Does Delaware have an implied warranty of habitability?

Statute — no independent court-created warranty operates alongside it. The duty comes from statute alone: 25 Del. C. § 5305 states the landlord's obligations for the rental unit, and §§ 5306, 5307 and 5308 supply the tenant's termination, repair-and-deduct and essential-services remedies. Section 5301 bars lease terms that give up rights under the Code, and retaliation sits separately at § 5516 in chapter 55.

How long does a landlord have to make repairs in Delaware?

30 days. Delaware runs four different clocks and they do different things. For repair-and-deduct, written notice from the tenant starts two independent counts under § 5307(a): the landlord has thirty days to remedy the failure, OR ten days to initiate reasonable corrective measures, which the statute says can be as little as obtaining an estimate of the prospective cost.

Can a tenant repair and deduct in Delaware?

Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: The deduction is capped at a reasonable sum not exceeding $400, or one-half of one month's rent, WHICHEVER IS LESS — a lesser-of structure, so on a $600 rent the ceiling is $300, not $400. Older sources still show $200, the figure that applied before September 30, 2021. — The remedy opens where the landlord fails to repair, maintain or keep the leased premises in a sanitary condition, or to perform in any other manner required by statute, code or ordinance or agreed in the rental agreement, and then — after written notice from the tenant — either fails to remedy within thirty days or fails to initiate reasonable corrective measures within ten days.

Can a tenant withhold rent for repair problems in Delaware?

Yes — at least one lawful path exists — How: withholding on the tenant's own action, no court filing first — Delaware is one of the few states where a tenant may lawfully hold back rent without a court, an escrow account or a municipal inspection first. Under § 5308, once the landlord has substantially failed to provide hot water, heat, water or electricity, or has failed to remedy any condition materially depriving the tenant of a substantial part of the benefit of the bargain in violation of the rental agreement, the Code or an applicable housing code, and the failure has continued for forty-eight hours or more after actual or written notice, the tenant may on written notice keep two-thirds of the per diem rent accruing during any period the service or equivalent substitute housing is not supplied.

Can a landlord retaliate against a tenant who complains about repairs in Delaware?

Protected by a general retaliation statute — Ninety days. If the tenant proves the landlord took one of the barred actions within ninety days of the tenant's complaint or protected act, the conduct is PRESUMED to be retaliatory, and the landlord must bring the case inside one of the statute's twelve enumerated defenses to escape it. — The statute bars three kinds of landlord conduct outright — pursuing summary possession or otherwise causing the tenant to quit involuntarily, demanding a rent increase, and decreasing services the tenant is entitled to — when it follows a protected act, and it makes conduct inside ninety days presumptively retaliatory.

Can a lease make the tenant responsible for repairs in Delaware?

A delegation provision reaches beyond the usual single-family limits. A rental agreement may not provide that the tenant waives or foregoes rights or remedies under the Code, authorizes anyone to confess judgment, or agrees to release or limit the landlord's liability or to indemnify the landlord for it. Such a provision is simply unenforceable — but a landlord who knowingly attempts to enforce one owes the tenant an amount equal to three months' rent together with the costs of suit, excluding attorney's fees.

What does Delaware law require a landlord to repair?

Verified August 29, 2026 All Delaware topics →

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. This page reflects the law in force today. The following measure would change Delaware's landlord-tenant law:

SB 292 (153rd GA, 2026) — 'Grace Peterson Act' — Amends the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code to (1) close the 25 Del. C. § 5102 exclusion loophole that let unlicensed or uncertified residential operators claim exemption from the Code, including eviction procedure, and (2) add § 5512A duties when a tenant's rent is paid from a state reentry-services fund (landlord must assist with a discharge plan and notify the fund administrator and agencies before terminating; noncompliance brings one-year debarment from state funds; affected tenants may stay on without fund payments or terminate on 30-60 days' notice). Takes effect 6 months after enactment. Status: Passed both chambers 2026-06-24 and sent to the Governor. As of 2026-09-05 the General Assembly's bill record (LegislationId 143172) still shows Ready for Governor with no volume or chapter number — 73 days on the desk. Delaware routinely completes action on end-of-session bills for weeks after adjournment, and the published chapter register itself runs about ten weeks behind, so the bill is treated as still awaiting final action; if the constitutional post-adjournment window has instead let it become law without a signature, the chapter register will show it, and that register is checked weekly. Not shown as law anywhere as of 2026-09-05. If enacted it changes Code-applicability notes (§ 5102) and adds § 5512A pre-termination duties for reentry-fund tenancies; it changes no figure shown here. (checked September 5, 2026).

