Delaware eviction law

Once the five-day late charge period has passed, you may demand the past-due rent in writing and tell the tenant that unless it is paid within a stated time of at least 7 days after the notice is given or sent, you may file to end the rental agreement. If the tenant stays in default, you may then file for summary possession.

25 Del. C. § 5502(a)

• Serve the notice personally, by leaving it at the unit with an adult who lives there, by registered, certified or first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, or by posting it on the unit together with a return receipt or certificate of mailing. 25 Del. C. § 5113(a), (b), (c)
• If the tenant, or someone paying for the tenant, pays all rent due before you file, you may not file for possession for that nonpayment. If all rent due is paid after you file, you may not continue that action. 25 Del. C. § 5502(c), (d)
• After the same notice period you may sue for the rent alone, including accrued late charges. 25 Del. C. § 5502(b)
• Even after a judgment for possession, a tenant may stop the eviction by paying everything the court finds due before the writ is carried out, unless two nonpayment judgments were entered against the tenant in the prior 18 months. Once the tenant pays, you must immediately notify the court and the constable or sheriff holding the writ, and make all reasonable efforts to stop the eviction. 25 Del. C. § 5716A(b) See Eviction process on the Delaware page
• Send the Right to Representation Coordinator's approved materials on tenants' legal representation with the notice. 25 Del. C. § 5606(3) 25 Del. C. § 5602(b)(1)
• From March 8, 2027, if any of the tenant's rent is paid from a state reentry fund, then before ending the lease for unpaid rent or a breach you must help the tenant complete a discharge plan that includes shelter or housing. You must also notify the person paying from the fund, and the Department of Correction and local police if you know the tenant is under supervision. Your complaint must show how you complied. 25 Del. C. § 5512A

For a breach of a rule or lease term that is material, give written notice and allow at least 7 days to fix it. The notice must identify the rule, say that if the violation continues after 7 days you may end the agreement and file for summary possession, say it is given under this section, and warn that a substantially similar breach within a year may be grounds for filing on this notice.

25 Del. C. § 5513(a)(1)

• If you can fix the breach yourself, for example by cleaning or repairing, you may do so and bill the tenant the actual, reasonable cost as additional rent. 25 Del. C. § 5513(a)(2)
• If the breach is also a material breach of a tenant's duty under a code, ordinance or statute, you may end the agreement and file for possession. 25 Del. C. § 5513(a)(3)
• If 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 did so, you may end the agreement immediately on notice and file. 25 Del. C. § 5513(b)
• Rules bind the tenant only if they are reasonable, explicit, applied fairly to all tenants and brought to the tenant's attention at the start; a later rule that substantially changes the lease needs the tenant's written consent. 25 Del. C. § 5511(a)
• Send the Right to Representation Coordinator's approved materials on tenants' legal representation with the notice. 25 Del. C. § 5606(3) 25 Del. C. § 5602(b)(1)
• From March 8, 2027, if any of the tenant's rent is paid from a state reentry fund, then before ending the lease for unpaid rent or a breach you must help the tenant complete a discharge plan that includes shelter or housing. You must also notify the person paying from the fund, and the Department of Correction and local police if you know the tenant is under supervision. Your complaint must show how you complied. 25 Del. C. § 5512A

An eviction is a summary possession action filed in the Justice of the Peace Court for the county where the unit is. The complaint and hearing notice must be served at least 5 and not more than 30 days before the hearing, and the case is scheduled for mediation before trial.

