# ESA Letter in Newark, DE: Right Word, Wrong Definition

> An ESA letter in Newark, Delaware meets 25 Del. C. § 5141(38), a definition of 'support animal' that settles one sentence of state law and no more.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 30,506
- Households renting: 49.3%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Barred as accommodation
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $35-$60/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## The Newark in New Castle County, Delaware

There are two well-known Newarks on this coast and only one of them is in
Delaware. This page is about the Delaware city: 30,506 people on the 2024
Census estimate, in New Castle County, home to the University of Delaware,
third-largest municipality in the state. The New Jersey city of the same
name is a far bigger place, sitting under a different landlord-tenant code
and a different state fair housing act, and nothing on this page applies
there.

The distinction is not pedantry. A tenant in Newark, Delaware who reads New
Jersey guidance is reading the wrong statute book, and the deposit numbers,
the deadlines and the agency that takes the complaint are all different.

Newark, Delaware rents **4,235** of its 8,594 occupied homes, **49.3
percent** on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate,
close enough to half the city that the university's academic calendar sets
the leasing year. Median gross rent is **$1,654**, the second-highest
reliable figure among Delaware's twenty largest places, behind the city of
New Castle at $1,739.

At that rent, the money in this question is not small, which is why so many
Newark tenants end up reading 25 Del. C. § 5514, and then reading a
definition three chapters back that decides how much of it they get.

## What a definition is actually doing

**25 Del. C. § 5141** is the definitions section for Part III of Title 25, the Residential
Landlord-Tenant Code. It opens with a scope line, "For purposes of Part III of this title", and
then fixes the meaning of the terms used across chapters 51 through 59.

> "(38) '**Support animal**' shall mean **any animal individually trained to do work or perform
> tasks to meet the requirements of a disabled person**, including, but not limited to, minimal
> protection work, rescue work, pulling a wheelchair or retrieving dropped items."

A definition does not grant anything and it does not take anything away. It fixes what a word means
**in the places that word is used**. So the question is never "does § 5141(38) cover my animal" in
the abstract. The question is: which sentences of Delaware law turn on that word, and are any of
them the sentence I need?

## The one sentence it reaches

In Part III there is essentially one. **§ 5514(i)(3)** says a landlord "shall not require any pet
deposit from a tenant if the pet is a **duly certified and trained support animal** for a disabled
person who is a resident of the rental unit."

That sentence uses the defined term, so § 5141(38) supplies its content: an
animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks, of the kind the
illustrations describe. An animal whose function is companionship is outside
it, and a Newark landlord's adviser will say so in a single line.

Two further limits are worth knowing, because both get misquoted.

**It does not reach the manufactured-home communities.** § 5141 says "for purposes of Part III,"
and Delaware's Manufactured Home Communities Act is chapter 70, in **Part VI** of the same title.
Chapter 70 has its own near-identical pet-deposit sentence at § 7017(h)(4) and its own definitions
section at § 7003, which defines neither "support animal" nor "pet" nor "disability." Different
Part, different rules, and a Newark apartment tenant should not be reading it at all.

**And it does not reach the Fair Housing Act.** The phrase "support animal" appears nowhere in
6 Del. C. ch. 46 — the chapter that actually carries Delaware's housing accommodation duty. A
definition with no matching word to attach to does nothing there.

## Which is why the narrow definition does not shut the door

Here is the part that gets lost. Delaware's tight definition of "support animal" costs an
emotional support animal one sentence about deposits. It does not decide whether the animal may
live in the unit, and it does not decide whether a charge attached to it is lawful.

Those questions belong to **6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(2)**, which makes disability discrimination
include "a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services,
when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy
a dwelling," and to **§ 4603(b)(2)**, which reaches discrimination in "the terms, conditions, or
privileges" of a rental because of disability. Federally, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) states the
same duty.

Neither of those sentences contains a trained-animal test, because neither
contains an animal at all. What they contain is a person with a disability,
a rule, and a question about necessity.

## What Newark, Delaware does not have

Newark has no public housing authority of its own. That is a fact about how
Delaware organises subsidised housing, not a gap in this page: the state's
public housing authorities with a web presence are the Delaware State
Housing Authority, the Wilmington Housing Authority and the Dover Housing
Authority. Voucher administration for New Castle County outside the city of
Wilmington runs through DSHA.

For a tenant, the practical consequence is that there is no city-level
housing office in Newark to take an accommodation question to. The Division
of Human and Civil Rights handles fair-housing complaints for the whole
state, and its New Castle County office is in Wilmington.

