Free Delaware Rent Increase Notice

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Delaware has no statewide rent cap on how much you can raise the rent, but state law sets firm timing rules: a month-to-month tenancy needs at least 60 days’ written notice (25 Del. C. 5106), and a renewal with a rent change needs 60 days’ written notice before the term ends (25 Del. C. 5107). Generate a clean notice below.

60-day written notice 25 Del. C. 5106 / 5107 Delaware Free PDF

This Delaware Rent Increase Notice raises the rent on a residential tenancy. Delaware sets no statewide cap on the amount, but it does fix the notice: a month-to-month tenancy needs at least 60 days’ written notice under 25 Del. C. 5106, and renewing a lease with a rent change needs at least 60 days’ written notice before the term expires under 25 Del. C. 5107 (the tenant then has until 45 days before the term ends to object). Keep the increase out of the retaliation bar in Section 5516. Our how to raise rent guide covers the timing, and the tenant screening laws by state hub helps you place reliable tenants in the first place.

Complete the fields below to generate a Delaware rent increase notice. The new rent and effective date must give the tenant the full statutory notice period. Service should comply with 25 Del. C. 5113; retain proof of service.

A Delaware rent increase notice is the written notice a landlord gives to raise the rent on a residential tenancy. Delaware is a market-rate state: there is no statewide rent control and no statutory cap on how much the rent can go up, and there is no county or city rent control either. A 2024 bill, House Bill 455, proposed a ten-year program tying renewal increases to a CPI-based 5 to 7 percent cap, but it died in the House Housing Committee and was never enacted – so for Delaware rentals there is still no cap on the amount of an increase. What the law regulates instead is the notice the tenant must get, when an increase can take effect, and why it is being made.

The controlling question is the type of tenancy. On a month-to-month tenancy, 25 Del. C. 5106 governs: the landlord (like the tenant) must give at least 60 days’ written notice to change or end the agreement, and that 60-day period begins on the first day of the month following the day of actual notice. So a notice handed to a tenant in the middle of June does not start its 60-day clock until July 1, and the new rent takes effect 60 days after that. Because raising the rent on a periodic tenancy is effectively offering new terms going forward, the landlord uses this 60-day notice, and a tenant who will not pay the new rent gives 60 days’ notice of their own to move out.

On a term lease, the rent is locked for the term and cannot be raised mid-lease unless the lease itself contains an escalation clause; a change rides at renewal. There, 25 Del. C. 5107 controls. When a landlord intends to renew a rental agreement subject to amended or modified provisions – and a rent increase is exactly that – the landlord must give the tenant at least 60 days’ written notice before the agreement expires, and the notice has to specify the modified provisions, the amount of any rent or security deposit, and the date the changes take effect. The tenant then has a window of their own: unless the tenant notifies the landlord of an intent to terminate the existing agreement at least 45 days before the last day of the term, the amended terms are deemed accepted. One carve-out applies under 5107 – where the tenant’s rent and security deposit are a function of the tenant’s income under HUD regulations, the HUD rules govern instead.

Even with proper timing and notice, an increase can still be unlawful because of its motive. 25 Del. C. 5516 prohibits a landlord from retaliating against a tenant – including by demanding increased rent, decreasing services, or seeking possession – after the tenant takes a protected action, such as complaining in good faith of a building, housing, or sanitary code violation to the landlord or a government authority, having a government authority cite a violation, organizing or serving as an officer of a tenants’ organization, or pursuing a legal right or remedy arising from the tenancy. If the landlord acts within 90 days of that protected act, the conduct is presumed retaliatory; for a rent increase, the landlord can rebut the presumption only by showing, with competent evidence, that the rent now demanded does not exceed the rent charged other tenants of similar units in the same complex. A tenant who proves an unlawful retaliatory dispossession can recover three months’ rent or treble the damages sustained, whichever is greater, plus the cost of suit. Federal and Delaware fair housing law independently bar an increase aimed at a tenant because of a protected characteristic.

Service of the notice follows 25 Del. C. 5113. The landlord may serve the tenant personally, leave a copy at the rental unit or usual place of abode with an adult residing there, or send it by registered or certified mail or by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, addressed to the tenant at the leased premises. The return receipt – signed, refused, or unclaimed – or the certificate of mailing is prima facie evidence that the notice was served, which is why a provable written method matters. Whatever the method, the notice should state the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date, and the landlord should keep a signed, dated copy with the receipt or certificate. Our how to raise rent guide walks through the timing, and screening applicants with verified reports keeps tenancies stable so the increases you serve actually stick.

Put together, a clean Delaware increase is simple but exact: pick the right track – 60 days’ written notice on a month-to-month tenancy under 25 Del. C. 5106, counted from the first of the next month, or 60 days’ written notice before the term ends to renew with a rent change under 25 Del. C. 5107, with the tenant’s 45-day objection window – never raise rent mid-term on a fixed lease that does not allow it, keep the timing outside the 90-day retaliation presumption of Section 5516, serve the notice by a 25 Del. C. 5113 method with proof, and never let the increase track a tenant’s protected complaint. None of this replaces the screening you do at move-in – a tenant chosen for steady income and a clean payment history is the one most likely to absorb a lawful increase without a dispute.

