Evicting Occupants From Property Held as a Life Estate

Attorney Answer

Possibly — but you would be bringing the wrong kind of case if you filed a standard landlord eviction, because these people are not your tenants.

As a life tenant you hold the present right to possess the property for your lifetime. Your daughter, as the person who holds the remainder, owns the future interest but does not have the right to possession now. That is the premise of your question, and whether her lease can give her tenants a possessory right good against you is decided by West Virginia common law governing life estates and remainders, not by any statute. It is worth having a lawyer read the deed itself, because the language creating the life estate — including whether it reserved the right to rent, or carved out this second house — can change the answer entirely.

On the mechanics, W. Va. Code § 55-3-1 is the provision that fits. West Virginia's unlawful entry and detainer action is in Chapter 55, Article 3. Under § 55-3-1, a person entitled to possession may sue where another "unlawfully withholds from the plaintiff, the premises in question," and the action must be brought within three years after the unlawful entry or detainer. That is the vehicle for someone who has the right to present possession against occupants who have no possessory right good against them.

What does not fit is the summary eviction statute, W. Va. Code § 55-3A-1. Its grounds are rent arrears, breach of a leasehold covenant, and damage to the property. Every one of those presumes a landlord-tenant relationship between the person filing and the occupant. You have no lease with these people — they rent from your daughter — so that petition is the wrong tool, and filing it is a good way to lose on procedure rather than on the merits.

What you can do

1. Get a copy of the recorded deed and read exactly what the life estate covers. Whether it includes the land under the second house, and whether it reserved any leasing rights, is the threshold question. 2. Find out what your daughter actually gave them. Ask for the lease, in writing, and note when it started and when it ends. 3. Take the deed and the lease to a real property lawyer before filing anything. A short consultation on which action to bring is cheaper than a dismissed case. 4. If you proceed, file an unlawful entry and detainer action under W. Va. Code § 55-3-1, not a summary relief petition. 5. Do not change locks, shut off utilities, or remove belongings. Self-help of that kind will turn your case into their case. 6. Consider whether a written agreement with your daughter resolves it. She created the tenancy, and she is in the best position to end it.