West Virginia law requires that you and your landlord sign and date a written agreement, called a lease, before you start renting. This is different from other rental housing laws, which allow for a verbal agreement with a landlord. Always be sure to read a lease before you sign it!

Your landlord must provide you with a copy of your signed lease within seven days of signing.

It should tell you about all your rights and responsibilities under the law. These include:

• the amount of rent owed,
• when rent is due,
• how long your lease is,
• a copy of your community’s rules and regulations,
• a list of fees and services,

and a copy of the law that covers mobile home communities in West Virginia.

The written agreement cannot force you to pay monthly fees besides rent and utilities or reasonable incidental charges for services or facilities supplied by the landlord.

No, not unless you agree in writing. A major rule change from the original rental agreement does not become effective until the current rental agreement ends, and a new agreement is made in writing.

If you don’t have a lease or your landlord did not give you a copy of your lease, it can be hard to understand what rights and responsibilities you have as a renter. While you likely still need to pay rent (and perhaps utilities), the landlord may be unable to demand other fees, penalties or restrictions you that aren’t in a written lease.

Written agreements are helpful for both the landlord and the tenant because they clearly lay out the rules and rights of everyone involved. If you do not have a lease, you should ask your landlord for one that lays out things like:

• the amount of rent owed,
• when rent is due,
• how long your lease is,
• a copy of your community’s rules and regulations,
• a list of fees and services,

If you’ve already signed a lease, ask the landlord for a copy, read it, and keep it in a safe place.

West Virginia law says that for mobile home communities, the landlord is required to give written notice if you are being evicted. The notice should tell you the reason for the eviction, with specific facts, like the date, place, and witnesses.

Under West Virginia law (W.Va. Code §37-15-6(c)), the notice should be given to you at least three months before the landlord terminates your lease. However, if your landlord goes to court to evict you, it does not mean you will automatically get to stay there or keep your mobile home on the property for that time period.

Your landlord can only take legal steps to evict you from the mobile home community. If a landlord shuts off your utilities, removes your home from your lot, changes your locks, or tries to prevent you from moving your home in any way, you may have legal remedies for wrongful eviction. If the landlord wants to evict you after they have given you notice, they are instead supposed to go to court.

If your landlord has gone to court to evict you, the court will notify you and tell you when and where to go to court. You can file an answer or response, and there is a form you can use.   You can point out if the landlord may be wrong about the facts.  For example, suppose the landlord says you haven’t paid your rent.  But you have written receipts showing that you did pay.

You can also assert defenses.  For example, if the landlord wants to evict you only because you complained about him or used other legal rights related to your tenancy, you can use the “Retaliation” defense. To prove that, you will have to show that the landlord must know that you complained to the landlord or a government agency about a rental housing problem or that you joined a tenant’s group before the eviction case was filed.

It depends. According to West Virginia law, the court should not order you to leave or vacate the property in less than 30 days unless the court finds:

• You failed to pay rent for that period or when it was due or
• You damaged the landlord’s property or other tenants’ property or
• You threatened or harmed the ability of other tenants or neighbors to live there.

You should not be ordered to move the mobile home in less than three months unless:

• You fail to pay the lot rent in advance or when it is due; or
• The presence of the home causes an imminent threat to the health or safety of others.

However, if you have been given proper notice (3 months) of good cause for eviction, the court may order the removal of a home in less than 30 days if it is a single-wide.

Your landlord cannot prevent you from selling your mobile home if you own it. However, if the new owner wants to keep the manufactured home where it is, the new owner has to meet the previous standards and restrictions set by the landlord.

Under West Virginia law, your landlord cannot evict more than twenty-five tenants within a period of eighteen months unless:

• You all agreed to it, OR
• Your landlord gave everyone at least six months’ notice that they would be evicted, OR
• You and all the other evicted tenants broke your lease agreement in some way.

If you were evicted under these circumstances, you may be able to recover damages, including moving costs, or up to three times the amount of rent payments for a year, whichever is greater.  You and any other evicted tenants may want to apply for help or contact an attorney under these circumstances.

These issues may be related to a warranty of habitability, which is a legal obligation of every landlord to maintain a rented property in safe and sanitary conditions. You can find Legal Aid information and resources about this in our article on What To Do When Housing Conditions are Bad.

Here are some programs that may be able to help you get housing assistance from other resources if your eviction is not avoidable. These resources include:

Southwestern Community Action of West Virginia

Mountain CAP

Randolph County Housing Authority

Fairmont Morgantown Housing Authority

Clarksburg Harrison Regional Housing Authority

Housing Authority of Mingo County

West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness

Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless

This list does not include all housing resources available to you locally. You may also want to contact WV 211.