Delaware requires a landlord to keep the rental unit fit for the purpose for which it is expressly rented, to comply with every applicable state and local code governing the property's maintenance, construction, use or appearance, and to keep the unit in as good a condition as it was, or ought to have been, when the tenancy began.

Cited to 25 Del. C. § 5301 — Landlord obligation; rental agreement (prohibited terms and the anti-waiver rule) (a)(1)-(4), (b) and 8 more cited sources · Verified August 29, 2026

Heat, hot water, water and electricity are different: those are duties only if the rental agreement says so, though a housing code requiring them still carries the tenant's remedy. After written notice, a tenant may repair and deduct once the landlord has either failed to remedy in thirty days or failed even to initiate corrective measures in ten — the two are independent triggers — with the deduction capped at $400 or one-half of one month's rent, whichever is less. Delaware also lets a tenant withhold without going to court: where an essential service fails, or any condition materially deprives the tenant of a substantial part of the bargain, and the failure continues forty-eight hours after actual or written notice, the tenant may keep two-thirds of the per diem rent or terminate. Retaliation within ninety days of a protected act is presumed, and the tenant recovers three months' rent or treble damages, whichever is greater — but Delaware pointedly excludes attorney's fees from every one of these awards, for landlords as well as tenants.

Delaware habitability & repairs at a glance

Where the duty comes from	Statute — no independent court-created warranty operates alongside it
Duty source details	The duty comes from statute alone: 25 Del. C. § 5305 states the landlord's obligations for the rental unit, and §§ 5306, 5307 and 5308 supply the tenant's termination, repair-and-deduct and essential-services remedies. Section 5301 bars lease terms that give up rights under the Code, and retaliation sits separately at § 5516 in chapter 55. Delaware did not adopt the uniform residential landlord and tenant act, and its remedies do not map onto that template.
Who is covered	Statewide — no coverage split
Where the repair standards live	The statute itself lists specific standards
What must be kept in repair	Section 5305(a) lists what the landlord owes at all times during the tenancy: compliance with every applicable state or local statute, code, regulation or ordinance governing the maintenance, construction, use or appearance of the rental unit and the property it sits in — the broadest code incorporation of any state on this topic; a rental unit that does not endanger the health, welfare or safety of tenants or occupants and that is fit for the purpose for which it is expressly rented; clean and sanitary common areas that the landlord maintains; all repairs and arrangements necessary to put and keep the unit and its appurtenances in as good a condition as they were, or ought by law or agreement to have been, at the start of the tenancy; and all electrical, plumbing and other facilities supplied by the landlord kept in good working order. A sixth obligation, a unit free of lead-based paint hazards and certified lead safe or lead free, was added in 2025 but is not yet in force. Section 5305(b) is the one that surprises people: waste removal and the supply of water, hot water, heat and electricity are duties only if the rental agreement says so. Evidence that the landlord complied with the applicable building and housing codes is prima facie evidence of compliance not just with chapter 53 but with any other chapter of Part III of Title 25.
Heat standard type	A duty to supply heat or maintain temperatures while the unit is occupied
Heat standard details	Delaware states no temperature figure and no heating season. Heat, hot water, water and electricity appear in § 5305(b) as duties to supply, and they bind only if the rental agreement so specifies — a lease silent on heat imposes no § 5305 duty to furnish it. That is narrower than it first looks: § 5308 gives its remedies for a substantial failure to provide hot water, heat, water or electricity, and reaches a failure that violates the rental agreement, the Code, OR an applicable housing code, so a city or county code requiring heat still carries the tenant's remedy where the lease is silent.
Headline repair day count	30 days
