Published 2026-09-25 · 17 min read

Delaware Landlord-Tenant Law 2026: The Plain-English Guide

Delaware residential rentals run on the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, Title 25, Chapters 51 through 59 of the Delaware Code. It is a paperwork state with short clocks: deposits are capped at one month's rent for most tenancies, held in a Delaware escrow account, and accounted for within 20 days of the end of the tenancy, with double-damage penalties written into the statute. Termination notices run 60 days. And on September 1, 2026, the Code changed in a way every Delaware landlord needs to know: the nonpayment notice grew from five days to seven, and a new right of redemption (25 Del. C. § 5716A, created by SS 1 for SB 116, 85 Del. Laws ch. 436, signed August 18, 2026) now lets a tenant in a nonpayment case pay everything owed and stop the eviction at any point before the eviction order is actually executed. Landlords who run Delaware rentals on last year's forms will get the two most important numbers in the state wrong.

This guide works through the rules a Delaware landlord actually touches: the deposit cap and its exceptions, escrow and forfeiture, the 20-day return clock, application fees, late charges, renewal and termination notices, the rewritten nonpayment process, redemption, cure notices, habitability duties and the tenant remedies behind them, entry, retaliation, required disclosures, and discrimination. Every deadline is stated the way the current Code states it, with dated examples you can check against a calendar.

The numbers that matter

• Deposit cap: 1 month's rent where the agreement is for 1 year or more; the same cap applies to month-to-month and undefined-term tenancies once they have lasted 1 year, and any excess must then be credited back immediately. Furnished units are exempt (§ 5514(a)).
• Deposit escrow: a designated security-deposit account at a federally insured institution with an office that accepts deposits in Delaware; the location must be disclosed to the tenant (§ 5514(b)).
• Deposit return and itemization: within 20 days after the tenancy expires or terminates (§ 5514(e)–(f)).
• Deposit penalty: double the amount wrongfully withheld; failure to disclose the escrow location within 20 days of a written request, or to escrow the deposit at all, works a forfeiture of the deposit (§ 5514(g)).
• Pet deposit: up to 1 month's rent, never for a certified, trained support animal (§ 5514(i)).
• Application fee: no more than the greater of 10% of monthly rent or $50 (§ 5514(d)).
• Late charge: at most 5% of monthly rent, and never imposed within 5 days of the agreed payment time (§ 5501(d)).
• Nonpayment notice: at least 7 days — changed from 5 by the 2026 redemption act (§ 5502(a)).
• Lease-violation cure notice: at least 7 days (§ 5513(a)).
• Termination and renewal-change notices: 60 days (§§ 5106, 5107).
• Entry notice: 48 hours, entry only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. (§ 5509(b)).
• Right of redemption: in a nonpayment case, at any time before the eviction order is actually executed (§ 5716A).

How much can a Delaware landlord charge as a security deposit? (§ 5514)

The cap, and when it bites

Delaware's cap is one month's rent, but it arrives on a schedule rather than all at once. For a rental agreement of one year or more, a landlord may never require more than one month's rent as a security deposit. For a primary-residence tenancy with no fixed term, or a month-to-month tenancy, the one-month ceiling applies once the tenancy has lasted a year — a landlord may collect more during the first year, but the moment the year expires, any amount above one month's rent (counting any surety bond in the total) must be returned to the tenant immediately as a credit. Furnished rental units sit outside these limits entirely.

Two related rules round out the deposit picture. A tenant may elect to buy a surety bond instead of paying some or all of a deposit (§ 5514A); a landlord cannot require the bond, need not accept one, and the combined bond-plus-deposit total is subject to the same one-month ceiling. And if the lease so provides, the deposit may be raised as rent rises — but if the increase exceeds 10% of the monthly rent, the added amount is prorated over the lease term, or over four months on a month-to-month tenancy (§ 5514(j)).

Escrow: a Delaware account, and a forfeiture rule with teeth

Every deposit must sit in an escrow bank account at a federally insured banking institution with an office that accepts deposits within Delaware. The account must be designated as a security-deposit account and cannot be used in running the landlord's business. The deposit principal is held for the tenant's benefit, and the tenant's claim to it ranks ahead of any creditor of the landlord, including a bankruptcy trustee, even if the money was commingled. The landlord must tell the tenant where the account is located.

