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West Virginia2026Enacted

HB4484

HB4484: New Rules for Selling and Leasing County Property

Last scannedAug 22, 2026, 11:08 AM

In one sentence

This law gives county commissions more ways to sell or lease their property, including using competitive bids or selling directly to private buyers under specific price rules.

What it does

  • Allows counties to use a competitive bidding process instead of holding a public auction for some sales.
  • Sets the minimum sale price at one and a half times the assessed value when using competitive bidding, based on tax records or an appraisal.
  • Permits direct sales to private buyers if they pay at least 75 percent of the appraised property value determined by the county assessor or a licensed appraiser.
  • Requires counties to publish legal advertisements before selling most properties and post received offers online after a sale is approved.
  • Creates rules for returning land to the county if certain nonprofit groups sell it later, unless the county agrees otherwise in writing.

Who it affects

  • County commissions in West Virginia
  • Private buyers purchasing real property from counties
  • Volunteer fire departments and ambulance services buying or receiving county land
  • Nonprofit community center organizations existing before the 2020 Regular Session amendments
  • Nonprofit senior center organizations

Limits and unknowns

  • The law does not apply to single items worth less than $10,000.
  • Sales to the federal or state governments do not require a public auction.
  • The provided text ends before listing all specific rules for leasing property.

Plain language

Terms to know

Competitive bidding
A process where buyers submit sealed offers, and the seller chooses a winner based on set rules instead of an open auction.
Appraised value
The estimated market price of property determined by the county assessor or a state-licensed real estate appraiser.
Class II legal advertisement
A specific type of public notice published in newspapers to inform people about official government actions like sales.

Official record

Sources

Validated
Official bill pageIntroduced textCurrent bill textStored full record

Official summary

To expand each county commission’s ability to sell or lease property.

Official activity

Bill history

  1. Chapter 273, Acts, Regular Session, 2026H
  2. Approved by Governor 3/19/2026H
  3. Approved by Governor 3/19/2026 - House JournalH
  4. Approved by Governor 3/19/2026 - Senate JournalS
  5. To Governor 3/11/2026 - Senate JournalS
  6. To Governor 3/11/2026H
  7. House Message receivedS
  8. Completed legislative actionH
  9. Communicated to SenateH
  10. Effective from passage (Roll No. 379)H
  11. House concurred in Senate amendment and passed bill (Roll No. 378)H
  12. House received Senate messageH
  13. Senate requests House to concurS
  14. Effective from passage (Roll No. 375)S
  15. Passed Senate (Roll No. 374)S
  16. Read 3rd timeS
  17. On 3rd readingS
  18. Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)S
  19. Read 2nd timeS
  20. On 2nd readingS

Changes

Amendments

2 stored

hb4484 hfa funkhouser 2-2 _1 adopted.htm

This amendment fixes a small grammar error by adding commas so that all four ways counties can sell their property are listed clearly.

hb4484 hfa funkhouser 2-2 _1.htm

This amendment fixes a small grammar error by adding commas so that all four ways counties can sell their land are listed clearly.