Rent Increases in Delaware: What Are My Rights?

1. Your landlord may renew your rental agreement with changes, such as a new rent. Your landlord must then give you written notice at least 60 days before the agreement ends. The notice must state the new rent and the date it takes effect.

   Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5107(a)

   ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

2. After your landlord gives you a written notice of renewal with changes, you are treated as agreeing to the changes. That does not happen if you tell your landlord that you plan to end the agreement. You must tell your landlord at least 45 days before the last day of the agreement.

   Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5107(b)

   ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

3. If you reject the changes in your landlord's renewal notice, that notice counts as a notice that ends your agreement. You may have to move out, so think about this before you reject the changes.

   RenterLaw editorial Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5107(c)

   ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

4. The renewal notice rules in Delaware's rental code do not apply in one case. That case is when your rent and security deposit depend on your income. This must be under rules of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Then the HUD rules decide how your rent and deposit can change.

   Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5107(d)

   ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

5. A notice that Delaware's rental code requires a landlord to give you can be handed to you. It can also be left at your rental unit or the place you usually live, with an adult who lives there.

   Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5113(a)

   ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

6. Instead of handing you a notice that Delaware's rental code requires, a landlord can mail it to you at the rental unit. For example, the landlord can use registered or certified mail.

   Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5113(b)

   ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

7. Delaware law says a landlord may not demand a rent increase after you take certain steps. One example is a good-faith complaint about a code violation. The code can be a building or housing code, for example. You can complain to your landlord or to the authority that enforces the code.

   Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5516(b)

   ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

8. A landlord may not demand a rent increase after you organize a tenants' organization. The same is true after you become an officer of one.

   Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5516(b)

   ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

9. Suppose you prove your landlord demanded a rent increase within 90 days of a complaint or act that the law lists. Then the law presumes (treats it as true) that the increase was a retaliatory act (an act to get back at you).

   Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5516(c)

   ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

10. A landlord has several defenses to a claim of a retaliatory act (an act to get back at you). One is proof that the rent now demanded is no more than the rent charged other tenants of similar rental units in the same complex. The landlord must show this by competent evidence.

    Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5516(d)

    ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

11. Suppose your landlord breaks your rental agreement or Delaware's Residential Landlord-Tenant Code. Then you have the right to bring a case. You can bring it in any civil court that can hear it.

    Delaware Code, Title 25 25 Del. C. § 5117(a)

    ✓ Sources checked October 4, 2026

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