Delaware Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

A new environmental ordinance leaves a landowner with no economically viable use of a parcel, although the government takes no title to it. The owner's strongest constitutional claim is:

• a.The ordinance is void because zoning cannot restrict use
• b.A regulatory taking entitling the owner to payment✓
• c.Escheat has occurred and the state now owns the parcel
• d.Spot zoning, since only this parcel lost its value

Regulation that goes so far it denies an owner all economically viable use is treated as a regulatory taking, and just compensation is owed even though the government never took title. Arguing that zoning simply cannot restrict use fails, because regulating land is a valid exercise of the police power and owners have no right to the most profitable use. Escheat moves property to the state only when an owner dies with no will and no heirs, which has nothing to do with an ordinance. Spot zoning describes singling out one parcel for a different classification, not a general environmental rule applied to a class of land.

Reviewing a title report, a broker finds an old recorded covenant, written decades ago, that bars resale of the lot to members of a specified race. Its legal effect today is:

• a.It binds the buyer because it was recorded before purchase
• b.It is void, so a court will never enforce it or enjoin it✓
• c.It stays valid until the homeowners association removes it
• d.It is enforceable by the association but not by an owner

A private restriction that discriminates on a protected basis is void and unenforceable under the federal Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, so no court will order compliance or enjoin a violation, and the association has no power the courts would back. Recording rescues nothing, because an illegal restriction gains no force from sitting in the public record. No association vote is required to strip it of effect, although many states let an owner have the language formally struck. Valid CC&Rs, by contrast, are enforced privately by injunction brought by an owner or the association. A broker must never repeat or give effect to such language.

A grantor signs and notarizes a deed naming a nephew as grantee, locks it in a safe deposit box, and tells no one. The grantor later dies. What is the deed's effect?

• a.Title passed when the grantor signed the deed
• b.Title passed because the deed was acknowledged
• c.No title passed, because delivery never occurred✓
• d.Title passes when the estate later records it

A deed operates only when the grantor delivers it with the present intent to pass title and the grantee accepts, and both must happen while the grantor is alive. Signing accomplishes nothing while the instrument stays under the grantor's control in a box no one knows about. Acknowledgment before a notary serves recording, not validity, so notarizing it changes nothing here. An estate representative cannot supply the delivery the grantor failed to make, and recording an undelivered deed does not revive it. The nephew takes only through the will or the intestacy statute, which is why closings hand over the executed deed rather than merely signing it.

A deed is signed by a competent grantor and handed to a grantee who accepts it, but the grantor's signature was never notarized. As between those two parties, the deed is:

• a.Void, since notarizing is a validity requirement
• b.Valid, though it cannot be recorded as it stands✓
• c.Valid only if the grantee later pays a recording fee
• d.Voidable at the option of the grantor's creditors

Acknowledgment is a recording requirement, not an element of a valid deed. Delivered and accepted, the deed transfers title between grantor and grantee even with no notary, but the recorder will reject it, leaving the grantee exposed to later purchasers and lienholders who record first. Calling it void confuses the two ideas: validity turns on a competent grantor, an identifiable grantee, words of conveyance, an adequate legal description, the grantor's signature, and delivery and acceptance. Paying a fee cannot cure a missing acknowledgment, because the recorder cannot accept the instrument at all. Creditors of the grantor gain no power to undo a completed conveyance.

In a deed, which clause opens with the words 'to have and to hold' and defines the extent of the estate the grantee is receiving?

• a.The granting clause containing the words of conveyance
• b.The habendum clause, following the granting clause✓
• c.The acknowledgment taken before a notary public officer
• d.The legal description identifying the land conveyed

The habendum clause follows the granting clause, begins with the traditional phrase 'to have and to hold,' and spells out the estate conveyed, for example a fee simple absolute or a life estate. The granting clause holds the words of conveyance that actually transfer the interest and names the grantee. The acknowledgment is the notary's certificate that the signature is genuine, which the recorder requires but the transfer does not. The legal description identifies the land by metes and bounds, lot and block, or government survey, and it fixes what is conveyed rather than how much of an estate. Reading both clauses tells a broker exactly what the buyer is getting.

