Senate Bill No. 600
(By Senators Sprouse and Oliverio)
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[Introduced February 20, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §37-6-31, relating to
landlord and tenant; relieving landlords of responsibility for
the garbage collection bills of their tenants; garbage
collector's notice; and garbage collection fees owed by
tenant.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §37-6-31, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 6. LANDLORD AND TENANT.
§37-6-31. Tenant to pay garbage collection fees; notice.
With respect to leased residential property a tenant, in the
absence of a written lease to the contrary, shall maintain garbage
in an approved container and remove or cause to be removed the
accumulated garbage at the rented property and, if the garbage is
removed by a garbage collector, the tenant shall timely pay the fees therefor. Any collector, for failure of the tenant to pay the
fees shall notify both the landlord and the tenant of the
delinquency and, if the delinquency continues for a period of more
than ninety days, the collector shall have a suit against the
tenant in the magistrate court system.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require, in the absence
of an agreement otherwise, to rid the leased property of garbage
and the tenant is the party responsible for any collection fees
incurred in the process.
This section
is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.