25 Del. C. § 5701 25 Del. C. § 5705(a) 25 Del. C. § 5702A(c)

• Grounds include holding over after the lease ends, unpaid rent, wrongful rent deductions, breach of a lawful obligation, and a tenant's conviction during the tenancy for a class A misdemeanor or felony that caused or threatened irreparable harm. 25 Del. C. § 5702
• Mediation must be completed at least 48 hours before trial; trial can go ahead if the tenant does not engage within 15 calendar days after service. It is not required in some cases of harm to people or property. 25 Del. C. § 5702A(c)
• Once the lead law in chapter 54 is implemented (by March 1, 2028, or 12 months after the Delaware State Housing Authority's Register notice if sooner), a complaint for possession must include documentation that the property complies with the lead rules, unless the case is about the tenant refusing access for that work. 25 Del. C. § 5704A 85 Del. Laws, c. 98, § 5(2)
• Either side may ask for a jury (the tenant within 10 days after service), and a party may appeal within 5 days after judgment. The writ of possession cannot issue during the 5-day appeal period. After the 5 days, the writ may issue on your request if the tenant appealed without a bond or an in forma pauperis request. But if you carry it out before the appeal is decided and the tenant wins, you owe reasonable cover damages such as substitute housing or relocation costs. 25 Del. C. § 5713(a) 25 Del. C. § 5717(a), (d)
• The constable or sheriff gives at least 24 hours' notice and carries out the writ between sunrise and sunset. If the property will be leased again, change the locks when you get possession back. 25 Del. C. § 5715(b), (h)
• A tenant may ask the court to shield the eviction record. The court must do so on listed grounds, such as a dismissal, a judgment for the tenant, or a satisfied judgment five or more years old with no similar judgment since. 25 Del. C. § 5720(a)
• No lease term for attorneys' fees is enforceable, and the court awards costs to the winning party. 25 Del. C. § 5111 25 Del. C. § 5711(a)

You may remove or exclude a tenant only under a valid court order. A tenant removed or kept out without one may recover possession or end the lease, plus three times the damages or three times the daily rent for the time excluded, whichever is greater, and costs.

25 Del. C. § 5313

• You may not discontinue or terminate utility service for nonpayment of rent, utility charges or any other breach. 25 Del. C. § 5312(e)
• You may bill utilities separately only if the lease provides for it and, for charges based on consumption, the service is separately metered, and never above your actual cost. 25 Del. C. § 5312(a), (c), (i)
• Distress for rent is abolished, and a landlord's lien on the tenant's belongings is generally unenforceable. 25 Del. C. § 5120
• A writ of possession is carried out by the constable or sheriff after at least 24 hours' notice, between sunrise and sunset. 25 Del. C. § 5715(a), (b) See Eviction process on the Delaware page

If a tenant leaves belongings when a writ of possession is carried out, you may remove and store them at the tenant's expense for 7 days (30 days for a manufactured home under chapter 70). If the tenant does not claim them and repay the reasonable removal and storage costs by then, they are treated as abandoned and you may dispose of them.

25 Del. C. § 5715(e)

• If the judgment was appealed, the 7 days run from the decision on the appeal. 25 Del. C. § 5715(f)
• When a tenant has abandoned the unit and there is no appeal from a judgment for possession, you may remove and store what is left at the tenant's expense, and it is treated as abandoned 7 days after the appeal period ends. 25 Del. C. § 5507(e)
• For a deceased sole tenant, store property left at the writ for 7 days at the estate's expense before disposing of it. 25 Del. C. § 5719(c)

You may not seek possession, otherwise force the tenant out, raise the rent or cut services because the tenant complained in good faith about a code violation to you or an enforcement authority, because an authority filed a code violation notice, because the tenant organized or is an officer of a tenants' organization, or because the tenant pursued a legal right arising from the tenancy. Such an action within 90 days of the complaint or act is presumed retaliatory.

25 Del. C. § 5516(b), (c)

• Defenses include a proper early termination notice, a good faith need to live in the unit, remodel or demolish it or take it off the rental market for at least six months, a condition the tenant caused, full code compliance, a periodic termination notice given before the complaint, and rent increases tied to documented tax or cost increases or to comparable rents. 25 Del. C. § 5516(d)
• A tenant from whom possession was sought in violation of this rule may recover three months' rent or three times the damages, whichever is greater, plus costs but not attorneys' fees. 25 Del. C. § 5516(e)
• Similar protection covers a tenant who is a victim of domestic abuse, a sexual offense or stalking and sought help from a court, police or a service program: an action within 90 days of an incident is presumed unlawful unless a listed ground applies. A tenant behind on rent cannot use this protection. 25 Del. C. § 5316(a), (b), (d)