Delaware Justice of the Peace Court, How To File and Defend a Summary Possession Action

Citation
Delaware Justice of the Peace Court, How To File and Defend a Summary Possession Action
Jurisdiction
Delaware (state)
Source
Official source
Original Source
https://courts.delaware.gov/help/LandlordTenant/ ↗

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been convicted of a class A misdemeanor or any felony during the term of the rental agreement which caused or threatened to cause irreparable harm to any person or property;

by an owner when the tenant has:

stayed in the unit for more than 5 days after the property has been duly sold upon the foreclosure of a mortgage.

In addition, a summary possession action for a commercial rental unit may be brought upon any grounds provided for in the rental agreement and a summary possession action for a manufactured home or manufactured home lot may be brought for any of the grounds set forth in the Manufactured Home Owners and Community Owners Act - 25 Del.C. § 5702

class="anchors"

Should anything be done before filing for possession?

Yes. The landlord must provide a written notice to the tenant. If the cause of action requires providing the tenant an opportunity to cure, the amount of time to cure the defect depends on the type of rental agreement (residential vs. manufactured home/lot rentals) and the cause of action (failure to pay rent or a rules violation). A complaint should not be filed until the time allowed in the notice has passed and the tenant has either not paid the amount owed or corrected the rules violation.

For failure to pay rent - A written demand for payment must be given or sent to the tenant before bringing an action for summary possession for failure to pay rent. The demand notice must be sent by the landlord after the date late fees may be imposed under the Delaware Landlord Tenant Code. The time specified to make the payment must be at least 7 days after the date of the notice for both residential units and manufactured homes/lot rentals.