Delaware Eviction Process: Notice Periods, Timeline, and Costs

Under 25 Del. C. § 5502(a) you may demand payment any time after rent is due and must notify the tenant in writing that unless payment is made within a stated period of not less than five days after the notice was given or sent, the rental agreement terminates. Because 25 Del. C. § 5112 excludes intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays from any period shorter than seven days and does not count the day of service, the five days run as business days. The notice must actually demand the rent and say the agreement will terminate and a summary possession action may follow. Serve it under § 5113: personally, by leaving a copy with an adult resident, by certified or first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, or by posting combined with a mailing.

For a breach of a rule or covenant material to the rental agreement, 25 Del. C. § 5513(a) requires written notice giving the tenant at least seven days to correct it; the notice must specify the rule breached, state that it is given under § 5513, and warn that a substantially similar breach within one year lets the landlord file for summary possession relying on that same notice with no new cure period. Where the breach causes or threatens irreparable harm to a person or property, or the tenant is convicted of a class A misdemeanor or felony during the tenancy that caused or threatened such harm, § 5513(b) lets the landlord terminate immediately on notice with no cure period.

To end a month-to-month tenancy without cause, 25 Del. C. § 5106(d) requires a minimum of 60 days' written notice, and the 60-day period does not begin until the first day of the month following the day of actual notice, so in practice it runs 60 to 90 days. For a fixed-term lease, § 5106(c) requires 60 days' written notice before the expiration date, and § 5108 rolls the tenancy to month-to-month if neither side gives notice. Delaware has no statewide just-cause eviction requirement and no rent control.

Summary possession is filed in the Justice of the Peace Court under 25 Del. C. § 5701 and must be filed in the court nearest the rental unit in the county where the property is located. The landlord/tenant filing fee is $45 and service of the writ of summary possession is $40; an appeal to a three-judge court costs $60.

Delaware does not require a written answer: under 25 Del. C. § 5709 the tenant may answer orally or in writing at the hearing, and any defense or counterclaim within the court's jurisdiction can be raised then. Section 5705(a) requires the notice of hearing and complaint to be served at least five days and not more than 30 days before the hearing date.

A straightforward nonpayment case runs roughly five to ten weeks: the five-business-day demand, filing, mandatory eviction-diversion mediation that must finish at least 48 hours before trial, a hearing set five to 30 days after service, then the wait before a writ of possession can issue (five days to request a trial de novo, or ten days to move to vacate a default) plus the officer's 24-hour notice. A tenant who pays into court, raises a habitability or good-faith-dispute defense under § 5716, demands a jury, or appeals for a trial de novo can add several more weeks.

Delaware bars self-help eviction. Only a constable or sheriff acting on a court-issued writ of possession may remove a tenant, and only after at least 24 hours' notice and between sunrise and sunset (25 Del. C. § 5715(b)). If a landlord or the landlord's agent removes or excludes a tenant without a valid court order, § 5313 lets the tenant recover possession or terminate the lease and collect treble the damages sustained or three times the per diem rent for the exclusion period, whichever is greater, plus costs. Cutting off heat, hot water, water, or electricity triggers separate remedies under § 5308, including immediate lease termination, rent abatement, and substitute-housing costs.

Delaware's core notice periods and late-fee cap (5% of monthly rent, no charge within five days of the due date) did not change in 2024-2026. The big shifts came from 84 Del. Laws c. 112 (SS 1 for SB 1, approved July 25, 2023), which created a tenant right to representation phased in from November 22, 2023 and added the residential eviction diversion program at 25 Del. C. § 5702A, requiring the Justice of the Peace Court to stand up post-filing mediation by April 27, 2024 and barring trial until the landlord has engaged in mediation; and 85 Del. Laws c. 106 (SS 2 for SB 115, approved July 29, 2025, effective January 29, 2026), which added 25 Del. C. § 5720 letting tenants shield eviction records in defined circumstances. A separate lead-paint law, 85 Del. Laws c. 98 (HS 2 for HB 70, approved July 21, 2025), will eventually require landlords to file lead-compliance documentation with every complaint for possession under § 5704A, but that section is not yet in force and takes effect no earlier than 12 months after a Delaware State Housing Authority notice, with a March 1, 2028 backstop.

Unlike most states, Delaware lets a corporation, LLC, or other artificial entity appear in Justice of the Peace Court without a lawyer, but only if it first files a Certificate of Representation (Civil Form 50) with the Chief Magistrate and complies with Supreme Court Rule 57; the certificate must be on file before you file the complaint and must be renewed annually for a $20 fee. Two quiet traps: under § 5501(d) you must maintain an office or other permanent place in the county where the unit sits for receipt of rent, and if you do not, the rent due date is extended by three days, which can make a five-day demand premature; and § 5111 makes any lease clause awarding attorney's fees unenforceable, so you cannot bill the tenant for your lawyer. Since 2024 the court schedules mandatory eviction-diversion mediation between filing and trial in most cases, and income-eligible tenants can get free counsel, so expect a represented opponent.

• 25 Del. C. § 5502
• 25 Del. C. § 5513
• 25 Del. C. § 5106