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, from the chapter 54 implementation date under 85 Del. Laws, c. 98, § 5(2), 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). Any time after the period between the date rent is due and the date late fees may be imposed, the landlord may demand payment and notify the tenant in writing that unless payment is made within a stated time, not less than 7 days after the notice was given or sent, the landlord may file a court action to terminate the rental agreement. Under subsection (c), if the tenant, or another person or entity on the tenant’s behalf, pays all rent due before the landlord has initiated an action, the landlord may not then initiate a summary possession action based on that failure to pay rent; under subsection (d), paying all rent due after the action is filed means the landlord may not maintain it. The landlord may not refuse rental payments by or on behalf of the tenant. Use our Delaware 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