None is required or implied; yours exists only if your lease creates it.
• No late-fee cap — with a reasonableness shadow. No section caps late fees, but a late charge is recoverable from the deposit only if it is a "reasonable charge[] … specified in the rental agreement" (§ 37-6A-2(b)(1)), and agreed late charges are tested as liquidated damages: a fee defensible as a fair estimate of late payment's costs survives; a punitive fee invites refusal. Keep it in the lease, proportional, and explainable.
• No convenience-fee statute appears in Article 6 either — portal or card fees are lease law: state them or do not charge them.

How does a West Virginia eviction work? (Chapter 55, Article 3A)

The petition, and the notice that is not required — § 55-3A-1

"A person desiring to remove a tenant from residential rental property may apply for relief to the magistrate court or the circuit court of the county in which the property is located, by verified petition," setting out that the petitioner is the owner or the owner's agent with a right to recover possession, a brief description identifying the property, the ground of wrongful occupation, and a prayer for possession (§ 55-3A-1(a)). The grounds are a closed list of three:

1. the tenant "is in arrears in the payment of rent";

2. the tenant "has breached a warranty or a leasehold covenant"; or

3. the tenant "has deliberately or negligently damaged the property or knowingly permitted another person to do so" —

in each case "describing the arrearage, breach, or act or omission" (§ 55-3A-1(a)(3)).

Nothing in § 55-3A-1 — or anywhere in Article 3A — requires the landlord to serve a pay-or-cure notice, a notice to quit, or any other demand before filing. The petition itself is the first required paper. That is the single most landlord-favorable procedural rule in West Virginia law, and it is real — but read the practical-tips section below before treating "not required" as "not worth sending": a short written demand still resolves a share of arrears without a filing fee, and it builds the record the magistrate will ask about.

Two threshold cautions. First, Article 3A is a residential remedy — its title and § 55-3A-1(a) both limit it to "residential rental property." Commercial possession runs through the older unlawful-detainer and ejectment routes (see § 37-6-19). Second, a tenancy that has simply expired or been terminated is handled by first terminating correctly under § 37-6-5 and then filing on the resulting wrongful occupation; skipping the termination step is the classic way a fast statute produces a dismissed petition.

The hearing clock, service, and the five-day defense — § 55-3A-1(b)–(c)

"Upon filing the petition, the court shall schedule a hearing, which may not be less than five nor more than 10 judicial days following the filing of the petition" (§ 55-3A-1(b)). Judicial days are court days — weekends and holidays stretch the calendar span, so a filing early in a holiday week can land the hearing further out than "10 days" suggests.

"Immediately upon being apprised of the time and place for hearing," the petitioner must serve the notice of the hearing under Rule 4 of the Rules of Civil Procedure or by certified mail, return receipt requested; the notice must state that a written defense may be filed and served within five days of the tenant's receipt (§ 55-3A-1(c)). The tenant "may assert any and all defenses which might be raised in an action for ejectment or … unlawful detainer" (§ 55-3A-2) — in arrears cases, expect the habitability defense § 55-3A-3(b) names: "breach by the landlord of a material covenant upon which the duty to pay rent depends," which earns a merits hearing rather than a default. File over an open, documented habitability complaint and you should expect that defense — bring the repair file.

What the court does — § 55-3A-3

• No appearance, no answer: the court "shall" enter an order granting immediate possession, and in an arrears case may add findings and relief on the arrearage (§ 55-3A-3(a), (e)).
• Defenses filed: the court "shall proceed to a hearing" on them (§ 55-3A-3(b)–(c)).
• Continuances: "for cause only," never as of right — and a tenant who obtains one must pay into court any periodic rent falling due during it (§ 55-3A-3(d)).
• The possession order specifies the time to vacate, weighing the property's nature, relative harm, and other material facts; a holdover past that time is removed by the sheriff (§ 55-3A-3(e)–(f)). Possession moves through the court and sheriff — never the landlord's own lock change (see the self-help note below).
• Appeal: a tenant who prevails on appeal after the term expired recovers monetary damages only, "absent an issue of title, retaliatory eviction, or breach of warranty," and may not stay in possession during the appeal if the tenancy has otherwise expired (§ 55-3A-3(g)) — the statute's own proof that retaliation and warranty defenses are real in this forum.
• Property left behind after a possession order follows § 55-3A-3(h): immediate disposal only for property stated in writing to be abandoned, or garbage; removal-and-storage or leave-in-place with disposal after 30 days if costs go unpaid and the tenant does not reclaim; and the same over-$300 / 30-additional-days storage tail as § 37-6-6(e) (§ 55-3A-3(h)–(i)).

