Landlord Atlas

Delaware Mobile Home Park Laws

Verified August 18, 2026 All Delaware topics →

Delaware's Manufactured Homes and Manufactured Home Communities Act, 25 Del. C. ch. 70, covers every community where two or more lots are rented for manufactured homes, and it is one of the most detailed such laws in the country: lot rent may rise only once a year, on 90 to 120 days' written notice, and a base increase is limited by statute to 3.5 percent plus half of a published 24-month inflation figure, never above 6.1 percent in normal conditions, unless the community owner instead moves the rent to market rent and phases it in over seven or ten years.

Cited to 25 Del. C. ch. 70, subch. I (§§ 7001-7005) and 13 more sources · Verified August 18, 2026

A tenancy may be ended only for due cause, closing a community or changing the land use takes a full year's notice plus a written relocation plan and payments from a state relocation trust fund, and residents who form a registered association get first crack at buying the community, with rights to match a third-party offer in defined circumstances. The Department of Justice enforces the act, and the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority certifies rent increases, runs the trust fund and appoints arbitrators for disputed increases.

Governing actManufactured Homes and Manufactured Home Communities Act — 25 Del. C. ch. 70, §§ 7001-7068
Federal lender protections already required by state law6 of 8 (see the table)

Each row below is a state rule (with its citation) or an honest "no state rule" with what governs instead — lease terms and the general landlord-tenant law still apply where the park act is silent. This page covers a resident who owns the home and rents the lot; a home rented from the park is an ordinary Delaware tenancy.

On this page: Scope · Lot rent, fees and utilities · Lease, rules and disclosure · Termination and eviction · Closure and change of use · Sale of the park · The resident's home · Federal lender protections · Common questions · Citations

A. Scope — who and what the act covers

Rule Delaware law Source
State agency with a role in park tenancies Department of Justice Consumer Protection Unit, with the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority administering the relocation trust fund, certifying formula rent increases and appointing arbitrators. The Consumer Protection Unit enforces subchapters I through V and the Attorney General may sue over a pattern or practice of violations. The Authority, run by a five-member board, holds the relocation trust fund, certifies rent increases taken under the percentage formula, schedules the final meeting on larger increases and appoints the arbitrator. The Department of Justice also staffs a Manufactured Housing Ombudsperson, and a contracted attorney funded by the Manufactured Home Owner Attorney Fund represents homeowners in disputes. Possession cases go to the Justice of the Peace Court. 25 Del. C. § 7005 (a); 25 Del. C. § 7002 (b); 25 Del. C. § 7041 (a), (c); 25 Del. C. § 7046 (b)
Resident may sue under the act Yes Residents may sue in their own name. A retaliatory act carries the greater of three months' rent or three times damages, plus court costs. Wilful interference with the sale or transfer of a home carries three times damages or three times the monthly rent, whichever is higher. A lease term that breaks the required-or-prohibited lists carries actual damages, and three months' rent on top where the landlord included or omitted it wilfully. Any tenant, group of tenants or the Attorney General may petition for a receiver. 25 Del. C. § 7019 (e); 25 Del. C. § 7013 (g)(1); 25 Del. C. § 7008 (c), (d); 25 Del. C. § 7061 (a)
Minimum park size for the act to apply (lots) 2 lots A manufactured home community is any parcel where two or more lots are rented or offered for rent for manufactured homes, and a community owner is an owner of two or more such lots. There is no larger size floor. 25 Del. C. § 7003 (14), (4)
Other size thresholds that switch rules on
  • 25 lots — A community with more than 25 lots must run a lot rental assistance program for qualifying older and disabled homeowners; a community with 25 or fewer lots may offer one voluntarily.
The lot rental assistance program caps rent at 30 percent of income for a homeowner who is 62 or older or eligible for Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income, has owned or lived in the home for five consecutive years, lives there full time and only there, has income at or below 40 percent of county median and liquid assets of $50,000 or less. A second tier gives partial relief from an increase to homeowners between 40 and 55 percent of county median. Separately, on a community sale the residents' window to match a higher third-party offer turns on transaction size: within 6 percent of an offer below $40 million, within 4.5 percent at or above it. 		25 Del. C. § 7022 (a), (l); 25 Del. C. § 7022A (a)(1); 25 Del. C. § 7022B; 25 Del. C. § 7032 (a)(1)-(2)
Park-owned rental homes Ordinary landlord-tenant law applies Chapter 70 governs the rental of the lot. The Residential Landlord-Tenant Code in Part III of Title 25 governs the rental of a manufactured home itself, and fills any gap Chapter 70 leaves; where the two conflict on a lot tenancy, Chapter 70 controls. 25 Del. C. § 7002 (c)
RVs and park-model homes Excluded Ground rented for a recreational vehicle is exempt, as is seasonal property. One narrow class is pulled back in: a camper trailer, recreational vehicle or motor home counts as a manufactured home if it sits in a community holding at least two conventional manufactured homes, it is the tenant's primary residence, and it was already immobile and not reasonably capable of being made mobile when that tenant took title. Such a home is not a manufactured home for zoning or tax purposes and its lot lease may not be transferred with a sale of the home. Since 2022 a community owner may not issue a new lot lease for a camper or recreational vehicle it knows or should know is likely to be a primary residence, except to an existing resident. 25 Del. C. § 7004 (a), (b); 25 Del. C. § 7003 (13)b, (13)c, (20), (25); 25 Del. C. § 7022C
Local rent regulation of park lots No statute addresses local regulation of lot rents The act neither preempts nor authorizes county or municipal regulation of lot rents. Its scope and jurisdiction sections speak only to lease terms that conflict with the act and to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code as the gap-filler; elsewhere the act requires a rented lot to conform to state, county and municipal ordinances, so it plainly contemplates local regulation of communities without addressing local regulation of rent. Delaware also has no general statewide residential rent cap: the 2024 bill that would have created one, and that expressly excluded manufactured home lots, did not pass. 25 Del. C. § 7001 (b); 25 Del. C. § 7002 (c); 25 Del. C. § 7008 (f)

