Delaware's §5514 (Title 25) combines a conditional cap, an escrow rule, and a 20-day clock whose violation doubles the money automatically.
How much can a landlord charge?
One month's rent — for leases of one year or longer (the cap doesn't bind month-to-month arrangements the same way, and furnished-unit and pet exceptions exist: a pet deposit up to one additional month is permitted). After a tenant has renewed past a year, excess deposit must be returned.
The escrow rule
The deposit sits in an escrow account at a federally insured Delaware banking institution, disclosed to the tenant — commingling is a statutory violation with its own consequences.
The 20-day clock
Within 20 days of termination, the landlord must return the balance with an itemized list of damages and costs — unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear, and early-termination losses. The tenant's job: provide a forwarding address in writing; without it, remedies weaken.
The penalty
Failure to return or itemize within 20 days entitles the tenant to double the amount wrongfully withheld. Delaware's Justice of the Peace courts handle these as routine small claims.
Why Delaware deposit disputes are documentation disputes
Twenty days, an itemized list, and a doubling rule: the procedure is airtight, and the substance — was it damage or was it wear? — is left entirely to evidence the statute never asks anyone to create.
SealMove creates it. Every photo and video is cryptographically sealed the instant it's captured, independently timestamped, and locked with Face ID into a tamper-evident archive. At move-out, the walkthrough lines up room-by-room against the sealed baseline — and either party can send the other a report to review and acknowledge, no app required.