Eviction worked example. Rent of $1,100 due Sunday, March 1, 2026 is unpaid, with no lease grace period. You may file the verified petition on Monday, March 2, 2026 — no antecedent notice required (§ 55-3A-1). The hearing must be set five to ten judicial days after filing: counting ordinary court days, assuming no intervening holiday, about Monday, March 9 to Monday, March 16, 2026 (§ 55-3A-1(b)). Serve the hearing notice immediately by certified mail, return receipt requested; the written defense is due within five days of the tenant's receipt (§ 55-3A-1(c)). No appearance or answer means an immediate-possession order (§ 55-3A-3(a)); an answer claiming a failed furnace you ignored means a § 55-3A-3(b) hearing — bring the maintenance log. Full process: how to evict a tenant.

A note on self-help

No section of Chapter 37 or Article 3A authorizes lock changes, utility shutoffs, or seizing a tenant's belongings to force a tenant out; the old distress-for-rent machinery (§§ 37-6-12 to 37-6-18) is a court-warrant process, not a license to take property by hand. Earlier versions of this guide stated a statutory damages formula for self-help citing § 55-3A-1; that section contains no such provision, and the formula has been removed. The structural rule is enough: possession is recovered through a court order (a wrongfully excluded tenant may recover possession under § 37-6-8), and shortcutting the 5-to-10-day track trades the region's fastest lawful eviction for personal liability.

Forum: the $20,000 magistrate limit is real — § 50-2-1

Deposit suits (§ 37-6A-5(b)) and Article 3A petitions (§ 55-3A-1(a)) may each be filed in magistrate or circuit court in the county of the premises. Magistrate courts have jurisdiction of civil actions where the amount in controversy "is not more than $20,000," exclusive of interest and costs, and separately of wrongful-occupation matters regardless of amount, if title is not in dispute (§ 50-2-1). The $20,000 figure is current law, not a proposal: HB 2761 (2025) was signed April 25, 2025 and took effect July 7, 2025, doubling the former $10,000 limit.

How much notice is required to end a West Virginia tenancy, and what happens on holdover? (§§ 37-6-5 to 37-6-7)

The notice statute, stated exactly — § 37-6-5

"A tenancy from year to year may be terminated by either party giving notice in writing to the other, at least three months prior to the end of any year, of his intention to terminate the same. A periodic tenancy, in which the period is less than one year, may be terminated by like notice, or by notice for one full period before the end of any period" (§ 37-6-5).

In the cases a small landlord actually meets:

• Month-to-month: one full period's notice, so one complete monthly period runs before the period end at which the tenancy stops. "One month's notice" is accurate shorthand only for the monthly case — the statute's unit is the period.
• Shorter periods: one full period — a week's notice for a weekly tenancy.
• Year-to-year: three months in writing, at least three months before the lease year ends. "One month's notice" to a year-to-year tenant is a defective notice, however reasonable it feels.
• Fixed term: "notice shall not be necessary from or to a tenant whose term is to end at a certain time" (§ 37-6-5) — though a non-renewal letter remains cheap insurance against a holdover argument.
• Service: on the tenant or "anyone holding under him"; a tenant's notice goes to the current owner or the owner's agent, "or according to the common law" (§ 37-6-5).
• The lease can displace the statute: the section "shall not apply where, by special agreement, some other period of notice is fixed, or no notice is to be given" (§ 37-6-5). Draft the clause deliberately rather than inheriting the default.

Termination worked example. A month-to-month tenancy runs on calendar months and you deliver written notice on Monday, June 1, 2026. Because one full period must run before the period end you are terminating at, the dispute-proof reading is that a June 1 notice is safely effective for the July period end — Friday, July 31, 2026; to end at the June 30 period end, have the notice in hand before June begins. Always land on a period end, never a mid-period date. For a year-to-year tenancy with a lease year ending Thursday, October 15, 2026, written notice is due by Wednesday, July 15, 2026 — three full months ahead (§ 37-6-5). See tenant breaking a lease for the tenant-side early-exit framework.

Abandonment with rent in arrears — § 37-6-6

West Virginia gives abandonment a dedicated track — but it is a notice track, not a walk-in track. If a tenant from whom "rent is in arrears and unpaid abandons the leased property," the landlord "shall post a notice in writing in a conspicuous part of the property, requiring the tenant to pay the rent within one month"; if unpaid, the landlord is "entitled to possession of the property, and may enter thereon," recovering "the rent owed up to the time when he or she became entitled to possession" (§ 37-6-6(a)). Each element is a failure point: arrears, actual abandonment, posting (not mailing), and the full month. A parallel rule covers housing-authority developments where rent is not a lease condition (§ 37-6-6(b)).

Once possession is regained, the tenant's property gets its own notice regime: the landlord may dispose of it without liability only after written notice both posted conspicuously on the property and sent by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, in an envelope endorsed "Please Forward," to the leased property, any known post-office box, and any known forwarding address (§ 37-6-6(c)). The notice must state the property is considered abandoned, set a removal deadline "not less than thirty days after the date the written notice was mailed" — sixty days if the tenant gave active-duty military notice — and warn that unremoved property is forfeited (§ 37-6-6(d)). Property worth more than $300 must still be stored up to 30 additional days if the tenant or a lienholder gives notice of intent to remove and pays reasonable storage and removal costs (§ 37-6-6(e)). Photograph the unit, the posted notice, and the mailing certificate; in an abandonment file, the paper is the defense.