B. Lot rent, fees and utilities

Rule Delaware law Source
Notice before a lot-rent increase 90 days Written notice must land at least 90 days, and not more than 120 days, before the first day the higher rent is due. It goes to every affected homeowner, to the homeowners' association if one exists, and to the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority, and it must identify all affected homeowners by lot number, name, group or phase. Where the increase exceeds the index, the notice must also carry the approved date, time and place of the final meeting. 25 Del. C. § 7051 (c)(1)-(2); 25 Del. C. § 7053 (a)(3)
How often rent may be raised Lot rent may be raised only once in any 12-month period, whatever the length of the tenancy or the lease. The once-a-year limit is absolute and does not bend to the lease term. Fees other than rent are separately limited to one increase in any 12-month period, on at least 60 days' written notice; utility rates are the exception and may move monthly, capped at the utility's retail consumer rate. 25 Del. C. § 7051 (a); 25 Del. C. § 7020 (i), (j)
Statewide limit on lot-rent increases
  • Percentage formula limiting the base annual lot-rent increase, with a separate market-rent route the owner may take instead: 3.5% of the rent plus half of the 24-month index, and in no case more than 6.1%. If the 24-month index itself exceeds 6.1%, the increase may equal that index, except that a figure computed between 6.1% and 8% must be held to 6.1%, and a figure computed above 8% must be held to 6.1% plus half of the amount by which the index exceeds 6.1%. Any percentage a community owner is forced to give up this way may be carried forward and applied in a later year.
  • Base: The lot rent in effect on the date the increase notice is given.
  • Exemptions: A community owner may instead raise rent to market rent, phased in equally over 7 years where the increase is 50% or less of current rent and over 10 years where it is more; that route answers to the final meeting and arbitration process rather than to the percentage formula. A further increase for the year-over-year rise in taxes, insurance, utility charges and on-site employee costs is allowed on top, divided by the number of recorded lots. Resident-owned communities and deed-subject-to-lease communities sit outside the whole subchapter. A community owner with an uncorrected health or safety violation that ran 15 or more consecutive days in the preceding year may not raise rent at all unless it posts a surety bond or letter of credit for the full value of the increase.
  • Escalator: The 24-month index is the average annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington region over the most recent 24 months. The Delaware State Housing Authority calculates it within five days of each release and reports it to the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority, which publishes it. The figure published as of 14 July 2026 is 4.357%.
  • No sunset.
The formula governs every increase noticed on or after 1 July 2022, and a community owner must obtain written certification from the Authority that the increase complies before the notice goes out. The older justification test now reaches only increases noticed before that date. What was a pilot became permanent on 23 July 2026, when the legislature removed its expiration date. 		25 Del. C. § 7052A (b), (c)(2)-(5), (d); 25 Del. C. § 7052B (b), (c), (e); 25 Del. C. § 7051A (b), (c); 25 Del. C. § 7056; 25 Del. C. § 7003 (5); 85 Del. Laws c. 358 (SB 235)
How a resident can challenge an increase Two tracks. An increase taken under the percentage formula must be certified in advance by the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority. An increase above the index runs through a mandatory final meeting, then optional non-binding arbitration, then an appeal to Superior Court. For a formula increase the community owner files with the Authority and the Consumer Protection Division at least 20 days before giving notice, and the Authority replies within 10 days either certifying compliance or declining; the certification travels with the notice. For an increase above the index, the Authority approves a final meeting to be held within 30 days of the notice being mailed, at which the owner must disclose in writing every material factor behind the increase, and where market rent is one of them, a range of rates, whether comparables were arm's length and how current the data is. Within 30 days after that meeting closes, any affected homeowner who has not accepted, or the association on their behalf, may petition the Authority for a non-binding arbitrator drawn from the Delaware Bar. Each side pays $250 toward the fee and the Authority covers the rest; the hearing is held within 60 days of the petition and the written decision follows within 15 days. Either side may appeal to Superior Court within 30 days, on the record. The increase is collected meanwhile and must be rebated if it is not upheld. A community owner who raises rent without following the subchapter must roll the rent back and rebate what it collected, with interest. The Manufactured Home Owner Attorney Fund can pay for a homeowner-side challenge where the proposed increase is at least 3 percent above the index and either an association representing a quarter of homeowners or a simple majority of those noticed asks for it. 25 Del. C. § 7052A (c)(5), (d)(2); 25 Del. C. § 7053 (a)(1), (b), (c), (f), (k), (l); 25 Del. C. § 7054; 25 Del. C. § 7055; 25 Del. C. § 7046 (b)(8)
Entrance fee prohibited Yes A community owner may not charge an entrance fee, meaning any fee charged before the tenant takes the lot. The exceptions are an application fee, a security deposit, and charges for utilities, direct services actually rendered or use of facilities, each of which must be described in the lease or a separate notice. An application fee may not exceed the greater of 10 percent of the monthly lot rent or $50, a receipt must be given, records kept two years, and an overcharge lets the applicant recover double. 25 Del. C. § 7020 (d), (k)
Exit or removal fee prohibited Yes A community owner may not charge an exit fee, meaning a fee charged just before or after the tenant's final departure from the lot. The only carve-out is a charge for a direct service actually rendered that would not otherwise be provided free in the normal course of business. 25 Del. C. § 7020 (k)
Undisclosed fees uncollectible Yes Every fee must be set out in a fee schedule attached to the lease, and the lease itself must list each fee or charge alongside the service it buys. A new fee or a fee increase is unenforceable unless the tenant received proper written notice at least 60 days ahead. A fee triggered by the tenant's failure to do something under the lease may be charged only after notice and five days to put it right. 25 Del. C. § 7020 (b), (c), (i); 25 Del. C. § 7008 (a)(6); 25 Del. C. § 7006
Utility billing rules A community owner may bill for utilities it provides, but the rate may not exceed the utility's retail consumer rate; that rate alone may move monthly without notice. Where the community owner pays a tenant's utility bill to a third party after the tenant defaults, it may add the third party's late charge plus a fee capped at the greater of 5 percent of the payment or $25. The lease must require the owner to keep water, electrical, plumbing, gas, sewer, septic and other utilities in good working order and to repair them within 48 hours of written notice, or as soon after as is practicable. Discontinuing a utility, facility or service takes 60 days' notice with an explanation, a rent or fee reduction equal to the owner's direct operating cost saved, and a meeting with a resident committee of up to five; an independent accountant's figure for the saving binds both sides. If water, sewer or septic supplied by the owner, or gas or electricity it distributes, fails or is unsafe, the owner has 10 days to fix it or must document its efforts to the residents, the association, the Authority, the homeowners' association body and the Attorney General, post a surety bond of at least 150 percent of the estimated cost, and report every 30 days until the repair is done. Where the water is unsafe, it must supply potable or bottled water, or alternative housing after 48 hours. 25 Del. C. § 7020 (e), (j), (l); 25 Del. C. § 7020A (a), (c); 25 Del. C. § 7008 (a)(9), (a)(13)f
Submetering required or regulated No state rule The fees and utilities section lets a community owner charge for utilities it provides and caps the rate at the utility's retail consumer rate, but it does not require meters or submeters, and no other section of the act does. How consumption is measured or allocated is left to the lease and its services rider, which must state who is responsible for installing and maintaining each service. 25 Del. C. § 7020 (j); 25 Del. C. § 7008 (a)(9)
Lot security deposit rules A lot security deposit may not exceed one month's rent unless the tenant agrees in writing to more, and it must be held in a named escrow account at a federally insured institution with a Delaware office. The lease must name the institution holding the account, and the tenant must be told within 30 days if it moves. The deposit may be applied to damage beyond normal wear and tear, to rent, fees, charges and the relocation fund assessment owed, and to reletting costs where the tenant left early. Within 20 days of the tenancy ending the community owner must give an itemized list of damage with repair estimates and pay over the balance; missing that deadline is treated as an admission that nothing is owed and lets the tenant recover double the amount withheld. Failing to disclose the account within 20 days of a written request, or failing to escrow the money at all, forfeits the deposit to the tenant. A pet deposit is also capped at one month's rent, is not allowed at all for a certified trained support animal, and follows the same escrow and return rules. A deposit may rise with rent; where the rise exceeds 10 percent of monthly rent the tenant may spread it over the term, up to 12 months, or four months in a month-to-month tenancy. 25 Del. C. § 7017 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (h), (i); 25 Del. C. § 7008 (a)(8), (b)(7)