Notice and repair-window rules	Delaware runs four different clocks and they do different things. For repair-and-deduct, written notice from the tenant starts two independent counts under § 5307(a): the landlord has thirty days to remedy the failure, OR ten days to initiate reasonable corrective measures, which the statute says can be as little as obtaining an estimate of the prospective cost. Because those are alternatives, a landlord who has done nothing at all after ten days has already opened the remedy even though the thirty-day window is still running. For termination, § 5306(a) gives the landlord fifteen days after written notice to remedy a condition that deprives the tenant of a substantial part of the benefit or enjoyment of the bargain — a clock to complete the cure, not to begin — and where the condition renders the premises uninhabitable or poses an imminent threat to the health, safety or welfare of the tenant or a family member, the tenant may terminate immediately after giving notice, without going to a Justice of the Peace Court first. For essential services, § 5308 needs only forty-eight hours of continued failure after the tenant gives ACTUAL OR WRITTEN notice — Delaware does not require a writing to start that clock. One precondition catches tenants out: a tenant who is otherwise delinquent in rent may not use the repair-and-deduct remedy at all.
Repair and deduct	Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: The deduction is capped at a reasonable sum not exceeding $400, or one-half of one month's rent, WHICHEVER IS LESS — a lesser-of structure, so on a $600 rent the ceiling is $300, not $400. Older sources still show $200, the figure that applied before September 30, 2021. — The remedy opens where the landlord fails to repair, maintain or keep the leased premises in a sanitary condition, or to perform in any other manner required by statute, code or ordinance or agreed in the rental agreement, and then — after written notice from the tenant — either fails to remedy within thirty days or fails to initiate reasonable corrective measures within ten days. The tenant may then immediately do or have done the necessary work in a professional manner, and deducts by submitting to the landlord copies of receipts covering at least the sum deducted. Three things forfeit or limit it: the remedy is unavailable where the condition was caused by want of due care by the tenant, a family member or a person on the premises with the tenant's consent; a tenant otherwise delinquent in rent may not use it; and the tenant is liable for damage to persons or property caused by the tenant or the tenant's repairer. If the landlord sues for summary possession claiming the deduction was wrongful and the court agrees, the landlord takes either possession or the amount wrongfully deducted, doubled if the tenant acted in bad faith, payable within ten days of judgment or the judgment converts to the amount plus summary possession without further notice to the tenant.
Rent withholding or escrow	Yes — at least one lawful path exists — How: withholding on the tenant's own action, no court filing first — Delaware is one of the few states where a tenant may lawfully hold back rent without a court, an escrow account or a municipal inspection first. Under § 5308, once the landlord has substantially failed to provide hot water, heat, water or electricity, or has failed to remedy any condition materially depriving the tenant of a substantial part of the benefit of the bargain in violation of the rental agreement, the Code or an applicable housing code, and the failure has continued for forty-eight hours or more after actual or written notice, the tenant may on written notice keep two-thirds of the per diem rent accruing during any period the service or equivalent substitute housing is not supplied. The landlord escapes that liability only by showing impossibility of performance. A tenant who stays in the unit and keeps facing the same failure has a parallel route in § 5308(b), which repeats the two-thirds per diem right and adds an alternative: on notice, the tenant may procure equivalent substitute housing for as long as the service is not supplied, during which the rent abates and the landlord is liable for the tenant's additional expense up to one-half of the abated rent. Withholding does not bar a later action for damages that exceed the amount withheld. The risk is real and it is specific: if the landlord files for summary possession and the court finds the withholding wrongful, the landlord takes possession or the amount withheld, doubled for bad faith, payable within ten days or the judgment becomes one for the amount plus possession without further notice. One drafting quirk is worth quoting as it stands rather than tidying: the § 5308(b)(3) withholding list omits electricity where the § 5308(a)(2) list includes it.
