Can You Rent Out Your Delaware House? Check This First (2026)

Read the full guide: https://www.activeadultsdelaware.com/... All our Delaware retirement and second home guides: https://www.activeadultsdelaware.com/... CHAPTERS 00:00 The three questions people ask, and the one they skip 00:18 Why I am the one telling you this 01:31 Who actually decides whether you can rent it out 02:46 What the state of Delaware charges 04:05 Does your town add its own tax 05:37 Where to find the community's rules, and what to ask for 07:13 Is a short-term rental even a lease under Delaware law 08:12 What it all adds up to 09:11 Why call us, and the next step Almost everybody who buys a place in Delaware before they move here full time asks the same three questions. Price, taxes, and how far it is to the water. The question they do not ask is whether they are allowed to rent it out at all. Christine Davis moved to Rehoboth Beach in 1999 and has been selling real estate in Delaware since 2003. Before that she spent eight years in the Air Force as a civil engineer, and her last assignment was Andrews in Maryland, which is where she first found these beaches, crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Friday afternoons. She was the weekender before she was the resident, and in this video she walks through the question she wishes somebody had made her answer first. Who actually decides whether a Delaware house can be rented out, and why the three layers are almost always read in the wrong order. The layer that can tell you no is not the state and not the county. It is the community's own recorded declaration, and it binds you the day you take title. What the state charges. Delaware's short term rental lodging tax, when it took effect, what counts as short term, and the difference between renting through a platform and renting directly yourself, which decides whether you need a state business license at all. Whether your town has its own tax, why the state says plainly that a municipal tax is separate, and why the state and a city can count the nights differently. Plus the Sussex County short term rental tax that was proposed and voted down, and why neither New Castle County nor Kent County has a single answer either. Where the community's rules actually live, how to ask for them by name before your inspection period ends, and the six things to look for in the rental section. Minimum lease term, rental caps, waiting lists, waiting periods after purchase, tenant approval and association fees. And whether a short rental is even a lease under Delaware's Residential Landlord Tenant Code, which carries an exclusion much narrower than people assume. Christine Davis, Associate Broker Active Adults Realty 1504 Savannah Road, Lewes, DE 19958 302-424-1890 christine@activeadultsrealty.com https://www.activeadultsdelaware.com What is happening around Delaware this month: https://www.activeadultsdelaware.com/... SOURCES Delaware Division of Revenue, Short Term Rental FAQs, read October 25, 2026: state lodging tax of 4.5 percent on short term rentals of no more than 31 consecutive nights, for agreements on or after January 1, 2025. Owners renting through a third party intermediary do not need a State of Delaware business license; owners arranging rentals directly need a $25 accommodations intermediary license through onestop.delaware.gov and file monthly by the 15th. Any municipal tax is collected and remitted to that municipality. https://revenue.delaware.gov/short-te... City of Lewes, City Code Chapter 172, Section 172-17A (amended May 12 2025): a rental tax on stays of 30 days or less, which excepts occupancies subject to the State Lodging Tax. Call Lewes City Hall about whether it applies to your rental and the current rate. Sussex County's proposed 3 percent tax on short term rentals in the unincorporated areas of the county was defeated at the County Council meeting of December 10, 2024. Delaware Residential Landlord Tenant Code, Title 25 sections 5101 and 5102, excludes tenants subject to nonrenewable leases of 120 days or less in certain locales. This is not a blanket exemption for all short term rentals. This video is general information about Delaware lodging taxes, rental licensing, community governing documents and landlord tenant law. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and Active Adults Realty is not a tax advisor, an accounting firm, a law firm or a taxing authority. Rates, licensing requirements, deadlines and community rules change. Nothing here is a projection or a promise of rental income, occupancy or value. Verify anything you plan to rely on with your own advisor, your own town and the current recorded documents for your own address. Active Adults Realty is an Equal Housing Opportunity brokerage. We do business in accordance with the Federal Fair Housing Act.