The disclosure duty is where Delaware gets unusually strict, and where older summaries of this law are often wrong. If a landlord fails to disclose the escrow location within 20 days of the tenant's written request — or never puts the deposit in a qualifying Delaware institution at all — the statute treats the deposit as forfeited to the tenant. If the landlord then fails to return the full deposit within 20 days of the forfeiture, the tenant is entitled to double the amount of the security deposit. A ignored disclosure letter can therefore cost more than a late refund. Answer deposit-location requests in writing, within days, and keep the reply.

What the deposit may cover

The Code lists three purposes, and only three: actual damage beyond normal wear and tear (or beyond what painting and ordinary cleaning correct); rent arrears due under the agreement, including late charges and rent owed for premature termination or abandonment; and the reasonable cost of renovating and re-renting after a premature termination — with the re-rental recovery for a tenant's statutory early termination under § 5314 capped at one month's rent. Damage caused by an animal is charged first against the pet deposit, and only the shortfall reaches the security deposit.

The 20-day return clock

If the landlord is not entitled to keep all or part of the deposit, the balance must be remitted within 20 days of the expiration or termination of the rental agreement. Within the same 20 days, the landlord must also give the tenant an itemized list of damages, with the estimated cost of repair for each item, and tender the difference between the deposit and those costs. Missing the itemization deadline is treated as an acknowledgment that no payment for damages is due at all — the deduction right is lost, not merely delayed.

The tenant's side of the exchange matters too. Accepting the tendered payment counts as agreement with the itemized damages unless the tenant objects in writing within 10 days of receiving it. All deposit communications go to the forwarding address the tenant provided in writing at or before termination; a tenant who provides no forwarding address relieves the landlord of the notice duty and of double-damage liability, but the landlord still owes the unused balance if the tenant claims it in writing within one year.

Dated example (weekdays verified): a tenancy terminates on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. The itemized list and the balance are due within 20 days — by Tuesday, October 20, 2026. Suppose the deposit is $1,800 (one month's rent), with $400 of documented damage beyond wear and tear and $200 of rent arrears: the tenant is owed $1,200 by October 20. If the landlord simply keeps the $600 of lawful deductions but sends nothing — no list, no balance — the failure-to-itemize rule wipes out the damage claim, and a landlord who also misses the remittance deadline faces double the amount wrongfully withheld on top of the refund.

Application fees and nonrefundable charges

An application fee — money charged to check a prospective tenant's creditworthiness — may not exceed the greater of 10% of the monthly rent or $50. (On a $1,800 unit, 10% is $180, so the ceiling is $180, not $50.) The landlord must give a receipt for the full amount and keep complete fee records for at least two years. Demanding more than the lawful fee entitles the tenant to double the amount charged. Separately, the Code bars nonrefundable move-in fees as a condition of occupancy, apart from an optional service fee for actual services rendered, such as a pool or tennis-court fee.

Use our Security Deposit Deadline Finder and deductions guide to sanity-check a deduction list before you send it, and photo-document condition at both ends with our move-in/move-out inspection checklist.

What are Delaware's rules for rent increases and late fees?

Late charges (§ 5501(d))

Where the rental agreement provides for a late charge, it may not exceed 5% of the monthly rent, and it counts as additional rent under the Code. It may not be imposed within five days of the agreed payment time — on $1,800 rent due Sunday, March 1, 2026, the largest lawful late charge is $90, and it cannot be imposed before Friday, March 6, 2026. The landlord must maintain an office or other permanent place in the county where the unit is located at which rent may be timely paid; failing to do so extends the agreed payment time by three days beyond the due date, which pushes the late-charge clock with it. Cash payments carry their own paperwork: a receipt within 15 days, and cash-receipt records kept for three years (§ 5501(e)).

