IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF DELAWARE

BON AYRE LAND, LLC., :

 :

Appellant, : C.A.No. K15A-09-005 JJC

 : In and for Kent County

v. :

 :

BON AYRE COMMUNITY :

ASSOCIATION, :

 :

Appellee. :

ORDER

Submitted: November 23, 2016

Decided: December 2, 2016

On this 2

nd day of December, 2016, having considered the briefing, arguments

ofthe parties, and the decision ofthe Delaware Supreme Court in Bon Ayre Land, LLC

v. Bon Ayre Community Ass’n (Bon Ayre II),

1

 it appears that:

1. On August 24, 2015, an arbitrator appointed pursuant to SubchapterIII ofthe

Delaware Manufactured Home Owners and Community Owners Act (hereinafter the

“Act”),

2

issued a decision denying Appellant Bon Ayre Land, LLC’s (hereinafter

“community owner’s”) application for a market rent increase from the members ofthe

Bon Ayre Community Association (hereinafter the “home owners”). The community

owner appealed the arbitrator’s denial ofthe increase to this Court. Since the inception

of the Act, this matter is the third rent increase application appealed by the parties

involving rental agreements at the same Kent County manufactured home community.

1

2016 WL 5874838 (Del. Oct. 10, 2016).

2

25 Del. C. § 7040 et seq.
The first two appeals of arbitrator decisions were eventually heard by the Delaware

Supreme Court.3

2. After briefing and oral argument were completed in the present case, the

community owners separately filed an intervening appeal of the Superior Court’s

decision in Bon Ayre II. The issues and parties in this case mirrored those before the

Supreme Court in Bon Ayre II. Accordingly, to best conserve the resources of the

parties and the Court, the Court stayed the present matter pending the Delaware

Supreme Court’s decision in that case.

3. On October 10, 2016, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Bon Ayre II,

resolving the two principal issues raised by the parties in their briefing in the instant

matter.

4 This Court then lifted the stay in this action and the parties requested

supplemental briefing regarding the appropriate course of action in the present case.

4. In Bon Ayre II, the Supreme Court held that based on the clear language ofthe

Act, a proposed rental increase for market rent purposes also requires that such a

proposed rental increase be “directly related to operating, maintaining, or improving”

the community.

5 Furthermore, the Supreme Court held that the Act does not limit

competent evidence of market rent to rents actually charged.6 Namely, the Supreme

Court held that advertised rents constitute admissible evidence in support of market

rent increases.

7 The Supreme Court’s decision reconciled the tension in the Act caused

3

See Bon Ayre Land, LLC v. Bon Ayre Community Ass’n (Bon Ayre I), 133 A.3d 559, 2016

WL 747989 (Del. Feb. 25, 2016) (Table); Bon Ayre II, 2016 WL 5874838 (Del. Oct. 10, 2016).

4

2016 WL 5874838.

5

Id. at *4.

6

Id. at *6.

7

Id.

2
as a result of litigants not being afforded compulsory process to compel potential

business competitors to produce evidence of rents actually paid.

5. Here, before the Supreme Court issued its decision, the arbitrator found 

differently when denying the community owner’s requested increase. Namely, the

arbitrator held that a market rent increase “did not limit the community owner to

require proof that all of the increases must be shown to have been spent on operation,

maintenance, orimprovement ofthe community.”

8 Furthermore, the arbitratorrejected

the opinion of the community owner’s expert after finding that only rents actually

charged constituted competent evidence of market rent.9In significant part, the

community owner’s expert relied upon advertised rents in rendering his opinion.

6. The Delaware Supreme Court’s separate holding in Bon Ayre I is also

relevant to this matter. Namely, there the Supreme Court held that a remand was

appropriate if the arbitrator did not fully examine relevant issues.

10

In so holding, the

Delaware Supreme Court strongly signaled that the scope of review by the Superior

Court in appeals pursuant to the Act requires a substantial evidence and error of law

review as opposed to a de novo consideration of the record.11

7. In the case at hand, the arbitrator did not apply the proper standard in

evaluating a proposed market rent increase and did not make factual findingsregarding

the required statutory criteria. Furthermore, in rejecting the community owner’s

8 Appellant’s Op. Brief Ex. A.

9

Id.

