Tools · Security Deposit

Delaware Security Deposit Calculator (2026)

Enter your rent and move-out date to see the most a Delaware landlord can charge and the exact date your deposit is due back — up to 1 month of rent, returned 20 days after the rental agreement expires or terminates; the landlord must both return any deposit not owed and provide an itemized list of damages within the same 20 days.

Cited to 25 Del. C. §5514Source: Delaware Code Online, Title 25 §5514 (Delaware General Assembly).

Delaware security deposit calculator

Security deposit · Delaware

State

Monthly rent

Move-out date

Delaware rule applied to your numbers

Maximum deposit

$2,000

Up to 1 month’s rent under Delaware law. Under 25 Del. C. 5514(a)(2), a landlord cannot require a security deposit larger than one month's rent when the rental agreement is for one year or more. For a month-to-month or undefined-term tenancy, there is no cap at the start, but 5514(a)(3) requires the landlord to return any amount over one month's rent as a credit to the tenant once the tenancy has lasted one year (counting any surety bond toward that one-month figure). The limits do not apply to furnished rental units (5514(a)(4)). A pet deposit is allowed on top of the security deposit but cannot exceed one month's rent regardless of the lease length (5514(i)(2)).

Return deadline

20 days

20 days after the rental agreement expires or terminates; the landlord must both return any deposit not owed and provide an itemized list of damages within the same 20 days. Enter your move-out date for the exact deadline.

These are the Delaware figures applied to what you entered: a plain summary of the rule and the dates, not a determination that anyone did or did not comply.

If a deposit is wrongly kept

If the landlord does not return the deposit, or the balance after the itemized list, within 20 days, the tenant can recover double the amount wrongfully withheld (25 Del. C. 5514(g)(1)). Separately, if the landlord fails to disclose the account location within 20 days of a written request, or never placed the deposit in a Delaware escrow account, the landlord forfeits the whole deposit; not returning it within 20 days of that forfeiture makes the landlord liable for double the full deposit (5514(g)(2)).

Interest on the deposit

Delaware does not require a landlord to pay interest on a residential security deposit. Section 5514 says nothing about interest, so the landlord keeps any interest the escrow account earns.

Local ordinances

The tenant must give the landlord a forwarding address in writing at or before the lease ends. If the tenant does not, the landlord is off the hook for the 20-day deadline and the double-damages penalty, though the landlord still owes any unused deposit if the tenant makes a written claim within one year (25 Del. C. 5514(h)).

PlainStatute

Security deposit — Delaware

Maximum deposit: $2,000 · 1 month’s rent
Monthly rent: $2,000
Move-out date: Not entered
Return deadline: 20 days after the rental agreement expires or terminates; the landlord must both return any deposit not owed and provide an itemized list of damages within the same 20 days

Source: 25 Del. C. §5514

https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c055/index.shtml

Printed from plainstatute.com
Plain-language summary, not legal advice.

Informational only, not legal advice. Security-deposit rules carry exceptions (lease type, small landlords, city ordinances) this summary cannot weigh. See the full statute and exceptions on the Delaware security deposit reference, cited to 25 Del. C. §5514.

How Delaware security deposits work

Delaware caps a residential security deposit at one month's rent when the lease runs for a year or more (25 Del. C. 5514). For a month-to-month tenancy there is no cap at the start, but once the tenancy passes one year the landlord has to credit back anything above one month's rent. Delaware also has a strict escrow rule: the deposit must sit in a separate account at a federally insured bank with an office in the state, and the landlord must tell you where that account is. After you move out, the landlord has 20 days to return the deposit and hand over an itemized list of any damages, and missing that 20-day window counts as admitting no damages are owed. If the landlord wrongfully keeps money past 20 days, you can recover double the amount held back.

This calculator shows the Delaware figures applied to your own rent and dates. It is informational only and not legal advice — exceptions this summary cannot weigh may apply. For the full rules, penalties, and citations, see the Delaware security deposit reference.

Security deposit calculators for other states

Same tool, each with its own cap and return deadline.