Termination over habitability failures	Yes — a statute states the right — Where a condition deprives the tenant of a substantial part of the benefit or enjoyment of the bargain, the tenant notifies the landlord in writing and may terminate if the condition is not remedied within fifteen days of receipt. Where the condition instead renders the premises uninhabitable or poses an imminent threat to the health, safety or welfare of the tenant or any family member, the tenant may terminate immediately after giving notice, without proceeding in a Justice of the Peace Court. Section 5308 adds a third route: on written notice that an essential-services failure has continued past forty-eight hours, the tenant may terminate at once. Termination is unavailable for a condition caused by want of due care by the tenant, a family member or another person on the premises with the tenant's consent, and a tenant who terminates wrongfully remains obligated on the lease. Where the landlord caused the condition wilfully or negligently, a terminating tenant recovers the GREATER of the difference between the lease rent and all expenses necessary to obtain equivalent substitute housing for the remainder of the term, or an amount equal to one month's rent plus the security deposit.
Essential-service remedies	Yes — distinct statutory remedies for essential-service failures — Section 5308 is Delaware's fast lane and it is broader than its heading suggests. It runs on a substantial failure to provide hot water, heat, water or electricity — and also on a failure to remedy ANY condition materially depriving the tenant of a substantial part of the benefit of the bargain in violation of the rental agreement, the Code, or an applicable housing code. Once the failure has continued forty-eight hours or more after the tenant gives actual or written notice, the tenant may terminate the rental agreement on written notice of the continuation, or keep two-thirds of the per diem rent accruing while the service or equivalent substitute housing is not supplied. A tenant who stays put may instead procure equivalent substitute housing for as long as the service is missing, with the rent abating and the landlord liable for additional expense up to one-half of the abated rent. Impossibility of performance is the landlord's answer to the withholding and substitute-housing remedies. Oral notice is enough to start the forty-eight hours, which matters because the § 5305(b) duty to supply heat, water, hot water and electricity exists only where the lease says so, while § 5308's reach into housing-code violations does not depend on the lease.
Retaliation protection	Protected by a general retaliation statute — Ninety days. If the tenant proves the landlord took one of the barred actions within ninety days of the tenant's complaint or protected act, the conduct is PRESUMED to be retaliatory, and the landlord must bring the case inside one of the statute's twelve enumerated defenses to escape it. — The statute bars three kinds of landlord conduct outright — pursuing summary possession or otherwise causing the tenant to quit involuntarily, demanding a rent increase, and decreasing services the tenant is entitled to — when it follows a protected act, and it makes conduct inside ninety days presumptively retaliatory. Twelve defenses are enumerated, including a good-faith intent to take the unit out of rental use for at least six months, proof that the unit was in full compliance with all codes, statutes and ordinances on the date of the complaint or notice, proof that the condition was impossible to remedy before the end of the cure period, a substantial increase in property taxes or operating costs incurred not less than four months before the demand with the increase limited to the pro-rata net increase, a substantial capital improvement completed not less than four months before with the increase limited to straight-line depreciation pro-rated among the units that benefit, and proof that the rent demanded does not exceed what other tenants of similar units in the same complex pay. A tenant from whom possession has been sought, or whom the landlord has otherwise tried to dispossess involuntarily, in violation of the section recovers three months' rent or treble the damages sustained, whichever is greater, together with the cost of the suit but excluding attorney's fees. — Four acts are protected: a good-faith complaint to the landlord or to an enforcing authority about a condition that violates a building, housing, sanitary or other code or ordinance; a notice or complaint of such a violation filed by a state or local government authority; organizing or serving as an officer of a tenants' organization; and pursuing, or being in the course of pursuing, any legal right or remedy arising from the tenancy.