No statewide rent cap — but renewal changes run on § 5107

Title 25 sets no percentage cap on rent increases, and none was enacted by the 153rd General Assembly before its session ended on June 30, 2026; rent-stabilization bills were debated again in 2026 without becoming law. What the Code regulates is the process of changing terms at renewal. Under § 5107, a landlord who intends to renew a rental agreement on amended or modified provisions — term length, deposit, or rent — must give the tenant at least 60 days' written notice before the agreement expires, specifying the new provisions, the new rent or deposit amounts, and the date the changes take effect. Silence then works against the tenant: unless the tenant notifies the landlord of an intention to terminate at least 45 days before the last day of the term, the modified terms are deemed accepted. A tenant who affirmatively rejects the new terms converts the renewal notice into an effective termination notice. The section does not apply where rent and deposit are set by HUD income-based rules.

See how to raise rent legally for increase documentation and how to handle late rent for collection routines that stay inside these clocks.

How much notice is required to end a Delaware tenancy? (§ 5106)

An oral rental agreement cannot be effective for longer than one year, and where no term is stated, the tenancy is month-to-month by default. Either party may terminate a non-month-to-month agreement by giving at least 60 days' written notice before the term expires, stating that the agreement terminates on its expiration date.

Month-to-month tenancies carry the trap: the 60-day period does not begin on the day notice is given. It begins on the first day of the month following the day of actual notice. Dated example: notice actually given on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 starts the clock on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, and the 60th day is Saturday, May 30, 2026 — a landlord who counted 60 days from March 18 would be more than two weeks early, and a summary possession filing built on that count is defective. Federally subsidized units are carved out where federal law conflicts with the Code.

How does eviction for nonpayment work in Delaware?

The notice, as rewritten in 2026 (§ 5502)

Before September 1, 2026, Delaware's nonpayment notice was five days, and most forms, checklists, and older guides still say five. The redemption act amended § 5502(a): the landlord or agent may now demand the past-due rent and notify the tenant in writing that, unless payment is made within a time stated in the notice — not less than 7 days after the date the notice was given or sent — the landlord may file a court action to terminate the rental agreement. Only if the tenant remains in default after that period may the landlord bring a summary possession action. A rent-only action is also available once a proper demand and notice have run (§ 5502(b)), and accrued late charges ride along as additional rent.

Worked example: rent due Sunday, March 1, 2026 goes unpaid, and the landlord's written demand is given on Monday, March 2, 2026. The earliest date the stated payment window can close is Monday, March 9, 2026; a filing made on March 6 on a five-day theory — correct last year — is premature today. Time computation under § 5112 excludes the day of the triggering act and includes the last day unless it falls on a weekend or legal holiday; keep the certificate of mailing or return receipt, because under § 5113 it is prima facie evidence of service.

The 2026 act also rewrote the payment-acceptance subsections, and the old "written reservation of rights" framing is gone from the current text. If a tenant, or someone paying on the tenant's behalf, pays all rent due before an action is filed, the landlord may not then file a nonpayment action on that default — and the landlord may not refuse a rental payment made by or on behalf of the tenant, though payment methods may be limited to those the lease accepts. If full payment arrives after an action is filed, the landlord may not maintain that action on the past-due rent; before judgment, payment methods may be limited to those in the lease, and once judgment has been entered, the landlord may require payment by certified check or money order.

Redemption: pay in full, stop the eviction (§ 5716A)

The new § 5716A gives a tenant in a summary possession action based on failure to pay rent — where possession has been requested or awarded — a right to redeem the unit by tendering everything the court determines is past due, including all rent due under the lease, plus court-awarded costs and fees, paid by cash, certified check, or money order to the landlord or the landlord's agent. The right lasts until the actual execution of the eviction order — not judgment day, not the day the writ issues, not the day it posts.

Redemption sets off duties on the landlord's side. On receiving the payment, the landlord or agent must immediately notify the court and the constable or sheriff holding the writ of possession, and make all reasonable efforts to prevent execution. The court then issues an immediate stay and allows at least five days for evidence and filings; if payment comes after the writ has posted, the tenant must file the request to stay the writ, and the landlord may ask the court to hold further action until any check has fully cleared. Once the court has the landlord's notification or adequate evidence of redemption, it vacates the possession judgment and terminates the writ. A check from a government or other entity paying on the tenant's behalf has the same effect as the tenant's own payment.

