Additional State Topics
Area IV is sixteen scored items spread over seventeen separate Delaware statutes — fewer items than subtopics, so nothing here is deep and everything is worth a pass. The subtopics run A to Q, and the one this bank leaves unquestioned is G, Survey, because Delaware imposes no survey requirement in a residential sale; it is covered in the last section below instead.
Condominiums: the Unit Property Act and DUCIOA
The Unit Property Act, 25 Del. C. Chapter 22, is opt-in — Section 2203 applies it only where the owners submit the property by a duly recorded declaration — and Section 2201 makes it subject to DUCIOA in Chapter 81. Section 2237 makes a grantee jointly and severally liable with the grantor for unpaid common expenses, but a buyer under a written agreement may demand the treasurer's statement and is not liable beyond the figure it shows. DUCIOA took effect 30 September 2009. Section 81-409(a) makes the unit owner furnish the resale certificate and governing documents no later than the signing of the contract, correct to within 120 days, with nineteen listed contents including assessments, reserves, budget, litigation and six months of board minutes. Section 81-409(b) gives the association 10 days to supply it, caps the fee at $200 plus $50 for paper, kills the fee entirely if the 10 days are missed, and lets a purchaser who was not given it before signing cancel within 5 calendar days of first receiving it. Section 81-409(d) caps the purchaser's liability at the certificate figure. Do not assume older communities escape: Section 81-119 applies Section 81-409 to communities created before the effective date. Deposits on a new unit go into escrow under Section 81-410; unfinished work on a new home is escrowed under the separate New Home Buyers Protection Act.
Tenancies, transfer taxes, deeds and fair housing
Security deposits under 25 Del. C. Section 5514 are capped at one month's rent where the agreement runs a year or more, or a month-to-month tenancy has lasted a year; furnished units are exempt and pet deposits are capped at one month regardless. The landlord has 20 days — not 30 — to remit the deposit and 20 days to give an itemized list of damages, and failing the list is an acknowledgment that nothing is owed; missing the deadline entitles the tenant to double the amount wrongfully withheld. Realty transfer tax under 30 Del. C. Section 5402 is 3 percent state, dropping to 2½ percent where the county or municipality has enacted the full 1½ percent, apportioned equally between grantor and grantee — the familiar 4 percent total, 2 percent a side. First-time buyers get ½ percent off the grantee's share on the lesser of value or $400,000; the grantor's share is untouched. On deeds, 25 Del. C. Section 701 presumes a tenancy in common unless joint tenancy is expressly granted, and Section 309(c) shields entireties property from a creditor of only one spouse. The Delaware Fair Housing Act, 6 Del. C. Section 4603(b)(1), protects race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, marital status, familial status, source of income, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, military status and housing status — well beyond the federal seven. Complaints go to the Division of Human and Civil Rights within one year; a civil action runs two years.
Land, wastewater, signs and the tax ditch
25 Del. C. Section 313 requires a conspicuous NOTICE TO BUYER in every contract for the sale of unimproved land. Where central sewerage and water are not available the contract is contingent on a satisfactory site evaluation permitting an approved on-site disposal system under DNREC's regulations, on the availability of a water supply, and on the lot conforming with local zoning; otherwise the contract is null and void and deposits are returned. DNREC's on-site wastewater regulations sit at 7 Del. Admin. Code 7101 and require a Department permit before a system is installed. The Clear Zone Safety Law, 17 Del. C. Sections 524 to 527, defines the clear zone as 10 feet from the pavement edge on most roads but only seven feet — or the far sidewalk edge, whichever is shorter — on interior streets in residential subdivisions, which is exactly where open-house signs go. The Department may remove non-official signs immediately, with a $25 fine per item and a $15 recovery fee, and disposal after 30 days. Tax ditch taxes under 7 Del. C. Section 4180 are a first and paramount lien subject only to state and county taxes, and the right-of-way under Section 4105(a) runs 80 feet from the top of the bank for a 0-to-4-foot design bottom and 120 feet for a 4-to-10-foot bottom.
