Free Delaware Residential Lease Agreement

▶ Watch walk-through

A configurable Delaware residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to the Delaware Residential Landlord-Tenant Code — the escrowed one-month deposit, the 20-day itemized list, 48-hour entry, and the 60-day periodic notice.

Delaware 25 Del. C. 5101 Escrowed Deposit Free PDF 2026 Edition

A Delaware residential lease agreement is the written contract governed by the Delaware Residential Landlord-Tenant Code at 25 Del. C. ch. 51-59. Delaware never adopted the uniform act, and four of its rules are strong enough to void clauses copied from an out-of-state template. The security deposit must sit in an escrow account at a federally-insured institution with an office that accepts deposits inside Delaware, and the location of that account must be disclosed — getting either wrong forfeits the whole deposit. The one-month deposit cap is conditional: it bites where the agreement runs a year or more, reaches a month-to-month tenancy only after a year, and does not apply to a furnished unit at all. No nonrefundable fee of any kind may be charged as a condition of occupancy. And attorney-fee clauses are unenforceable in both directions, so even a reciprocal clause other states allow is void in Delaware. Add a 60-day notice to end a month-to-month tenancy, 48-hour entry notice with a fixed 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. window, and the state lead-certification regime in chapter 54, and a lease drafted anywhere else is wrong here in at least half a dozen places. Statutes verified against the official Delaware Code on 2026-08-05.

Complete the fields below to generate a Delaware residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, including the utility allocations and each disclosure you check, and the generated lease cites the controlling Delaware section at each point. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening — the lease governs the relationship, screening decides whether you want it. Pair the signed lease with a Delaware move-in / move-out checklist so the itemized list you owe within 20 days rests on documented condition.

Delaware recognizes the standard range of residential arrangements. A fixed-term lease runs for a stated period, but under 25 Del. C. 5106(c) it does not simply lapse: ending it at expiration still takes a minimum of 60 days written notice from whichever party wants out, and under 25 Del. C. 5108 a silent expiry converts the tenancy to month-to-month on all the same terms. A periodic tenancy is the default where no term is expressly provided, and it runs month-to-month under 25 Del. C. 5106(b). A room or roommate agreement covers a tenant renting one room; where the building is the landlord’s primary residence, no more than three rooms are rented and no more than three tenants occupy it, 25 Del. C. 5512 gives that landlord an unusually fast termination route. A sublease passes the tenant’s interest to a subtenant, and under 25 Del. C. 5508 the tenant may sublet or assign unless the agreement says otherwise; where the lease conditions subletting on consent, that consent may not be unreasonably withheld and the landlord carries the burden of showing it was reasonable.

Two categories fall outside this form. A commercial lease is governed by Part IV of Title 25, not by the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code. And Delaware has a separate statutory scheme for manufactured home communities in chapters 70 and 71, so a lot rental in a community is governed by its own act. Using a residential lease for either attaches the wrong body of law.

One drafting note that catches people out. Under 25 Del. C. 5110, an unsigned lease can still bind. If the landlord never signs a lease the tenant signed and tendered, acceptance of rent without reservation gives the agreement the same effect as if the landlord had signed. If the tenant never signs, acceptance of possession and payment of rent without reservation does the same. But an agreement given effect that way creates only a one-year term however long a term it states on its face.

One month’s rent — but only where the rental agreement is for a year or more. That is the whole of what 25 Del. C. 5514(a)(2) says, and the qualification is doing real work.

Delaware caps the security deposit at one month of rent only where the rental agreement runs for a year or more. On a month-to-month or undefined-term tenancy the cap bites only after the tenancy has lasted a year, and a furnished rental unit is exempt from the limits altogether under 5514(a)(4). Section 5514(a)(3) is the provision that handles the periodic case, and it does something unusual: once a primary residential tenancy of undefined term or month-to-month has lasted a year, the landlord must immediately return, as a credit to the tenant, any deposit amount above one month’s rent, counting any surety bond toward the same limit. So a landlord who lawfully took two months on a month-to-month tenancy owes a credit at the twelve-month mark without the tenant having to ask.