C. Lease, rules and disclosure

Rule Delaware law Source
Written lease Required The act defines a rental agreement as a written contract, and a rental agreement must be signed before the tenant occupies the lot. The lease must carry a long list of required terms, including the annual rent, the payment terms, every fee, the escrow institution, a services rider, a plain summary, the grounds for termination and the rent charged for that lot in each of the three most recent past years. Twenty-two categories of term are forbidden outright, among them confession of judgment, waiver of a jury trial, a ban on for-sale signs, a landlord option or right of first refusal over the tenant's home, and any clause ending the lease on a tenant's death. If a landlord takes rent without signing, or a tenant takes possession without signing, the agreement still binds, but only as a one-year term. 25 Del. C. § 7003 (12), (23); 25 Del. C. § 7008 (a), (b), (e); 25 Del. C. § 7012
Minimum lease term that must be offered 12 months One year is the duration of a lot lease unless the parties mutually agree in writing to a shorter or longer term. The lease renews automatically on the same terms unless the tenant gives at least 60 days' notice that the home is being moved off the lot, or the community owner gives at least 90 days' notice of non-renewal for due cause; rent may still change under the rent-increase subchapter. Notice of intent to sell the home is not the same thing as notice of moving it off the lot, and no extra requirement may be added beyond the transfer procedure. 25 Del. C. § 7009 (a), (b), (c)
Notice to end a tenancy without cause No state rule There is no route to end a lot tenancy without cause. A community owner may terminate before the term expires, or refuse to renew, only for due cause, meaning either a good-faith change in the use of the land or one of the statutory grounds for noncompliance. Where due cause exists, non-renewal takes at least 90 days' written notice before the lease expires. 25 Del. C. § 7024 (a); 25 Del. C. § 7009 (b)(2)
Notice before park rules change 60 days An amended rule takes effect on the date it names or 60 days after written notice, whichever is later. Within 10 days of the notice the residents may choose a committee of up to five to meet the community owner, who must then disclose and explain every material factor behind the change and produce supporting documents. The same 60-day period and the same committee right apply to new or amended manufactured home standards. Rules must serve health and safety, quiet enjoyment, property values, orderly operation or protection of property from abuse, and may not be enforced arbitrarily. 25 Del. C. § 7018 (a), (b), (c); 25 Del. C. § 7007 (e)
Disclosure document A disclosure document with state-prescribed contents Before renting a lot, the community owner must hand the prospective tenant the proposed lease, the community's rules, standards and fee schedule, a copy of Chapter 70, and a summary of the chapter written by the Department of Justice, all at the moment the application is given out. The prospective tenant signs a receipt for them. 25 Del. C. § 7006
Residents' right to meet and organize Yes Forming or taking part in a manufactured home tenants' organization is one of the acts that triggers the retaliation rules, so a termination, service cut or possession action within 90 days of it is presumed retaliatory. Where the community has a community center, the owner must make it available to a tenants' association or a group of tenants meeting about their rights and obligations, at no charge beyond ordinary use, within 14 days of the request. Residents also have a standing right to form a committee of up to five to meet the owner over rule changes, standards changes, and the withdrawal of a utility, facility or service. 25 Del. C. § 7019 (b)(3), (c); 25 Del. C. § 7020 (l)(2), (m); 25 Del. C. § 7018 (c)(1)
Owner entry onto the lot or into the home The lease must bind the community owner to respect residents' privacy and not to enter into, under or on the home without the permission of the tenant or an adult resident, unless an emergency requires entry to prevent injury or property damage. The one standing exception is inspection of utility connections the owner owns or is responsible for, which takes 72 hours' notice. Entry onto the lot for tree maintenance also needs permission or an emergency. A lease may not require the tenant to give the community owner a key to the home. 25 Del. C. § 7008 (a)(13)h, (a)(13)l.2, (b)(17)
Retaliation prohibited Yes Retaliatory acts are prohibited outright. A possession action, termination, forced move or cut in services counts as retaliation when it follows a good-faith complaint to the community owner or an enforcement authority, an enforcement action begun on the tenant's complaint, the tenant forming or joining a tenants' organization, or the tenant suing the landlord. Anything done within 90 days of one of those is presumed retaliatory. The community owner can answer by proving due cause with the required notice, that the tenant caused the condition, that the lot complied on the filing date, or that it could not reasonably have fixed the condition by then. A tenant who succeeds recovers the greater of three months' rent or three times damages, plus court costs. 25 Del. C. § 7019 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e)

