Does Delaware have rent control?

No — Delaware has no statewide rent control or stabilization. Delaware has no statewide rent control or rent cap for conventional rentals, and no Delaware city or county has a rent-control ordinance.

Does Delaware preempt local rent control ordinances?

No Delaware statute expressly addresses local rent control — state law neither prohibits nor authorizes rent regulation by cities or counties, and no Delaware municipality has adopted rent stabilization.

Can a landlord raise the rent during a fixed-term lease in Delaware?

Rent cannot change during a fixed term unless the lease itself so provides. To renew on modified terms, expressly including rent or security deposit, the landlord must give at least 60 days' written notice before the term expires, stating the changes and their effective date (25 Del. C. § 5107(a)).

How much notice is required to raise the rent in Delaware?

Verified July 11, 2026 All Delaware topics →

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. The rules on this page reflect the law in force today. The following measures would change it:

SS 1 for SB 116 (153rd GA, 2026), 85 Del. Laws c. 436 — Already SIGNED but not yet effective: on September 1, 2026 the nonpayment track changes. The 25 Del. C. § 5502(a) pay-or-quit demand period rises from not less than 5 days to not less than 7 days after the notice is given or sent, and the notice warns that the landlord may file a court action to terminate (rather than that the agreement 'shall be terminated'); because § 5112 excludes weekends and holidays only from periods of less than 7 days, the new 7-day period counts calendar days on its face. A rent-only action requires a proper demand and the lapse of the notice period (§ 5502(b)). Payment of all rent due by the tenant, or by anyone on the tenant's behalf, before filing bars a nonpayment possession action and after filing bars maintaining it — the old condition that the landlord accept the payment 'without a written reservation of rights' is deleted; the landlord may not refuse rent payments, may limit methods to those the lease accepts before judgment, and may require certified check or money order after judgment (§ 5502(c)-(d)). New § 5716A gives the tenant a right of redemption in any nonpayment summary-possession case (rental unit or manufactured-home lot): paying all past-due amounts as determined by the court, including all rent due under the lease plus court-awarded costs and fees, at any time before the writ is actually executed stays and then vacates the judgment of possession (minimum 5-day stay for filings; a stay request must be filed if payment comes after the writ is posted; the landlord may ask the court to wait for checks to clear); charitable and government checks count as the tenant's payment; the right is unavailable to a tenant with two nonpayment judgments of possession in the prior 18 months (vacated judgments count). The same act rewrites the manufactured-home-community 7-day notice language in § 7016(b)(3) and adds the same payment-before/after-filing rules for lot tenancies. The figures on this page state the law in force before September 1, 2026.Status: Signed by the Governor August 18, 2026 (85 Del. Laws c. 436, Governor's Advisory No. 54); section 4 makes the act effective September 1, 2026. Not incorporated until effective; the 5-day figure and the reservation-of-rights cure rule shown here remain the law through August 31, 2026. (checked 2026-08-23).
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. As of 2026-07-26 the General Assembly's bill record (LegislationId 143172) still showed 'Ready for Governor'; the post-adjournment window under Del. Const. art. III, § 18 runs roughly to the end of July 2026. Not law as of 2026-08-04. 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 2026-08-04).
SB 235 (153rd GA, 2026) — Manufactured-home communities only (25 Del. C. ch. 70): repeals the sunset on the Rent Justification Act pilot calculations, making the § 7052A/§ 7052B CPI-linked justified-rent-increase calculations permanently replace the § 7052 grounds for lot-rent increases. Does not touch apartment/site-built rentals under chs. 51-59.Status: Passed both chambers 2026-06-30; awaiting the Governor's action as of 2026-07-11. It reaches lot tenancies only, so it is outside the scope of the answers on this page; it appears here because the rent-increase notes reference ch. 70. (checked 2026-07-11).

Delaware landlords must give at least 60 days' written notice before a rent increase takes effect, because raising the rent renews the rental agreement on modified terms under 25 Del. C. § 5107 — an express statute that names rent and security-deposit changes and requires the notice to state the new amount and its effective date.

