# ESA Letter in Smyrna, DE: Two Deposit Caps, Not One

> Delaware caps the security deposit and the pet deposit separately, so a Smyrna tenancy can lawfully carry both — and only one of them has an animal exception.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 13,326
- Households renting: 24.2%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Up to 1 month's rent
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Pet rent: no DE cap
- Breed/weight limits common: sometimes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Three homes in four are owned here

Smyrna has 4,869 occupied homes and 1,180 of them are rented, **24.2
percent** on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate,
against 27.0 percent across Delaware. Of the state's twenty largest places
whose figures are firm enough to rank against one another, none rents less
than Smyrna.

The 1,180 households who do rent are not renting cheaply. Median gross rent
here is **$1,534**, third among those reliable figures behind New Castle's
$1,739 and Newark's $1,654, and $133 above the $1,401 Delaware median.

Smyrna is a **town** in Kent County, governed by a town council, with 13,326
residents on the 2024 Census estimate. Small rental market, high rent, and,
for a tenant with an assistance animal, a deposit question that has two
answers rather than one.

## The word "exclusive" is doing all the work

25 Del. C. § 5141(33):

> "'**Security deposit**' shall mean any deposit, **exclusive of a pet deposit**, given to the
> landlord which is to be held for the term of the rental agreement or for any part thereof."

Three words buried in a definitions section, and they set the ceiling for the whole tenancy. A
pet deposit is not a portion of the security deposit. It is a separate charge, with its own cap
in its own subsection — 25 Del. C. § 5514(i)(2):

> "**No landlord may require a pet deposit in excess of 1 month's rent, regardless of the
> duration of the rental agreement.**"

And § 5514(a)(2), for the other one:

> "**No landlord may require a security deposit in excess of 1 month's rent where the rental
> agreement is for 1 year or more.**"

One month. And one month. Not one month between them. A Smyrna landlord who
asks a tenant with an animal for two months' rent before the keys change
hands has asked for nothing that Title 25 forbids.

Anybody who tells you Delaware caps deposits at a month's rent has read one
of those two subsections and stopped.

## The lower ceiling has conditions on it

The two sentences are not built the same way. The pet-deposit ceiling applies "regardless of the
duration of the rental agreement". It is flat, and it is always there. The security-deposit
ceiling is conditional: § 5514(a)(2) hangs it on an agreement "for 1 year or more," § 5514(a)(3)
reaches a month-to-month tenancy only once that tenancy "has lasted 1 year or more," and
§ 5514(a)(4) provides that the limits "shall not apply to furnished rental units."

Which means that on a six-month Smyrna lease, or in a furnished unit, the half of the stack most
tenants assume is fixed is the half that is not.

## The sentence that appears to solve all of this

Keep reading § 5514 and the problem seems to disappear:

> "(3) A landlord may require an additional deposit from a tenant with a pet, but **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.**"

Support animal. No pet deposit. Written into the statute in words a renter would recognise. It
is exactly the sentence a Smyrna tenant goes looking for, and it belongs to somebody else,
because the same Part of Title 25 defines the term four sections earlier:

> "(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."

Individually trained. To do work, or perform tasks. The four illustrations are all physical
jobs. An animal whose help is its presence has not been trained to do any of them — and
§ 5514(i)(3) stacks a second condition on top of the definition's, requiring the animal be
"duly certified" as well as trained.

So of the two ceilings, the pet-deposit one is the one your animal is not under. Not because
Delaware charges you twice out of malice, but because the exception written into that ceiling
describes an animal with a job.

## Nowhere in Delaware does anyone certify anything

Chase "duly certified" through Part III of Title 25 and it leads nowhere at all. No registry is
named. No issuing body, no standard, no licensing authority appears anywhere in the Part. The
word sits in the operative sentence with nothing behind it.

Worth knowing before spending money. A certificate ordered from a website
could not satisfy § 5514(i)(3) even on that subsection's own terms, because
Delaware has named no certifier for it to have come from. And § 5514(i)(3)
is not the provision that takes the charge off anyway.

## Where the charge actually comes off

6 Del. C. § 4603A(a):

> "(2) 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"

Then 6 Del. C. § 4603(b)(2), for the money:

> "To discriminate against any person in the **terms, conditions, or privileges** of sale or
> rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith,
> because of … **disability**"

Neither sentence uses the word "animal." Neither does anything else in the
Delaware Fair Housing Act. The whole chapter was read through and the word
is not in it. That absence is the reason § 4603A(a)(2) reaches where § 5514
cannot. A duty phrased entirely in terms of **rules and policies** carries
no species test and no training test for a landlord to argue about. A
no-pets rule is a rule; an accommodation is an exception to a rule.

From there the deposit argument is two steps. The animal is in the unit
because a required accommodation put it there. A deposit attached to that
animal is therefore a term of the rental imposed because of a disability,
which § 4603(b)(2) makes unlawful. 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) produces the
same answer federally.

