If the premises be occupied, the occupant shall be named defendant in the declaration; and whether they be occupied or not, any person exercising acts of ownership thereon, or claiming title thereto, or any interest therein, at the commencement of the action, may also be named as defendant in the declaration. If a lessee be made defendant without joining his landlord, such landlord may appear and be made defendant with, or in place of his lessee.
West Virginia Legal Code