A relocation company that has owned a home for three months conveys it, warranting title only against defects that arose during its own ownership. The deed it delivers is a:

• a.Bargain and sale deed implying ownership without covenants
• b.General warranty deed covering the entire chain of title
• c.Quitclaim deed conveying only the interest actually held
• d.Special (limited) warranty deed covering the grantor's period✓

Warranting only against defects created or suffered while the grantor held title describes the special or limited warranty deed, the customary instrument for corporate, relocation, and fiduciary sellers who cannot vouch for what earlier owners did. A general warranty deed reaches back through the whole history of the property and offers the broadest protection, which is more than this seller is giving. A quitclaim carries no warranties at all and passes only whatever interest the signer happens to hold. A bargain and sale deed implies that the grantor owns the property but adds few or no covenants. A buyer taking narrower covenants should lean on an owner's title policy.

A title search shows that a seller's former spouse may still hold a possible interest in the property. What is the usual instrument used to release that interest and clear the record?

• a.A quitclaim deed from the former spouse✓
• b.A general warranty deed from the former spouse
• c.A trustee's deed issued after a foreclosure
• d.A correction deed fixing the legal description

A quitclaim releases whatever interest the signer may hold, with no warranties attached, which makes it the standard tool for removing a cloud such as a possible marital interest, a stale easement claim, or a name discrepancy. Demanding a general warranty deed asks the former spouse to guarantee title he or she may never have owned, and it is normally refused. A trustee's deed is what the trustee under a deed of trust issues to the purchaser at a foreclosure sale. A correction deed reforms a mistake in an earlier deed between the same parties and cannot release an outsider's claim.

A court-appointed personal representative sells a decedent's home during probate, and the buyer's broker asks what instrument will convey title. The answer is:

• a.A trustee's deed given after a nonjudicial foreclosure
• b.A sheriff's deed issued following a judicial sale
• c.A general warranty deed with full title covenants
• d.An executor's or personal representative's deed✓

Estate property is conveyed by an executor's deed when a will names the executor, or by a personal representative's or administrator's deed when the court makes the appointment; these deeds recite the court authority and give only limited covenants. A trustee's deed comes from the trustee under a deed of trust after a nonjudicial foreclosure sale. A sheriff's deed, called a referee's deed in some states, follows a judicial sale ordered by a court. A general warranty deed is not used, because a fiduciary will not personally guarantee title against the acts of the decedent or of owners further back in the chain.

After closing under a general warranty deed, a buyer discovers a recorded utility easement that the deed never disclosed. Which covenant did the grantor breach?

• a.Quiet enjoyment, a promise against eviction by better title
• b.Seisin, a promise that the grantor owns the estate conveyed
• c.Against encumbrances, a promise of no undisclosed burdens✓
• d.Further assurance, a promise to sign curative papers

The covenant against encumbrances promises that no liens, easements, or similar burdens exist beyond those the deed discloses, so a recorded easement left unmentioned breaches it at the moment of delivery. Seisin promises the grantor actually owns the estate being conveyed, which is not the trouble when ownership is sound but burdened. Quiet enjoyment shields the grantee from later eviction by someone holding superior title, and an easement holder's use is not an eviction. Further assurance obliges the grantor to sign additional documents needed to perfect title. A general warranty deed carries all of these along with the right to convey and warranty forever.

A neighbor has openly farmed and fenced a strip of an absentee owner's land, excluding others and never asking permission. To take title by adverse possession the neighbor must prove:

• a.Payment of the owner's property taxes for every year
• b.Open, notorious, continuous, hostile, and exclusive possession✓
• c.A written agreement signed by the record title owner
• d.A recorded deed describing the disputed strip of land

Adverse possession requires possession that is open and notorious, continuous, hostile in the sense of being without permission, and exclusive, held for the statutory period set by state law. Some states add payment of taxes or color of title, but those elements are not universal, so a broker should never assume them from another state's rule. A written agreement from the record owner would destroy the claim outright, since permission defeats hostility. Recording a deed creates no possession and cannot manufacture the required years of use. Adverse possession is one form of involuntary alienation, alongside descent, escheat, foreclosure, eminent domain, and accretion.

