Senate Bill No. 265
(By Senator Claypole)
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[Introduced March 3, 1993; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article six, chapter thirty-seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section five-a, relating to landlord and tenant relationships generally; mobile home park tenants; and requiring extended notice to tenants when landlord closes the mobile home park.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article six, chapter thirty-seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section five- a, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 6. LANDLORD AND TENANT.

§37-6-5a. Rights of mobile home park tenants to extended notice to terminate tenancy.

A landlord of a mobile home park containing not less than twenty tenants may not terminate the leases of all tenants of the mobile home park within an eighteen month period unless thelandlord:
(a) Obtains written agreement to voluntarily vacate the premises by all tenants prior to the expiration of the eighteen month period; or
(b) Provides not less than six months notice to terminate to not more than one third of the tenants over an eighteen month period as follows:
(1) The first six months notice shall be given to the one third of the tenants who were the last to become tenants; and
(2) The second six months notice shall not be given until the first one third of the tenants have vacated the property and shall be given to the next one third of the tenants to become tenants; and
(3) The last six months notice shall not be given to the last one third of the tenants until the expiration of twelve months after the first notice to vacate was issued to the first one third of the tenants required to vacate the premises.
The last two months rent of every tenant required to vacate the premises under the provisions of this section is abated to compensate tenants for relocation costs.
Any tenant who is aggrieved by an action of a landlord which violates the provisions of this section may recover treble damages or the equivalent of the aggrieved tenant's rent for one year and all costs required to relocate the aggrieved tenant within the county, whichever is more.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to regulate the mass eviction of mobile home parks and to give tenants not less than six months notice to vacate the premises when a landlord of a mobile home park containing more than twenty mobile home tenants closes the mobile home park. The bill allows tenants two months rent abatement and it provides for recovery of damages in case a landlord violates the notice provisions.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.