§60A-11-5 Residential property owner responsibility; owner immunity; voluntary compliance. - West Virginia Statutes

§60A-11-5. Residential property owner responsibility; owner immunity; voluntary compliance.
(a) Upon notification to the residential property owner by a law-enforcement agency that chemicals, equipment, supplies or precursors indicative of a clandestine drug laboratory have been located on the residential property owner's property, the residential property owner shall be responsible for actions necessary to meet the remediation standards established by the legislative rule authorized by this article. The residential property owner is responsible for actions to ensure the residential property shall remain unoccupied from the time the residential property owner is notified of the clandestine drug laboratory until such time as the department certifies that the completed remediation meets the numeric decontamination levels set forth in the legislative rule authorized in this article. The department shall have forty-five days from receipt of all necessary paperwork and documentation to complete remediation certification: Provided, That a residential property owner may demolish the residential property as an alternative to meeting the remediation standards established by the department.

(b) Once the remediation has been certified complete by the department, the residential property owner and any representative or agent of a residential property owner who neither knew or should have known of the property's illegal use shall be immune from civil liability for action brought for injuries or loss based upon the prior use of the residential property as a clandestine drug laboratory by future owners, renters, lessees or any other person who occupies the residential property.

(c) Any residential property owner who neither knew or should have known of the property's illegal use who chooses to voluntarily and successfully complete the remediation prior to notification by a law-enforcement agency shall have the same immunity from liability as set forth in subsection (b) of this section if the remediation meets the certification standards set forth in legislative rules authorized by this article.