The right has a hard limit: it does not apply to a tenant against whom three judgments of possession for nonpayment were entered in the 24 months before the current action was filed — and a judgment that was vacated through redemption still counts toward those three. Practically, Delaware nonpayment practice is now: keep the ledger court-ready through execution day, expect a full-payment tender late in the case, and have a same-day routine for notifying the court and the officer holding the writ when one arrives. Refusing a qualifying payment is not an available strategy; the Code forbids it.

Tenants do not navigate this alone. Delaware's eviction diversion program in the Justice of the Peace Court offers negotiation and mediation in residential cases, and Chapter 56 gives covered, income-eligible tenants a right to legal representation in covered proceedings — a right triggered as early as the § 5502, § 5513, or § 5106 notice itself. Landlords must provide tenants the program's informational materials at lease signing or on an oral tenancy, at the first renewal or modification, and at subsidy termination (§ 5606). Budget your timelines for represented, diversion-track cases, not for defaults.

Full process: how to evict a tenant.

How much time does a Delaware tenant get to cure a lease violation? (§ 5513)

For a material breach of a rule or covenant — other than nonpayment, which runs under § 5502 — the landlord must notify the tenant of the breach in writing and allow at least seven days after the notice to remedy or correct it. The notice has to do specific work: state substantially the rule allegedly breached, advise the tenant that if the violation continues after seven days the landlord may terminate the agreement and bring a summary possession action, state that it is given under this section, and warn that a substantially similar breach within one year lets the landlord rely on the original notice to start a new action without a fresh cure period. The notice itself does not establish that the breach occurred — the landlord still has to prove it.

Three branches matter. If the breach is one the landlord can fix directly — cleaning, repairing, replacing a damaged item — the landlord may do so and bill the tenant the actual, reasonable cost, payable as additional rent immediately on receipt. If the breach also violates a municipal, county, or state code, ordinance, or statute, the landlord may terminate and file without waiting out a cure. And where a breach causes or threatens irreparable harm to a person or property — or the tenant is convicted during the tenancy of a class A misdemeanor or felony that caused or threatened such harm — the landlord may, without notice, remedy and bill, terminate immediately on notice and file, or both (§ 5513(b)).

Holdover is priced separately: a tenant who stays after a rightful termination without the landlord's consent owes up to double the monthly rent, pro-rated daily, for each holdover day, plus any further losses the landlord proves in court (§ 5515(b)).

Repairs and habitability

The landlord's duties (§ 5305)

Throughout the tenancy the landlord must, in substance: comply with the state and local codes governing maintenance, construction, use, and appearance of the unit and the property; provide a unit that is fit for its rented purpose and does not endanger the health, welfare, or safety of its occupants; keep landlord-maintained common areas clean and sanitary; make the repairs and arrangements needed to keep the unit and its appurtenances in as good a condition as they were, or legally should have been, when the tenancy began; and keep landlord-supplied electrical, plumbing, and other facilities in good working order. A landlord and tenant may shift specified maintenance to the tenant only by a conspicuous writing separate from the rental agreement, only for work primarily benefiting the unit, never for work needed to bring the unit into code compliance, and only for real consideration or a rent reduction beyond the agreement itself. Code compliance is evidence of compliance with the chapter — inspection records are worth keeping.

When the tenant can walk: 15 days (§ 5306)

If a condition deprives the tenant of a substantial part of the benefit of the bargain, the tenant may notify the landlord in writing, and if the landlord does not remedy the condition within 15 days of receiving the notice, the tenant may terminate the agreement. If the condition makes the unit uninhabitable or poses an imminent threat to health, safety, or welfare, the tenant may terminate immediately after notice, without going through the Justice of the Peace Court. There is no termination right for a condition the tenant, family, or guests caused, and a wrongful termination leaves the tenant bound. Where the landlord caused the condition willfully or negligently, the tenant may recover the greater of the cost difference of equivalent substitute housing for the rest of the term, or one month's rent plus the security deposit.

