Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in West Virginia

Re: liability

Whoever negligently causes damage to your property is "liable" to you for it, regardless of insurance. Liability insurance would only provide you with an easier way of recovering. For example, if a tenant negligently starts a fire that destroys the property, the tenant would be liable to you for the damage. If the property is insured, then you would receive the proceeds from the insurance company, and the company would then pursue a claim against the tenant.

What you are wanting though, is a way to have the tenant be liable for damage to the property even when the damage was caused by someone or something other than the tenant. I'm not sure this is entirely possible without drastically dropping the rent. In essence, you would be making the tenant your "insurance company." If something, anything, happens to the property, you would be able to sue the tenant to recover. This is a profound undertaking by the tenant, and would be considered as being well outside the normal bounds of a residential lease. Most tenants do not expect to be liable for damage to the property caused by third-partie; they do not expect to be subjected to insuring the landlords properties.

I would expect most courts would not uphold such a provision in a residential lease absent a showing that it was bargained for and that the tenant received some reasonable benefit for taking on the liability. Even then, I think it would be a stretch. The WV Supreme Court is extremely consumer/tenant friendly, and I do not see them permitting landlords to shift liability risks to tenants simply by virtue of being tenants. It would be shifting the risks of a wealthier, property owning class onto the backs of a poorer, propertyless class; in essence, having those without property insuring those with property.

I don't see how it could properly be done in a way that the WV courts would uphold it.

You can get insurance in WV to cover your liabilities, it is just very expensive now. You should call around.