H. B. 4302
(By Delegate Keener)
[Introduced January 30, 2002; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article three, chapter sixty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
forty-a, relating to making it a felony offense for a lessee
to vacate rental property while still owing lessor rent.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article three, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
forty-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY.
§61-3-40a. Fraudulently quitting rental property without having
paid due rental thereon.
Any person who has entered into a written or oral lease of
real property and, pursuant thereto, taken possession thereof and
who thereafter willfully and fraudulently abandons the property
without first having paid all due rent thereon is guilty of a
felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a state
correctional facility for not less than one nor more than five
years.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make it a felony for a
person to fraudulently leave rented real estate without first
having paid all rents due thereon.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.