# ESA Letter in Milford, DE: A Deposit Cap With Three Conditions

> An ESA letter in Milford meets a cap that is not unconditional: 25 Del. C. § 5514(a)(2)-(4) turns on lease length and on whether the unit is furnished.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/delaware-emotional-support-animal/milford/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-09-05
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 14,079
- Households renting: 48.7%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Barred as accommodation
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $25-$40/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: sometimes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## A city in two counties, and half of it renting

Milford sits in two Delaware counties at once: the Kent and Sussex county
line runs through the city. Population is **14,079** on the 2024 Census
estimate, fifth-largest in the state, and **2,705** of its 5,560 occupied
homes are rented: **48.7 percent** on the 2020–2024 American Community
Survey five-year estimate, close to an even split between renting and
owning. The same survey's five-year estimate puts median gross rent at
$1,260, from a sample small enough that it should be quoted as an estimate
rather than a hard figure.

The city is also the home of the Milford Housing Development Corporation, a
nonprofit developer of affordable housing based on Masten Circle, which
makes Milford one of the smaller Delaware places with a housing organisation
actually headquartered in it.

Renters here get told a simple thing about Delaware deposits: the cap is one
month's rent. That is roughly true and it is not what the statute says.

## Read the whole sentence, not the number

**25 Del. C. § 5514(a)**, on security deposits:

> "(2) **No landlord may require a security deposit in excess of 1 month's rent where the rental
> agreement is for 1 year or more.**
> (3) No landlord may require a security deposit in excess of 1 month's rent (with the exception of
> federally-assisted housing regulations), for primary residential tenancies of undefined terms or
> month to month **where the tenancy has lasted 1 year or more.** After the expiration of 1 year,
> the landlord shall immediately return, as a credit to the tenant, any security deposit amount in
> excess of 1 month's rent …
> (4) **The security deposit limits set forth above shall not apply to furnished rental units.**"

Three conditions live in those lines, and each of them is a place where the cap can fail to reach
your tenancy.

**Condition one: a term of a year or more.** Paragraph (2) attaches the ceiling to a rental
agreement "for 1 year or more." A six-month lease is not described by that sentence.

**Condition two: or a month-to-month tenancy that has already lasted a year.** Paragraph (3)
covers undefined-term and month-to-month arrangements, but only once the tenancy "has lasted 1
year or more", and then it does something useful, requiring the landlord to return the excess as
a credit immediately after that first year expires. A month-to-month tenant in month four is
outside the cap; the same tenant in month thirteen is inside it and may be owed money back.

**Condition three: the unit is not furnished.** Paragraph (4) removes furnished rentals from the
limits entirely. Not a higher cap, no cap.

## The pet deposit is a second ceiling, not part of the first

This is where the arithmetic surprises people. **§ 5514(i)(2)** sets its own limit: no pet deposit
"in excess of 1 month's rent, **regardless of the duration of the rental agreement**", note that
the pet ceiling carries none of the conditions the security-deposit ceiling does.

And the two do not share a pot. **§ 5141(33)** defines a security deposit as "any deposit,
**exclusive of a pet deposit**, given to the landlord." Exclusive of. They stack. A Delaware
tenant with an animal can lawfully be asked for up to **two months' rent** in deposits, and at
Milford's estimated rent that is a substantial sum to find before moving in.

## What may be asked for before the tenancy starts

Delaware also fixes a closed list of what can be collected up front. **25
Del. C. § 5310**:

> "the prospective landlord or owner of the dwelling unit **shall not ask for, nor receive, any
> 'assurance money' or other payment which is not an application fee, security deposit, surety
> bond fee or premium, pet deposit or similar deposit reserving the dwelling unit** for the
> prospective tenant for a time certain. The prospective landlord shall not charge the prospective
> tenant, as a fee for any credit or other type of investigation, any more than the specific cost
> of such investigation."

Read it for what it is. § 5310 forbids charges that are not on its list; it
does not bless a pet deposit charged to a tenant whose animal is in the unit
as an accommodation. That is a different question in a different title.

## Which of the conditions your tenancy meets

Take the lease out and answer three things in order. Is the term a year or
longer? If it is month-to-month, has it run past a year? Did the unit come
furnished?