Two related caps sit in the same section. A pet deposit may not exceed one month’s rent regardless of the duration of the agreement under 25 Del. C. 5514(i)(2), damage caused by an animal comes out of the pet deposit first, and no pet deposit at all may be required where the animal is a duly certified and trained support animal for a disabled resident. And under 25 Del. C. 5514(j), where the lease permits the deposit to rise with the rent, an increase exceeding 10 percent of the monthly rent must be prorated over the term, or over four months on a month-to-month tenancy.

Delaware also offers an alternative the ranking templates never mention. Under 25 Del. C. 5514A a tenant may purchase a surety bond instead of paying all or part of the deposit. The bond serves the same three purposes as the deposit, may not exceed one month’s rent per dwelling unit, and where a tenant provides both a bond and a deposit the aggregate may not exceed one month’s rent either. Deeper treatment lives in our Delaware security deposit laws guide.

Yes, and this is the single most consequential Delaware rule an out-of-state template omits.

Delaware requires the security deposit to sit in an escrow account, and that account must be at a federally-insured institution with an office that accepts deposits inside Delaware. The landlord must disclose its location, and 5514(g)(2) forfeits the entire deposit for failing to do either. The statute adds two more conditions in the same subsection: the account must be designated as a security deposits account, and it shall not be used in the operation of any business by the landlord. The deposit principal is held and administered for the benefit of the tenant, and the tenant’s claim to it is prior to that of any creditor of the landlord, including a trustee in bankruptcy, even if the money is commingled.

The penalty structure is what makes this different from a paperwork rule. 25 Del. C. 5514(g) contains two separate penalties, and most summaries conflate them. Subsection (g)(1) is the familiar one: failing to remit the deposit, or the difference between the deposit and the listed damages, within 20 days entitles the tenant to double the amount wrongfully withheld. Subsection (g)(2) is the harsh one: failing to disclose the location of the account within 20 days of a written request, or failing to deposit the money in a federally-insured institution with an in-state office, is a forfeiture of the entire security deposit to the tenant — and failing to return the forfeited deposit within 20 days of the forfeiture date then doubles that amount again. A landlord who banks the deposit in an out-of-state institution has lost the deposit outright, no matter how immaculate the move-out inspection was.

20 days, and the same 20 days carry two separate duties. Under 25 Del. C. 5514(e) the landlord must remit any portion of the deposit to which the landlord is not entitled within 20 days of the expiration or termination of the rental agreement. Under 25 Del. C. 5514(f) the landlord must, within the same 20 days, provide an itemized list of damages to the premises with the estimated cost of repair for each, and tender payment of the difference.

A Delaware landlord who misses the 20-day itemized list has acknowledged that no payment for damages is due. Section 5514(f) says so on its face, and the tenant then has 10 days to object in writing to any amount that was withheld. That is a stronger consequence than most states attach to a late itemization: it is not a penalty on top of the debt, it is a statutory concession that the debt does not exist. The mirror-image rule protects the landlord: a tenant who accepts a payment submitted with an itemized list is agreeing to the damages specified unless the written objection lands within those 10 days.

Section 25 Del. C. 5514(h) handles addresses. Everything, including return of the deposit, goes to the landlord at the address stated in the lease and to the tenant at the address in the lease or at a forwarding address provided in writing at or before termination. A tenant who provides no address relieves the landlord of the notice duty and of the double-damages exposure — but the landlord still owes any unused portion if the tenant makes a written claim within one year of termination. Build the itemization with our Delaware security deposit itemization form, and close it out with the Delaware security deposit return letter.

One more Delaware-only wrinkle sits at 25 Del. C. 5125. If the lease conditions return of the deposit on surrender of keys, it must set out a clear procedure for that surrender and may not require it before the end of the lease term. Where the last day falls on a weekend, a legal holiday or a day the leasing office is closed, possession counts as returned when the tenant follows the lease procedure or, where none is given, hands the keys over in person on the next business day.

No. A Delaware landlord may not charge any nonrefundable fee as a condition of occupancy. Section 5311 permits only an optional service fee for services actually rendered, such as a pool or tennis court fee, so nonrefundable move-in, cleaning, administrative and pet fees are all unlawful in Delaware.