Abandonment worked example. A tenant owing March rent appears to have vacated. You post the § 37-6-6(a) notice conspicuously on the property on Monday, March 2, 2026, requiring payment within one month — by Thursday, April 2, 2026. No payment arrives. On Friday, April 3, 2026 you are entitled to possession and may enter. That day you post and mail (certificate of mailing, "Please Forward") the § 37-6-6(c) property notice, giving a removal deadline not less than 30 days after mailing — Sunday, May 3, 2026 at the earliest; set Monday, May 4, 2026 in the notice to avoid a Sunday deadline. Property remaining after that date is forfeited, subject to the over-$300 storage tail in § 37-6-6(e).

Reletting and the rent-difference rule — § 37-6-7

The landlord "may, however, at his election, incorporate, in the notice provided for in the preceding section, the further notice that he will, after he shall have taken possession …, lease the premises to some other person, in which case the tenant will still remain liable … for the difference between the amount of rent received … from the new tenant, and the amount payable under the lease of the original tenant," plus the lease's other covenants (§ 37-6-7). The election lives in the § 37-6-6 notice itself — one sentence preserves the claim. The measure is a true mitigation measure: the departed tenant owes the shortfall, not full rent once the unit is relet.

Squatters are outside the article — § 37-6-31

Do not misclassify a holdover: a "squatter" is an occupant "not so entitled under a rental agreement" and not authorized by the tenant — and expressly "does not include a tenant who holds over in a periodic tenancy" under § 37-6-5 (§ 37-6-31(a)). Squatter occupancy "is not governed" by Article 6, and no court may require an owner to use eviction procedure to remove a squatter (§ 37-6-31(b)–(c)). Anyone who entered under a rental agreement — including your holdover — is a tenant, and goes through Article 3A.

Is there a West Virginia landlord entry-notice law?

West Virginia has no landlord-entry statute. A complete read of Chapter 37, Article 6 — §§ 37-6-1 through 37-6-31 — contains no section setting an entry-notice period, entry hours, or permitted entry purposes for residential tenancies, and Article 6A and Article 3A contain none either. There is no "24 hours by law" in West Virginia, whatever a form lease or a national summary says; any source stating a statutory West Virginia entry-notice period is importing another state's rule.

What fills the gap is the lease: entry rights here are contract rights, and a lease silent on entry leaves the landlord arguing against the tenant's quiet enjoyment. Write the clause — at least 24 hours' written notice for non-emergency entry (a recommended practice standard, not a statutory floor), reasonable hours, stated purposes, immediate entry for genuine emergencies — and log the tenant's consent whenever you rely on it instead. The one statutory "may enter" in this area, § 37-6-6(a), is abandonment-specific and matures only after that notice runs unpaid; do not generalize it. Document every entry — date, notice and method, purpose, time in and out — because in a state with no entry statute, the log is the whole of the evidence.

What must a West Virginia landlord maintain to keep a rental fit and habitable? (§ 37-6-30)

The seven duties

"With respect to residential property," § 37-6-30(a) provides that a landlord shall:

1. "At the commencement of a tenancy, deliver the dwelling unit and surrounding premises in a fit and habitable condition, and shall thereafter maintain the leased property in such condition" (§ 37-6-30(a)(1));

2. "Maintain the leased property in a condition that meets requirements of applicable health, safety, fire and housing codes, unless the failure to meet those requirements is the fault of the tenant, a member of his family or other person on the premises with his consent" (§ 37-6-30(a)(2));

3. "In multiple housing units, keep clean, safe and in repair all common areas of the premises remaining under his control that are maintained for the use and benefit of his tenants" (§ 37-6-30(a)(3)) — "multiple housing unit" means a dwelling containing units forming more than one habitable unit in a building or structure (§ 37-6-30(d));

4. "Make all repairs necessary to keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition, unless said repairs were necessitated primarily by a lack of reasonable care by the tenant, a member of his family or other person on the premises with his consent" (§ 37-6-30(a)(4));

5. "Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him by written or oral agreement or by law" (§ 37-6-30(a)(5)) — note the boundary: systems the landlord supplied or must supply; a tenant's own window unit is not on this list;

6. "In multiple housing units, provide and maintain appropriate conveniences for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste incidental to the occupancy of the dwelling unit" (§ 37-6-30(a)(6)); and

7. "With respect to dwelling units supplied by direct public utility connections, supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times, and reasonable heat between October 1, and the last day of April, except where the dwelling unit is so constructed that running water, heat or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant" (§ 37-6-30(a)(7)).

