Ask what Delaware's security deposit cap is and you'll usually hear "one month's rent." That's the right answer for the most common case — and wrong, in both directions, for three others. 25 Del. C. § 5514 draws its lines by lease term, tenancy age, and furnishings.
The four cases (25 Del. C. § 5514(a))
- Fixed-term lease of one year or more: capped at one month's rent (§ 5514(a)(2)).
- Month-to-month or undefined-term tenancy that has lasted a year or more: also capped at one month's rent — and here's the part landlords miss: once the tenancy crosses the one-year mark, the statute says the landlord "shall immediately return, as a credit to the tenant, any security deposit amount in excess of 1 month's rent" (§ 5514(a)(3)). The excess doesn't just become unlawful to demand; it must come back.
- Month-to-month or undefined-term tenancy under a year old: the one-month limits attach only to year-plus terms and year-plus tenancies — the statute states no cap for this case.
- Furnished rental units: "the security deposit limits set forth above shall not apply to furnished rental units" (§ 5514(a)(4)) — no cap, regardless of lease length.
Federally-assisted housing follows federal rules instead of the state cap (§ 5514(a)(3)).
Pets, support animals, and surety bonds
- A pet deposit is separately capped at one month's rent "regardless of the duration of the rental agreement" (§ 5514(i)(2)) — it stacks on top of the security deposit, and pet damage draws from the pet deposit first (§ 5514(i)(1)).
- No pet deposit may be charged for "a duly certified and trained support animal for a disabled person who is a resident of the rental unit" (§ 5514(i)(3)).
- Where the cap applies, a § 5514A surety bond counts toward the same ceiling: § 5514(a)(3) requires the return of any excess "including such amount which when combined with the amount of any surety bond is in excess of 1 month's rent."
Deposit increases mid-tenancy
If the lease allows it, the deposit may rise "commensurate with the rent" — but an increase of more than 10 percent of monthly rent must be prorated over the lease term, or over four months for a month-to-month tenancy (§ 5514(j)).
How stable is this?
The section's own legislative-history line ends at 79 Del. Laws c. 57 — a 2013 amendment — and targeted checks of recent session laws found no later citation to § 5514. The closest bill we found, HB 349 (a fee-in-lieu-of-deposit proposal), died in committee in 2022. The conditional structure above reflects the official code as of this article's publish date.
Check your exact numbers with our Delaware Security Deposit Limit Calculator.