Damages, penalties, and defenses	Delaware's damages provisions are unusually precise and share one deliberate feature: they exclude attorney's fees. A tenant terminating over a condition the landlord caused wilfully or negligently recovers the greater of the substitute-housing rent differential for the remainder of the term or one month's rent plus the security deposit; a tenant against whom the landlord knowingly tries to enforce a prohibited lease term recovers three months' rent together with costs of suit but excluding attorney's fees; a tenant unlawfully ousted or excluded recovers treble damages or three times the per diem rent, whichever is greater, and the costs of the suit excluding attorney's fees; and a retaliated-against tenant recovers three months' rent or treble damages, whichever is greater, with the cost of the suit but excluding attorney's fees. The exclusion runs both ways — where the landlord wins on wrongful withholding, the award is damages or double damages and court costs, again excluding attorney's fees. So neither side finances the fight out of the other's pocket in a Delaware habitability case. The landlord's defenses are the mirror image of the duties: a condition caused by want of due care by the tenant, a family member or a person on the premises with the tenant's consent defeats termination and repair-and-deduct; impossibility of performance answers the essential-services remedies; delinquency in rent bars the tenant from repair-and-deduct entirely; and evidence of compliance with the applicable building and housing codes is prima facie evidence that the landlord has complied with chapter 53 or with any other chapter of Part III of Title 25.
Can the duty be waived or shifted	A delegation provision reaches beyond the usual single-family limits
Waiver and delegation rules	A rental agreement may not provide that the tenant waives or foregoes rights or remedies under the Code, authorizes anyone to confess judgment, or agrees to release or limit the landlord's liability or to indemnify the landlord for it. Such a provision is simply unenforceable — but a landlord who knowingly attempts to enforce one owes the tenant an amount equal to three months' rent together with the costs of suit, excluding attorney's fees. Against that floor, § 5305(c) allows an unusually wide delegation: by a conspicuous writing separate from the rental agreement, the tenant may take on specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations or remodeling, with no limit to single-family houses. Four conditions bind it — the work must be primarily for the benefit of the rental unit; it may NOT be work needed to bring a noncomplying unit into compliance with a building or housing code or the like; adequate consideration apart from the lease, or a rent reduction, must be exchanged, and the landlord may never make such an agreement a condition of the rental agreement; and the agreement must be made in good faith and not to evade an obligation of the landlord.
Leading court decisions	This page rests on the statutes cited below
Local rules	Local codes do real work in Delaware, in three places. Section 5305(a)(1) requires compliance with every applicable state or local statute, code, regulation or ordinance governing the maintenance, construction, use or appearance of the rental unit and the property it is part of. Section 5308(a) opens its remedies for a failure that violates an applicable housing code, and § 5308(b) measures the water, hot water, heat and electricity a landlord must supply by the applicable city or county housing code — which is how those services are reached even where the lease said nothing about them. And § 5305(d) makes compliance with the applicable building and housing codes prima facie evidence of compliance with the Code itself. The city or county code where the property sits belongs beside the state rules on this page.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Delaware Habitability & Repair Laws (verified August 29, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/habitability/delaware/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

