Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Delaware

At a glance

Two limits govern applicant charges

Delaware uses two overlapping provisions. Under 25 Del. C. § 5514(d), a fee required to determine creditworthiness is an application fee. Its stated ceiling is the greater of 10% of the unit's monthly rent or $50.

Section 5310(a) separately says a prospective landlord may not charge more than the specific cost of a credit or other investigation. Read together, the percentage-or-$50 formula does not authorize marking up an investigation. For example, at $1,500 monthly rent, § 5514(d)'s stated application-fee ceiling is $150; if the charge is for a $40 credit investigation, § 5310 limits that investigation charge to its $40 specific cost.

Section 5310 also prohibits “assurance money” or another applicant payment that does not fall within its listed categories. Those categories include an application fee and several deposits that are outside this survey.

Receipt and recordkeeping

Upon receiving application-fee money, § 5514(d) requires the landlord to give the tenant a receipt for the full amount paid. The landlord must keep complete records of all application fees charged and amounts received for each fee for at least two years.

Section 5310(b) adds a separate duty to retain the record of each prospective tenant's application for six months. Neither provision requires delivery of the credit, background, or screening report itself, and neither states a special deadline to refund an unused fee or an application that was not considered.

Coverage and enforcement

Section 5101 applies the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code to rental agreements for rental units within Delaware and excludes commercial rental agreements. Section 5102 lists further excluded arrangements, including specified institutional residences, fraternal housing, hotel-like lodging, certain short nonrenewable coastal-area rentals, tenant-owned improvements on rented ground, and certified recovery houses.

If a landlord unlawfully demands more than the allowable application fee, § 5514(d) entitles the tenant to damages equal to double the amount charged. For an assurance-money complaint, § 5310(b) directs the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Unit to investigate and authorizes cease-and-desist orders when the investigation shows good cause to believe a violation occurred. Section 5117 also gives an injured party a civil cause of action for a Code violation. The fee provisions state no local-preemption rule.

What trips people up

“Greater of” is the statutory formula. The ceiling is not the lesser of $50 and 10% of monthly rent. At rents above $500, 10% produces the larger figure.

The investigation-cost limit still matters. A landlord should not treat the percentage/$50 ceiling as permission to retain more than the specific cost of a credit or other investigation.

The two retention periods cover different records. Application-fee charge and receipt records must be kept at least two years; each prospective tenant's application must be kept six months.

Common questions

Must the landlord give a receipt? Yes. The receipt must show the full amount paid as an application fee.

Must an applicant receive the screening report? Sections 5310 and 5514(d) do not create a special report-copy duty.

Can an applicant require use of a recent report? These provisions create no statewide applicant-supplied or reusable-report procedure.

Does Delaware require applications to be processed in order? No such first-in-order, first-qualified, or single-application process appears in these fee provisions.

Statutes and sources

• 25 Del. C. § 5310 — assurance-money prohibition, specific-investigation- cost ceiling, six-month application records, and Attorney General enforcement.

  The prospective landlord shall not charge the prospective tenant, as a fee for any credit or other type of investigation, any more than the specific cost of such investigation.

Official source: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c053/index.html (accessed 2026-07-21) - 25 Del. C. § 5514(d) — application-fee label, amount ceiling, receipt, two-year fee records, and double-charge damages.

A landlord may charge an application fee, not to exceed the greater of either 10 percent of the monthly rent for the rental unit or $50, to determine a tenant's credit worthiness.

Official source: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c055/index.html (accessed 2026-07-21) - 25 Del. C. §§ 5101-5102 — Code coverage and excluded arrangements.

This Code shall regulate and determine all legal rights, remedies and obligations of all parties and beneficiaries of any rental agreement of a rental unit within this State, wherever executed.

Official source: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c051/sc01/index.html (accessed 2026-07-21) - 25 Del. C. § 5117 — general civil action for a Code violation.

For any violation of the rental agreement or this Code, or both, by either party, the injured party shall have a right to maintain a cause of action in any court of competent civil jurisdiction.

Official source: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c051/sc01/index.html (accessed 2026-07-21)