AG Jennings announces victory in Lincoln housing community case

LINCOLN, Del. – Attorney General Kathy Jennings has announced a preliminary victory for residents of a Lincoln community.

In April 2023, a Summary Cease and Desist order was issued, requiring Blue Beach to refrain from making false statements to residents and evicting residents in violation of the law, among other things, in the Pine Haven manufactured home community. The order was accompanied by a complaint, detailing how residents were subjected to illegal rent increases, illegally threatened with eviction and arrest, and in some cases, forced out of their homes prematurely.

A number of Pine Haven residents targeted for eviction by the owner were protected by a recent amendment to Delaware’s Manufactured Housing Code.

Last week, an administrative hearing officer issued an opinion finding that Blue Beach has willfully violated Delaware’s Consumer Fraud Act among other laws, and ordered the company to pay over $800,000 in penalties and rebates of excess rent paid by residents.

Blue Beach has 30 days to appeal the order.