D. Termination and eviction

Rule Delaware law Source
Just cause required to end a tenancy Yes A community owner may end a lot lease early, or refuse to renew it, only for due cause. Due cause is a good-faith intended change in the use of the land, or one of the statutory noncompliance grounds. The right to terminate does not arise at all until the community owner has complied with whichever notice provision it is relying on, and the notice must give the dates, places and circumstances in enough detail that the reason is clear; quoting the statute is not enough. 25 Del. C. § 7024 (a); 25 Del. C. § 7016 (f), (g)
Grounds for termination
  • A good-faith intended change in the use of the land, on at least one year's notice.
  • Conduct by the tenant or a resident of the home that caused, is causing or threatens immediate and irreparable harm to a person or property, on clear and convincing evidence.
  • Conviction of a crime, or an adjudication of delinquency, that caused immediate and irreparable harm to a person or property in the community.
  • A material misrepresentation on the application which, if the truth had been known, would have led to a denial, on clear and convincing evidence.
  • Failure to bring the home into compliance with written community standards.
  • Conduct disrupting others' quiet enjoyment, where substantially the same conduct recurs within six months of a written notice to stop.
  • A condition on or of the premises left unremedied 12 days after written notice.
  • Non-payment of rent, late fees, other fees and charges, utility charges or the relocation fund assessment, left unpaid seven days after a written demand.
  • Repeated instances of noncompliance, counted by the statutory tallies.
The first ground sits in the change-of-use subchapter; the rest sit in the noncompliance section. The first four allow immediate termination on written notice; the next three require the stated notice and cure period first. 		25 Del. C. § 7024 (a), (b)(1); 25 Del. C. § 7016 (a), (b), (c)
Notice for nonpayment of lot rent 7 days No demand may issue until the fifth day after the due date, or the end of a longer grace period in the lease. The written demand must then give seven days from mailing or personal service, and only if the default survives that may the community owner terminate and sue for possession and the rent. Rent for this purpose includes late fees, other fees and charges, utility charges and the tenant's share of the relocation fund assessment. In a possession action for non-payment the tenant may raise any counterclaim related to the lot rental. A tenant who has fallen behind on four occasions in 12 consecutive payment periods may be terminated outright, but only if warned in writing after the third. 25 Del. C. § 7016 (b)(3), (c)(1), (d), (e); 25 Del. C. § 7003 (22)
Notice for a rule or lease violation 12 days Where the problem is a condition on or of the premises, the written notice must specify it and give the tenant 12 days from mailing or personal service to put it right; only if it is still uncorrected may the community owner terminate and sue for possession. Where the problem is conduct that disrupts others' quiet enjoyment, there is no cure period as such: the notice must specify the conduct, require it to stop, and warn that substantially the same conduct within six months allows immediate termination. 25 Del. C. § 7016 (b)(1), (b)(2)
Repeat-violation rule Repeated noncompliance allows immediate termination or non-renewal even where the tenant corrected each instance, on statutory tallies. The tallies are four late rent payments in 12 consecutive payment periods, each having drawn a demand notice; two failures in 12 consecutive payment periods to reimburse a utility charge within seven days; two dishonoured cheques or bank drafts in 12 consecutive payment periods, unless the bank erred; four conduct or condition incidents in 12 months; or any combination of four separate incidents in 12 months. It does not matter whether the incidents fall inside one lease period or straddle two. For the late-payment tally only, the community owner must warn the tenant in writing after the third occasion that a fourth may end the tenancy. 25 Del. C. § 7016 (c), (d)
Time to sell or remove the home after termination No state rule The act sets no window after a termination in which the homeowner may sell or move the home. Once the notice and cure period have run, the community owner may terminate and bring a summary possession action, and a homeowner who stays on pays the periodic rent, prorated daily, or double that where the holding over is in bad faith. One dated protection runs the other way: after the death of the last remaining tenant, no possession action may begin for at least 90 days, and the lease transfers to an occupying heir, or for a year to non-occupying heirs or the estate. 25 Del. C. § 7011; 25 Del. C. § 7016 (b)(3); 25 Del. C. § 7013 (b)(1), (b)(6)
Abandoned-home procedure Yes Where the land use is changing, a homeowner may abandon the home in place instead of moving it and take a payment from the relocation trust fund, on delivering a current Delaware title endorsed by the owner of record, releases of every lien shown on it, and a tax release. The community owner is then paid from the same fund an amount the board judges enough to remove or dispose of the home, and must repay the fund any profit it makes from doing so. The same route covers a home a board-set test finds cannot be relocated. Filing a false document in either direction is a class A misdemeanour. 25 Del. C. § 7043 (d), (g); 25 Del. C. § 7044 (a), (d), (f); 25 Del. C. § 7042 (b)(2)
Mediation or dispute-resolution requirement A final meeting between the community owner and the affected homeowners is mandatory whenever a proposed rent increase exceeds the index; arbitration after it is optional and non-binding. The Authority approves the date, time and place, which must be carried in the increase notice, and the meeting must be held within 30 days of the notice being mailed. Homeowners may bring a designee, their attorney, the association's attorney, a representative of the statewide homeowners' association, elected officials and a member of the Authority's board. The community owner and any affected homeowner or the association may agree in writing to reschedule, telling the Authority within two business days. Outside the rent context, residents may form a committee of up to five to meet the community owner over an amended rule, a new or amended home standard, or the withdrawal of a utility, facility or service, and the owner must disclose every material factor with supporting documents at that meeting. 25 Del. C. § 7053 (b), (d), (e), (f), (m); 25 Del. C. § 7018 (c); 25 Del. C. § 7007 (e); 25 Del. C. § 7020 (l)