Cited to 25 Del. C. § 5107 (a)-(d) and 4 more Delaware statutes · Verified July 11, 2026

The tenant then has a choice: say nothing and the new rent is deemed accepted, or reject it (at least 45 days before the term ends), which the law treats as notice of termination; for month-to-month tenancies — legally a renewable one-month term — the same 60-day rule applies, and a month-to-month termination notice likewise takes 60 days, counted from the first day of the month after the notice is given. Delaware has no statewide rent control and no limit on the size or frequency of increases for apartments and houses; a 2024 bill to cap increases statewide (HB 455) died in committee, and Wilmington's 2025 city rent-stabilization ordinance failed by one vote, so no Delaware locality regulates rents. The only rent-justification regime is for manufactured-home lot rents under a separate chapter. HUD income-based tenancies follow federal rules instead.

Delaware rent increase notice at a glance

Notice — month-to-month	60 days
Varies by increase size	Not addressed by statute
Fixed-term leases	Rent cannot change during a fixed term unless the lease itself so provides. To renew on modified terms, expressly including rent or security deposit, the landlord must give at least 60 days' written notice before the term expires, stating the changes and their effective date (25 Del. C. § 5107(a)). The tenant may reject by giving termination notice at least 45 days before the last day of the term, and a rejection counts as an effective termination notice; a tenant who does nothing is deemed to accept (§ 5107(b)-(c)). A lease of 1 year or more rolls over to month-to-month on the old terms if the landlord gives no 60-day notice and the tenant no 45-day notice (§ 5108). HUD income-based tenancies follow HUD rules instead (§ 5107(d)).
Statewide rent control / stabilization	No
Rent control details	Delaware has no statewide rent control or rent cap for conventional rentals, and no Delaware city or county has a rent-control ordinance. Wilmington's 2025 rent-stabilization ordinance (annual cap at the greater of 5% or CPI) failed in City Council 6-5 on June 5, 2025. The one Delaware rent-regulation regime is for manufactured-home LOT rents: the ch. 70 Rent Justification Act (25 Del. C. §§ 7050-7052B) ties lot-rent increases above CPI to justification and arbitration — it does not apply to apartments or site-built homes. SB 235 (2026), making the pilot calculation provisions permanent, passed June 30, 2026 and awaits the Governor.
Local rent regulation	No Delaware statute expressly addresses local rent control — state law neither prohibits nor authorizes rent regulation by cities or counties, and no Delaware municipality has adopted rent stabilization.
Frequency limits	Not addressed by statute

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Delaware Rent Increase Notice Laws (verified July 11, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/rent-increase-notice/delaware/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Delaware statute in the citations section below.

Create a Delaware rent-increase notice — free, no signup, built on the same verified Delaware rules as this page.

Notes and caveats

60 days is express statutory text, not a derivation — § 5107(a) expressly covers 'amended provisions relating to ... the amount of security deposit or rent,' so the 60-day figure is direct statute, not a termination-notice workaround. 'Month to month' is defined as 'a renewable term of 1 month' (§ 5141(22)), which places month-to-month renewals inside § 5107, and the Delaware Attorney General's official Summary of the Landlord-Tenant Code reads it the same way.
The mechanics wrinkle for month-to-month tenants — § 5107(b)'s 45-day tenant-rejection window cannot literally fit inside a one-month term. In practice a month-to-month tenant who rejects an increase falls back on the § 5106(d) termination right — 60 days' written notice, with the period starting on the first day of the month following actual notice (83 Del. Laws c. 203) — which also stretches the landlord's effective month-to-month timeline past a bare 60 days, depending on when in the month notice lands.
The '§ 7011 preemption' claim is false — A circulating claim that rent control is 'preempted under 25 Del. C. § 7011' is false — § 7011 is the manufactured-home holdover remedies section.
Local rent control: unresolved, not preempted — Title 25 contains no preemption statute, Delaware is a Dillon's Rule state, and the question has never been adjudicated. Wilmington's 2025 rent-stabilization ordinance failed on votes (6-5 on June 5, 2025, with seven needed), with the Governor's and Mayor's administrations questioning city authority — but there is no court ruling either way.
Dead bill: HB 455 is not law — HB 455 (2024, a 5%/7% CPI statewide cap program) died in the House Housing committee at the end of the 152nd General Assembly. Search-engine summaries still describe it in enacted-sounding language — it is not law.
Manufactured-home lot rents are a separate scheme — Out of scope here: ch. 70's Rent Justification Act (§§ 7050-7052B) requires justification or arbitration for above-CPI lot-rent increases, with 90-day meeting-notice machinery. SB 235 (passed June 30, 2026, awaiting the Governor) would make the pilot § 7052A/§ 7052B calculations permanent.
No tiers, no frequency limit, no cap — Chapter 51, subchapter I of Title 25 sets no increase-size tiers, no limit on how often rent may be raised, and no statewide cap on the amount of an increase.

