Delaware Mobile Home Park Lease Law: What Operators Need to Include

What must a mobile home lot lease include in Delaware?

If you operate a manufactured (mobile) home community in Delaware, your lot lease is not a fill-in-the-blank residential lease. It is governed by the Manufactured Homes and Manufactured Home Communities Act, 25 Del. C. Chapter 70, Subchapter II. The Act dictates what your written agreement must contain, what you must disclose before a tenant ever applies, and a long list of clauses you are forbidden from putting in the lease.

One structural point trips up many operators: the required contents of the lease and the list of prohibited clauses both live in 25 Del. C. Section 7008, while Section 7006 governs the disclosure packet you must hand over before renting. Chapter 70 was reorganized over the years, so older forms and checklists that cite different section numbers may be out of date. Verify against the current code before you rely on a form.

At a high level, Delaware requires four things: a written agreement with statutorily mandated contents (Section 7008(a)); a pre-rental disclosure packet the tenant signs for (Section 7006); rules, standards, and fees that are reasonable, written, and disclosed (Sections 7018, 7007, 7020); and the absence of any prohibited clause (Section 7008(b)). Getting any of these wrong exposes you to actual damages, court costs, and in willful cases three months' rent per tenant.

The written rental agreement and its required contents (25 Del. C. Section 7008(a), 7009, 7012)

Section 7008(a) opens: 'All new and renewing rental agreements, including those rental agreements whose original term has expired, for a lot in a manufactured home community must contain all of the following.' In other words, the mandatory contents apply to renewals and holdovers, not just brand-new tenancies.

The agreement must identify the specific lot and its location; state the total annual rent; state the term; set out how rent is paid (payable in equal monthly installments over the calendar year); state any late-payment fee and the conditions for it; list every other fee or charge tied to the service it pays for (per Section 7020); give the landlord's or agent's name and address for notices and service; and disclose the federally insured bank where the security-deposit account sits. It must also include a services rider that 'clearly indicate[s] the financial responsibility of the tenant and the landlord for installation and maintenance of each service,' a rental-agreement summary (including a three-year rent history), the grounds for termination, and 'a specific reference to this subchapter as the law governing the relationship.'

On term and signatures: under Section 7009 the default duration is one year unless the parties agree in writing to something else, and the agreement auto-renews on the same terms unless properly terminated. Under Section 7012, conduct can bind you even without a signature. If a tenant signs and tenders an agreement and you accept rent 'without reservation,' the agreement takes effect 'as if it had been signed by the landlord' but 'operates to create only a 1-year term.' Do not rely on withholding your signature as an escape hatch.

Pre-rental disclosures, rules, standards, and fees (25 Del. C. Section 7006, 7018, 7007, 7020)

Before you rent, Section 7006 requires you to hand over a full packet: 'A landlord shall not rent a lot in a manufactured home community without first delivering to the prospective tenant a copy of the proposed rental agreement, a copy of the rules, standards, and fee schedule of the manufactured home community, a copy of this chapter, and a summary of this chapter written by the Department of Justice.' Delivery happens when the applicant picks up the application, and 'the prospective tenant shall acknowledge such delivery by signing a receipt.' Keep that signed receipt.

Fees are tightly controlled by Section 7020: 'A landlord must clearly disclose all fees in a fee schedule attached to each rental agreement,' and you may only assess a fee that 'relates to a service furnished to a tenant or to an expense incurred as a direct result of the tenant's use of the premises.' A fee for a tenant's failure to perform a duty can be charged 'only after the landlord notifies the tenant of the failure and allows the tenant 5 days after notification to remedy or correct the failure.' Undisclosed fees are not enforceable.

Community rules and home standards must be reasonable and in writing. Section 7018 lets you 'promulgate reasonable written rules concerning the occupancy and use of the premises,' but 'a landlord may not arbitrarily or capriciously enforce a rule,' and rule amendments are 'not effective until the date specified in the amended rule or 60 days after the landlord delivers to the tenant written notice.' Home standards under Section 7007 must be 'reasonable written standards,' and for resales they 'must relate only to appearance, maintenance, safety, and compliance with state and local housing, building, or health codes, and the 1976 HUD Code' — you 'may not issue standards in which the age of a manufactured home is the exclusive or dominant criterion.'

Clauses you may NOT put in the lease (25 Del. C. Section 7008(b))

Section 7008(b) is a hard stop list: 'A rental agreement for a lot in a manufactured home community may not contain any of the following.' Among the prohibited clauses are ones where the tenant authorizes anyone to confess judgment, agrees to 'waive or to forego any right or remedy provided by law,' or waives the right to a jury trial. You also cannot include a waiver or indemnification that protects you from liability for injury or harm caused to the tenant or residents — no contracting out of your own negligence.

