AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 10 AND 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MANUFACTURED HOUSING AND TENANTS’ RECEIVERSHIP PETITIONS.

Stronger protections for Delaware manufactured home tenants

Delaware’s Consumer Protection Unit enforces covered manufactured-housing rules and rental-agreement terms required by law. When the unit has reasonable cause to suspect repeated landlord violations, the Attorney General can sue to enforce compliance. Repeated violations also count as consumer fraud when all four conditions apply: careless actions by tenants, family members, or permitted visitors did not directly cause the problem; the landlord knew or should have known; the landlord failed to fix it promptly; and the problem risked occupants’ health, safety, or property. Tenants, tenant groups, or the Attorney General can ask a Justice of the Peace Court for a receivership. The problem must last at least five days after notice to the landlord. Qualifying problems include missing landlord-required heat, running water, light, electricity, or adequate sewage service, or conditions posing immediate danger to tenants’ life, health, or safety. Filing does not take away other legal remedies, and the Attorney General can join these manufactured-housing cases. Courts must notify the Department of Justice’s consumer protection director within 10 days of receiving a covered tenants’ receivership petition. The notice must include the petition and case number, unless the Attorney General filed the petition.