DOVER, Del. (AP) - A judge has overturned an arbitrator's rejection of a rent increase on residents of a Kent County mobile home park.
The judge ruled this week that Ciro Poppiti III erred last year in nixing a landlord's rent increase at Wild Meadows.
The judge sent the case back to Poppiti, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, saying he failed to address the required statutory criteria and denied the rent increase based on criteria not authorized by law.
The landlord sought a rent increase equal to the local urban Consumer Price Index, which the judge said was authorized, and an excess amount for capital improvements and non-routine repairs.
Poppiti said the residents should not have to pay to fix problems that he blamed on the landlord's failure to adequately maintain the property.
