What can a landlord do with a tenant’s belongings left behind in West Virginia?

In West Virginia, after regaining possession of abandoned leased property, a landlord who wants to dispose of the tenant’s personal property must post a written notice on the property and mail it by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, giving the tenant a removal date not less than 30 days after the notice was mailed (60 days if the tenant has said the tenant is on active military duty). The notice must state that the leased property is considered abandoned, the date by which the personal property must be removed, and that property not removed in time is forfeited and becomes the landlord’s. It is mailed in an envelope endorsed "Please Forward" to the leased property, any post office box of the tenant known to the landlord, and the most recent forwarding address. If the property is worth more than $300, the landlord must store it for up to 30 additional days when the tenant or a secured creditor says they intend to remove it and pays the reasonable costs of storage and removal. When a tenant has abandoned the property while behind on rent, the landlord first posts a written notice requiring payment within one month before becoming entitled to possession. After a court order of possession, if the tenant does not remove the property by the time the order sets, the landlord may dispose of it at once if the tenant says in writing it is abandoned or it is garbage, or may store it or leave it on the property and dispose of it after 30 days if the tenant has not paid the reasonable costs and taken it, with the same 30 additional days for property worth more than $300. This is W. Va. Code §§ 37-6-6, 55-3A-3.

WhatWest Virginia
Belongings left behindPost and mail notice, then allow at least 30 days
What the statute requires firstNotice, a waiting period or storage before disposal

What the statute says

“… if the landlord or housing authority has stored the property, by a date specified in the written notice that is: (A) Not less than thirty days after the date the written notice was mailed;”

Quoted word for word from the section’s text.

Source

W. Va. Code §§ 37-6-6, 55-3A-3

Read the statute in the West Virginia Code (West Virginia Legislature): code.wvlegislature.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 15, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

Seayora keeps a lease’s end date and every notice sent through it, with the date it went out, in the lease record — so the dates a rule like this one counts from are on file rather than remembered.

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