Repair and deduct: $400 or half a month, whichever is less (§ 5307)

For ordinary repair failures — the landlord does not repair, maintain, or keep the unit sanitary as statute, code, ordinance, or the agreement requires — the tenant must first notify the landlord in writing. If the landlord does not remedy the failure within 30 days of the notice, or does not begin reasonable corrective measures (getting an estimate counts) within 10 days, the tenant may have the work done professionally and deduct a reasonable sum up to $400 or half of one month's rent, whichever is less, against receipts covering at least the amount deducted. A tenant who caused the condition cannot use the remedy, and neither can a tenant who is delinquent in rent. Dated example: written notice received Monday, March 2, 2026 puts the start-work deadline at Thursday, March 12, 2026 and the remedy deadline at Wednesday, April 1, 2026; on an $1,800 unit the deduction ceiling is $400, not $900, because the statute takes the lesser figure. See how to handle maintenance requests for a log that keeps these clocks visible.

Essential services: the 48-hour rule (§ 5308)

Heat, hot water, water, and electricity sit on a faster clock. If the landlord substantially fails to supply them, or fails to fix a condition that materially deprives the tenant of the benefit of the bargain in violation of the agreement, the Code, or an applicable housing code, and the failure continues for 48 hours or more after the tenant gives actual or written notice, the tenant may — on written notice that the problem continues — terminate immediately, or keep two-thirds of the per diem rent accruing for each day the service or equivalent substitute housing is not supplied. A landlord who can show impossibility of performance avoids that liability. A tenant who stays gets a second menu: terminate, or take equivalent substitute housing while the failure lasts — rent abates during that period and the landlord bears the tenant's added expense up to half the abated rent — or withhold the two-thirds per diem amount. A notice received Monday, March 2, 2026 ripens on Wednesday, March 4, 2026; treat every essential-service report as a two-day emergency with a paper trail.

When can a Delaware landlord enter a rental unit? (§ 5509)

A tenant may not unreasonably withhold consent to entry for inspections, necessary repairs, decorations, alterations or improvements, agreed services, or showings to prospective purchasers, mortgagees, or tenants. The landlord, in turn, must not abuse access or use it to harass, must give at least 48 hours' notice of intent to enter — except for repairs the tenant requested — and may enter only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. In a genuine emergency, entry may be at any time. The showing waiver is narrower than many landlords assume: only as to prospective tenants or purchasers, and only if the tenant expressly waives the 48-hour notice in a signed addendum to the rental agreement or another separate signed document — a verbal OK or a lease boilerplate line is not the statutory waiver.

Tenants may install a new lock at their own cost if they notify the landlord in writing and supply a key, the lock fits the existing system, and the installation does not damage the door. During a tenant's extended absence the landlord may enter as reasonably necessary for inspection, maintenance, and safekeeping (§ 5507(b)) — absence the tenant was required to report under the agreement and did not can make the tenant liable for resulting harm. The liability rules cut both ways (§ 5510): a tenant who unreasonably refuses access is liable for the harm caused and can be enjoined, while a landlord is liable for theft, casualty, or other harm proximately resulting from entries made without required consent, and repeated unreasonable demands or entries can themselves become the tenant's ground to terminate.

Self-help is not an entry strategy or an eviction strategy. A tenant removed or excluded by the landlord or the landlord's agent — other than under a valid court order — may recover possession or terminate, and may also recover treble the damages sustained or three times the per diem rent for the exclusion period, whichever is greater, plus suit costs excluding attorneys' fees (§ 5313). Lockouts and utility shutoffs sit squarely inside that rule.

Retaliation (§ 5516)

A landlord may not respond to protected tenant activity by filing for summary possession or otherwise forcing the tenant out, demanding a rent increase, or decreasing services. The protected triggers are a good-faith complaint about a code violation to the landlord or an enforcing authority, a government authority's filing of a violation notice or complaint, the tenant's organizing or serving as an officer of a tenants' organization, and the tenant's pursuing any legal right or remedy from the tenancy. Timing is evidence: a challenged action taken within 90 days of the protected act is presumed retaliatory. The statute lists landlord defenses — among them a termination notice properly given under the Code, a good-faith recovery of the unit for the landlord's own residence, substantial remodeling or demolition, taking the unit off the rental market for at least six months, and rent that matches comparable units or reflects qualifying tax, cost, or capital-improvement increases. A tenant who proves a retaliatory dispossession recovers the greater of three months' rent or treble the damages sustained, plus suit costs excluding attorneys' fees. Practically: after any code complaint, route every rent or possession decision through documentation that predates the complaint or fits a listed defense.

