While the Bon Ayre manufactured home community in Smyrna, Delaware advertised residents were not liable to pay real estate taxes, the community sent out invoices December 2013 billing them for taxes from 2006, up to $291 each, MHProNews.com has learned. After receiving complaints from residents, the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Unit has ordered Bon Ayre within 60 days to refund to 194 tenants the share of taxes they paid, and to notify the attorney general’s office within 90 days that the refunds have been issued. According to news.delaware.gov, Attorney General Beau Biden says, “We’re acting to ensure that residents of manufactured home communities are treated fairly and that community owners are held accountable to the promises they make and to their obligations under the law.” The final settlement was secured with Bon Ayre and approved in a legally binding court order. ##

(Photo credit: First State Manufactured Housing Association)