# ESA Letter in Selbyville, DE: The Fee Before the Lease

> Delaware caps the application fee with a hard number and double damages, then leaves the pet charge that comes after it to a different statute entirely.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 3,285
- Households renting: 16%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Pet deposit ≤ 1 month's rent
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Monthly pet rent uncapped
- Breed/weight limits common: sometimes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Delaware puts a number on the charge you pay first

Most of what a landlord charges is negotiable, market-set or fought over
afterwards. The application fee is the exception. Delaware fixes it in
statute, with arithmetic and a penalty.

**25 Del. C. § 5514(d):**

> "A landlord may charge an **application fee, not to exceed the greater of either 10 percent of
> the monthly rent for the rental unit or $50** … Where the landlord unlawfully demands more than
> the allowable application fee, the tenant shall be entitled to damages **equal to double the
> amount charged.**"

Two things about that sentence are unusual enough to be worth slowing down for.

It is a **"greater of"** cap, not a flat one. On a unit renting at
Delaware's statewide median gross rent of **$1,401**, ten percent is a
little over $140, and $140 is therefore the ceiling. On a cheaper unit,
anything under $500 a month, ten percent falls below the floor and the
**$50** figure governs instead. The tenant always gets whichever of the two
is higher.

And the remedy is **automatic doubling of the amount charged**, not the
excess. A landlord who demands more than the cap allows owes twice what they
took.

Delaware fences the same moment from a second direction. **25 Del. C. §
5310** sets a closed list of what may be collected before a tenancy begins:

> "In every transaction wherein an application is made by a prospective tenant to lease a dwelling
> unit, 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.**"

If a charge at the application stage is not on that list, it is not lawful. And a credit-check
charge is limited to what the check actually costs, not to what the office would like to bill.

## What the Fair Housing Act adds at the same moment

The application stage has its own disability rule, and it is narrower than it looks.

**6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(4)** makes it discrimination:

> "**To make an inquiry to determine whether an applicant for a dwelling** … **has a disability or
> to make inquiry as to the nature or severity of a disability of such a person.**"

The section then lists four inquiries that remain permissible "provided these inquiries are made
of all applicants, whether or not they have a disability": ability to meet the requirements of
tenancy, qualification for disability-specific housing, qualification for a priority, and current
illegal drug use.

Read carelessly, (a)(4) sounds like a Delaware landlord may never ask a
tenant anything about disability, which would mean nobody in Selbyville ever
needs documentation. That is not what it says.

What (a)(4) governs is an **inquiry put to an applicant for a dwelling**:
the screening conversation, before and independent of any request. It does
not address what a housing provider may consider **in response to a request
the tenant has made**. Those are different postures. When you ask for an
accommodation under § 4603A(a)(2), you are the one raising the subject, and
the "may be necessary" clause in that paragraph is something the request has
to establish.

Nothing in the retrieved Delaware chapter construes (a)(4) further, and no
Delaware decision on it was retrieved. So take the text for what it says and
no more: a landlord may not screen you on disability, and that is a separate
matter from the showing your own request carries.

## The charges that come after the lease is signed

Here is where Selbyville's picture changes shape. The pre-tenancy charge has
a hard number and a doubling penalty. The charge attached to your animal,
once you are in, has neither.

**25 Del. C. § 5514(i)(2)** caps a pet deposit at "**1 month's rent, regardless of the duration
of the rental agreement.**" But a cap is a ceiling, not a prohibition. And the pet deposit is
**additive** to the security deposit, because **§ 5141(33)** defines a security deposit as any
deposit "**exclusive of a pet deposit**." A Delaware tenant with an animal can lawfully be asked
for up to two months' rent in deposits between the two.

Then there is the sentence that looks like it solves everything. **§ 5514(i)(3)** bars a pet
deposit where "**the pet is a duly certified and trained support animal for a disabled person**."
It does not reach an emotional support animal, because **§ 5141(38)**, the definition that
governs Part III, restricts "support animal" to "**any animal individually trained to do work or
perform tasks to meet the requirements of a disabled person**," illustrated by protection work,
rescue work, pulling a wheelchair and retrieving dropped items.

And monthly pet rent is not addressed by § 5514 at all. Delaware's deposit
statute regulates deposits. A recurring monthly charge is a different
animal, legally speaking, and the deposit sections do not reach it.

## So what does reach it

**6 Del. C. § 4603(b)(2)**, discrimination "in the **terms, conditions, or privileges** of sale
or rental of a dwelling … because of … **disability**", read with **§ 4603A(a)(2)**'s
accommodation duty. The animal is in the home because of the disability, as a required
accommodation. A charge attached to that animal is a term of the rental applied because of the
disability. Section 4603(b)(2) prohibits exactly that.

That is an argument built from text, not a citation you can slide across a
counter, and the difference matters. The application fee cap is a number a
landlord can be shown. The pet charge comes off through reasoning whose
first step is a fact about you.

## Selbyville's numbers, honestly

Selbyville is a **town** in Sussex County, run by a town council, and the
2024 Census estimate puts it at **3,285 people**, eighteenth of Delaware's
twenty largest places.

