Delaware Eviction Notice
Delaware eviction notice: 5-day pay-or-quit and 7-day cure-or-quit notice rules under Title 25. Free template with statute cites. Attorney review available.
Introduction
An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord serves on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing a summary possession action in court. The template on this page is the actual notice document you fill out, date, and serve, not just a guide to how Delaware's eviction process works. In Delaware, the notice you serve depends on why you're evicting: nonpayment of rent gets a 5-day pay-or-quit notice, a curable breach of a lease rule or covenant gets a 7-day cure-or-quit notice, and a breach that causes or threatens irreparable harm, or a tenant's class A misdemeanor or felony conviction that caused or threatened irreparable harm, lets the landlord terminate immediately on notice with no cure period at all. Unlike some states, Delaware's day counts run on calendar days, not court days. One rule sets Delaware apart from many other states: when a breach causes or threatens irreparable harm to a person or property, or a tenant is convicted of a class A misdemeanor or felony that caused or threatened such harm, the landlord can terminate the rental agreement immediately upon notice, with no minimum day count set by statute at all, not even a token waiting period. Delaware's Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, Title 25 of the Delaware Code, governs the entire pre-filing notice process: Chapter 51 sets general rules including how notice must be served, Chapter 55 sets the notice-by-cause rules and day counts, and Chapter 57 governs the summary possession case itself once filed. There's no state-mandated form for the notice, but the law requires specific content: a cure-or-quit notice must specify the rule breached, cite Section 5513, and warn that a repeat breach within a year can support a future case without a new notice. Serve the wrong notice type, the wrong day count, or skip required content, and the case can be dismissed before it starts.
Key Things to Know
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An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord must serve on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing a summary possession action in court.
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Delaware is unusual in that a breach causing or threatening irreparable harm to a person or property, or a tenant's class A misdemeanor or felony conviction that caused or threatened irreparable harm, lets the landlord terminate the rental agreement immediately upon notice, with no minimum day count set by statute at all and no cure period. (Delaware Code Title 25, Section 5513(b))
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Nonpayment of rent gets a 5-day pay-or-quit notice, counted in calendar days from when the notice was given or sent. The notice must be in writing and demand payment. (Delaware Code Title 25, Section 5502(a))
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A curable breach of a lease rule or covenant, other than late rent, gets a 7-day cure-or-quit notice. The tenant can fix the violation within those 7 days and keep the lease. (Delaware Code Title 25, Section 5513(a))
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The governing law is Delaware's Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, Title 25, Chapters 51, 55, and 57, which together set the notice rules, service rules, and the summary possession court process.
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Notice may be served personally on the tenant, or left with an adult resident at the tenant's home; alternatively, it may be sent by registered, certified, or first-class mail, or served by posting on the unit combined with a mailing receipt, or by a court-appointed process server. Delaware's statute does not rank these in a strict order the way some states do. (Delaware Code Title 25, Section 5113)
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There's no state-mandated form for the notice itself, but specific content is required by statute. Separately, ending a month-to-month tenancy without cause, or not renewing a fixed-term lease, requires 60 days' written notice, far longer than the for-cause notices above. (Delaware Code Title 25, Sections 5502(a), 5513(a), and 5106)
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Eviction Notice in Delaware, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Eviction Notice guide walks through them.
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Delaware Requirements for Eviction Notice
7-day cure-or-quit notice for breach of a rule or covenant material to the rental agreement, other than late rent. The notice must substantially specify the rule breached, cite Section 5513, and state that a substantially similar breach within 1 year may support a future summary possession action without a new notice.
Notice may be served personally on the tenant, or left with an adult person residing at the tenant's rental unit or usual place of abode. In lieu of personal service, notice may be sent by registered, certified, or first-class mail (with a certificate of mailing), postage-prepaid. As an alternative, notice may also be served by posting on the rental unit combined with a return receipt or mailing certificate, or by a special process-server appointed by the Court. These methods are not ranked in a strict sequence.
No cure period applies when a breach causes or threatens irreparable harm to any person or property, or the tenant is convicted of a class A misdemeanor or felony during the tenancy that caused or threatened such harm. The landlord may terminate the rental agreement immediately upon notice to the tenant and bring an action for summary possession, or remedy the breach without notice and bill the tenant, or both.
