West Virginia regulated deposits later than almost any state (its Residential Rental Security Deposits Act, §§37-6A-1 to -6, dates to 2011), and its clock has a structure found nowhere else: re-renting the unit shortens the landlord's deadline.
How much can a landlord charge?
No statutory cap — the lease governs.
The 60/45-day clock
The landlord must return the balance with a written itemized notice within 60 days of termination — or within 45 days of a new tenant occupying the unit, whichever period is shorter. One extension exists: if damage exceeds the deposit and repairs can't be quantified in time, notice of that within the window buys 15 additional days for the final accounting. Deductions cover unpaid rent and utilities, damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, removal/storage costs, and other lease breaches.
The penalty
Failure to comply with the notice-and-return requirements forfeits the landlord's right to withhold, and where the failure or wrongful withholding is in bad faith, West Virginia courts can add damages and fees on top of the amount due. Magistrate court is the venue.
Why West Virginia deposit disputes are documentation disputes
Sixty days — or a re-rental that quietly shortens it — then an itemized notice full of condition claims about a unit someone else may already be living in. By the time the dispute is heard, the premises themselves are unavailable as evidence. The record made at move-in and move-out is all that's left, for both sides.
SealMove is that record, permanent. Every photo and video is cryptographically sealed the instant it's captured, independently timestamped, and locked with Face ID into a tamper-evident archive. At move-out, the walkthrough lines up room-by-room against the sealed baseline — and either party can send the other a report to review and acknowledge, no app required.