Required disclosures

Delaware front-loads several disclosures, and skipping them has consequences beyond embarrassment:

• Owner and agent identity (§ 5105): every written rental agreement must prominently disclose the names and usual business addresses of all owners of the rental unit, or of their resident agents.
• The Attorney General's Summary (§ 5118): a summary of the Landlord-Tenant Code prepared by the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Unit must be given to the new tenant at the beginning of the rental term. A landlord who fails to provide it hands the tenant a defense: the tenant may plead ignorance of the law.
• Deposit location (§ 5514(b)): the tenant must be told where the escrow account is held — the forfeiture rule above makes this the most expensive disclosure to neglect.
• Bed bugs (§ 5317): before showing or renting a unit, the landlord must inspect for evidence of bed bugs, may not show or rent a unit the landlord knows or has reason to know is infested, and must tell prospective tenants whether adjacent units are infested or being treated.
• Right to representation (§ 5606): the informational materials on tenants' right to legal representation described in the eviction section, delivered at signing, first renewal or modification, and subsidy termination.
• Lead-based paint: the federal disclosure and pamphlet duties for pre-1978 housing (42 U.S.C. § 4852d) apply on top of state law.

Discrimination

The federal Fair Housing Act applies in full, and Delaware's Fair Housing Act (Title 6, Chapter 46) adds state-law protection on a wider list — including age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, familial status, and source of income — enforced alongside the federal classes. Considering an applicant's income sufficiency, sustainability, or credit is permitted only when applied in a commercially reasonable manner and without regard to the source of the income. Screen every applicant against the same written criteria and document the decisions. Our fair housing guide covers what you can and can't ask.

Every Delaware clock, in one table

A 10-step Delaware landlord checklist

1. Cap the deposit by tenancy type — one month's rent for terms of a year or more; watch the one-year mark on month-to-month tenancies and credit any excess back immediately; furnished units excepted.

2. Escrow it in Delaware, and say where — designated security-deposit account at a federally insured institution with a Delaware deposit office; disclose the location at move-in and answer any written request well inside 20 days, before forfeiture is on the table.

3. Receipt the application fee correctly — no more than the greater of 10% of rent or $50, receipt issued, records kept two years, no separate credit-check fee stacked on top.

4. Hand over the packet at signing — the Attorney General's Summary (§ 5118), owner/agent disclosure (§ 5105), bed-bug status (§ 5317), and right-to-representation materials (§ 5606), with a signed acknowledgment in the file.

5. Write the late charge to the statute — at most 5% of monthly rent, never inside five days of the due date, and keep an in-county place where rent can be timely paid.

6. Retire every five-day nonpayment form — since September 1, 2026 the § 5502 demand must allow at least seven days, and full payment by or for the tenant cannot be refused.

7. Plan nonpayment cases for redemption — the case is not over at judgment; keep ledgers current through execution day and run a same-day court-and-constable notification routine for any full tender.

8. Serve cure notices that do the statutory work — name the rule breached, give the seven days, cite § 5513, and include the one-year repeat-violation warning.

9. Run repairs on three clocks — 48 hours for essential services, 10/30 days before repair-and-deduct ripens, 15 days before a substantial-benefit condition supports tenant termination; log every notice with its date.

10. Close out in 20 days, every time — itemized damages with per-item costs plus the balance, sent to the written forwarding address, inside the § 5514 window; then diary the tenant's 10-day objection period.

Own rentals in more than one state? Delaware's traps are easy to misread from afar — a 20-day deposit return window with double damages, a dedicated Delaware bank account for deposits, a 48-hour entry notice rule, and a brand-new right of redemption that can unwind a nonpayment eviction. Every state rewrites the deposit, notice, and eviction clocks. The 50-State Landlord Law Dataset (CSV + JSON) puts all 50 states' key rules in one spreadsheet-ready dataset ($29, one-time purchase).