- **A twelve-month lease, unfurnished.** Security deposit capped at one month's rent, plus a
  separate pet deposit ceiling of one month's rent.
- **A six-month lease.** Neither paragraph (2) nor paragraph (3) describes it, so the cap does not
  do the work you thought it did.
- **Month-to-month, seven months in.** Same answer, for now, and the position changes at the
  one-year mark, when paragraph (3) requires the excess back as a credit.
- **A furnished unit on any term.** Paragraph (4) takes it out of the limits.

Worth doing before you sign, and worth doing again a year in, because for
one category of tenant the statute hands back money without anyone having to
ask.

## And none of that is what removes an animal charge

Notice what these subsections do and do not do. They cap. They do not prohibit, and none of them
mentions an assistance animal. The one sentence in § 5514 that does (subsection (i)(3), barring a
pet deposit for a "duly certified and trained support animal") is tied to § 5141(38)'s definition
of an animal "individually trained to do work or perform tasks," which is not an emotional support
animal.

The charge comes off, if it comes off, through **6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(2)**, the refusal to make
reasonable accommodations "when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal
opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling", read with **§ 4603(b)(2)** on the terms and conditions
of a rental, and with 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) behind them.

That route asks for a fact about you rather than a fact about the lease. The Division of Human and
Civil Rights describes the documentation it expects as coming "**from a health professional or
other person who can establish that the person has a disability and explain the nexus between the
disability and the accommodation request**," and advises putting the request in writing even
though no particular form or wording is required.

Ask a clinician who already treats you first. It is the cheapest route and
often the strongest. Then be realistic about it downstate: Kent and Sussex
have few independent practices compared with northern Delaware, waiting
lists run long, and the seasonal swing in the resort communities makes
year-round appointment capacity thinner than population figures suggest.
Some practices decline as policy to write anything for a housing provider.

Where that leaves you without a document, a licensed evaluation is the same
assessment arranged directly: a licensed professional works out whether a
disability is present and whether this animal answers it, and records the
finding when the assessment supports one. It can also end in no, which is
precisely why a yes from it is worth carrying to a landlord.

Delaware's deposit cap has three conditions attached. The accommodation
route has one, and it is not about your lease at all.

## What Milford landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- May not refuse a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where it may be necessary to afford a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling: 6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(2).
- May not discriminate because of disability in the terms, conditions or privileges of the rental, or in the services and facilities provided with it: 6 Del. C. § 4603(b)(2). This is where a charge attached to a required animal is met.
- May not require a security deposit above one month's rent where the agreement runs a year or more, or on a month-to-month tenancy once it has lasted a year, 25 Del. C. § 5514(a)(2)–(3), and those limits do not apply to furnished units at all, § 5514(a)(4).
- May not inquire whether an applicant for a dwelling has a disability, or as to its nature or severity, except by inquiries made of all applicants alike: 6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(4).

**Can:**
- May require a pet deposit, capped at one month's rent regardless of the length of the agreement, 25 Del. C. § 5514(i)(2), but that deposit is a separate and additive ceiling from the security deposit, which § 5141(33) defines as "exclusive of a pet deposit."
- Must remit the deposit and provide an itemized list of damages within twenty days of the end of the tenancy; failure to itemize is an acknowledgment that no payment for damages is due, and failure to remit entitles the tenant to double the amount wrongfully withheld, 25 Del. C. § 5514(e)–(g).
- May charge an application fee of no more than the greater of 10 percent of the monthly rent or $50, on pain of double damages, 25 Del. C. § 5514(d).
- May decline where the tenancy would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of others, or would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others, 6 Del. C. §§ 4603(c) and 4603A(f). The assessment is individualised.
- Is outside the state accommodation duty only in the case 6 Del. C. § 4607(e) describes: a dwelling of no more than four families where the owner occupies one of them. Discriminatory advertising under § 4603(b)(3) remains unlawful even there, and the federal Fair Housing Act runs its own exemptions on its own terms.