E. Closure and change of use

Rule Delaware law Source
Notice before closure or change of use 12 months A community owner who intends in good faith to change the use of the land must give every affected tenant at least a one-year termination or non-renewal notice explaining the change and the need to find another location for the home. Notice must be posted on the home and sent by certified mail, return receipt requested. Lot rent may not be raised for an affected tenant after the notice goes out. 25 Del. C. § 7024 (b)(1), (b)(2)
Variants (by trigger or park size)
  • Change in the use of the land to any use other than a cooperative or condominium conversion: At least one year (Posted on the home and sent by certified mail, with a written relocation plan naming other communities and housing for older and disabled tenants within 25 miles, the agencies that can help, the relocation and abandonment procedures, and a preliminary view on whether the home can be moved).
  • Conversion of the community to a manufactured home cooperative or condominium community: Governed by Chapter 71 of Title 25 rather than this subchapter (The change-of-use subchapter expressly stands aside for cooperative and condominium conversions, though the relocation trust fund still assists homeowners displaced by one).
  • A quarterly update to the relocation plan is missed: The termination date moves back one month for each update omitted (The plan must be updated and redistributed to every affected tenant and to the Authority every three months until the change of use is complete).
  • Notice given without a good-faith intention to change the use: Treated as misrepresentation with intent to deceive (A cease and desist order, a penalty of up to $250 per violation, doubled where the homeowner is over 65, restitution, other reasonable relief and possible attorneys' fees. Reusing the land for manufactured home lot rentals within seven years, without a material and bona fide effort to change the subdivision plan or the zoning, is prima facie evidence of bad faith, and the community owner must repay the trust fund with double the legal interest rate).
The one-year clock is the floor; missed plan updates push the termination date back, and a bad-faith notice carries its own penalties. 		25 Del. C. § 7023; 25 Del. C. § 7024 (b)(3), (b)(5), (c); 25 Del. C. § 7042 (b)(2), (c)
Relocation payment required Yes A homeowner forced to relocate by a change of use or a conversion is entitled to the maximum relocation payment the Authority's board has set, drawn from the relocation trust fund, whatever the destination, including land outside a community or in another state. The homeowner applies to the Authority with a copy to the community owner, attaching the termination notice and a contract with a licensed moving or towing contractor; the Authority approves or rejects within 30 days. No payment is due where the community owner moves the home by mutual consent at its own expense, where the homeowner had already told the owner it was leaving, where the home is abandoned instead, where the homeowner failed to pay its share of the fund assessment during the tenancy, or where the home is a camper trailer or recreational vehicle. 25 Del. C. § 7043 (a), (c), (e), (f)
Relocation amounts
  • Moving a single-wide home: Up to $12,000 — Paid from the relocation trust fund on the homeowner's application. The statute sets no figure; the maximum is set by the Authority's board and stated on the Authority's tenant application form, revised 15 May 2026.
  • Moving a double-wide home: Up to $16,000 — Paid from the relocation trust fund on the homeowner's application. The maximum is set by the Authority's board and stated on the Authority's tenant application form, revised 15 May 2026.
  • Home that cannot be relocated: The fair market value of the home as sited, with its existing appurtenances but excluding the land, as determined by a board-approved certified manufactured home appraiser, capped at a maximum the board sets — Paid from the relocation trust fund in exchange for the title, duly endorsed, with lien releases and a tax release. The board's decision on the amount is final and cannot be appealed, and the title passes to the community owner so the home can be removed.
  • Home abandoned in place instead of moved: Up to $3,000 — Paid from the relocation trust fund on delivery of the endorsed title, lien releases and a tax release. The amount is set by the Authority and stated on its tenant application form, revised 15 May 2026.
  • Camper trailer or recreational vehicle treated as a manufactured home: Up to $3,000 — The statute forbids the Authority setting this below the lowest payment it sets for a conventional manufactured home. The figure comes from the Authority's tenant application form, revised 15 May 2026.
  • Community owner removing or disposing of a non-relocatable or abandoned home: An amount the board determines is enough to remove or dispose of the home — Paid from the relocation trust fund by voucher. A community owner that has not paid its own share of the assessment, or has not remitted the homeowner's share, gets nothing, and any profit it makes on the removal goes back to the fund.
The dollar figures are set by the Authority's board and published on its forms rather than fixed in the statute, so they can move between board meetings. Where the fund lacks the money to pay, the Authority issues a promissory note redeemable in the order issued. 		25 Del. C. § 7043 (a), (b), (d), (g); 25 Del. C. § 7044 (a), (c), (d), (e); 25 Del. C. § 7045 (b); Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority, Tenant Application for Relocation Assistance (rev. 15 May 2026)
Who pays relocation A state fund Payment comes from the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Trust Fund, held in the Division of Revenue for the Authority's exclusive use. The fund is financed by a monthly assessment on each rented lot, set by the board, half owed by the homeowner and half by the community owner; the community owner collects the homeowner's half as additional rent and remits both quarterly, and nothing is owed on a vacant lot. Since 1 January 2026 the community owner's half carries a $1.50 credit for each rented lot, and $1.50 of the homeowner's half goes to the Manufactured Home Owner Attorney Fund instead. The community owner must repay the fund, with double the legal interest rate, if it does not actually change the use within three years or the Authority finds prima facie evidence of bad faith. The fund is scheduled to end on 1 July 2029 unless the legislature extends it. 25 Del. C. § 7042 (a), (c), (d), (g); 25 Del. C. § 7046 (a), (c)
Notice to a government body on closure Yes The relocation plan must go to the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority at the same time it goes to the affected homeowners, and every quarterly update must go to the Authority as well. If the Authority fails to do its own job or to authorize payments, that does not stop the community owner completing the change of use. 25 Del. C. § 7024 (b)(4), (b)(5), (d)