This is a hard break from states that merely require a nonrefundable fee to be labelled in writing. Delaware does not care how carefully the fee is documented; if it is nonrefundable and it is a condition of occupancy, 25 Del. C. 5311 forbids it. The same section preserves the tenant’s option to buy a surety bond instead of, or in combination with, a deposit.

The companion provision is 25 Del. C. 5310, the assurance money ban. A prospective landlord may not ask for or receive any payment from an applicant that is not an application fee, a security deposit, a surety bond fee or premium, a pet deposit, or a similar deposit reserving the unit for a time certain — and may not charge more than the specific cost of any credit or other investigation. Landlords must keep application records for six months, and the Consumer Protection Unit of the Attorney General’s office investigates complaints and may issue cease and desist orders.

The late charge is capped at 5 percent of the monthly rent and cannot be imposed within 5 days of the due date. 25 Del. C. 5501(d) sets both numbers, so Delaware supplies a statutory grace period the lease cannot shorten. A late charge is treated as additional rent for all purposes under the Code, which is why it can be collected in a rent action and applied against the deposit.

The same subsection carries a duty landlords routinely miss: the landlord must maintain an office or other permanent place for receipt of payments, in the county in which the rental unit is located, where rent may be timely paid. Failing to maintain one extends the agreed time for payment of rent by 3 days beyond the due date. An out-of-state owner with no Delaware payment office has quietly given every tenant a longer runway before rent is late. Our Delaware late fee laws guide works through the arithmetic.

Delaware caps the rental application fee at the greater of 10 percent of the monthly rent or fifty dollars, requires a receipt and 2 years of records, and gives the tenant double the amount charged where the landlord demands more. That cap lives at 25 Del. C. 5514(d), inside the security deposit section rather than in a screening statute, which is precisely why it is so often missed. See also our Delaware tenant screening laws guide.

Finally, 25 Del. C. 5501(e): a landlord who accepts a cash rent payment must give the tenant a receipt within 15 days and keep a record of all cash rent receipts for 3 years.

48 hours, and only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Delaware entry law is 48 hours notice with a fixed entry window of 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and repairs the tenant requested are exempt from the notice. The only waiver the statute allows is a signed one covering prospective tenants and purchasers.

The full rule is 25 Del. C. 5509. Subsection (a) is the tenant’s side: the tenant shall not unreasonably withhold consent for the landlord to enter to inspect, make necessary repairs, decorations, alterations or improvements, supply agreed services, or exhibit the unit to prospective purchasers, mortgagees or tenants. It also gives the tenant a right most states do not — the tenant may install a new lock at the tenant’s own cost, provided the tenant notifies the landlord in writing and supplies a key, the lock fits the system already in place, and installation does not damage the door.

Subsection (b) is the landlord’s side: the landlord shall not abuse the right of access nor use it to harass, shall give at least 48 hours notice of intent to enter except for repairs requested by the tenant, and shall enter only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. In an emergency the landlord may enter at any time. The waiver is deliberately narrow: as to prospective tenants or purchasers only, the tenant may expressly waive the 48-hour notice in a signed addendum or other separate signed document. No waiver reaches inspections, repairs, alterations or anything else.

Section 25 Del. C. 5510 supplies the teeth, and it runs in both directions. The tenant is liable for harm caused by unreasonably refusing access, and a court may enjoin a tenant who does so. But the landlord is liable to the tenant for any theft, casualty or other harm proximately resulting from an entry made while the tenant is absent and has not consented, or without actual consent while the tenant is present and able to consent, or otherwise through the landlord’s negligence. Repeated demands for unreasonable entry, or an actual unreasonable entry, are grounds for the tenant to terminate the lease. And 5510(d) makes any agreement purporting to exempt the landlord from that liability — other than consent to a particular entry — null and void. Document every visit with a dated Delaware notice to enter, and see Delaware landlord entry laws for the detail.