The repair-and-deduct figure is $400, and it is a lesser-of — The cap is a reasonable sum not exceeding $400, or one-half of one month's rent, whichever is less. Both halves matter: on a rent of $600 the ceiling is $300. The $200 figure that still circulates is the pre-2021 number — House Bill 60 of the 151st General Assembly raised it to $400 on September 30, 2021, and changed nothing else in the section. The tenant must submit copies of receipts covering at least the sum deducted.
Ten days and thirty days are alternatives, not stages — Section 5307(a) is written disjunctively. The landlord either fails to remedy the problem within thirty days of the written notice, OR fails to initiate reasonable corrective measures — obtaining an estimate of the prospective cost counts — within ten days. Either failure opens repair-and-deduct on its own, so a tenant whose landlord has done nothing whatsoever need not wait out the thirty days. Write-ups that describe Delaware as a flat thirty-day state miss the faster trigger.
Heat and utilities are lease-conditional here — Section 5305(b) makes waste removal and the supply of water, hot water, heat and electricity duties only 'if the rental agreement so specifies'. Delaware states no temperature figure and no heating season anywhere in the Code. That does not leave a tenant without recourse when the lease is silent: § 5308 gives its remedies for a failure that violates the rental agreement, the Code, or an applicable housing code, and § 5308(b) measures the required services by the applicable city or county housing code. Check the lease first, then the local code.
The lead-safe certification duty is enacted but not yet owed — The 2025 lead-based-paint act added § 5305(a)(6), requiring a rental unit free of lead-based paint hazards and certified lead safe or lead free under chapter 54 of Title 25. It is NOT in force. Section 5 of that act implements § 5305(a)(6), and the chapter 54 machinery behind it, on the EARLIER of two events: twelve months after the Director of the Delaware State Housing Authority publishes a notice in the Register of Regulations that the necessary legislation, appropriations and final chapter 54 regulations are all in place, or March 1, 2028 — unless a later act of the General Assembly moves it. The certificate mechanics described in some write-ups as current Delaware law sit in chapter 54 and are gated by the same trigger. One piece of that act did take effect immediately: § 5410, with its formal report due no later than March 1, 2026.
No attorney's fees, on purpose, on both sides — Delaware's Residential Landlord-Tenant Code contains no attorney-fee award for a habitability claim, and this is a choice rather than a gap: four separate damages provisions award costs and then expressly exclude attorney's fees — the prohibited-lease-term penalty in § 5301(b), the landlord's recovery for wrongful withholding in § 5308(d), the unlawful-ouster damages in § 5313, and the retaliation damages in § 5516(e). Because § 5308(d) is the landlord's own remedy, the exclusion cuts both ways.
Withholding is lawful but the downside is specific — Two-thirds of the per diem rent is a real self-help right — no court, no escrow account, no inspection. But if the landlord files for summary possession and the court finds the withholding or deduction wrongful, the landlord is entitled to possession or to the amount wrongfully withheld, doubled if the tenant acted in bad faith, plus court costs excluding attorney's fees; the money is due within ten days of judgment, and if it is not paid the judgment becomes one for the amount withheld PLUS summary possession, with no further notice to the tenant. Withholding does not, however, bar the tenant from later recovering damages larger than the sum withheld.
The 2025 and 2026 sessions left these sections alone — Across the 153rd General Assembly, which ran through 2025 and 2026, no enacted measure changed §§ 5306, 5307, 5308 or 5516. The single change to any of them was the 2025 lead-based-paint act's addition of § 5305(a)(6), which is not yet in force. Bills that would have added a renters-insurance section to chapter 53 or amended other parts of the Code did not survive the session; the next opportunity is the 154th General Assembly, which convenes in January 2027.

