Delaware rules for property managers

Leasing, renting, offering to rent, or negotiating leases for others for a fee requires a Delaware real estate license. A provider of property management services (maintenance oversight, rent collection, budgeting, holding deposits, helping the owner pick tenants) is exempt only if it does not lease, rent, or negotiate leases for others.

Owners and lessees managing their own property, attorneys, court-appointed fiduciaries, court-ordered sales, auctioneers, and property management service providers who do no leasing or lease negotiation.

Brokers must keep a federally insured escrow account designated as an escrow account and deposit funds within 72 hours of a written agreement. Tenant security deposits must also sit in a Delaware escrow account under 25 Del. C. § 5514(b).

Month-to-month or undefined tenancies have no cap in the first year, but after one year the deposit cannot exceed one month's rent and any excess must be credited back. A separate pet deposit of up to one month's rent is allowed, but never for a service animal. Tenants may offer a surety bond instead of a deposit (§ 5514A).

If you miss the 20 days, the tenant can recover double the amount wrongfully withheld. If the lease makes key surrender a condition of getting the deposit back, the lease must spell out a clear key return procedure and cannot require keys before the lease term ends (§ 5125).

The account must be used for security deposits, and the tenant's claim to the deposit has priority over the landlord's creditors. Not complying can expose the landlord to double the deposit.

The landlord must keep an office in the county where the unit is, or the tenant gets extra time. Late fees count as additional rent and can be included in an action for rent.

Charging more exposes you to damages of double the amount charged.

To renew with a rent change or other changed terms, give written notice at least 60 days before the current rental agreement ends, stating the new rent and when it starts.

No rent stabilization law applies to ordinary residential rentals. Manufactured home communities have a separate rent justification law in Title 25, Chapter 70. We could not confirm this against an official summary for this guide.

The notice can only go out after the late fee grace period has passed; counsel for the Delaware Apartment Association advises not mailing it before the 8th when rent is due on the 1st. If the tenant or anyone on the tenant's behalf pays all rent due before you file, you cannot file. If they pay after you file, you cannot continue the case for nonpayment. Include the Right to Representation information sheet with the notice (§ 5606).

If the tenant does not fix the breach within 7 days, you may file. A cured breach still counts if a substantially similar breach happens again within one year. Breaches that cause or threaten irreparable harm can allow faster action.

The 60 days begins on the first day of the month after actual notice is given, so a notice served mid-month runs longer than 60 calendar days.

After the notice period, file for summary possession. The complaint is served 5 to 30 days before trial, either side has 5 days after judgment to appeal, and the writ of possession cannot issue until that appeal period ends. The constable gives at least 24 hours' notice before executing. Tenants can redeem by paying all past-due amounts and court costs any time before the eviction is executed (limits apply after 2 or more nonpayment judgments in 18 months).

The landlord may remove and store the property at the tenant's expense. If the tenant does not claim it and pay reasonable removal and storage costs within 7 days, you may dispose of it. Manufactured homes follow a 30-day rule.

Entry must be for a lawful purpose such as repairs, inspection, or showing. The tenant may waive notice in writing only for showings to prospective tenants or buyers.

Tenant remedies include ending the lease after 15 days' notice of a serious problem, repair and deduct (up to $400 or half a month's rent, whichever is less) when you fail to act within 30 days, and withholding two-thirds of daily rent when heat, hot water, water, or electricity is out 48 hours or more after notice. The added duty to keep pre-1978 units free of lead-based paint hazards and certified lead safe or lead free (§ 5305(a)(6)) starts on the Chapter 54 implementation date, no later than March 1, 2028.

List owners or their agent's name and business address in the written lease (§ 5105). Give new tenants the Attorney General's summary of the Landlord-Tenant Code (§ 5118). Once the duty starts (when the guide is published, and no later than June 10, 2027), give the Real Estate Commission's rights and responsibilities guide before the lease is signed and at renewals of 1 year or more, and get the tenant's acknowledgment of receipt (§ 5124; 85 Del. Laws c. 277). Give Right to Representation materials in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole at signing, at renewal, and with past-due, breach, or termination notices (§ 5606). Federal lead disclosure applies to pre-1978 units.

Source of income covers any lawful income paid directly or on behalf of a renter, including vouchers and other assistance. Owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units have a limited exemption.

The nonpayment notice period rose from 5 to 7 days, and the notice can only be sent after the late fee grace period. Tenants can stop a nonpayment case by paying all rent due before filing, during the case, or after judgment (plus court costs) until the eviction is executed, unless they had 2 nonpayment judgments in the prior 18 months.

Landlords and real estate service providers must give prospective tenants the Real Estate Commission's rights and responsibilities guide before the lease is signed, and again at renewals of 1 year or more, and get the tenant's acknowledgment of receipt. The duty starts once the guide is published and the state gives notice, and no later than June 10, 2027.

Owners must have each pre-1978 rental certified lead free or lead safe before a new tenant's lease starts (within 4 years at the latest), disclose the status in the lease, and show compliance when filing for eviction. These duties start 12 months after the State Housing Authority gives notice that funding and rules are in place, and no later than March 1, 2028.

• Delaware Division of Human and Civil Rights
• Community Legal Aid Society