Notice the shape of that: an argument built from statutory text, not a
citation you can slide across a leasing-office counter. No Delaware court
decision applying either section to an assistance animal was located for
this page, and none is described here.

## What a landlord in Smyrna can still say no to

Delaware states the limit twice over, at § 4603(c) and again at § 4603A(f). A dwelling need not
be made available to a person whose tenancy "would constitute a **direct threat to the health or
safety of other individuals**" or "would result in **substantial physical damage to the property
of others.**" That is about how a particular animal behaves, it has to be shown rather than
assumed, and it is the entire exception. Expense is not on the list.

One further check before relying on any of it: 6 Del. C. § 4607(e) exempts
rentals in buildings of no more than four families where the owner occupies
one of them, and the exemption names § 4603A by section number. In a Smyrna
duplex with the owner living upstairs, the state accommodation duty does not
reach the tenancy at all.

## The step none of the argument survives without

Both halves (keeping the animal, and getting the charge removed) run through the same clause:
"when such accommodations **may be necessary**." That is a finding about a person, not a fact
about an animal, and somebody licensed has to make it.

Start with a clinician who already treats you. Where the relationship is
real, their letter is the strongest and cheapest document available. The
friction is getting one: Delaware's specialist mental-health capacity is
concentrated in New Castle County, Kent County has few independent practices
for a town this size, and a clinician who has seen you twice may quite
properly decline to make a disability determination.

Where that route is closed, a licensed evaluation is the same assessment
arranged on purpose: a licensed professional works out whether a disability
exists and whether this animal answers it, then records what they found or
says plainly that they will not. Both endings are real endings. Any provider
whose answer is settled before the appointment is selling paperwork, and
paperwork is not what § 4603A(a)(2) asks for.

Delaware built two deposit ceilings and wrote a promise underneath one of
them. The promise is not yours. The finding can be.

## What Smyrna 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 Smyrna

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

- [Town of Smyrna](https://smyrna.delaware.gov/) (town government)
- [Kent County Levy Court](https://www.kentcountyde.gov/) (county government)
- [Delaware Division of Human and Civil Rights](https://humanandcivilrights.delaware.gov/) (state civil rights agency)
- [Community Legal Aid Society, Inc., Kent County office](https://www.declasi.org/contact-us/) (legal aid)
- [Delaware Courts, Landlord/Tenant help](https://courts.delaware.gov/help/landlordtenant/) (court)

## Frequently asked questions

### Can a landlord in Smyrna charge me a security deposit and a pet deposit at the same time?

Yes. Delaware treats them as separate charges. 25 Del. C. § 5141(33) defines the security deposit as a deposit "exclusive of a pet deposit," and § 5514(i)(2) gives the pet deposit its own one-month ceiling. Each may be up to a month's rent, so a tenancy with an animal can lawfully carry two months' rent in deposits before it starts.

### Is the one-month security deposit cap unconditional?

No, and this is where most summaries go wrong. § 5514(a)(2) applies the cap "where the rental agreement is for 1 year or more." § 5514(a)(3) reaches a month-to-month or undefined-term tenancy only once it "has lasted 1 year or more," and requires the landlord to credit back the excess after that year. A six-month lease is described by neither sentence.

### Does the cap apply to a furnished rental?

Not the security deposit cap. § 5514(a)(4) states that "the security deposit limits set forth above shall not apply to furnished rental units." The pet deposit ceiling in § 5514(i)(2) carries no such carve-out and is written to apply regardless of the length of the agreement.

### Section 5514(i)(3) bars a pet deposit for a support animal. Why does it not apply to my ESA?

Because of how Delaware defines the term. § 5141(38) limits "support animal" to an animal "individually trained to do work or perform tasks," illustrated by protection work, rescue work, pulling a wheelchair and retrieving dropped items. § 5514(i)(3) then adds a second requirement, that the animal be "duly certified" as well as trained. An animal that helps by its presence meets neither condition.

### Who certifies an animal in Delaware, then?

Nobody. "Duly certified" appears in § 5514(i)(3) with no certifying authority, registry, issuing body or standard named anywhere in Part III of Title 25. There is nothing to register with and no document that would satisfy that subsection on its own terms, which is one more reason the fee argument runs through 6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(2) and § 4603(b)(2) instead.

### What actually removes the pet deposit for an emotional support animal here?

6 Del. C. § 4603A(a)(2), which makes it disability discrimination to refuse "reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services," read with § 4603(b)(2), which reaches discrimination in the "terms, conditions, or privileges" of a rental. 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) is the federal counterpart. That is an argument from statutory text; no Delaware court decision applying either section to an assistance animal was located.

### Smyrna rent is above the Delaware median. Does the higher rent change anything legally?

No, but it changes the stakes. Both ceilings are set as a multiple of the rent itself, so at a $1,534 median gross rent the two-deposit maximum is larger here than in most of the state. The subsections that govern are identical whether the rent is $1,056 in Laurel or $1,739 in the city of New Castle.

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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%2Fsmyrna