The 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate counts **1,185
occupied homes in Selbyville, 190 of them rented**, about 16.0 percent
against **27.0 percent** statewide. The same survey puts the town's median
gross rent at **$1,152**, but the margin on that estimate is **plus or minus
$465**. An interval so wide it cannot be planned against. For arithmetic on
the § 5514(d) cap, the statewide **$1,401** is the sounder figure.

What the data supports saying about Selbyville is modest and true: a small,
overwhelmingly owner-occupied Sussex County town where the rental sample is
too thin to describe a market.

One local caution while you are searching. The Town of Selbyville publishes at
`selbyville.delaware.gov`. A `.com` address using the town's name belongs to a physician's
practice in Fort Worth, Texas and has nothing to do with Delaware.

## The step that has to come first

Everything above splits into two kinds of protection. One kind is a number
in a statute: the fee cap, the closed list of pre-tenancy charges, the
doubling remedy. You get those by reading.

The other kind starts with a finding. § 4603A(a)(2) asks whether you have a disability and
whether the accommodation may be necessary to give you equal opportunity to use and enjoy your
home. Delaware's Division of Human and Civil Rights describes the supporting documentation 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."

If you already have a clinician, ask them. An established relationship makes
the nexus sentence easier to write and harder to dismiss. Be ready for the
friction, though. Sussex County has few independent mental-health practices,
Delaware's specialist capacity sits mostly in New Castle County, and a
clinician treating you for one thing may decline to certify a disability
finding they have not assessed.

Where that is not available, a licensed evaluation is the same assessment
arranged deliberately: someone licensed decides whether a disability exists
and whether this animal answers it, then writes the finding or says no. A
provider whose answer is settled before you arrive is selling paperwork.

Delaware capped the charge you pay before the tenancy. The one that comes
after is not capped by that statute. It comes off through a right whose
first element is a professional judgement about you.

## What Selbyville 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 Selbyville

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

- [Town of Selbyville](https://selbyville.delaware.gov/) (town government)
- [Charter of the Town of Selbyville](https://charters.delaware.gov/selbyville.html) (ordinance)
- [Delaware Courts, Landlord/Tenant help](https://courts.delaware.gov/help/landlordtenant/) (court)
- [Legal Services Corporation of Delaware, Housing](https://www.lscd.com/topics/401/housing) (legal aid)
- [First State Community Action Agency](https://www.firststatecaa.org/) (community action agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the most a Selbyville landlord can charge to process my rental application?

25 Del. C. § 5514(d) allows an application fee "not to exceed the greater of either 10 percent of the monthly rent for the rental unit or $50." It is a greater-of cap, so on a unit at Delaware's $1,401 statewide median gross rent the ceiling is a little over $140, while on anything under $500 a month the $50 floor governs. If more is unlawfully demanded, the same subsection entitles the tenant to damages equal to double the amount charged.

### The leasing office wants a holding fee and an administrative fee before I sign. Is that lawful in Delaware?

Only if the charge is on the statutory list. 25 Del. C. § 5310 says a prospective landlord "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." A pre-tenancy charge outside that list is not authorised.

### I was billed more for the credit check than it cost. Does Delaware address that?

Directly. The closing sentence of § 5310 provides that a 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." The charge is limited to what the investigation actually costs, not to what the office chooses to bill for it.

### Can a Delaware landlord ask on the application whether I have a disability?

6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(4) makes it discrimination to inquire whether an applicant for a dwelling has a disability or as to its nature or severity. Four inquiries stay permissible provided they are made of all applicants: ability to meet the requirements of tenancy, qualification for disability-specific housing, qualification for a priority, and current illegal drug use. Note the posture: (a)(4) is about screening questions put to an applicant, not about what happens once you have made a request of your own.

### Does the application-fee cap mean my pet deposit is capped too?

Different subsections, different ceilings. § 5514(i)(2) caps a pet deposit at one month's rent "regardless of the duration of the rental agreement," and because § 5141(33) defines a security deposit as "exclusive of a pet deposit" the two are additive. A Delaware tenant with an animal can lawfully be asked for up to two months' rent between them. Never describe Delaware as capping deposits at one month's rent without saying which deposit.

### Is monthly pet rent covered by the Delaware deposit statute?

No. § 5514 regulates deposits, and a recurring monthly charge is not a deposit. Nothing in the section addresses it. A monthly charge attached to an animal that is in the home as a required accommodation is reached instead by 6 Del. C. § 4603(b)(2), which prohibits discrimination in the "terms, conditions, or privileges" of a rental because of disability, read with § 4603A(a)(2).

### I searched for the Town of Selbyville and found what looks like a doctor's practice. Which site is the real one?

The Town of Selbyville publishes at selbyville.delaware.gov, with a mailing address at Box 106, Selbyville, DE 19975 and a 302 phone number. A .com address built on the town's name belongs to an obstetrician-gynaecologist in Fort Worth, Texas and carries nothing about Delaware. Check the 302 area code and the 19975 ZIP before trusting anything you find.

---

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%2Fselbyville