Two general rules follow. If the rental agreement imposes a greater duty on the landlord than the section does, "that portion of the rental agreement imposing a greater duty shall control" (§ 37-6-30(b)) — the statute is a floor the lease can raise, and your own lease promises will be enforced as written. And subsection (c) states the arrears limit in full: "None of the provisions of this section shall be deemed to require the landlord to make repairs when the tenant is in arrears in payment of rent" (§ 37-6-30(c)).

That is the entire section — subsections (a) through (d), duties and definitions. Hold that fact for the next subsection, because a great deal of published West Virginia advice cites § 37-6-30 for propositions that are simply not in it.

What § 37-6-30 does not contain: withholding, escrow, repair-and-deduct

There is no subsection (7)(c) of § 37-6-30 — paragraph (a)(7) is the water-and-heat duty above and has no lettered subparts — and there is no tenant-remedies subsection of any kind in the section: no right to withhold rent, no rent-escrow procedure, no repair-and-deduct authorization, no termination-for-uninhabitability mechanism, and no damages formula. Earlier versions of this guide cited "§ 37-6-30(7)(c)" for the no-withholding rule; that citation does not exist in the code, and it has been removed. The accurate statement is structural:

• West Virginia has no statute authorizing a tenant to withhold rent to compel repairs, and no statute authorizing a tenant to repair and deduct the cost from rent. A tenant who simply stops paying is, in the eyes of § 55-3A-1(a)(3), "in arrears in the payment of rent" — a filing ground.
• What the tenant has instead is a defense and a contract claim. Under Teller v. McCoy, 162 W. Va. 367 (1978), the foundational habitability decision, a residential lease is a contract in which "the covenant to pay rent and the warranty of habitability are mutually dependent." Article 3A builds that in: a tenant's answer raising "breach by the landlord of a material covenant upon which the duty to pay rent depends" earns a hearing before possession is decided (§ 55-3A-3(b)), and breach of warranty is one of the three issues that can support more than money relief on appeal (§ 55-3A-3(g)). An ordinary civil action on the lease and statute, and code complaints to the building, fire, or health authority, remain available as well.
• The arrears limit cuts the other way. Because § 37-6-30(c) suspends the repair duty while rent is unpaid, a tenant who withholds unilaterally both invites an arrears filing and weakens the duty he is trying to enforce.

The duty is therefore litigated rather than self-executing — and the landlord who ignores a documented complaint hands the tenant the defense that converts a five-to-ten-day summary proceeding into a contested hearing. Give every tenant a written maintenance-request channel at move-in, date-stamp every report, acknowledge in writing, and keep the completion record. See how to handle maintenance requests.

Retaliation: a case-law defense with a tenancy limit — Imperial Colliery Co. v. Fout

West Virginia has no anti-retaliation statute for residential tenancies — no section of Chapter 37 or Chapter 55 lists protected tenant activities or creates a retaliation presumption of the kind many states enacted. What exists is a common-law defense, recognized by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in Imperial Colliery Co. v. Fout, 179 W. Va. 776, 373 S.E.2d 489 (1988), and its rule is narrower than the word "retaliation" suggests.

In Fout, a coal miner leasing from a colliery company claimed his § 55-3A-1 eviction punished his participation in a union selective strike. The court accepted the defense's existence and rejected its application: retaliation "may be asserted as a defense to a summary eviction proceeding" only "if the landlord's conduct is in retaliation for the tenant's exercise of a right incidental to the tenancy"; speech and association rights unrelated to the tenancy are not protected. The defense thus covers the tenant punished for doing tenant things — a habitability complaint, a lease or code right, a deposit claim — and nothing broader. Section 55-3A-3(g) confirms the defense lives in this forum, listing "retaliatory eviction" among only three issues that can support more than money relief on appeal.

Practical consequences: sequence is evidence — a filing, non-renewal, or increase landing days after a written habitability or code complaint is the fact pattern Fout is built for, and there is no statutory presumption window (no 90-day or one-year rule) after which you are automatically safe. The protection is a contemporaneous record: the arrears ledger that predates the complaint, the repair log that answers it. If a repair is genuinely owed, complete and document it before or alongside any enforcement step, not after.

Fair housing — the act now lives at § 16B-18-5

The recodification: stop citing § 5-11A

The federal Fair Housing Act applies in full, and the state counterpart is the West Virginia Fair Housing Act — but any guide or lease citing it as "§§ 5-11A-1 et seq." cites a repealed address: on the official code site, every section of Chapter 5, Article 11A is marked "[Repealed.]" The text now appears at Chapter 16B, Article 18, §§ 16B-18-1 et seq., beside the Human Rights Act at Article 17 (formerly § 5-11-1 et seq.). The substance carried over; the citation did not. The operative provisions are § 16B-18-5 (prohibited practices), § 16B-18-3 (definitions), and § 16B-18-4 (exemptions), enforced through the West Virginia Human Rights Commission (§ 16B-18-3(a)).