Primary sources

• 25 Del. C. Chapter 55 — Tenant obligations and landlord remedies, including §§ 5501, 5502, 5513, 5514, 5516 (Delaware Code Online)
• 25 Del. C. Chapter 51, Subchapter I — including §§ 5105–5107, 5112, 5113, 5118 (Delaware Code Online)
• 25 Del. C. Chapter 53 — Landlord obligations and tenant remedies, including §§ 5305–5308, 5313, 5317 (Delaware Code Online)
• SS 1 for SB 116 — Right of redemption; signed August 18, 2026, effective September 1, 2026 (Delaware General Assembly)
• 25 Del. C. § 5106 — Term and termination of rental agreement (Justia, current code)
• 25 Del. C. § 5107 — Renewals of rental agreements with modifications (Justia, current code)

Statute text controls over any summary, including this one. The Delaware Code Online is the fastest cross-check, and the General Assembly's bill page shows the redemption act's amendments in strike-through and underline if you want to see exactly what changed on September 1, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How much security deposit can a Delaware landlord charge?

One month's rent where the rental agreement is for one year or more. The same ceiling reaches month-to-month and undefined-term tenancies once they have lasted a year, and any excess held at that point must be credited back immediately. Furnished units are exempt from the limits. A separate pet deposit of up to one additional month's rent is allowed, but never for a certified, trained support animal (§ 5514(a), (i)). Check a planned deposit against Delaware's one-month cap for a rental agreement of a year or more with the Security Deposit Max Checker.

Where must a Delaware security deposit be held?

In a designated security-deposit account at a federally insured banking institution with an office that accepts deposits in Delaware, never in the landlord's operating funds, with the location disclosed to the tenant. Failing to disclose the location within 20 days of a written request, or failing to escrow the deposit in a qualifying institution, forfeits the deposit to the tenant — and failing to return it within 20 days after that exposes the landlord to double the deposit amount (§ 5514(b), (g)).

When must a Delaware landlord return the deposit?

Within 20 days after the rental agreement expires or terminates, together with an itemized list of damages and the estimated repair cost of each item, and payment of the balance. Missing the itemization deadline is treated as an acknowledgment that no damages are owed, and failing to remit on time entitles the tenant to double the amount wrongfully withheld (§ 5514(e)–(g)).

How many days' notice does Delaware require for nonpayment of rent?

Seven days, since September 1, 2026. The written demand under § 5502(a) must give the tenant a stated period of not less than seven days after the date the notice was given or sent before the landlord may file to terminate. The five-day figure in older guides and forms is the pre-amendment rule and is no longer safe to use.

What is Delaware's right of redemption?

In a summary possession case based on failure to pay rent, § 5716A lets the tenant redeem the unit at any time before the eviction order is actually executed, by tendering all past-due amounts as the court determines — including all rent due under the lease — plus court-awarded costs and fees, by cash, certified check, or money order. The landlord must immediately notify the court and the officer holding the writ; the court stays the writ and then vacates the possession judgment. The right is unavailable to a tenant with three nonpayment possession judgments in the prior 24 months, and judgments vacated through redemption still count toward that limit.

Can a Delaware landlord refuse a late full payment from a charity or agency?

No. Under § 5502 as amended in 2026, a landlord may not refuse a rental payment made by or on behalf of the tenant, and under § 5716A a check issued by a government or other entity on the tenant's behalf has the same effect as the tenant's own payment. Before judgment, the landlord may limit payment to the methods the lease accepts; after judgment, the landlord may require a certified check or money order.

How much notice is required to end a Delaware month-to-month tenancy?

Sixty days' written notice by either party — and the 60 days begin on the first day of the month following the day of actual notice, not on the notice day itself (§ 5106(d)). Notice given mid-March starts counting April 1, so the effective end date is at least 60 days after that.

How much notice must a Delaware landlord give before entering?

At least 48 hours, with entry only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Exceptions: repairs the tenant requested, and emergencies, which allow entry at any time. For showings to prospective tenants or purchasers, the tenant may waive the 48-hour notice only in a signed addendum to the rental agreement or another separate signed document (§ 5509(b)).

More landlord-tenant law guides

• Landlord-tenant law by state
• Connecticut landlord-tenant law
• Florida landlord-tenant law
• Colorado landlord-tenant law
• Georgia landlord-tenant law

This is general information, not legal advice. Consult a Delaware landlord-tenant attorney for specific situations.