The landlord’s duties are at 25 Del. C. 5305(a): comply with all applicable state and local statutes, codes, regulations and ordinances governing the maintenance, construction, use or appearance of the unit; provide a rental unit which shall not endanger the health, welfare or safety of the tenants and which is fit for the purpose for which it is expressly rented; keep landlord-maintained common areas clean and sanitary; make all repairs necessary to put and keep the unit in as good a condition as it was, or ought by law to have been, at the commencement of the tenancy; maintain all landlord-supplied electrical, plumbing and other facilities in good working order; and provide a unit free of lead-based paint hazards and certified lead safe or lead free as chapter 54 requires.

Delaware then does something most states do not. Under 25 Del. C. 5305(b), waste removal and the supply of water, hot water, heat and electricity are landlord duties only if the rental agreement so specifies. That makes the utility allocation in the form above load-bearing rather than administrative: in Delaware the lease is the source of those obligations, not a restatement of them.

Shifting a repair duty to the tenant is possible but tightly channelled by 25 Del. C. 5305(c). It requires a conspicuous writing separate from the rental agreement; the work must primarily benefit the unit; it must not be work needed to bring a noncomplying unit into code compliance; there must be adequate separate consideration or a rent reduction; and the arrangement must be in good faith and not a device to evade a landlord obligation. In no event may the landlord treat such an agreement as a condition of the lease.

The tenant’s nine duties are at 25 Del. C. 5503, and two of them are Delaware-specific enough to be worth naming: the tenant must not remove or tamper with a properly functioning smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector installed by the landlord, including by removing working batteries. Under 25 Del. C. 5505 any defective condition the tenant believes is the landlord’s duty to repair must be reported in writing as soon as practicable, and the tenant is responsible for liability or injury resulting from a failure to report timely — unless the landlord already has actual notice.

When the landlord does not act, the tenant has three graduated remedies. 25 Del. C. 5307 is repair and deduct: after written notice, if the landlord fails to remedy within 30 days or fails to initiate reasonable corrective measures within 10 days, the tenant may have the work done professionally and deduct a reasonable sum not exceeding four hundred dollars or one-half of one month’s rent, whichever is less. 25 Del. C. 5306 is termination: where a condition deprives the tenant of a substantial part of the benefit of the bargain and the landlord does not remedy it within 15 days of written notice, the tenant may terminate, and where the condition renders the premises uninhabitable or poses an imminent threat, the tenant may terminate immediately. 25 Del. C. 5308 is essential services: where hot water, heat, water or electricity fails for 48 hours or more after notice, the tenant may terminate immediately, withhold two-thirds of the per diem rent for the period, or procure substitute housing with rent abated and the landlord liable for the excess up to half the abated rent. Our Delaware habitability laws guide covers the standard.

Delaware also has statutory bed bug duties at 25 Del. C. 5317, which most state codes leave to nothing at all. On notification of a suspected infestation the landlord must acknowledge the complaint and inspect or obtain investigatory services within 120 hours, obtain remedial services within 14 days of notification once an infestation is determined, inspect any directly adjacent, above or below unit within 5 days, give entry notice under 5509, report the professional’s determination to affected tenants within 120 hours, and keep written records for 2 years. The landlord bears the cost where the tenant reports within 60 days after occupancy or within 30 days of a discovery in an adjoining unit. The tenant must not knowingly bring in furnishings known or reasonably suspected to be infested.

Delaware runs three tracks, and none of them is the seven-day-for-everything rule a generic template assumes.

Unpaid rent — 25 Del. C. 5502(a). At any time after rent is due the landlord may demand payment and notify the tenant in writing that unless payment is made within a stated time, not less than 5 days after the notice was given or sent, the rental agreement terminates. Those 5 days are effectively business days: 25 Del. C. 5112 excludes intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays from any period shorter than 7 days. Subsection (c) contains a trap for landlords — if the tenant pays all rent due before the landlord files and the landlord accepts it without a written reservation of rights, the landlord may not then bring the action at all. Use our Delaware 5-day notice to pay rent or quit.