Common questions: Delaware habitability & repairs

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

Does Delaware have an implied warranty of habitability?: Statute — no independent court-created warranty operates alongside it. The duty comes from statute alone: 25 Del. C. § 5305 states the landlord's obligations for the rental unit, and §§ 5306, 5307 and 5308 supply the tenant's termination, repair-and-deduct and essential-services remedies. Section 5301 bars lease terms that give up rights under the Code, and retaliation sits separately at § 5516 in chapter 55.
How long does a landlord have to make repairs in Delaware?: 30 days. Delaware runs four different clocks and they do different things. For repair-and-deduct, written notice from the tenant starts two independent counts under § 5307(a): the landlord has thirty days to remedy the failure, OR ten days to initiate reasonable corrective measures, which the statute says can be as little as obtaining an estimate of the prospective cost.
Can a tenant repair and deduct in Delaware?: Yes — authorized by statute — Limit: The deduction is capped at a reasonable sum not exceeding $400, or one-half of one month's rent, WHICHEVER IS LESS — a lesser-of structure, so on a $600 rent the ceiling is $300, not $400. Older sources still show $200, the figure that applied before September 30, 2021. — The remedy opens where the landlord fails to repair, maintain or keep the leased premises in a sanitary condition, or to perform in any other manner required by statute, code or ordinance or agreed in the rental agreement, and then — after written notice from the tenant — either fails to remedy within thirty days or fails to initiate reasonable corrective measures within ten days.
Can a tenant withhold rent for repair problems in Delaware?: Yes — at least one lawful path exists — How: withholding on the tenant's own action, no court filing first — Delaware is one of the few states where a tenant may lawfully hold back rent without a court, an escrow account or a municipal inspection first. Under § 5308, once the landlord has substantially failed to provide hot water, heat, water or electricity, or has failed to remedy any condition materially depriving the tenant of a substantial part of the benefit of the bargain in violation of the rental agreement, the Code or an applicable housing code, and the failure has continued for forty-eight hours or more after actual or written notice, the tenant may on written notice keep two-thirds of the per diem rent accruing during any period the service or equivalent substitute housing is not supplied.
Can a landlord retaliate against a tenant who complains about repairs in Delaware?: Protected by a general retaliation statute — Ninety days. If the tenant proves the landlord took one of the barred actions within ninety days of the tenant's complaint or protected act, the conduct is PRESUMED to be retaliatory, and the landlord must bring the case inside one of the statute's twelve enumerated defenses to escape it. — The statute bars three kinds of landlord conduct outright — pursuing summary possession or otherwise causing the tenant to quit involuntarily, demanding a rent increase, and decreasing services the tenant is entitled to — when it follows a protected act, and it makes conduct inside ninety days presumptively retaliatory.
Can a lease make the tenant responsible for repairs in Delaware?: A delegation provision reaches beyond the usual single-family limits. A rental agreement may not provide that the tenant waives or foregoes rights or remedies under the Code, authorizes anyone to confess judgment, or agrees to release or limit the landlord's liability or to indemnify the landlord for it. Such a provision is simply unenforceable — but a landlord who knowingly attempts to enforce one owes the tenant an amount equal to three months' rent together with the costs of suit, excluding attorney's fees.

Citations

25 Del. C. § 5301 — Landlord obligation; rental agreement (prohibited terms and the anti-waiver rule) · (a)(1)-(4), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
25 Del. C. § 5305 — Landlord obligations relating to the rental unit · (a)-(d) (verified 2026) Official source
25 Del. C. § 5306 — Tenant's remedies relating to the rental unit; termination · (a)-(c) (verified 2026) Official source
25 Del. C. § 5307 — Tenant's remedies; repair and deduction from rent · (a)-(d) (verified 2026) Official source
25 Del. C. § 5308 — Essential services; landlord obligation and tenant remedies · (a)-(d) (verified 2026) Official source
25 Del. C. § 5313 — Unlawful ouster or exclusion of tenant (damages, fees excluded) (verified 2026) Official source
25 Del. C. § 5516 — Retaliatory acts prohibited · (a)-(e) (verified 2026) Official source
83 Del. Laws c. 222 (House Bill 60, 151st General Assembly) — raised the repair-and-deduct figure from $200 to $400; approved September 30, 2021 · § 1 (verified 2026) Official source
85 Del. Laws c. 98 (House Substitute No. 2 for House Bill 70, 153rd General Assembly) — added the § 5305(a)(6) lead-safe duty and set its implementation trigger; approved July 21, 2025 · §§ 2, 5(1)-(2) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct reading of the Delaware Code, Title 25, chapter 53 — the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code's rental-unit provisions, all seventeen sections read in full — together with section 5516 in chapter 55, on the official Delaware Code site published by the Division of Research of Legislative Council; the session-law texts of 85 Del. Laws c. 98 (the 2025 lead-based-paint act, whose section 5 sets the implementation trigger for the lead-safe duty) and 83 Del. Laws c. 222 (House Bill 60 of the 151st General Assembly, which raised the repair-and-deduct figure); and the General Assembly's own legislative record for the 153rd General Assembly, including the full text of every Title 25 and landlord-tenant bill it considered.