How to Fire Your Property Manager in West Virginia

A step-by-step guide for West Virginia landlords switching property managers, covering trust fund accounts, the records to collect, moving tenant deposits and who needs a license to manage for pay.

Last updated September 23, 2026

Missed repairs, slow replies, a statement that never adds up. Most landlords wait too long to make the call. West Virginia gives you two real levers. Your manager's contract has to carry a definite end date, and the money they hold for you sits in a regulated trust fund account the Real Estate Commission can inspect.

Here is how to switch without losing a deposit, a tenant or a month of rent.

Step 1. Read your management agreement

Your contract decides how you exit. West Virginia license law gives you a head start on two clauses.

A definite expiration date is mandatory. Every contract obligating a broker to represent a principal has to contain one, and the contract cannot require you to notify the broker that you intend to cancel after that date (W. Va. Code § 30-40-26(b)). Evergreen auto-renewals that demand advance notice to stop are not allowed.
No trailing fee after you switch brokers. A contract cannot obligate you to pay a fee or commission after the expiration date if you sign with a different broker (§ 30-40-26(c)).

Then look for the rest.

Notice period. Many agreements call for 30 days' written notice.
Termination fee. Some charge one, some do not.
Leasing fee clawbacks. Check what you owe for tenants the manager placed.
Renewal and repair authority. Note commitments made on your behalf that outlast the contract.

If the manager broke the agreement, by ignoring repairs or mishandling money, you may be able to end it sooner. That is a question for a West Virginia attorney.

Step 2. Send written notice

Put it in writing, by email and by any method your agreement names. State the end date, ask for a full handover by that date, and list what you expect back (see Step 4).

Keep the tone flat and factual. You want your records, not an argument.

Step 3. Know the trust account rules

A West Virginia broker who does not hand funds straight to the principal or a neutral escrow depository has to keep a trust fund account at a federally insured financial institution. Rental receipts and tenant security deposits go in it, along with earnest money and closing escrow (§ 30-40-18(a), (b), (c)).

The broker cannot mix personal money with trust money or pledge the account as loan collateral, past a $100 allowance to hold a minimum balance (§ 30-40-18(f)). Records have to show the date each sum came in, who it came from, when it was deposited, when it went out, who the money belongs to and whose account it was received for, and they stay open to Commission inspection during business hours (§ 30-40-18(h)).

West Virginia sets no fixed handover deadline the way some states do. The license law uses a standard instead. A broker who "fails, within a reasonable time, to account for or to remit moneys or other assets coming into his or her possession, which belong to others" can have a license refused, suspended or revoked, and the same applies to commingling and to poor trust account records (§ 30-40-19(a)(8), (9), (29)).

Set your own deadline in the notice letter, tie it to the contract end date, and keep the paper trail. If the money or the records do not arrive, file a complaint with the West Virginia Real Estate Commission (§ 30-40-20).

Step 4. Collect everything

Ask for all of this before the end date.

Security deposits for every tenant, with the amount held for each one
The trust account ledger showing rents collected, fees taken and what is still owed to you
Signed leases, renewals and any addenda
Deduction records and move-in condition notes for every current and recent tenant
Tenant contact details and payment history
Open maintenance requests, vendor contacts, invoices and warranties
Keys, fobs, garage remotes and codes
Year-to-date income and expense reports for your taxes

The deduction records matter more here than landlords expect. State law makes a landlord keep itemized deduction records for each tenant for one year after the tenancy ends, and produce them within 72 hours of a written request (§ 37-6A-3). That duty lands on you the day you take over.

Step 5. Move the security deposits

West Virginia does not require residential deposits to sit in a dedicated escrow account once you hold them yourself. Article 6A of chapter 37 sets no escrow rule and no interest rule. The broker's trust account duty comes from the license law, so it travels with the broker.

A separate deposit account is still the right habit. It makes the one-year record trail easy and keeps your operating money clean.

What does follow the deposits is the liability. Any owner who succeeds to the landlord's interest has to meet the return obligations (§ 37-6A-2). Once the money is yours to hold, you owe each tenant the deposit back within 60 days of the tenancy ending, or within 45 days of a new tenant occupying the unit, whichever is shorter, with a written itemization of any deduction (§ 37-6A-1, § 37-6A-2). Get the wrong figure from your old manager and the tenant's claim still runs against you, at one and a half times anything willfully withheld (§ 37-6A-5).

Reconcile every deposit against the ledger before you sign off on the handover, and confirm the amount in writing with each tenant.

Step 6. Tell your tenants

Tenants care about three things. Where to pay rent, who to call for repairs, and whether their deposit is safe. Send one clear message covering all three, dated, with the day the change takes effect and the deposit figure you are now holding for them.

Step 7. Take over the day-to-day

Line up your vendors, set up rent collection, and get a maintenance line that picks up at 2am. West Virginia puts habitability duties on you directly, including running water, reasonable hot water at all times, and reasonable heat from October 1 through the last day of April on units with direct public utility connections (§ 37-6-30). A winter boiler failure is yours from day one.

Who can manage property for pay in West Virginia

Leasing, renting, managing or collecting rent on someone else's real estate for compensation is brokerage. The definition of broker covers a person who "lists, sells, purchases, exchanges, options, rents, manages, leases, or auctions any interest in real estate" for compensation (§ 30-40-4). Doing that without a license is unlawful (§ 30-40-3).

The exemptions that matter to you sit in § 30-40-5(c).

You, managing your own property. Any person acting on his or her own behalf as owner or lessor of real estate is outside the article (§ 30-40-5(c)(1)).
Your regular employees. Employees of an owner who perform regulated acts incidental to managing the real estate are exempt, provided they get no additional compensation for the act and do not do it as a vocation (§ 30-40-5(c)(2)).
A single-owner manager. Any person employed exclusively as the management or rental agent for the real estate of one person or entity is exempt (§ 30-40-5(c)(8)).

If you hire a new manager who works across several owners' portfolios, check the license on the West Virginia Real Estate Commission site before you sign.

Your switching checklist

Read the agreement for the expiration date, notice, fees and clawbacks
Send written notice with a hard end date
Demand the trust account ledger and remittance of every dollar held
Collect deposits, leases, deduction records, vendor files and keys
Reconcile each deposit and confirm the amount with each tenant in writing
Open a separate deposit account and start the one-year record trail
Tell tenants where to pay and who to call
File a Commission complaint if the money or records do not arrive

Switch to Taz

Taz is an AI property manager built for landlords who have been let down before. It answers tenants day and night, routes repairs to vendors, sends rent reminders and keeps every record in one place, for a flat monthly price per door instead of a cut of your rent. See how Taz works.

Where this guide says a state has no rule on something, that means we found no statute setting one, which is not the same as none existing. Local ordinances and court practice can add requirements. Confirm anything you plan to rely on.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your management agreement and your specific facts matter. Talk to a West Virginia attorney before ending a contract. Last checked September 2026.