Breach of a rule or covenant — 25 Del. C. 5513(a). For a material breach other than late rent, the landlord must give written notice allowing at least 7 days to remedy. The notice has four required contents: it must substantially specify the rule allegedly breached; advise that if the violation continues after 7 days the landlord may terminate and sue for summary possession; state that it is given pursuant to 5513; and state that if the tenant commits a substantially similar breach within 1 year, the landlord may rely on that same notice as grounds for summary possession. That one-year lookback is the provision worth understanding on both sides — a cured breach does not reset the clock. Our Delaware notice to cure or quit carries those contents.

Irreparable harm — 25 Del. C. 5513(b). Where a breach causes or threatens irreparable harm to any person or property, or the tenant is convicted of a class A misdemeanor or felony during the tenancy which caused or threatened such harm, the landlord may terminate immediately on notice and bring an action for summary possession, remedy the breach and bill the tenant, or both. See our Delaware unconditional quit notice.

Possession itself is governed by chapter 57, not by the retaliation section — a mislabel that appears in more than one competitor’s citation table. The grounds are listed at 25 Del. C. 5702. Under 5702A a filed case is scheduled for mediation through the residential eviction diversion program, and trial may not commence until the landlord has engaged in mediation, subject to exclusions. Under 25 Del. C. 5716 a tenant whose default arose from a good faith dispute may stay the judgment by paying the rent due and costs, or by undertaking to pay within 10 days. Under 25 Del. C. 5715 the writ of possession requires at least 24 hours notice and execution between sunrise and sunset, and property left behind is stored 7 days before it is deemed abandoned. And Delaware is one of a small number of states with a statutory tenant right to counsel: 25 Del. C. 5602 gives a tenant the right to legal representation in a covered eviction proceeding where household income over the preceding 12 months is not greater than 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, subject to exclusions including where the landlord owns three or fewer units and is unrepresented. See Delaware eviction notice laws.

Self-help is expensive. Under 25 Del. C. 5313 a landlord who removes or excludes a tenant other than under a valid court order owes treble the damages sustained or three times the per diem rent for the exclusion period, whichever is greater, plus costs. And under 25 Del. C. 5120 the landlord’s right of distress for rent is abolished in Delaware, and no unperfected landlord lien on the tenant’s personal property is enforceable — so holding a tenant’s belongings against unpaid rent is not an option.

Ending a Delaware month-to-month tenancy takes a minimum of 60 days written notice, and the 60 days do not start on the day of notice. Section 5106(d) begins the period on the first day of the month following actual notice, so a mid-month notice runs closer to three months. That is among the longest periodic-tenancy notice requirements in the country, and it applies to both parties equally. Under 25 Del. C. 5106(c) the same 60-day minimum applies to end a term tenancy at its expiration date. Our Delaware tenant notice to vacate and Delaware notice of non-renewal carry the right periods, and Delaware lease termination laws covers the sequence.

A Delaware rent increase runs through the renewal-with-modifications section, not a rent-increase statute. Section 5107 requires 60 days written notice before expiration specifying the new rent, and the tenant is deemed to accept unless the tenant gives notice of termination at least 45 days before the last day of the term. The notice must also state the amount of any changed security deposit and the date the modifications take effect, and a tenant’s rejection of the renewal notice operates as an effective termination notice. Delaware sets no rent cap and no percentage limit; the control is procedural. Our Delaware rent increase notice and Delaware rent increase laws guide work through the timing.

If nobody sends anything, 25 Del. C. 5108 decides the outcome: where the agreement was for one or more years and neither the landlord’s 60-day notice nor the tenant’s 45-day notice arrived, the term becomes month-to-month and all other terms continue in full force. The lease does not evaporate and it does not renew for another year.

Holding over is costly. Under 25 Del. C. 5515(b), a tenant who continues in possession after expiration or rightful termination without the landlord’s consent shall pay a sum not to exceed double the monthly rental under the previous agreement, computed and prorated on a daily basis for each day of possession, plus any further losses the court determines.