The protected classes — § 16B-18-5

"As made applicable by section four of this article and except as exempted by § 16B-18-4 and § 16B-18-8," it is unlawful to refuse to sell or rent or negotiate, otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling, discriminate in terms, conditions, privileges, services, or facilities, publish a discriminatory notice, statement, or advertisement, misrepresent a dwelling's availability, or engage in for-profit inducement ("blockbusting") "because of race, color, religion, ancestry, sex, familial status, blindness, disability or national origin" (§ 16B-18-5(a)–(e)).

Measured against the seven federal classes (race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin), West Virginia's list adds two classes: ancestry, and blindness as a class separate from disability. State law does not add sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income, marital status, or age to the housing list in § 16B-18-5 — bills proposing some of those additions have been introduced in recent sessions without enactment (see the amendment check below), so screen them as federal-only or unprotected categories under current state text, while remembering that local ordinances in some West Virginia cities go further and that the federal list is a floor, not a ceiling, for your screening criteria.

Disability carries the article's detailed machinery: refusing reasonable modifications at the disabled person's expense (a rental landlord may, where reasonable, require agreement to restore the interior on departure, wear and tear excepted) or reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services is discrimination (§ 16B-18-5(f)(3)(A)–(B)). The section adds design-and-construction duties for covered multifamily dwellings (§ 16B-18-5(f)(3)(C)), a direct-threat exception the respondent must prove (§ 16B-18-5(f)(9)), and an assistance-animal rule: documentation from a professional treatment provider may be required only to establish the disability-related need — no medical records, no pet fee or deposit for the accommodation, and denial only on credible, individualized, objective evidence (§ 16B-18-5(f)(10)). "Assistance animal" is defined to include a service, therapy, or support animal weighing less than 150 pounds, with or without training or certification (§ 16B-18-3(p)).

Exemptions — § 16B-18-4

Section 16B-18-5 applies to all dwellings except as § 16B-18-4 exempts:

• Owner-occupied rooming houses: nothing in § 16B-18-5 — other than the advertising ban — applies to renting a room in a rooming house the owner occupies, with no more than four rented rooms (§ 16B-18-4(a)). Even the exempt owner may not publish a discriminatory advertisement.
• Familial status only: § 16B-18-5 does not apply, solely for familial status, to (1) a single-family house sold or rented by a private owner of no more than three such houses, without a broker's services or a discriminatory ad (with a one-sale-in-24-months condition for a non-resident owner), or (2) rooms or units in a dwelling of no more than four families where the owner occupies one unit (§ 16B-18-4(a)(1)–(2)).

Portfolio landlords should assume the act applies in full — § 16B-18-4(b) deems a person "in the business" of renting at three or more transactions in 12 months, or on owning a five-or-more-family dwelling. Screen every applicant against the same written criteria and document every decision: see our fair housing guide, screening guide, and how to write a lease agreement.

What changed in 2023–2026 — and what did not

• July 7, 2025 — HB 2761 (2025), "Relating generally to magistrate courts." Signed April 25, 2025, effective ninety days from passage. Amended § 50-2-1 to raise the magistrate-court civil jurisdictional limit from $10,000 to $20,000 — the figure verified in the current official text of § 50-2-1. The same act addressed corporate appearances in magistrate court. It changed no landlord-tenant substantive rule.
• The fair-housing recodification — Chapter 5, Articles 11 and 11A repealed; the acts now at Chapter 16B, Articles 17 and 18. Verified on the official code site: §§ 5-11A-1 through 5-11A-15 all read "[Repealed.]," and the Fair Housing Act's operative text, definitions, and exemptions are published at §§ 16B-18-3, 16B-18-4, and 16B-18-5. (Practitioners citing the Human Rights Act should likewise update § 5-11 citations to Chapter 16B, Article 17.) The protected-class list in § 16B-18-5 is the carried-over list — ancestry and blindness included; no new housing class was added by the recodification.
• 2023 — a recovery-residence amendment to § 37-6A-5 came and went. The 2023 session added an attorney-fee award for willful or bad-faith noncompliance by a recovery residence (§ 37-6-5a), with the added subsections ceasing to apply after May 1, 2024 by their own terms. The current official text of § 37-6A-5 has no attorney-fee prong for ordinary tenancies; summaries promising one are working from the expired overlay or unenacted drafts.
• § 37-6-31 (squatters) is in the current Article 6, as stated above.
• Checked and NOT changed: §§ 37-6A-1(7), 37-6A-2, 37-6A-3, and 37-6A-5 (deposit clock, deductions, one-year records, 1.5× penalty); § 37-6-5; § 37-6-30; and §§ 55-3A-1 to 55-3A-3 — no 2023–2026 amendment alters the rules stated in this guide for ordinary tenancies.
• Checked and NOT enacted: HB 2903 (2025), which would have added a § 37-6-32 banning rental convenience fees, and repeated bills to add age, sexual orientation, or gender identity to the Human Rights and Fair Housing Acts (e.g., HB 2290, 2023), appear as introductions only and are not in the current code. Do not rely on a rule whose only source is an introduced bill.