F. Sale of the park

Rule Delaware law Source
Residents must be told the park is for sale Yes On reaching a decision to sell, transfer or convey all or part of the community, the owner must send notice of the residents' right of first offer to the community's registered homeowners' association if one exists, to the statewide homeowners' association and to the Authority, by overnight service with signature receipt. Where no association is registered, the notice goes to the Authority with a list of every homeowner's name and mailing address, and the Authority tells them all within five business days that the community is for sale and that they will need to organize an association to pursue the right. The Authority also sends every registered community owner an annual reminder of these duties and of the requirement to be registered and current on fund assessments before any sale. 25 Del. C. § 7027 (a), (d)
What triggers the notice The decision to sell, transfer or convey all or part of the community; for an auction, within 10 days of a date being set and at least 60 days before the auction. The offer itself must state that the owner has decided to sell, identify the real property and fixtures included, give the price and any special conditions material to the transaction, enclose a confidentiality statement, explain that signing and returning it unlocks the operating and capital expenditure information, and state that the association has 30 calendar days from mailing to respond. Where more than one Delaware community is offered in a single transaction, a simple majority of the members of the respective associations must vote in favor of their response; where a Delaware community is offered alongside out-of-state communities, the Delaware residents must get a separate right of first offer for their own community. Before an auction the owner must also hand over the pertinent third-party reports it already has, from soils and wetlands studies to the water and wastewater systems, roads, drainage, utilities and a future repair and capital improvement analysis. 25 Del. C. § 7027 (a), (c), (d)(4); 25 Del. C. § 7035 (b), (c)
Residents' purchase right Right of first refusal (match the offer) Delaware calls it a right of first offer, and it works in stages. The community owner must offer the community to the registered homeowners' association at its own stated price and negotiate in good faith. The association has 30 calendar days to accept that price, counter at an alternative price, or decline. An alternative offer stays live for six months and may be refreshed every six months for up to 18 months from the notice. From then on the association holds real matching rights: the owner may not sell to a third party at or below the association's price without giving it 30 calendar days to match the lower offer and its material terms; and even for a higher third-party offer the association gets seven business days to match if its own price was within 6 percent of an offer below $40 million, or within 4.5 percent of an offer of $40 million or more. At auction, an association that took part by putting up any required deposit may buy the community within seven days of the auction at 1 percent above the winning bid. Once terms are agreed the association has a further 30 days to sign a contract and 90 days to close, both stated to be of the essence. Missing any of these steps ends the right for the remainder of the 12-month period that began with the notice. 25 Del. C. § 7026 (a); 25 Del. C. § 7029 (a), (d); 25 Del. C. § 7030 (a); 25 Del. C. § 7031 (a)(2), (d); 25 Del. C. § 7032 (a), (c); 25 Del. C. § 7033 (a), (b), (c); 25 Del. C. § 7035 (f)
Time for residents to respond 30 days The association must reply in writing, by overnight service with signature receipt, within 30 calendar days of the notice being mailed, saying whether it accepts the price and conditions, counters at an alternative price, or has no interest. Silence counts as no interest. The same 30 days applies to making an offer after notice of an auction, and to matching a lower third-party price; matching a higher third-party offer is seven business days, and buying after an auction at 1 percent above the winning bid is seven days. 25 Del. C. § 7029 (a), (b); 25 Del. C. § 7027 (d)(4)f; 25 Del. C. § 7035 (d), (f)
Resident-association threshold No state rule No share of residents has to join for the association to hold the purchase right. Eligibility turns instead on registration with the Authority, incorporation in Delaware, and bylaws that automatically entitle every homeowner of every home site to vote as a special member on the purchase, without dues or other preconditions. Only the first association to register per community may take part, and a homeowner who is the community owner, or works for or does business with it, may vote but may not otherwise participate. Percentages appear elsewhere in the act: a simple majority vote of the respective associations is needed where more than one community is sold in a single transaction, and an association representing a quarter of homeowners, or a simple majority of those noticed, may ask the Manufactured Home Owner Attorney Fund to fund a rent-increase challenge. 25 Del. C. § 7027 (b), (c); 25 Del. C. § 7046 (b)(8)b
Transfers exempt from the sale rules
  • A mortgagee selling at a foreclosure sale, or selling after buying at one.
  • A sale or transfer to a family member on the modified Table of Consanguinity, or to a trust whose beneficiaries are such family members, or to a family member in the line of intestate succession.
  • A transfer by a partnership to one or more of its partners.
  • A transfer between joint tenants or tenants-in-common.
  • A transfer by gift, devise or operation of law.
  • A transfer under eminent domain.
  • A transfer to an affiliate that already holds a direct or indirect ownership interest, unless the majority interest or effective control passes to someone who has not held such an interest for three or more years.
  • An exchange of the community for other real property under section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code or another provision allowing tax-free exchanges, whether or not cash also changes hands.
  • A change in the use of the community by the existing community owner.
Where an exemption applies, or the association declines or fails to respond, the community owner may record an affidavit of compliance in the county Registry of Deeds, on which buyers, title insurers and examining attorneys may rely without inquiring further. 		25 Del. C. § 7028; 25 Del. C. § 7036
Residents may assign the right to a nonprofit or municipality No The right may be assigned only to an organization the homeowners themselves formed or control, and only to help with buying and running the community. Beyond that single exception the statute states that the right is neither transferable nor assignable, so it cannot be handed to an unrelated non-profit, a housing trust or a municipality. 25 Del. C. § 7029 (e)
Penalty for violating the sale rules Either side may seek declaratory relief, an injunction and the appointment of a receiver, and recover actual damages; wilful and intentional noncompliance is a per se violation of the Consumer Fraud Statute carrying treble damages. The court may award reasonable attorneys' fees and costs in any action under the sale subchapter, and must award them to the prevailing party where the other side failed to negotiate in good faith. Where a community owner accepts a third-party offer high enough that no matching right arises, it must certify that fact in writing to the association and to the Consumer Protection Unit within seven business days, saying whether the accepted offer carried any significant or material change in terms. 25 Del. C. § 7026 (a), (b); 25 Del. C. § 7032 (d)