Abandonment is where Delaware most clearly parts company with the states that use day counts. 25 Del. C. 5507 fixes no number of days. The test is that the tenant wrongfully quits the unit and unequivocally indicates by words or deeds an intention not to resume the tenancy. The tenant is then liable for the lesser of the entire remaining rent plus actual preparation damages, or the rent accruing over the period reasonably necessary to re-rent plus the rent differential, re-renting expenses, tenant-caused damage and a reasonable commission — and in any event the landlord has a duty to mitigate. Where there is no appeal from a summary possession judgment, the landlord may immediately remove and store the tenant’s items at the tenant’s expense, and 7 days after the appeal period expires the property is deemed abandoned under 5507(e), a period mirrored in 25 Del. C. 5715(e). Separately, 25 Del. C. 5506 lets the lease require written notice of an anticipated extended absence no later than the first day of that absence.

Retaliation carries real exposure. The Delaware retaliation presumption runs 90 days and the remedy is the greater of 3 months rent or treble damages. Section 5516 also lists twelve defences, several of which turn on a cost increase or capital improvement completed at least 4 months before the rent demand. The protected acts are complaining in good faith of a code violation to the landlord or an enforcement authority, a government authority filing such a notice, organizing or serving as an officer of a tenants’ organization, and pursuing any legal right or remedy arising from the tenancy. A parallel protection at 25 Del. C. 5316 shields victims of domestic abuse, sexual offenses and stalking with its own 90-day rebuttable presumption.

25 Del. C. 5314 gives seven statutory grounds, each exercised on 30 days written notice, with the 30-day period beginning on the first day of the month following the day of actual notice. The tenancy may be terminated where a change in the location of the tenant’s employment with the present employer requires a change of residence in excess of 30 miles; where the serious illness of the tenant, or the death or serious illness of an immediate family member residing there, requires a permanent change of residence; where the tenant is accepted into a senior citizens’ housing facility, group or cooperative living facility or retirement home; where the tenant is accepted into a unit subsidized by a governmental entity or a private nonprofit corporation; where the tenant enters active military service of the United States after signing; and where the tenant is a victim of domestic abuse, sexual offenses or stalking, or has obtained or is seeking relief from a court, police agency or domestic violence program. On the death of a tenant, the surviving spouse or the personal representative of the estate may terminate.

The financial consequence is capped, which the ranking templates never say. Under 25 Del. C. 5514(c)(3) the landlord’s reimbursement out of the deposit for renovating and re-renting after a 5314 termination may not exceed one month’s rent. A statutory early termination is therefore materially cheaper for the tenant than a bare walk-out, which falls under 5507 and its full mitigation calculation. See our Delaware breaking-lease laws guide.

25 Del. C. 5301(a) lists four, and 25 Del. C. 5111 adds a fifth that is broader than anything in the list. A rental agreement shall not provide that a tenant:

• Agrees to waive or forego rights or remedies under the Code.
• Authorizes any person to confess judgment on a claim arising out of the rental agreement.
• Agrees to the exculpation or limitation of any liability of the landlord arising under law, or to indemnify the landlord for that liability or the costs connected with it.
• Must declaw a cat as a condition of the rental agreement.

The declawing prohibition is genuinely Delaware’s, added by a later amendment, and it is the kind of provision that only ever appears in a lease drafted for this state. The penalty for the whole list is at 25 Del. C. 5301(b): a prohibited provision is unenforceable, and where the landlord attempts to enforce a provision the landlord knows is prohibited, the tenant may recover an amount equal to three months’ rent together with costs of suit but excluding attorneys’ fees.

Then the fee rule. Delaware bans attorney-fee clauses in both directions, not just the one-sided kind. Section 5111 makes any provision for the recovery of attorneys’ fees by either party unenforceable, so even a reciprocal prevailing-party clause copied from another state is void here. That is a genuinely unusual position. Some states ban only the clause under which the tenant pays the landlord’s fees; others expressly permit a reciprocal award; Delaware voids the lot. The policy is visible elsewhere in the Code too — 25 Del. C. 5313, 25 Del. C. 5316 and 25 Del. C. 5516 each award a successful tenant the costs of suit while expressly excluding attorneys’ fees. That is why the builder above offers no attorney-fee option at all.

