West Virginia tenant screening laws

Neither article caps an application fee. The deposit article defines an application fee as money a person pays to be considered as a tenant, and the fee falls outside its security deposit definition only if you and the applicant expressly agree in writing that it is nonrefundable (W. Va. Code 37-6A-1(2); W. Va. Code 37-6A-1(14)).

The West Virginia Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to refuse to rent, or to set different terms, conditions, services or facilities, because of race, color, religion, ancestry, sex, familial status, blindness, disability or national origin. You also may not publish a rental notice or advertisement that shows a preference on those grounds, or, on those grounds, tell someone a home is unavailable when it is available (W. Va. Code 16B-18-5(a) to (d)).

• Refusing a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services, or a reasonable modification the tenant pays for, is disability discrimination. For a rental you may, where reasonable, condition a modification on the tenant agreeing to restore the interior at move-out, reasonable wear and tear excepted (W. Va. Code 16B-18-5(f)(3)).
• For an assistance animal you may ask for documentation from a professional treatment provider of the disability-related need, but not medical records or detailed information about the impairment. You may not charge a fee or deposit for it or apply your pet terms, and you may deny it only on objective, individualized evidence that the specific animal is a direct threat or would cause substantial physical damage that another accommodation cannot prevent (W. Va. Code 16B-18-5(f)(10)).
• The state definition includes service, therapy or support animals weighing less than 150 pounds, with or without specific training or certification, that provide disability-related work, assistance or emotional support. That state definition does not resolve independent federal accommodation duties. Review both laws before treating a weight threshold as a reason to reject a request; the state also bars unreasonable delays in responding to an accommodation request (W. Va. Code 16B-18-3(p); W. Va. Code 16B-18-5(f)(10)(D); 42 U.S.C. 3604(f)(3)).
• Familial status covers a child under 18 living with a parent, a legal custodian or their written designee, and anyone who is pregnant or securing legal custody of a child (W. Va. Code 16B-18-3).
• Narrow exemptions exist: renting rooms in an owner-occupied rooming house with no more than four rented rooms, and, for familial status only, a single-family house rented without a broker or discriminatory ad by a private owner of no more than three such houses, or units in an owner-occupied building of up to four families (W. Va. Code 16B-18-4).
• It is unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with anyone for exercising fair housing rights or helping someone else do so (W. Va. Code 16B-18-16).
• A tenant may file a complaint with the West Virginia Human Rights Commission within one year, or sue in circuit court within two years (W. Va. Code 16B-18-11(a); W. Va. Code 16B-18-14(a)).