10 Bon Ayre I, 2016 WL 747989, at *3.

11

Id. at *2; see also December Corp. v. Wild Meadows Home Owner’s Ass’n, 2016 WL

3866272, at *4 (Del. Super.July12, 2016) (applying the substantial evidence and legal errorstandard

of review).

3
proposed increase in excess of the CPI-U, the arbitrator assigned no weight to

advertised rents. In turn, because ofthat constricted view, he assigned no weight to the

community owner’s expert report offering an opinion regarding the appropriate market

rent.

8. The home owners argue that notwithstanding an application of the wrong

legal standard, the arbitrator’s decision should be affirmed without remand. They

argue that the community owner made the tactical decision to not submit evidence at

the hearing relevant to the proposed rental increase being directly related to operations,

maintenance, or improvements. They also argue that 25 Del.C. § 7043(b) requires, as

a pre-requisite to a rent increase under the Act, that the community owners disclose to

the home owners the support for claims that the market rent increase directly relates to

operations, maintenance, or improvements. That subsection requires that at a meeting

between the community owner and the home owners, “the community owner shall, in

good faith, disclose in writing all of the material factors resulting in the decision to

increase the rent.”

12 Since the community owner did not do so here, the home owners

argue that the community owner is barred from requesting the increase.

9. Lastly, with regard to the factualsufficiency ofthe evidence regardingmarket

rent, the home owners argue that the arbitrator rejected the community owner’s expert

report based upon multiple credibility issues. Accordingly, they argue the actual rent

charged versus advertised rent issue was essentially harmless error. The home owners

argue that the arbitrator’s decision should therefore be affirmed on the existing record.

In the alternative, the home owners argue that if a remand is appropriate, the arbitrator

should conduct the remand on the existing factualrecord without considering additional

12

25 Del. C. § 7043(b).

4
evidence.

10. In contrast, the community owner arguesthat the mattershould be remanded

with instructions that the arbitrator receive additional evidence. In support, the

community owner emphasizes that two prior arbitrator orders applied the same

erroneous standard and that this issue was not resolved until Bon Ayre II.

Furthermore, the same arbitrator involved in this matter had previously found, in a

separate case, that there was not a requirement for market rent increases to be directly

related to operations, maintenance, or improvements. Accordingly, the community

owner argues that it would be unfair to be bound by the existing record. Lastly, the

community owner relies upon the Delaware Supreme Court’s direction in Bon Ayre

I, remanding a matter to the arbitrator where “[i]n fairness, any reversal of the

arbitrator’s decision [because of statutory construction of the Act], should have

resulted in a remand to the arbitrator to allow him to take additional evidence . . ..”

13

11. In this case, the Court is persuaded that the matter should be remanded to

the arbitrator so he can apply the standard articulated in Bon Ayre II for evaluating an

application for a market rent increase and to weigh the evidence, as appropriate, given

the recent guidance of the Delaware Supreme Court regarding advertised rents. The

Court is mindful of the difficulties to date in applying the Act, and the uncertainty

regarding its applicable standards. It is accordingly appropriate for the arbitrator to

address the home owner’s argument pursuant to Section 7043(b) of Title 25, as well

as to decide if he should permit submission of further evidence regarding the

relationship of the proposed increase to the operation, maintenance, or improvement

of the property at issue.

13 Bon Ayre I, 2016 WL 747989, at *3.

5
12. This Court, in applying a substantial evidence review, finds it inappropriate 

to make a de novo factual finding or to assume what the arbitrator would have found

after examining the Act’s proper criteria. Furthermore, this Court cannot make a

factual finding regarding the credibility ultimately due the community owner’s expert,

given that advertised rents should have been considered. On balance, as the original

hearing officer and fact finder, the arbitrator will be best suited to determine the

ultimate scope of the record given the legal clarification now available. 

WHEREFORE, for the reasons cited herein, the matter is REMANDED for the

arbitrator to conduct further proceedings consistent with this decision.

IT IS SO ORDERED

/s/Jeffrey J Clark

 Judge

6