2021 West Virginia Code
Chapter 37. Real Property
Article 15. House Trailers, Mobile Homes, Manufactured Homes and Modular Homes
§37-15-2. Definitions
For the purposes of this article, unless expressly stated otherwise:
(a) "Abandoned factory-built home" means a factory-built home occupying a factory-built home site pursuant to a written agreement under which the tenant has defaulted in rent or the landlord has exercised any right to terminate the rental agreement;
(b) "Factory-built home" includes modular homes, mobile homes, house trailers and manufactured homes;
(c) "Factory-built home rental community" means a parcel of land under single or common ownership upon which two or more factory-built homes are located on a continual, nonrecreational basis together with any structure, equipment, road or facility intended for use incidental to the occupancy of the factory-built homes, but does not include premises used solely for storage or display of uninhabited factory-built homes or premises occupied solely by a landowner and members of his family;
(d) "Factory-built home site" means a parcel of land within the boundaries of a factory-built home rental community provided for the placement of a single factory-built home and the exclusive use of its occupants;
(e) "Good cause" means:
(1) The tenant is in arrears in the payment of periodic payments or other charges;
(2) The tenant has breached a material term of a written rental agreement or has repeatedly breached other terms of the rental agreement;
(3) Where there is no written agreement, or where the written agreement does not cover the subject matter of a warranty or leasehold covenant, the tenant breached a material warranty or leasehold covenant or has repeatedly breached other terms of a warranty or a leasehold covenant;
(4) The tenant has deliberately or negligently damaged the property or knowingly permitted another person to do so.
(f) "House trailers" means all trailers designed or intended for human occupancy and commonly referred to as mobile homes or house trailers and shall include fold down camping and travel trailers as these terms are defined in section one, article six, chapter seventeen-a of this code, but only when such camping and travel trailers are located in a factory-built home rental community, as defined in this section, on a continual, nonrecreational basis.
(g) "Landlord" means the factory-built home rental community owner, lessor or sublessor of the factory-built home rental community, or an agent or representative authorized to act on his or her behalf in connection with matters relating to tenancy in the community.
(h) "Manufactured home" has the same meaning as the term is defined in section two, article nine, chapter twenty-one of this code which meets the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U. S. C. §5401, et seq.), effective on June 15, 1976, and the federal manufactured home construction and safety standards and regulations promulgated by the secretary of the United States department of housing and urban development.
(i) "Mobile home" means a transportable structure that is wholly, or in substantial part, made, fabricated, formed or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site and designed for long-term residential use and built prior to enactment of the Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U. S. C. §5401, et seq.), effective on June 15, 1976, and usually built to the voluntary industry standard of the American national standards institute (ANSI)--A119.1 standards for mobile homes.
(j) "Modular home" means any structure that is wholly, or in substantial part, made, fabricated, formed or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site and designed for long-term residential use and is certified as meeting the standards contained in the state fire code encompassed in the legislative rules promulgated by the state Fire Commission pursuant to section five-b, article three, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
(k) "Owner" means one or more persons, jointly or severally, in whom is vested: (i) All or part of the legal title to the factory-built home rental community; or (ii) all or part of the beneficial ownership and right to present use and enjoyment of the factory-built homesite or other areas specified in the rental agreement and the term includes a mortgagee in possession.
(l) "Rent" means payments made by the tenant to the landlord for use of a factory-built home site and as payment for other facilities or services provided by the landlord.
(m) "Section" means a unit of a factory-built home which is transported and delivered as a whole and which contains some or all of the indoor living area.
(n) "Tenant" means a person entitled pursuant to a rental agreement to occupy a factory-built home site to the exclusion of others.