You may not require the tenant to buy their home from you or to sell or transfer their home to you, and you may not grant yourself an option or right of first refusal to purchase the tenant's home. You cannot 'unreasonably limit freedom of choice in the tenant's purchase of goods and services,' demand a key to the home, ban 'for sale' signs, charge a late fee above the greater of $25 or 5% of monthly rent, or demand a security deposit above one month's rent without mutual agreement. A clause 'that terminates a lease due to the death of any tenant' is prohibited, as is any provision that violates federal, state, or local law.

The teeth: if a court finds a prohibited clause, you must strike it and notify affected tenants within 30 days, and the tenant recovers actual damages plus court costs. Willful inclusion of a banned clause (or willful omission of a required Section 7008(a) term) entitles the tenant to three months' rent on top of damages. Because the same lease form is used community-wide, one bad clause can multiply across every household.

Lease requirements at a glance in Delaware

• Governing law
  Manufactured Homes and Manufactured Home Communities Act, 25 Del. C. Chapter 70, Subchapter II. Contents and prohibitions are in Section 7008, not Section 7006.
• Must be written, contents mandated
  Section 7008(a) requires all new and renewing lot leases to contain lot ID/location, annual rent, term, rent-payment terms, late fee, itemized fee list, landlord/agent contact, and security-deposit bank.
• Services rider
  Section 7008(a) requires a rider that clearly states which of landlord and tenant is financially responsible for installing and maintaining each service, and the fee for each.
• Rental-agreement summary
  Section 7008(a) requires a summary including home/lot description, annual rent and monthly payment, term, landlord and manager contacts, tenant address, fees, deposit, and a 3-year rent history.
• Pre-rental disclosure packet
  Section 7006 requires delivering the proposed agreement, community rules/standards/fee schedule, a copy of Chapter 70, and the DOJ summary; tenant signs a receipt at application time.
• Fee disclosure
  Section 7020 requires all fees to be in a fee schedule attached to the lease; fees must tie to a service or a tenant-caused expense; duty-failure fees need notice and a 5-day cure.
• Reasonable written rules
  Section 7018 allows reasonable written rules, bars arbitrary or capricious enforcement, and makes rule amendments effective only after 60 days' written notice (or a later stated date).
• Home standards
  Section 7007 requires reasonable written standards; resale standards limited to appearance, maintenance, safety, and code/HUD compliance; age may not be the dominant criterion.
• One-year default term
  Section 7009 sets a one-year default term with automatic renewal on the same terms unless properly terminated in writing.
• Prohibited clauses
  Section 7008(b) bans confession of judgment, waiver of legal rights/jury trial, negligence waivers, forced buy/sell to the landlord, right of first refusal, key demands, excessive late fees/deposits, death-termination, and any illegal clause.
• Penalties
  Section 7008 gives tenants actual damages plus court costs for a prohibited or missing term, and three months' rent for willful violations, per affected tenant.

Operator best practices in Delaware

• Verify current section numbers before citing a form
  Confirm your lease template maps to today's Section 7008 (contents and prohibitions) and Section 7006 (disclosures) at delcode.delaware.gov rather than relying on older forms that cite superseded numbers.
• Standardize the Section 7006 disclosure packet
  Bundle the proposed agreement, rules/standards/fee schedule, a copy of Chapter 70, and the DOJ summary, and capture a signed delivery receipt at the application stage for every prospect.
• Attach a complete fee schedule to every lease
  Per Section 7020, list every fee tied to its service in the attached schedule; never charge an undisclosed fee, and build the 5-day cure notice into your duty-failure fee process.
• Audit the lease against the Section 7008(b) ban list
  Line-by-line check your form for confession of judgment, rights/jury waivers, negligence waivers, forced buy/sell, right of first refusal, key demands, over-cap late fees or deposits, and death-termination clauses before signing anyone.
• Keep rules and standards reasonable, written, and version-controlled
  Under Sections 7018 and 7007, maintain written rules and home standards, apply them uniformly, and give 60 days' written notice for rule amendments; avoid age-dominant resale standards.
• Complete the services rider and summary carefully
  Fill in the Section 7008(a) services rider (who pays for and maintains each utility/service) and the rental-agreement summary with an accurate 3-year rent history for each lot.
• Remember the per-tenant exposure
  A single defective clause replicated across the community multiplies liability; treat lease-form corrections as urgent and notify affected tenants within 30 days as Section 7008 requires.
• Build a relationship with a Delaware MHP attorney
  Chapter 70 is specialized and has been reorganized; have a Delaware manufactured-housing attorney review your lease form, rules, standards, and fee schedule before you deploy them community-wide.