Breaking a lease in Delaware

A tenant may end a lease early on 30 days' written notice, counted from the first day of the month after notice, for an employer transfer of more than 30 miles, a serious illness or death in the household requiring a permanent move, admission to senior or subsidized housing, entering active military service after signing, or being a victim of domestic abuse, a sexual offense or stalking. A surviving spouse or personal representative may do so after the tenant's death (25 Del. C. § 5314(b)).

• After such a termination, your charge against the deposit for renovating and re-renting may not exceed one month's rent (25 Del. C. § 5514(c)(3)).
• A tenant who wrongfully leaves owes the lesser of the rent for the rest of the term plus actual damage, or the rent while you re-rent at a fair rental plus any shortfall, costs and a reasonable commission. You must try to limit the loss (25 Del. C. § 5507(d)).
• A tenant who stays after the lease ends without your consent owes up to double the monthly rent, prorated daily, plus further losses a court finds (25 Del. C. § 5515(b)).
• The Code also lets a tenant end the lease over serious conditions, loss of essential services, fire damage, or an unreasonable entry without consent (or repeated demands for one) (25 Del. C. § 5306; 25 Del. C. § 5308; 25 Del. C. § 5309; 25 Del. C. § 5510(c)).See Tenant's repair remedies on the Delaware page

If you fail to make a required repair and, after the tenant's written notice, do not fix it within 30 days or do not begin reasonable corrective steps (such as getting an estimate) within 10 days, the tenant may have the work done professionally and deduct up to $400 or half a month's rent, whichever is less, by giving you copies of the receipts (25 Del. C. § 5307(a)).

• A tenant who is behind on rent, or who caused the condition, may not repair and deduct, and is liable for damage caused while making the repairs (25 Del. C. § 5307(b), (c), (d)).
• If a condition deprives the tenant of a substantial part of the benefit of the lease and you do not remedy it within 15 days after receiving written notice, the tenant may end the lease. If the unit is uninhabitable or there is an imminent threat to health or safety, the tenant may end it immediately after notice. For a condition that also violates the lease, the Code or a housing code, the essential services rule shortens this to 48 hours. If you caused the condition willfully or negligently, the tenant may also recover the greater of the extra cost of equivalent substitute housing for the rest of the term, or one month's rent plus the security deposit (25 Del. C. § 5306(a), (c); 25 Del. C. § 5302(d); 25 Del. C. § 5308(a)).
• If you substantially fail to supply hot water, heat, water or electricity, or fail to remedy any condition that materially deprives the tenant of a substantial part of the bargain in violation of the lease, the Code or a housing code, for 48 hours after actual or written notice, the tenant may end the lease on written notice. Or, on written notice, the tenant may keep two thirds of the daily rent while the service is out. A tenant who stays may instead get substitute housing while rent abates, and you owe up to half the abated rent toward its extra cost (25 Del. C. § 5308(a), (b)).
• After fire or casualty not caused by the tenant, the tenant may move out and end the lease (giving written notice within a week of leaving) or, if lawful, stay and pay reduced rent for the usable part (25 Del. C. § 5309(a)).
• During the first month, a tenant who stays on your promise to correct a code violation or failure to conform to the lease may end the lease on written notice (25 Del. C. § 5302(a)).
• If heat, running water, light, electricity or adequate sewage is lacking, or a condition is imminently dangerous, for 5 days or more after notice, tenants may petition the Justice of the Peace Court for a receiver. The receiver can file a lien on the property and collect the rents to fix it (25 Del. C. § 5901; 25 Del. C. § 5905; 25 Del. C. § 5906).

Unless agreed otherwise in writing, the tenant may sublet or assign. The lease may restrict or prohibit assignment in any way, but may limit subletting only by requiring your consent, which you may not unreasonably withhold (25 Del. C. § 5508(a), (b)).

• If there is a dispute over whether you unreasonably withheld consent, you must show that your refusal was reasonable (25 Del. C. § 5508(c)).

Either you or the tenant may end a month-to-month tenancy with at least 60 days' written notice. The 60 days begin on the first day of the month after the day the notice is actually given (25 Del. C. § 5106(d)).

• A rental agreement with no stated term is month to month (25 Del. C. § 5106(b)).
• To end a fixed-term lease at its expiration, either side gives at least 60 days' written notice before it ends (25 Del. C. § 5106(c)).
• If neither side gives notice on a lease of a year or more (60 days from you, 45 days from the tenant), the tenancy continues month to month on the same terms (25 Del. C. § 5108(a)).
• An oral rental agreement cannot run longer than one year (25 Del. C. § 5106(a)).

Within 20 days after the rental agreement ends, return any deposit you are not entitled to keep. If you keep any of it for damage, send the tenant within the same 20 days an itemized list of damages with the estimated cost of repair for each, and pay the difference. If you send no list, you are treated as acknowledging that nothing is owed for damages (25 Del. C. § 5514(e), (f)).

• The deposit may cover damage beyond normal wear and tear (or that painting and ordinary cleaning cannot fix), unpaid rent including late charges and rent due for a premature termination or abandonment, and reasonable costs of renovating and re-renting after a premature termination. After an early termination under 5314, those re-renting costs are capped at one month's rent (25 Del. C. § 5514(c)).
• If the tenant accepts a payment sent with the itemized list, the tenant agrees to the damages unless the tenant objects in writing within 10 days of receiving it (25 Del. C. § 5514(f)).
• Failing to return the deposit, or the balance after the listed damages, within 20 days entitles the tenant to double the amount wrongfully withheld (25 Del. C. § 5514(g)(1)).
• Send the deposit and notices to the tenant's address in the lease or to a forwarding address the tenant gave in writing at or before the end of the tenancy. If the tenant gives no address, you are relieved of the notice duty and the double penalty, but you still owe any unused deposit if the tenant claims it in writing within one year (25 Del. C. § 5514(h)).
• A pet deposit follows the same account, 20-day and penalty rules, and pet damage comes out of the pet deposit first (25 Del. C. § 5514(i)(1)).
• When a sole tenant dies, the 20 days run from when you get possession back (or from the end of any storage of the tenant's property), and the deposit goes to the estate's representative (25 Del. C. § 5719(d)).