A step-by-step West Virginia compliance checklist

1. At application: use one written criteria set satisfying § 16B-18-5 (federal classes plus ancestry and blindness); for any application or pet fee you intend to keep, get the express written agreement that it is nonrefundable — without it, § 37-6A-1(14) makes the money a refundable deposit.

2. At lease signing: write the operating system into the lease — entry terms (no entry statute exists), any grace period (none is implied), late charges (deposit-eligible only if specified in the agreement and reasonable, § 37-6A-2(b)(1)), early-exit terms, utility obligations. Strike any waiver of deposit-article rights: unenforceable, and suing on it costs actual damages plus the tenant's fees (§ 37-6A-4).

3. On a change of ownership: the deposit obligation follows the property — the holder of the landlord's interest at termination owes the return whether or not the funds were transferred (§ 37-6A-2(e)). Reconcile deposits in the purchase paperwork.

4. During the tenancy: run the § 37-6-30 duties (habitability, codes, common areas, systems, water/hot water/heat Oct 1–Apr 30 where applicable), date-stamp every report, and honor greater lease promises — they control over the statute (§ 37-6-30(b)). Log every entry; enter only under the lease clause or with consent.

5. When rent is late: send a written demand anyway (not required, but it settles cases and builds the record), then file the verified petition under § 55-3A-1 in the magistrate or circuit court of the county of the property, pleading the arrears, breach, or damage specifically.

6. In the Article 3A case: calendar the hearing (5–10 judicial days, § 55-3A-1(b)), serve the hearing notice immediately (Rule 4 or certified mail, return receipt requested), watch the five-day defense window (§ 55-3A-1(c)), and bring the ledger, lease, and repair file — especially if a § 55-3A-3(b) habitability defense is plausible. No self-help: possession only on the court's order and the sheriff (§ 55-3A-3(f)).

7. To end a tenancy without a default: three months in writing for year-to-year, one full period for shorter periodic tenancies, no statutory notice for a fixed term ending on its date — unless the lease's special agreement fixes a different period (§ 37-6-5).

8. On abandonment with arrears: post the § 37-6-6(a) notice demanding payment within one month, including the § 37-6-7 reletting election in that notice if you will claim the rent difference; enter only after the month runs unpaid; then give the § 37-6-6(c) property notice (posted and mailed, certificate of mailing, "Please Forward") with a removal date at least 30 days out (60 on active-duty notice), honoring the over-$300 storage tail (§ 37-6-6(e)).

9. At move-out: start both deposit clocks — 60 days from termination, 45 days from any new tenant's occupation — and work to the earlier (§ 37-6A-1(7)). Deduct only within the five § 37-6A-2(b) categories, less wear and tear; if damages exceed the deposit and need a contractor, send the § 37-6A-2(c) notice inside the period for the extra 15 days. Deliver refund plus itemization personally or by mail (§ 37-6A-2(g)); hold nondeliverable funds six months.

10. After move-out: keep itemized deduction records one year after termination, producible within 72 hours of written request (§ 37-6A-3). In a dispute, remember the forum (§ 37-6A-5(b); magistrate limit $20,000, § 50-2-1) and that the 1.5× penalty requires willful or bad-faith noncompliance on the amount wrongfully withheld (§ 37-6A-5(a)) — your file is the good-faith defense.

Practical tips for small landlords

• Write the notice anyway. A written pay-or-cure demand resolves more cases than it creates, documents the timeline for the magistrate, and costs a stamp — and Article 3A's five-day defense and § 55-3A-3(b) hearing both run on documents.
• Put the full lifecycle in the lease. With no entry statute, no implied grace period, and no late-fee schedule, your lease is the operating system — entry, grace period, late charges, early-exit fees, utilities, and the written nonrefundability agreement for any pet or application fee (§ 37-6A-1(14)).
• Calendar the shortened deposit deadline. Forty-five days from a fast re-rental can land before day 60 — compute both deadlines at move-out, not at day 50.
• Know your forum. Magistrate courts take civil claims up to $20,000 (§ 50-2-1; HB 2761, effective July 7, 2025) and hear wrongful-occupation matters regardless of amount when title is not in dispute.
• Treat every repair complaint as a future exhibit. Habitability disputes are won on the dated request-and-response record, not on recollections.