Seller financing, manufactured housing, electronic records and Form 5403
25 Del. C. Section 314(a) requires a signed, complete amortization schedule as an integral part of any seller-financed contract, with per-payment principal, interest and remaining balance; Section 314(b) keeps interest out of the stated purchase price. On manufactured housing, 25 Del. C. Section 7027 gives the homeowner association a right of first OFFER — triggered when the community owner reaches a decision to sell, not by a third party's contract — and Section 7029(a) gives the association 30 calendar days from the mailing of the notice to respond in writing by overnight service with signature receipt, failing which the right is lost for the remaining twelve months. Section 7028 lists nine exceptions, including foreclosure, gift or devise, eminent domain, a transfer to an affiliate, and a section 1031 exchange. UETA at 6 Del. C. Chapter 12A applies only where each party has agreed to transact electronically, and that agreement to one transaction does not carry to the next. Under 30 Del. C. Section 1126, a nonresident individual selling Delaware real estate files Form 5403 and remits the estimated tax with the deed before it may be recorded, withheld from net proceeds and computed at the highest marginal rate — currently 6.6 percent — on the estimated gain, not the sale price; Section 1126(e) expressly relieves the real estate agent or broker of liability for the amount.
Consumer fraud, home inspectors, green energy — and the survey question
The Consumer Fraud Act, 6 Del. C. Section 2513(a), makes concealing or omitting a material fact in connection with the sale of merchandise an unlawful practice "whether or not any person has in fact been misled, deceived, or damaged thereby", and Section 2511(6) puts real estate squarely inside "merchandise". Delaware has licensed home inspectors since 2013: 24 Del. C. Section 4107(a) bars unlicensed practice, Section 4102 limits a home inspection to a visual analysis of a residential building of four units or fewer and excludes condominium and cooperative common areas, and Section 4108(a)(8) requires liability and errors and omissions insurance. Chapter 40 of Title 24 is appraisers; Chapter 41 is inspectors. On green energy, 25 Del. C. Section 318(b) voids any covenant that prohibits or unreasonably restricts a ROOF MOUNTED solar system, preserves reasonable restrictions in Section 318(c), and requires 60 days' notice by certified mail to the association and neighbors within 150 feet under Section 318(f) — but the word wind does not appear in the section at all, and ground-mounted solar gets only the amendment route in Section 318(e). Finally, survey: no Delaware statute requires one in a residential sale. What exists is 24 Del. C. Section 2707, which reserves the practice of land surveying to licensees, and the Board of Professional Land Surveyors' minimum technical standards, under which the mortgage survey plan most buyers receive is expressly not a boundary survey, may not be titled as one, and may not be prepared until the contract buyer signs a waiver saying so.
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State-specific details
State exam facts
- Exam vendor
- Pearson VUE
- Passing score
- Scaled score of 70
- Scored questions
- 130
Who regulates real estate brokers in Delaware?
The Delaware Real Estate Commission, within the Division of Professional Regulation, licenses brokers and salespersons under 24 Del. C. Chapter 29. The Commission's exams are delivered by Pearson VUE (candidate handbook #090800).
What experience do I need before the Delaware broker exam?
A broker applicant must meet the associate broker requirements — actively licensed for five continuous years and a list of at least 30 completed sale or lease transactions from those five years — and, under Commission Rule 4.1.1, must also have been actively engaged in real estate services as a licensed salesperson or associate broker for the three years immediately preceding application. A broker applicant also applies for a real estate office permit.
How is the Delaware broker exam structured?
The Delaware broker exam has 130 scored questions (80 national/general + 50 Delaware state law) plus 10 unscored pretest items, is delivered by Pearson VUE in a four-hour appointment, and requires a scaled score of 70 to pass. The 50 state items are split 4 / 3 / 17 / 16 / 10 across the handbook's five state areas.
Sources: https://dpr.delaware.gov/boards/realestate/, https://www.pearsonvue.com/content/dam/VUE/vue/en/documents/publications/090800.pdf
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