Posted on 03/26/2020 12:40:15 PM PDT by buckalfa
CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Thursday his office has sent warning letters to landlords regarding alleged threats to evict tenants during the global coronavirus pandemic.
West Virginia law prohibits unfair or deceptive conduct and has strict laws to protect tenants from unjust eviction. The letters were sent Tuesday and Wednesday. Specifics were not provided due to the ongoing investigations.
“Many workers understandably have deep concerns about keeping a roof over their families’ heads,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “I get that landlords and property managers have a bottom line, but in this crisis, we must unite and work with one another. Now is neither the time nor the place to play on people’s fears with threats of eviction. To do so is frankly unconscionable.”
Although there is no law preventing eviction during a state of emergency, laws do provide for due process and protect tenants from unfair eviction.
This requires property owners to file a petition for eviction in magistrate or circuit court regarding nonpayment or violation of the lease. The landlord cannot evict or lock out the tenant, shut off utilities or do other things to evict a tenant without going to court.
The tenant must be served with notice of the court hearing and have the right to contest any eviction.
The tenant can only be removed from the property after a landlord has a judgment from the court. The judge will order a date and time by which the tenant must vacate the property, along with the amount of remaining debt owed by the tenant and the deadline for payment.
If the case is decided in magistrate court, an appeal can be filed in circuit court.
Most courts are handling only emergency matters during the ongoing state of emergency. Most hearings are delayed unless the matter falls into a few, very narrow emergency areas of law. Most eviction hearings would not fall under those areas.
The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Hotline – 1-800-368-8808 – remains open to anyone wishing to report scams, price gouging or other manners by which bad actors may try to take advantage of consumers during the pandemic. Written complaints can also be filed at www.wvago.gov.
“Trampling of contract law by a Republican State Attorney General or needed emphatic action in light of the pandemic? “
At common law, landlord-tenant law was not contract law. It was property law. William the Conqueror, and all that. The remedy for non-payment of rent was to sue for ejectment. There was no such thing as eviction.
Eviction is SUMMARY ejectment, a statutory remedy unknown to the common law.
You can still bring a traditional common-law ejectment action. It will take you forever.
Is this bag-o-turds going to demand counties stop collecting taxes on landlord's properties? Is he going to threaten insurance companies that collect the landlord's taxes?
Is he going to demand that the waste companies pick up trash for free? Will landlords get free water and electric for the common areas?
When their A/C or heating systems go, is this piece of DIRT going to hand out free ACs and heat pumps?
No, he's just some POS pol making a name for himself.. and forcing others to pay for it - like a dictator.
Many workers aren’t being paid because of stay-at-home and similar orders on behalf of the government. They don’t have savings enough to cover their rent and expenses for terribly long, especially due to the massive financial rape that went on under Obama. These people might get evicted because they aren’t getting paid and are prohibited by the government from leaving to find other work.
Do you know what you get when you have a giant homeless population that’s pissed off and has neither anything to lose or anything to do? You get violent socialist revolutions. Do you think that’s a good idea?
Yes, the government *should* compensate for damages caused by their orders, but you know how likely that is to happen in reality.
To be fair, some jurisdictions *have* waived taxes and waste collection, etc., fees during this time.
That said, um, since when do insurance companies collect taxes?
They have? Where? Just curious.
You sound like Arlen Specter... except dumber.
This is not 14th century Scotland. We have long standing enforceable laws and remedies regarding non payment of rent.
“I get that landlords and property managers have a bottom line, but in this crisis, we must unite and work with one another.”
Riiiiight.
The government screws the employers, who screw the employees, who screw their landlords.
Do the politicians think the landlords are going to be able to pass that along and screw the banks that hold their mortgages without repercussions? As we saw in 2008, it won’t matter if the banks get bailed out with our money, they will still demand payment in full for our debt obligations.
We are not socialists. We are in a national emergency.
“These people might get evicted because they aren’t getting paid and are prohibited by the government from leaving to find other work.”
Well, the silver lining here is, once those people are homeless, they will be free from the “stay at home” order.
To be fair, MINE HASN'T. I still have to pay ALL of those costs - while finger waiving pols want to force me to house borders at MY cost.
That said, ummmmmmm .... you're so clever you can point out obvious typos. Thanks.
We will be if there is no push back.
Here’s one that came across my (virtual) desk not long ago: https://www.revenue.pa.gov/Pages/COVID19.aspx
I believe the county I live in has also waived certain fees and taxes as I caught part of a TV news article about it earlier in the week, but don’t have time to go dig for it at the moment.
That would seem to be a problem with your local politicians, then. Perhaps you should arrange for them to be replaced in the next primary/election if you are dissatisfied with their performance. You might even be so bold as to inform them of this.
Here’s another partial list: https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/tax-relief-offered-by-states-and-localities-in-response-to-covid-19/
You totally understand the situation for some of us...HUD can quite easily ‘deal’ with something like this....but with dramatically increasing property taxes and insurance rates with fewer and fewer coverage allowances, independent landlords are already getting pinched out of the market by uncle sam...govt doesn’t like the competition already and wants everything under section 8...no way...THANK YOU!
Yeah, I get that tenants may have lost their income due to this panic. But while courts are bending over backward to protect them, what are they doing to protect the landlords, who also have bills to pay? It’s not like their bankers are giving them a break on the mortgages. And the cities aren’t likely waiving their property taxes or utility fees.
If you don’t pay to have a roof over your head you have no need for other expenses like water, gas, electric and sewer!
Need to pay what’s important first seems to me Mr AG! Govt and big power, gas companies and HUD if ya rent from them, are in much better position for give aways than small landlords...
Dickheads in here think they're so damned smart while existing in the abstract. No clue whatsoever, but they read the internet and heard about Scottish law, so landlords should pay for everyone's housing when people get sick.
Seriously....WTF?
Don't you just love the way supposedly freedom loving people here are just one health-scare away from becoming little commies-fascists?
You’re right - If my tenants stop paying rent (and there’s really no incentive for them to keep paying), then I will stop paying to fix problems they report. I will stop paying county taxes as well.
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