The bottom line

West Virginia remains one of the most landlord-favorable states in the country — but the advantage is procedural precision, not looseness: no deposit cap, account, or interest rules, balanced by a 60-day return shrinking to 45 days after a quick re-rental, five deduction categories, and a 1.5×-of-the-amount-wrongfully-withheld penalty that requires willfulness and rewards documented good faith; no pre-filing eviction notice and a 5-to-10-judicial-day hearing, balanced by real habitability (§ 55-3A-3(b); Teller) and retaliation (Fout) defenses and possession only through a court order and the sheriff; termination by periods under § 37-6-5; a seven-duty habitability code with no withholding or repair-and-deduct statute on either side; no entry statute; and a fair-housing act at § 16B-18-5 — adding ancestry and blindness — that half the published summaries still cite to a repealed address. Write a complete lease, calendar both deposit clocks, document repairs and entries as they happen, send notice even when the statute does not make you, and West Virginia's speed works for you.

Compare West Virginia's rules to every other state: no deposit cap, a 60-day return deadline, and a 1.5x penalty for missed itemizations are just West Virginia's formula — every state rewrites deposit caps, return deadlines, and eviction-notice rules. The 50-State Landlord Law Dataset (CSV + JSON) ($29) puts all 50 states' key rules in one spreadsheet-ready dataset.

Official sources

Read the statute yourself — every rule in this guide is stated from the official text published by the West Virginia Legislature at code.wvlegislature.gov:

• § 37-6-5 — Notice to terminate tenancy
• § 37-6-6 — Desertion of leased property; entry; recovery of rent; abandoned property
• § 37-6-7 — Reletting by landlord
• § 37-6-30 — Landlord to deliver premises; duty to maintain fit and habitable condition
• § 37-6-31 — Exclusions; squatters
• Chapter 37, Article 6 — Landlord and Tenant (full section list)
• § 37-6A-1 — Deposit definitions; notice period; nonrefundable-fee writing
• § 37-6A-2 — Security deposits: return, deductions, contractor extension, delivery
• § 37-6A-3 — Maintenance of records by landlord
• § 37-6A-4 — Prohibited provision in rental agreements
• § 37-6A-5 — Landlord's noncompliance; 1.5× penalty
• § 37-6A-6 — Application of the deposit article
• § 55-3A-1 — Petition for summary relief for wrongful occupation
• § 55-3A-2 — Defenses available
• § 55-3A-3 — Proceedings; final order; abandoned property after possession
• § 50-2-1 — Magistrate court civil jurisdiction ($20,000)
• § 16B-18-3 — Fair Housing Act definitions
• § 16B-18-4 — Fair Housing Act application and exemptions
• § 16B-18-5 — Discrimination in sale or rental of housing
• Chapter 5, Article 11A — former Fair Housing Act location (all sections repealed)
• Imperial Colliery Co. v. Fout, 179 W. Va. 776 (1988) — retaliation defense (Justia)

Frequently asked questions

How long does a West Virginia landlord have to return a security deposit?

Within the statutory "notice period": 60 days after termination of the tenancy, or 45 days after a subsequent tenant occupies the premises, whichever period is shorter (§§ 37-6A-1(7), 37-6A-2(a)). The deposit, minus lawful deductions, must be delivered together with a written itemization of the deductions — by personal delivery or by mail to the tenant's last known or forwarding address (§ 37-6A-2(g)). If damages exceed the deposit and require a third-party contractor, written notice to the tenant within the period earns 15 additional days to itemize (§ 37-6A-2(c)).

Is there a cap on security deposits in West Virginia?

No. Article 6A sets no maximum amount. What it regulates is characterization: a deposit is by definition refundable, and a pet fee or application fee escapes deposit treatment only if the parties expressly agree in writing that the fee is nonrefundable (§ 37-6A-1(14)). An unwritten "nonrefundable" fee is a refundable deposit on the 60/45-day clock. Check a planned deposit against West Virginia's no-cap rule with the Security Deposit Max Checker, which returns a compliant or over-the-limit verdict for the amount and state you enter.

What happens if a West Virginia landlord misses the deposit deadline?

Only if the noncompliance was willful or not in good faith does the statutory penalty apply — and then the tenant is entitled to judgment for the unreturned deposit plus damages of one and a half times the amount wrongfully withheld, credited against any rent the tenant owes (§ 37-6A-5(a)). The 1.5× runs on the amount wrongfully withheld, not automatically on the whole deposit, and § 37-6A-5 awards no attorney's fees (the article's fee award is in § 37-6A-4, for suits to enforce a waiver clause). The action lies in magistrate or circuit court in the county of the premises (§ 37-6A-5(b)).

Can a West Virginia landlord deduct late fees from the security deposit?

Yes — within limits. Section 37-6A-2(b)(1) permits applying the deposit to "rent due, including the reasonable charges for late payment of rent specified in the rental agreement." A late charge that the lease never specified, or that is not reasonable, is not a lawful deposit deduction. West Virginia has no statutory late-fee cap and no mandatory grace period; both exist only as your lease creates them.

Must a West Virginia landlord hold the deposit in a separate account or pay interest?

