Tenant left property behind in West Virginia
West Virginia separates deserted rentals under § 37-6-6 from belongings remaining after a possession order under § 55-3A-3(h). The deserted-rental route with unpaid rent starts with a posted one-calendar-month payment demand. After possession returns under that process, property notice must be posted and mailed with certificates, allowing thirty days after mailing, or sixty days for a notified active-duty tenant. W. Va. Code §§ 37-6-6(a)–(e), 55-3A-3(h)–(i)
Do not treat temporary absence as abandonment or bypass the posted demand.
Mail the property notice to the rental and all known tenant PO-box/forwarding addresses in Please Forward envelopes.
Property over $300 can trigger up to thirty additional storage days on a qualifying retrieval request with costs paid.
Court-order property has separate thirty-day, garbage/written-abandonment, storage-cost and retrieval provisions.
What happens next
The workflow can prepare the posted rent demand and later statutory property notice on supported deserted-rental facts. Court-stage cases receive the distinct storage guidance; voluntary surrender and disputes require review.
Start the West Virginia toolLegal information reviewed October 5, 2026. LandlordAnswers is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.