Background
Shraddha Joshi signed a handwritten lease in 2018 for property in Bunker Hill, West Virginia, then owned by Martha James. The lease called for $300 monthly rent. After James died, Melanie Mastermonico, the estate’s executor and a beneficiary, received rent payments from Joshi. Dibella, Joshi, and/or their associate operated a used-car business on the property.
Mastermonico sought to end the tenancy in September 2025. She gave written notice to the tenants’ business associate, called Dibella, and later gave petitioners a copy of the written notice when they visited the property. Petitioners did not vacate or return their key and did not pay rent for October through December. The magistrate court awarded possession to Mastermonico; after a de novo bench trial, the circuit court likewise awarded immediate possession, $900 in rent arrears, and $1,000 for Mastermonico’s lost earnest-money deposit.
The Court’s Holding
The Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed. It held that petitioners had not shown error in the circuit court’s finding that the lease’s purported 2029 termination date was an invalid alteration. Because the original term had expired, petitioners’ continued occupancy and rent payments created a month-to-month tenancy.
The court further held that one month’s notice under West Virginia Code § 37-6-5 applied, rather than the lease’s sixty-day provision. The record supported the circuit court’s conclusion that petitioners received timely actual and constructive notice through their business associate, the September 12 telephone call, and the written notice supplied on September 25. The appellate court also found no error in Mastermonico’s right to pursue unlawful detainer, the damages award, or the circuit court’s handling of petitioners’ opportunity to present their case.
Key Takeaways
- An uninitialed, unsupported alteration to a handwritten lease may be found invalid on the trial record.
- After a fixed lease term expires, continued possession and rent payments can create a month-to-month tenancy subject to statutory notice.
- In unlawful detainer, the issue is superior possessory right, not final adjudication of title.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores the deference appellate courts give to a trial court’s factual findings and credibility determinations after a bench trial. It also confirms that actual notice and service on a person holding the premises under the tenant can satisfy the notice requirements for terminating a month-to-month tenancy.