## How to get an ESA letter in Milford

1. **Check that you qualify**, Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Milford. No diagnosis paperwork needed up front. (About 5 minutes: free)
2. **Connect with a licensed professional**, You are matched with a provider licensed for Delaware clients who reviews your situation in a telehealth evaluation. (Telehealth evaluation)
3. **Complete your evaluation**, The professional evaluates whether an emotional support animal alleviates symptoms of a condition recognized in the DSM-5. Honest evaluations, not everyone qualifies. (Most of Our Applicants Qualify)
4. **Receive your signed letter**, Your letter arrives on the professional's letterhead with their license number: the documentation Delaware landlords may lawfully request. (Typically within days of approval)
5. **Send it to your landlord**, Submit the letter with a short reasonable-accommodation request. Pet fees, pet deposits, and breed limits no longer apply to your animal in Milford. (Protection under FHA + state law)

## Conditions that can qualify for an ESA

No fixed government list exists. A licensed professional evaluates whether an animal alleviates symptoms of a DSM-5-recognized condition, commonly:

- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Major depressive disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Panic disorder
- Social anxiety disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Bipolar disorder
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Phobias with housing impact
- Chronic stress affecting daily function

## Housing help in Milford

- [City of Milford](https://www.cityofmilford.com/) (city government)
- [Milford Code Enforcement & Licensing](https://www.cityofmilford.com/16/Code-Enforcement-Licensing) (city agency)
- [Milford Housing Development Corporation](https://www.milfordhousing.com/) (affordable housing nonprofit)
- [Kent County Levy Court](https://www.kentcountyde.gov/) (county government)
- [First State Community Action Agency](https://www.firststatecaa.org/) (community action agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### My Milford lease runs six months. Is my security deposit capped at one month's rent?

Not by the sentence people usually quote. 25 Del. C. § 5514(a)(2) applies the one-month ceiling "where the rental agreement is for 1 year or more," and § 5514(a)(3) reaches month-to-month or undefined-term tenancies only once the tenancy has lasted a year. A fixed six-month term is described by neither, so the cap is not doing the work most summaries suggest it does.

### I have been month to month for over a year. Does anything change automatically?

Yes, and it is worth checking your ledger. Under § 5514(a)(3), once such a tenancy has lasted a year the one-month ceiling applies, and after the expiration of that year the landlord "shall immediately return, as a credit to the tenant, any security deposit amount in excess of 1 month's rent." The credit is not conditional on the tenant asking for it.

### The unit came furnished. How does that affect the deposit?

It takes it outside the cap. § 5514(a)(4) provides that the security deposit limits set out above do not apply to furnished rental units, not a higher ceiling, but no statutory ceiling at all. If your Milford tenancy is in a furnished unit, the deposit figure in your lease is a matter of agreement rather than of the statutory limit.

### Is a pet deposit capped the same way?

No, and the difference runs both ways. § 5514(i)(2) forbids a pet deposit above one month's rent "regardless of the duration of the rental agreement," so unlike the security deposit ceiling it carries no lease-length condition. It is also a separate pot: § 5141(33) defines a security deposit as exclusive of a pet deposit, so a tenant with an animal can lawfully face up to two months' rent in deposits.

### What may a Milford landlord collect before the tenancy even starts?

Only what 25 Del. C. § 5310 lists. A prospective landlord may not ask for or receive assurance money or any other payment that is not an application fee, security deposit, surety bond fee or premium, pet deposit or similar deposit reserving the unit for a time certain, and may charge no more than the actual cost of a credit or other investigation.

### Milford is in two counties. Does that change which law applies to my tenancy?

No. Title 25's Landlord-Tenant Code and Title 6's Fair Housing Act are statewide, and the Kent-Sussex line running through Milford does not divide them. What it changes is which county services and offices you deal with. The Division of Human and Civil Rights keeps a Kent County office in Dover and a Sussex County office in Georgetown, and either takes a Delaware fair housing complaint.

### If the deposit statute is not what removes a charge for my ESA, what is?

6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(2), which makes disability discrimination include a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services where necessary to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, read with § 4603(b)(2) on the terms, conditions and privileges of a rental. The federal Fair Housing Act states the same duty at 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B). None of § 5514's caps performs that job.

---

Get evaluated by a licensed provider: https://my.supportanimal.com/qualify?sa_source=blog&sa_medium=blog&sa_campaign=esa-guides&sa_content=markdown&ref=blog&sa_term=delaware-emotional-support-animal%2Fmilford