The statutory basis for every notice type on this page and the court process that follows if the tenant does not comply: Delaware Code Title 25, Chapter 51 (general provisions and service of notice), Chapter 55 (tenant obligations and landlord remedies, including notice-by-cause rules), and Chapter 57 (summary possession, the court case filed after the notice period expires).
There is no government-mandated form for either the pay-or-quit or cure-or-quit notice. Specific content is required by statute: the pay-or-quit notice must be in writing, demand payment, and state a period of not less than 5 days. The cure-or-quit notice must substantially specify the rule breached, advise of the 7-day cure period, cite Section 5513, and note that a similar breach within 1 year may support a future case without a new notice.
Distinct from the 5-day and 7-day for-cause notices above: ending a month-to-month tenancy without cause requires a minimum of 60 days' written notice from either party, and declining to renew a fixed-term rental agreement at the end of its term requires the landlord to give a minimum of 60 days' written notice prior to expiration.
5-day pay-or-quit notice, counted in calendar days from the date the notice was given or sent. The landlord must demand payment in writing; if the tenant remains in default after the notice period, the landlord may bring an action for summary possession.
Frequently Asked Questions
Delaware requires 5 days' notice for nonpayment of rent and 7 days' notice for a curable breach of a lease rule or covenant, both counted in calendar days from when the notice was given or sent. A breach causing or threatening irreparable harm, or a tenant's related criminal conviction, allows immediate termination on notice with no fixed waiting period.
No, in nearly all cases. Delaware law requires written notice before filing a summary possession action for nonpayment of rent or a lease violation. The one narrow exception is that a landlord may remedy a breach itself and bill the tenant without notice when the breach causes or threatens irreparable harm, but terminating the rental agreement in that situation still requires notice to the tenant.
Delaware law does not require a specific form, but each notice type has required content. A 5-day pay-or-quit notice must be in writing and demand payment. A 7-day cure-or-quit notice must specify the rule or covenant breached, state that it's given under Section 5513, and warn that a substantially similar breach within 1 year can support a future case without a new notice. A notice for immediate termination should describe the breach or conviction causing or threatening irreparable harm. Missing this content is a common reason a notice fails.
No. Delaware has no government-mandated fill-in-the-blank form for a pay-or-quit or cure-or-quit notice, so a landlord can write the notice, as long as it includes the content the statute requires for that notice type. Leaving out required content, such as the amount due for nonpayment or the Section 5513 citation and repeat-breach warning for a cure-or-quit notice, is one of the more common reasons a notice doesn't hold up.
Most lease violations in Delaware are curable: the tenant gets 7 days after written notice to fix the problem and keep the lease under Section 5513(a). A violation is treated differently, with no chance to cure, only when it causes or threatens irreparable harm to a person or property, or when it's tied to a tenant's class A misdemeanor or felony conviction that caused or threatened such harm. In that narrow category, Section 5513(b) lets the landlord terminate the rental agreement immediately upon notice, with no cure period and no fixed day count.
Both the 5-day and 7-day periods run in calendar days, not court or business days, starting from the date the notice was given or sent rather than the date it's received. A 5-day pay-or-quit notice given on a Monday runs through the following Saturday, weekends included, since Delaware's statute doesn't exclude weekends or holidays the way some states do. The immediate-termination notice for irreparable harm or a qualifying conviction has no countdown to calculate; it ends the tenancy immediately upon notice.
If the tenant hasn't paid, cured, or vacated by the deadline stated on the notice, keep the notice and proof of how and when it was served. Delaware law makes proper notice a precondition to filing a summary possession action, so that's the landlord's next step. For a curable breach, the notice by itself doesn't end the tenancy: if the tenant cures within the 7-day period, the lease continues.
Delaware's notice statutes don't spell out a signature block, but the notice must be in writing, and the date on it matters more than almost anything else on the page: both the 5-day and 7-day countdowns run from the date the notice was given or sent, not from any later date. Dating the notice and keeping proof of the service method used, such as a certificate of mailing or return receipt, is how a landlord can show exactly when the clock started if the case goes to court. Signing the notice identifies who served it on the landlord's behalf.