Rent increases prompt ire at Delaware mobile home community

(AP) — Proposed rent increases at a mobile home community on Delaware’s Rehoboth Bay are exposing ambiguities in a state law designed to regulate the relationship between homeowners and their landlord.

The News Journal reports arbitration hearings are scheduled for next month on proposed rent increases at the Rehoboth Bay mobile home park. Residents are upset about double-digit hikes that could amount to a monthly increase approaching $100.

Residents own their homes but rent the land beneath them.

The landlord, Hometown America, says the increase is justified by $440,000 spent improving a bulkhead protecting the park from the bay.

A state law passed in 2013 allows landlords to increase rents to cover capital improvements. But residents say the bulkhead improvements are nothing more than routine maintenance.

Experts say the law needs clarification.