G. The resident's home

Rule Delaware law Source
Right to sell the home in place Yes The lot lease transfers automatically to the buyer of a home already sited in the community, so a homeowner can sell without moving it. The homeowner must tell the community owner before listing, and again in writing at least three weeks before the sale, naming the buyer and giving the agreed price and terms. Two rights qualify the picture. First, the community owner may buy the home itself at 10 percent above the contract price, on written notice within seven days that cannot be extended, a 5 percent non-refundable deposit and the same settlement date; it has no such right on a foreclosure, a family transfer, a transfer between joint tenants or tenants-in-common, or a transfer by gift, devise or operation of law. Second, at or before the inspection results the community owner may offer to end the right to transfer the lease by paying the greater of $1,500 or 36 times the gap between current lot rent and market lot rent, telling the homeowner in writing that a transferable below-market lease is likely to raise the home's value; the homeowner need not accept, and any such transaction must be reported to the Authority each January. A lease may not give the community owner an option or right of first refusal over the home. Wilful pressure to sell to the community owner, an unfair application of the resale standards, an unreasonable denial of a prospective tenant, or any other act aimed at blocking a transfer exposes the community owner to three times damages, or three times the monthly rent if higher, plus court costs, and counts as an unlawful trade practice. 25 Del. C. § 7013 (b)(1), (c), (f), (g); 25 Del. C. § 7007 (c)(1); 25 Del. C. § 7008 (b)(16), (b)(20)
Park may not take a commission on the sale No state rule No section of the act addresses a commission on the homeowner's sale of the home. Two nearby rules bear on it: a lease may not require the homeowner to sell the home to the community owner, to buy one from it, or to sell through its services; and the community owner may not charge an exit fee, meaning a fee just before or after the homeowner's final departure from the lot, except for a direct service actually rendered that would not otherwise be free. 25 Del. C. § 7008 (b)(16); 25 Del. C. § 7020 (k)
Park may screen the buyer Yes The community owner may require the prospective buyer to complete a tenancy application and may charge the standard application fee. The application may be submitted before the notice of sale, and no contract of sale is needed for it to be considered. An heir who takes an interest in the home need not complete an application at all unless they intend to live in it, and then only the criminal background portion if that was not done before the tenant's death. 25 Del. C. § 7013 (b)(3), (e)(1); 25 Del. C. § 7020 (d)
Buyer-approval standard and deadline The buyer must be accepted or rejected on the same basis as any other prospective tenant, with written notice either way within 10 days of a completed application package. A rejection must be given to the buyer in writing and must explain the specific eligibility requirement not satisfied and the grounds for the decision. Notice of the outcome goes both to the buyer and to the selling homeowner. An unreasonable denial is one of the acts that exposes the community owner to three times damages, and a buyer or a seller may bring that claim whether the conduct came before or after the transfer, seeking remedies that include an adjustment of the rent or an order that the community owner buy the home. 25 Del. C. § 7013 (e)(2), (e)(3), (e)(4), (g)(1)a.4, (g)(3)
Home may not be rejected for age, size or style alone Yes Standards for a home being resold and kept in the community may relate only to appearance, maintenance, safety and compliance with state and local housing, building or health codes and the 1976 federal construction code, and the community owner may not write standards in which the home's age is the exclusive or dominant reason for refusing to let it be sold and stay put. No standard may be enforced arbitrarily or capriciously. The rule is narrower for a home newly entering the community, where reasonable written standards may cover size, age, quality, appearance, construction, materials and safety features. 25 Del. C. § 7007 (a)(1), (c)(1), (d)
Park may require repairs before sale Yes Once the homeowner gives notice of an intent to sell, the community owner may make an exterior inspection, and must do so within 10 days of that notice and give a written list of the conditions that break the standards, with references to the applicable rules, within seven days of inspecting. The work itself falls to the buyer after the sale: a buyer or transferee has 90 days from the sale, or until 1 June where the transfer happened between 1 November and 1 March, unless the parties agree in writing to longer, and may have a reasonable further period where the work genuinely cannot be finished in time. A buyer who does not complete the work is exposed to a summary possession action. An inspection may not be used to delay the sale, and the buyer's tenancy application may run alongside it. 25 Del. C. § 7007 (c)(3), (c)(4), (c)(5), (c)(6), (c)(7); 25 Del. C. § 7013 (c)(1)b
Right to post a For Sale sign Yes A lot lease may not contain a term prohibiting the display of a for-sale sign advertising the sale of a home in the community. The community owner may still set reasonable limits on the number of signs and on their size and placement. 25 Del. C. § 7008 (b)(12)