No. Nothing in §§ 37-6A-1 to 37-6A-6 requires a separate, escrow, or trust account, and nothing requires interest. Keep a per-tenancy ledger anyway: the § 37-6A-3 records duty (itemized deduction records kept one year after termination, producible within 72 hours of a written request) and the § 37-6A-5 good-faith inquiry both assume you can reconstruct the money's path.

Does a West Virginia landlord have to give notice before filing for eviction?

No. Article 3A requires no pre-filing notice for its three grounds — rent arrears, breach of a warranty or leasehold covenant, or deliberate or negligent damage (§ 55-3A-1(a)). The landlord files a verified petition; the hearing is set five to ten judicial days after filing (§ 55-3A-1(b)); the tenant then receives notice of the hearing, with five days from receipt to file a written defense (§ 55-3A-1(c)). Ending the tenancy itself is different — termination takes the § 37-6-5 notice first. To run these same dates for your own case — filing the verified petition, the hearing five to ten judicial days later, and the five-day defense window — use the Eviction Timeline Calculator.

How much notice is required to end a month-to-month tenancy in West Virginia?

Notice for one full period — for a monthly tenancy, one month — given in writing before the end of a period (§ 37-6-5). The statute's unit is the period, not a fixed day count: a weekly tenancy takes one week's notice on the same rule, and a tenancy from year to year takes three months' written notice before the end of a lease year. No notice is required for a fixed-term tenancy ending on its stated date, and a lease's own special agreement fixing a different notice period displaces the statutory default.

Can a West Virginia tenant withhold rent for repairs?

There is no statute authorizing it. Section 37-6-30 imposes seven habitability duties on the landlord but contains no withholding, escrow, or repair-and-deduct remedy — and subsection (c) adds that the section does not require the landlord to make repairs while the tenant is in arrears. What protects the tenant is litigation, not self-help: under Teller v. McCoy the rent covenant and the habitability warranty are mutually dependent, and in an arrears eviction the tenant may answer with the landlord's breach of a material covenant upon which the duty to pay rent depends and obtain a hearing (§ 55-3A-3(b)). A tenant who simply stops paying hands the landlord the § 55-3A-1 arrears ground.

Is there a West Virginia law on how much notice a landlord must give before entering?

No. No section of Chapter 37, Article 6 (or of Articles 6A or 3A of Chapter 55) sets an entry-notice period, entry hours, or entry purposes for residential tenancies. Entry rights are lease rights: put the notice period (24 hours' written notice is the recommended practice standard), the purposes, the hours, and the emergency exception in the agreement, obtain and log consent where you rely on it, and document every entry.

What can a West Virginia landlord do when a tenant abandons the unit owing rent?

Follow § 37-6-6 rather than walking in: post written notice conspicuously on the property requiring payment of the arrears within one month; if it is not paid, the landlord is entitled to possession and may enter, recovering rent up to the entitlement date (§ 37-6-6(a)). Put the reletting election in that same notice to preserve a claim against the original tenant for the rent difference on reletting (§ 37-6-7). Personal property then requires the § 37-6-6(c) notice — posted and mailed (certificate of mailing, "Please Forward") to the unit, any known P.O. box, and any known forwarding address — with at least 30 days to remove (60 if the tenant gave active-duty notice), forfeiture thereafter, and the over-$300 storage tail (§ 37-6-6(d)–(e)).

What classes does West Virginia fair-housing law protect beyond federal law?

The Fair Housing Act — now at §§ 16B-18-1 et seq. (the former §§ 5-11A-1 et seq. are repealed) — bars discrimination because of "race, color, religion, ancestry, sex, familial status, blindness, disability or national origin" (§ 16B-18-5). Against the federal list, the state additions are ancestry and blindness as a standalone class. The act also carries modification and accommodation duties, including a detailed assistance-animal rule (§ 16B-18-5(f)(3), (10)), and narrow exemptions (§ 16B-18-4).

Can a West Virginia landlord retaliate against a tenant who complains about repairs?

There is no anti-retaliation statute, but there is a recognized defense: under Imperial Colliery Co. v. Fout, 179 W. Va. 776 (1988), a tenant in a summary eviction may assert retaliation where the landlord's conduct responds to the tenant's exercise of a right incidental to the tenancy — a habitability complaint is the core case — while retaliation for activity unrelated to the tenancy (there, union strike participation) is not a defense. Section 55-3A-3(g) likewise lists retaliatory eviction among the three issues that can support more than money relief on appeal. There is no statutory presumption window; the landlord's protection is a contemporaneous record showing the enforcement step stands on its own facts.

More landlord-tenant law guides

• Landlord-tenant law by state
• Washington landlord-tenant law
• Wisconsin landlord-tenant law
• Virginia landlord-tenant law
• Wyoming landlord-tenant law

This is general information, not legal advice. Consult a West Virginia landlord-tenant attorney for specific situations.