Miscellaneous & related Delaware laws
Beyond the core community-association acts, Delaware scatters a number of HOA-specific protections and broader laws across its Code — plus a few that people often assume apply, but don't. A quick orientation, with links to the statutes we host in full.
HOPB hosts the full text of the Delaware statutes that specifically govern homeowners' and condominium associations — you'll find them all on the Delaware HOA laws hub. This page covers the edges: individual HOA-specific provisions tucked into other chapters, general-purpose laws that can still reach your community, and a short list of laws that are commonly assumed to apply but do not.
Because these are scattered provisions and broad statutes we don't reproduce in full, each entry below is a brief plain-language summary with its citation; the official text is available from the Delaware General Assembly.
The myths worth clearing up.
These come up constantly in association disputes. In Delaware, they don't work the way people assume — but the rights people are reaching for usually exist under a different law.
Delaware's FOIA — its open-meetings and public-records law — applies to public bodies, and § 10002(k) defines that functionally rather than by label: a body of the State or a political subdivision — including an association, group, council or other entity established by, appointed by, or otherwise empowered by a state governmental entity — that is supported in whole or in part by public funds, expends public funds, or is charged with advising or reporting to a public official. A homeowners' or condominium association created by a private recorded declaration meets none of those prongs, so you can't file a FOIA request against your HOA or invoke the open-meetings law against its board. The rights you're looking for come instead from the Delaware Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act — § 81-318 for association records and § 81-308A for executive board meetings, both of which reach pre-2009 communities through § 81-119, while § 81-308's unit-owner-meeting rules apply only to communities DUCIOA governs in full — plus the community's recorded bylaws.
The older Unit Property Act governs condominiums that opted in by recording a declaration — generally those created before September 30, 2009. Communities created after that date are generally governed by the Delaware Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (DUCIOA), which also reaches back to older communities for an enumerated set of provisions. But size matters as much as the date: under §§ 81-116(a), 81-117 and 81-118, a condominium or cooperative of 20 units or fewer, and a planned community of 20 units or fewer (or one whose declaration caps average residential common expense liability at $500 during declarant control), get only two or three sections of DUCIOA unless the declaration opts the whole chapter in — and § 81-116(a) leaves those small communities under the Unit Property Act. Note too that DUCIOA covers planned communities and cooperatives, not just condominiums.
Delaware's Common Interest Community Ombudsperson is not an adjudicator — it won't rule on your dispute, order your board to act, or impose penalties. But it does considerably more than educate: it receives and investigates complaints about violations of the law or your governing documents (§ 2544(9)–(10)), can subpoena witnesses and records (§ 2544(12)), refers meritorious violations to the Attorney General for prosecution (§ 2544(11)), offers mediation (§ 2544(7)), and supplies election monitors and vote counting when 15% of the voting interests or 6 owners petition (§ 2544(6)). Note the gate: before filing with the Ombudsperson you must complete your association's written complaint procedure — which every association is required to follow — and attach its final determination (§ 2544(8)–(9)). For a binding outcome you still need the community's own procedures, the remedies in DUCIOA, or the courts — and note 10 Del. C. § 348: once a deed-covenant enforcement action between an owner and an association is filed in the Court of Chancery, mediation before a Magistrate is mandatory within 60 days, trial follows within 120 days of a failed mediation, and the losing party normally pays the winner's attorney fees and costs.
General information, not legal advice. The laws summarized here are scattered provisions and broad statutes HOPB does not reproduce in full; for the official current text, see the Delaware Code. Always confirm the current law and how it applies to your situation.