Three further provisions are void by their own terms rather than through the 5301 list. 25 Del. C. 5121 makes a written provision authorizing a person other than the tenant to confess judgment against the tenant void and unenforceable, reinforcing 5301(a)(2). 25 Del. C. 5510(d) makes every agreement purporting to exempt the landlord from liability for an unlawful entry, other than consent to a particular entry, null and void. And 25 Del. C. 5120 abolishes distress for rent and unperfected landlord liens outright, so a lease clause granting the landlord a lien over the tenant’s belongings has nothing to attach to.

Five under state law, plus the federal lead disclosure, and two of the five appear in no other state’s lease.

Owner and resident agent identification — 25 Del. C. 5105. On each written rental agreement the landlord must prominently disclose the names and usual business addresses of all persons who own the rental unit or the property it is part of, or of their appointed resident agents, and of any person who would be deemed a landlord under 25 Del. C. 5141. Where the agreement is written, the landlord must give the tenant a copy free of charge; where it is oral, the same information must be furnished in writing on demand.

Delaware requires the landlord to hand the new tenant a summary of the Landlord-Tenant Code prepared by the Attorney General. Section 5118 provides that a landlord who fails to do so lets the tenant plead ignorance of the law as a defense. That consequence is unusual and worth pausing on: it is not a fine, it is an evidentiary concession that can defeat an otherwise sound eviction. The summary is prepared by the Consumer Protection Unit of the Attorney General’s Office or its successor agency and must be given at the beginning of the rental term.

Location of the security deposit escrow account — 25 Del. C. 5514(b). Covered in full above. It is a disclosure duty, not merely a banking rule, and 5514(g)(2) enforces it with forfeiture.

Delaware lead-safe or lead-free certification — 25 Del. C. 5406 and chapter 54. Delaware layers a state lead regime on top of the federal one, which almost no template reflects. 25 Del. C. 5305(a)(6) makes it a landlord obligation to provide a unit free of lead-based paint hazards and certified lead safe or lead free as chapter 54 requires. Section 5406 then requires every rental agreement for a unit constructed before January 1, 1978 to disclose whether the unit and premises have been so certified, the date of the certification, and the name of the lead inspector, with a copy of the certificate to the tenant within 7 days of a request. Section 5407 requires the landlord to supply the educational material required by Department regulations and by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Chapter 54 separates small property owners (19 or fewer units) from large property owners and attaches per-day civil penalties for non-compliance.

Federal lead-based paint — 42 U.S.C. 4852d. Any dwelling built before 1978 requires the federal disclosure, the EPA pamphlet, and any known records or reports. It sits alongside, not instead of, the Delaware certification duty. Our Delaware lead-based paint disclosure form handles it.

Adjacent-unit bed bug disclosure — 25 Del. C. 5317(c). Prior to renting a dwelling unit, the landlord must disclose to a prospective tenant if an adjacent unit or units are currently infested with or are being treated for bed bugs. Section 5317(a) separately requires a visual inspection before renting and forbids showing, renting or leasing a vacant unit the landlord knows or reasonably suspects is currently infested.

Delaware does not require a radon, flood-risk, mold, asbestos, methamphetamine, military ordnance, demolition or sex-offender registry disclosure in a residential lease. Each of those comes from another state’s statute book. One further Delaware provision, 25 Del. C. 5124, directs a landlord or real estate service provider to give a prospective tenant a rights-and-responsibilities guide before the rental agreement is entered, with acknowledgement of receipt and re-delivery at each renewal of a year or more; because that duty is keyed to a guide the state must first publish and the section carries its own application provisions, treat it as a live compliance item to confirm with counsel rather than a settled date-certain requirement. See our Delaware pet and assistance animal laws guide for the support-animal side of the deposit rules.

We rendered the seven pages currently ranking for this query and checked each statement against the codified text. The corrections below are the difference between a lease that holds and one that hands the tenant a statutory remedy.

