AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO KEY SURRENDER IN RESIDENTIAL LEASES.
What changed between versions
New subsection (a) requires that any lease conditioning security deposit return on key surrender must include a clear procedure for key surrender and may not require surrender before the lease term ends.
The default key return method in subsection (d) was narrowed: the in-person surrender option on the next business day (added in HA 1) was removed. Tenants may now only leave keys in the rental unit or the mailbox of the leasing office by the end of the lease date with written notice.
New subsection (b) defines when possession of a rental unit is considered returned when the last day of the lease falls on a weekend, holiday, or other closed day - it is the date the tenant either follows lease procedures or completes the default procedure in subsection (d).
New subsection (c) provides that when multiple tenants are on a lease, possession is only considered returned when ALL tenants have complied with the key surrender procedure.
The term 'secured drop box' from HA 1 was replaced with 'mailbox of the leasing office' in the final text, and the requirement that a landlord label a drop box as secured was removed.
The bill's overall scope expanded from only providing default key surrender procedures (HA 1) to also imposing affirmative requirements on lease drafting, defining possession return timing, and addressing multi-tenant scenarios.