Common questions: Delaware rent increase notice

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

How many days' notice must a landlord give before raising rent in Delaware?: 60 days.
Does Delaware have rent control?: No — Delaware has no statewide rent control or stabilization. Delaware has no statewide rent control or rent cap for conventional rentals, and no Delaware city or county has a rent-control ordinance.
Does Delaware preempt local rent control ordinances?: No Delaware statute expressly addresses local rent control — state law neither prohibits nor authorizes rent regulation by cities or counties, and no Delaware municipality has adopted rent stabilization.
Can a landlord raise the rent during a fixed-term lease in Delaware?: Rent cannot change during a fixed term unless the lease itself so provides. To renew on modified terms, expressly including rent or security deposit, the landlord must give at least 60 days' written notice before the term expires, stating the changes and their effective date (25 Del. C. § 5107(a)).
How often can a landlord raise the rent in Delaware?: Not addressed by statute.

Statute citations

25 Del. C. § 5107 (a)-(d) (verified 2026) Official source
25 Del. C. § 5106 (b), (d) (verified 2026) Official source
25 Del. C. § 5108 (a)-(b) (verified 2026) Official source
25 Del. C. § 5141 (22) (verified 2026) Official source
HB 455 (152nd GA, 2024 — proposed statewide rent-increase caps; died in committee) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Delaware Code site (delcode.delaware.gov), each section these answers rest on read twice through independent official paths: the delcode HTML chapter pages (25 Del. C. ch. 51 subchapters I-II, ch. 53, ch. 55) and the official Title 25 PDF served from the same host, with every decisive figure matching verbatim (1-month deposit cap and its 1-year-lease / month-to-month-after-1-year scope; 20-day return and itemized-list deadline with 10-day tenant objection window; double damages and account-forfeiture penalties; 1-month pet deposit cap; application-fee cap at the greater of 10% or $50; 5% late-charge cap with the 5-day no-imposition window and 3-day extension for no in-county payment office; 48-hour entry notice and the 8:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. window; 60-day renewal-with-modifications notice with the 45-day tenant rejection right; 60-day month-to-month termination notice with the first-of-following-month start). Sections read in full: 5101, 5102, 5106, 5107, 5108, 5116, 5123, 5124, 5141, 5310, 5311, 5501, 5502, 5509, 5510, 5514, 5514A, 5515, plus complete section listings of ch. 51 subch. I, ch. 53, and ch. 55 as sweep basis for verified negatives (no deposit-interest requirement, no other late-fee or entry provision, no rent-increase tiers or frequency limits, no rent-control preemption statute in Title 25). The Delaware Attorney General's official Summary of the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code corroborates the 60-day rent-increase-notice reading of section 5107 for month-to-month tenancies. 2025-2026 session sweep: the complete 153rd General Assembly docket (all 1,961 pieces of legislation) was retrieved from the official legis.delaware.gov AllLegislation API and title-filtered; one on-topic enactment incorporated (HB 217, 85 Del. Laws c. 295, key-surrender rules, signed 2026-06-24), two passed bills awaiting the Governor flagged (SB 235, SB 292), and three on-topic bills confirmed dead at the 2026-06-30 sine die adjournment (SB 186 deposit e-communications, HB 229 summary-possession service window, HB 467 renters insurance). HB 455 (152nd GA statewide rent cap) confirmed dead in committee in 2024. Wilmington's 2025 rent-stabilization ordinance confirmed failed 6-5 in City Council on 2025-06-05.