H. The eight federal lender protections — which ones Delaware law already requires

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require eight tenant site lease protections in every manufactured housing community loan they buy. Where state law already requires a protection of every park, a resident has it whether or not the park has agency financing. Delaware law requires 6 of 8. All 50 states are compared in our research study, including the 2018 federal survey baseline.

ProtectionDelaware lawBasis
One-year renewable lease term unless there is good cause for non-renewal Required A lot lease runs for one year unless the parties agree otherwise in writing, renews automatically, and may be ended or not renewed only for due cause, with at least 90 days' notice of non-renewal. (25 Del. C. § 7009; 25 Del. C. § 7024)
30-day written notice of rent increases Required Written notice of a lot-rent increase must come at least 90 days and no more than 120 days before the higher rent is due, and must also go to the homeowners' association and the Authority. (25 Del. C. § 7051)
5-day grace period for rent payments and the right to cure defaults on rent payments Required No demand for unpaid rent may issue before the fifth day after the due date, or the end of a longer grace period in the lease, and the demand must then give seven days to pay before the lease can be ended. (25 Del. C. § 7016; 25 Del. C. § 7008)
Right to sell the manufactured home without having to first relocate it out of the community Required The lot lease transfers automatically to the buyer of a home already sited in the community, and resale standards may relate only to appearance, maintenance, safety and code compliance. The community owner may instead buy the home itself at 10 percent above the contract price. (25 Del. C. § 7013; 25 Del. C. § 7007)
Right to sell the manufactured home in place within 30 days after eviction by the community owner Not required The act gives no window after a termination in which the home may be sold in place. Once the notice and cure period run, the community owner may terminate and sue for possession, and a homeowner who stays on owes the periodic rent, or double it where the holding over is in bad faith. (25 Del. C. § 7016; 25 Del. C. § 7011)
Right to sublease or assign the pad site lease for the unexpired term to the new buyer of the home without unreasonable restraint Required The lot lease passes to the buyer by operation of the statute; the community owner may screen the buyer only on the same basis as any prospective tenant, must give written reasons for a rejection and must decide within 10 days, and an unreasonable denial carries three times damages. (25 Del. C. § 7013)
Right to post "For Sale" signs that comply with the community's rules Required A lot lease may not prohibit a for-sale sign advertising the sale of a home, though the community owner may set reasonable limits on number, size and placement. (25 Del. C. § 7008)
Right to receive at least 60 days' notice of a planned sale or closure of the community Partly Closure goes well beyond the protection, at a full year's notice. On a sale, notice is due when the owner decides to sell, the association has 30 days to respond, and an auction takes at least 60 days' notice, but the act fixes no minimum number of days between the notice and a completed negotiated sale. (25 Del. C. § 7024; 25 Del. C. § 7027; 25 Del. C. § 7029; 25 Del. C. § 7035)

Notes and caveats

Common questions: Delaware mobile home park law

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

How much notice must a Delaware park give before raising lot rent?
90 days. Written notice must land at least 90 days, and not more than 120 days, before the first day the higher rent is due.
Is there a limit on how much lot rent can go up in Delaware?
Yes — 3.5% plus half of a CPI index, never above 6.1%. The formula governs every increase noticed on or after 1 July 2022, and a community owner must obtain written certification from the Authority that the increase complies before the notice goes out.
Can a Delaware park owner end a lot tenancy without cause?
No — a Delaware park may end a lot tenancy only for a listed cause. A community owner may end a lot lease early, or refuse to renew it, only for due cause.
How much notice must a Delaware park give before closing or changing use?
12 months. A community owner who intends in good faith to change the use of the land must give every affected tenant at least a one-year termination or non-renewal notice explaining the change and the need to find another location for the home.
Does a Delaware park have to pay residents' relocation costs when it closes?
Yes — Delaware law requires a relocation payment when a park closes or changes use. A homeowner forced to relocate by a change of use or a conversion is entitled to the maximum relocation payment the Authority's board has set, drawn from the relocation trust fund, whatever the destination, including land outside a community or in another state.
Do Delaware residents get a chance to buy the park when it is sold?
Yes — a right of first refusal (match the offer). Delaware calls it a right of first offer, and it works in stages.
Can a Delaware resident sell the home in place without moving it out of the park?
Yes — a Delaware resident may sell the home in place. The lot lease transfers automatically to the buyer of a home already sited in the community, so a homeowner can sell without moving it.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Delaware Mobile Home Park Laws (verified August 18, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/mobile-home-parks/delaware/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified).

Citations

Every row above links the section it rests on. This topic covers all 50 states; the topic hub compares them side by side.