• Delaware requires the security deposit to sit in an escrow account, and that account must be at a federally-insured institution with an office that accepts deposits inside Delaware. The landlord must disclose its location, and 5514(g)(2) forfeits the entire deposit for failing to do either. Not one ranker mentions the escrow requirement.
• Delaware bans attorney-fee clauses in both directions, not just the one-sided kind. Section 5111 makes any provision for the recovery of attorneys’ fees by either party unenforceable, so even a reciprocal prevailing-party clause copied from another state is void here.
• A Delaware landlord may not charge any nonrefundable fee as a condition of occupancy. Section 5311 permits only an optional service fee for services actually rendered, such as a pool or tennis court fee, so nonrefundable move-in, cleaning, administrative and pet fees are all unlawful in Delaware.
• The Delaware pet deposit cap is one month of rent regardless of how long the lease runs, and no pet deposit at all may be charged where the animal is a duly certified and trained support animal for a disabled resident of the unit.
• A Delaware landlord who misses the 20-day itemized list has acknowledged that no payment for damages is due. Section 5514(f) says so on its face, and the tenant then has 10 days to object in writing to any amount that was withheld.
• Delaware caps the rental application fee at the greater of 10 percent of the monthly rent or fifty dollars, requires a receipt and 2 years of records, and gives the tenant double the amount charged where the landlord demands more.
• Delaware requires the landlord to hand the new tenant a summary of the Landlord-Tenant Code prepared by the Attorney General. Section 5118 provides that a landlord who fails to do so lets the tenant plead ignorance of the law as a defense.
• Citation hygiene: more than one ranking page files summary possession under the wrong section. 25 Del. C. 5516 is retaliatory acts prohibited; summary possession is chapter 57 at 25 Del. C. 5702 and following. Landlord habitability duties are at 25 Del. C. 5305, not 5509 — 5509 is the tenant’s obligation to permit access, which is where the 48-hour rule lives.

• Banking the deposit outside Delaware. 25 Del. C. 5514(b) requires an institution with an office that accepts deposits in-state, and 5514(g)(2) forfeits the deposit for getting it wrong.
• Never disclosing the account location. The same forfeiture applies if the landlord does not answer a written request within 20 days.
• Treating the one-month cap as flat. It is conditional on a term of a year or more, reaches month-to-month tenancies only after a year, and does not apply to furnished units.
• Charging a nonrefundable cleaning or move-in fee. Prohibited outright by 25 Del. C. 5311, whatever the lease says.
• Copying a prevailing-party attorney-fee clause. 25 Del. C. 5111 voids fee clauses for either party.
• Missing the 20-day itemized list. Under 25 Del. C. 5514(f) that is an acknowledgment that no payment for damages is due.
• Charging an oversized application fee. 25 Del. C. 5514(d) caps it and doubles the overcharge back to the tenant.
• Serving a 30-day notice to end a month-to-month tenancy. Delaware needs 60 days, beginning the first of the following month.
• Raising the rent by letter. A rent increase runs through the 25 Del. C. 5107 renewal notice, with a 45-day tenant rejection window.
• Entering with 24 hours notice, or after 9:00 p.m. 25 Del. C. 5509(b) requires 48 hours and an 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. window.
• Accepting late rent without a written reservation of rights. Under 25 Del. C. 5502(c) that ends the possession action.
• Omitting the Attorney General’s Code summary. 25 Del. C. 5118 lets the tenant plead ignorance of the law as a defense.
• Skipping the Delaware lead certification disclosure. The federal disclosure alone does not satisfy 25 Del. C. 5406 for a pre-1978 unit.
• Holding a tenant’s belongings for unpaid rent. Distress for rent is abolished by 25 Del. C. 5120.
• Assuming an unwritten lease can run more than a year. 25 Del. C. 5106(a) caps it at one year.

A well-drafted lease decides who wins a dispute; screening decides whether there is one. Delaware puts unusual money on the landlord’s own compliance before the tenant’s conduct is ever reached — deposit forfeiture, double damages, a three-months’ rent penalty for a knowingly prohibited clause, and a treble-damages retaliation remedy. Verifiable income, a clean payment history, and no prior eviction filings remain the strongest predictors of a quiet tenancy. Our tenant screening report covers credit, eviction filings, criminal background, and employment verification. Screen first, then paper the tenancy with this lease.

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check

Established 2004 · 20+ Years · All U.S. States & Territories · Statute-Based · Attorney-Reviewed

A Private Eye Reports™ service trusted by landlords, property managers, and attorneys.