• No statewide cap on the amount of a rent increase, and no state, county, or city rent control (HB 455’s proposed CPI cap died in committee and is not law).
• At least 60 days’ written notice on a month-to-month tenancy — 25 Del. C. 5106, the 60 days starting the first day of the month after actual notice.
• At least 60 days’ written notice before the term expires to renew with a rent change — 25 Del. C. 5107, stating the new rent and effective date.
• Tenant’s 45-day objection window on a renewal — unless the tenant gives notice to terminate at least 45 days before the term ends, the new terms are deemed accepted (25 Del. C. 5107).
• No mid-term increase on a fixed-term lease unless the lease expressly allows it.
• No retaliatory increase — 25 Del. C. 5516, with an increase within 90 days of a protected act presumed retaliatory.
• No discriminatory increase based on a protected class (federal Fair Housing Act and Delaware’s Fair Housing Act).

• 25 Del. C. 5113 recognizes personal service on the tenant, or a copy left at the rental unit or usual abode with an adult residing there.
• In the alternative, 25 Del. C. 5113(c) allows posting the notice on the rental unit combined with a return receipt or certificate of mailing, or personal service by a special process-server appointed by the Court.
• Registered or certified mail, or first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, addressed to the tenant at the leased premises — the return receipt or certificate of mailing is prima facie evidence of service.
• Allow added days for receipt when you mail, and on a month-to-month tenancy remember the 60 days do not start until the first of the next month.
• Email or text works only if the lease or tenant authorizes electronic notice and you document it; keep the send record either way.

• Giving less than 60 days’ written notice on a month-to-month tenancy (25 Del. C. 5106).
• Missing the 60-day-before-expiration deadline to renew with a rent change (25 Del. C. 5107).
• Forgetting that the 5106 clock starts on the first day of the month after the tenant actually gets the notice.
• Raising the rent mid-term on a fixed-term lease that does not allow it.
• Serving an increase within 90 days of a tenant’s habitability complaint or tenants’-association activity — 25 Del. C. 5516 presumes that retaliatory.
• Relying on a verbal notice with no written record or proof of service.

• Identify the track first — month-to-month (5106) or renewal-with-modifications (5107) — both need 60 days’ written notice.
• State the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date plainly, and on a renewal name the modified terms.
• Count the 60 days carefully, and on a month-to-month start the count from the first of the month after the tenant receives it.
• Serve by a 25 Del. C. 5113 method you can prove, keep the return receipt or certificate of mailing, and avoid timing an increase right after a tenant complaint.

If you rent lot space in a manufactured-home (mobile-home) community rather than an ordinary house or apartment, the 25 Del. C. 5106 and 5107 timing above does not control the increase. Lot rent falls under the Manufactured Homes and Manufactured Home Communities Act (Delaware Code Title 25, Chapter 70), which sets a stricter, separate regime because a homeowner who owns the home but rents the ground cannot easily move it.

Under 25 Del. C. 7051, a community owner may not increase a tenant’s lot rent more than once in any 12-month period, and must give written notice of the increase at least 90 days, but no more than 120 days, before the new rent is first due – delivered to each affected homeowner, to the homeowners’ association if one exists, and to the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority (DEMHRA). The notice has to identify the affected homeowners by lot number, name, group, or phase.

Chapter 70 also imposes a rent-justification standard (25 Del. C. 7050, 7052, 7052A, and 7052B): a lot-rent increase must be tied to the factors the statute permits and can be challenged by the homeowners through DEMHRA’s arbitration process, and 25 Del. C. 7051A can block an increase while an uncorrected health-or-safety violation exists in the community. None of that applies to a standard apartment or single-family rental – for those, the 60-day rules above are what govern.

HUD and income-based housing. Where a tenant’s rent and security deposit are set as a function of the tenant’s income under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules, 25 Del. C. 5107(d) hands the increase to the HUD regulations rather than the 60-day renewal mechanics, and 25 Del. C. 5106(e) provides that for a federally-subsidized unit federal law controls over any conflicting term of the state Code. If you manage a Section 8, LIHTC, or public-housing unit, follow the program’s rent-adjustment procedure instead of the general 60-day rule.

Commercial leases. The Residential Landlord-Tenant Code does not reach commercial space – 25 Del. C. 5101(b) excludes commercial rental units, which are governed by general contract law and the lease itself. The 60-day notice and the retaliation bar described here apply to residential tenancies only.

If the tenant rejects a renewal increase. On a 25 Del. C. 5107 renewal, the tenant accepts the new rent by staying past the 45-day objection deadline. Under 25 Del. C. 5107(c), a tenant who instead rejects the modified terms has, in effect, given an effective termination notice – the tenancy ends at the term rather than renewing at the old rent, so plan for a possible vacancy when you set an aggressive renewal number.

Where a tenant can push back. A tenant who believes an increase is retaliatory, discriminatory, or served without the required 60 days can raise it as a defense in a Justice of the Peace Court summary-possession case, and can contact the Delaware Department of Justice Consumer Protection Unit about a landlord-tenant complaint. That is why a clean, dated, provably-served notice at the lawful notice period is the landlord’s best protection.

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