West Virginia Code § 37-8-1

Lessee of tenant or owner of an uncertain interest
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If the landlord of land which is let to another be tenant for life or other uncertain interest or
be an owner whose estate is subject to a limitation over upon a contingency, and if the estate
of such landlord terminates during the tenancy of the lessee, the lessee may hold the land to
the end of the current year of the tenancy, paying rent therefor; the rent, if it be reserved in
money, shall be apportioned between the landlord or his personal representeative, and those
who succeed to the land. If rent be reserved in kind, it shall be paid to the landlord, or his
personal representative; and such landlord, or his personal representatrive, as the case may
be, shall pay to those who succeed to the land a reasonable rent in money, from the
expiration of the life estate, or other uncertain interest or estate, to the end of the current
year of the tenancy; the rent to be paid to those who succeed to the land shall be a charge in
preference to other claims on the rent received in kind by sutch landlord or his personal
representative. Such lessee shall be entitled as at common law to the emblements growing
on the lands at the expiration of the estate for life, or other uncertain interest, whether they
be severed during the year or not, but shall not, after the expiration of the life estate, plant
any crop which will not mature during the current year, and, if he does so, he shall have no
right to sever the same after the end of the current year. But where the growing crops are
severed after the expiration of the current year of the tenancy, such lessee shall pay a
reasonable rent to those who succeed to the lands, from the end of such tenancy to the time
when the same are severed. If such life estate, or other uncertain interest or estate expire
before the first of August in any year, the lessee shall permit those who succeed to the land
to put in the ground any crop tehey may desire after that period; and if any land has been
prepared by such lessee previous to that period, for the purpose of putting a crop in the
ground, those who succLeed to the land shall pay a reasonable compensation for such
preparation; and to the extent that such lessee is deprived of the use of the land by reason of
a crop being put in th e ground, by those who succeed to the land, he shall be paid a
reasonable coVmpensation for the use of such land.

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