## The finding a definition cannot substitute for

Since the governing sentence has no animal test in it, everything turns on a
showing about the person: is there a disability, and may this accommodation
be necessary because of it.

Delaware's Division of Human and Civil Rights puts the documentation standard plainly. It should
come "**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**." The
Division also warns housing providers that unreasonably delaying or denying a request "without
engaging in the interactive process may be illegal". A useful sentence to have read before the
first email.

No definition can produce that showing. Neither can a registry, and Delaware
has none: the single place its Code says "certified," § 5514(i)(3), never
says who does the certifying.

If a clinician already treats you, ask them first. That is the cheapest
route and the one with the longest relationship behind it, and its friction
is ordinary rather than hidden: practices that do not write housing findings
at all, providers who want more sessions before they will opine on
necessity, and a wait for the appointment in the first place. Student health
and counselling services at a university are built around term dates, which
is a poor match for a lease signed in June.

Where that route does not open, a licensed evaluation does the same work
deliberately: a professional licensed to make the finding decides whether
the disability is there, whether the animal answers it, and writes down
which. Sometimes the answer is no, and a provider who promises otherwise
before meeting you is selling a certificate under another name.

Delaware chose a narrow definition and put it three chapters from the
promise. It costs you one sentence. The sentence that matters asks for
something a definition was never able to give you anyway.

## What Newark 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 Newark

1. **Check that you qualify**, Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Newark. 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 Newark. (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 Newark

- [City of Newark, Delaware](https://www.newarkde.gov/) (city government)
- [New Castle County](https://www.newcastlede.gov/) (county government)
- [Delaware State Housing Authority, Subsidized Rental Programs](https://www.destatehousing.com/find/subsidized-rental-programs/) (state housing authority)
- [Community Legal Aid Society (CLASI), New Castle County office](https://www.declasi.org/contact-us/) (legal aid)
- [Delaware Division of Human and Civil Rights](https://humanandcivilrights.delaware.gov/) (state civil rights agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the law on this page the law for Newark, New Jersey too?

No. This page is about Newark in New Castle County, Delaware: population 30,506, home of the University of Delaware. The Delaware provisions cited here, in Title 25 and Title 6 of the Delaware Code, govern tenancies in this state only. New Jersey has its own landlord-tenant statutes, its own fair housing act and its own enforcement agency, and none of them decide anything in Delaware.

### Does comfort count as "work or a task" under 25 Del. C. § 5141(38)?

The text points the other way. The definition requires an animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks, and the examples the legislature chose are minimal protection work, rescue work, pulling a wheelchair and retrieving dropped items. Those are taught physical behaviours. Presence and companionship, which is how an emotional support animal helps, are not described anywhere in the list.

### Could I train my animal so that it meets the definition instead?

It is the wrong problem to solve. The definition matters only to one sentence about pet deposits in § 5514(i)(3), which also demands certification the Delaware Code provides no authority for. The right to keep the animal, and the argument against a charge attached to it, come from 6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(2) and § 4603(b)(2), and neither of those contains any training requirement at all.

### I rent a lot in a manufactured home community. Does the same definition apply to me?

No, and this is an easy mistake. § 5141 applies its definitions to Part III of Title 25, chapters 51 through 59. Manufactured home communities are chapter 70, in Part VI, which carries its own near-identical bar at § 7017(h)(4) and its own definitions section that defines neither support animal nor pet nor disability. Its deposit caps can also be exceeded by agreement in the rental agreement, which § 5514's cannot.

### Newark has no housing authority. Who administers subsidised rent here?

The Delaware State Housing Authority. Delaware has three public housing authorities with a web presence (DSHA statewide, the Wilmington Housing Authority and the Dover Housing Authority), and voucher administration in New Castle County outside Wilmington runs through DSHA. That is how the state is organised rather than a gap; there is simply no city-level housing office in Newark to take a question to.

### Newark rents high by Delaware standards. Does that increase what a landlord can hold?

Yes, because Delaware's ceilings are expressed as multiples of rent rather than as fixed sums. At a $1,654 median gross rent, the second-highest reliable figure among the state's twenty largest places, a one-month security deposit ceiling and a separate one-month pet deposit ceiling are both larger here in cash terms than almost anywhere else in Delaware.

### If no definition decides it, what is the landlord entitled to evaluate?

Whether the accommodation may be necessary to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling, which is the standard § 4603A(a)(2) sets. In practice that means the disability and the nexus between it and the request. The Division of Human and Civil Rights also tells housing providers that unreasonably delaying or denying a request without engaging in the interactive process may be illegal.

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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%2Fnewark