Ending a Lease on Entering Active Duty — 30 Days, Counted From the First of Next Month
A tenant who enters active military service after signing the rental agreement may end the tenancy on 30 days’ written notice. The 30 days begin on the first day of the month after the day notice is actually given.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
A tenant who enters active military service after signing the rental agreement may end the tenancy on 30 days’ written notice. The 30 days begin on the first day of the month after the day notice is actually given.
What it's worth: 30 days’ written notice ends the tenancy
- The ground is stated as: by the tenant who, after the execution of such rental agreement, enters the military service of the United States on active duty.
- The notice is 30 days in writing, and the 30-day period begins on the first day of the month following the day of actual notice — so notice given on the 20th does not start the clock until the 1st.
- On a rightful election to terminate, subsection (a) provides that the duties of each party under the rental agreement cease and both discharge any remaining obligations as soon as is practicable.
- The section as printed carries no separate penalty, cap or proportional-rent clause attached to these grounds.
- The same 30-day mechanism serves six other grounds in the section, including a job relocation of more than 30 miles and the death of the tenant.
Who is entitled to it
- The provision is written for the person who served.
- Your home is in this state.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
Deadline: On entering active military service- 1Give the notice in writing and date it. The statutory clock is tied to the day of actual notice, so the date on the notice is doing real work.
- 2Count forward correctly: 30 days from the FIRST day of the month after you give notice. Giving notice early in a month costs you the rest of that month either way.
- 3Enclose the orders that put you on active duty. The ground is entering service after the agreement was signed, so the sequence of dates is what you are proving.
- 4Ask for the deposit accounting in the same letter, and keep a copy of everything you send.
- Form
- Written notice to the landlord
- File with
- Your landlord
- Documents you will need
- dd214
- No renewal
- Once granted it does not need renewing.
Sources
- authority · statute25 Del. C. §5314(b)(5) — Tenant's right to early termination
- operating · statute25 Del. C. ch. 53 — Landlord obligations and tenant remedies, section list
Why only one source type: Authority and operating text are the same chapter of the code, read in one page; no separate agency guidance on this ground was found on a state host.
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