An owner dies leaving no will, and after a diligent search no heirs can be located. A broker asked to list the property should understand that title:

• a.Passes by devise to the beneficiaries named in a will
• b.Descends to the decedent's nearest surviving creditors
• c.Vests permanently in the administrator the court appoints
• d.Escheats to the state, an involuntary transfer of title✓

Escheat is the state's claim to property when an owner dies intestate and no heirs can be found, and it is a classic involuntary transfer rather than a voluntary one by deed or will. Devise is a gift of real property by will, so it cannot operate where there is no will and no named beneficiary. Descent carries property to heirs under the intestacy statute, but creditors are paid as claimants out of the estate and never inherit the land itself. An administrator has authority to manage and convey estate property during probate, not to own it permanently. Each state sets its own escheat procedure and waiting period.

A search reveals an old mortgage of record that was paid off but never released, and the lender no longer exists. Which step clears that cloud so title is marketable?

• a.Ordering an abstract of title with an attorney's opinion
• b.Buying an owner's title policy that insures over it
• c.Filing a quiet title action asking a court to clear it✓
• d.Recording a correction deed signed by the current seller

A quiet title action asks a court to determine ownership and extinguish a stale or unreleasable claim, which is the practical cure when the mortgagee has vanished and no release can be obtained. An abstract of title with an attorney's opinion summarizes and evaluates the recorded chain; it reports the cloud rather than removing it, and it offers no indemnity. An owner's policy may insure over a known risk, but insurance pays for loss and leaves the defect on the record for the next buyer to confront. A correction deed fixes a drafting error between the original parties and cannot release a third party's lien.

A seller deeds a parcel to one buyer and later deeds the same parcel to a second buyer, who records first. Which framework decides who owns the land?

• a.A federal recording statute applied in all fifty states
• b.The state's recording act, race, notice, or race-notice✓
• c.The order in which the two deeds were signed and dated
• d.The county recorder's discretion over competing claims

Priority between competing grantees is governed by the recording act of the state where the land lies, and the schemes differ: a pure race state protects whoever records first, a notice state protects a later purchaser who took without notice of the earlier deed, and a race-notice state protects one who took without notice and recorded first. No federal statute governs land recording. Signing dates do not decide the contest, which is precisely why a public recording system exists. Recorders act ministerially and have no power to resolve claims. Because the gap between closing and recording is the danger zone, a broker should press for prompt recording.

A buyer pays for a lender's title policy at closing and asks the broker whether it also protects the buyer's equity in the home. The correct answer is that the policy:

• a.Protects both parties equally up to the full purchase price
• b.Protects the buyer once the mortgage has been fully repaid
• c.Protects the buyer against defects arising after closing
• d.Protects only the lender, declining with the balance✓

A lender's, or mortgagee's, policy insures only the lender's security interest, and its coverage shrinks as the principal is paid down, ending altogether when the loan is satisfied. It never covers the buyer's equity, which is why a separate owner's policy is offered at closing for a one-time premium and lasts as long as the insured holds an interest. Repaying the mortgage does not convert the lender's coverage into the buyer's; it extinguishes it. And no title policy insures defects that first arise after its date. Brokers should explain this plainly before a buyer waives owner's coverage to save money.

Six months after closing, a contractor the buyer hired records a mechanic's lien against the home. The buyer files a claim under the owner's title policy. The insurer will most likely:

• a.Deny, because the defect arose after the policy was issued✓
• b.Pay, because owner's policies cover all future liens
• c.Pay, because the standard exceptions were removed
• d.Deny, because only a lender may file a title claim

Title insurance looks backward: it covers defects that already existed when the policy was issued but were not discovered or excepted, not events that happen later. A lien for work the buyer ordered after closing is a new problem the buyer must resolve directly. Buying extended coverage removes standard exceptions and broadens what is insured as of the policy date, but it does not push coverage forward in time. Owners plainly may claim under their own policies; the lender's policy is the one limited to the lender. Extended coverage typically depends on a current survey, which reveals encroachments and boundary issues a records search alone cannot.

A buyer tours a house and finds an occupant who is not the seller living there under an unrecorded lease. What kind of notice does that occupancy give the buyer?

• a.Actual notice, given by the seller's written disclosure
• b.Constructive notice, given by the public record
• c.No notice at all, since the lease was not recorded
• d.Inquiry notice, requiring the buyer to ask about it✓

Someone in possession who is not the seller puts a buyer on inquiry notice: the buyer is charged with whatever a reasonable investigation of that occupancy would have turned up, including an unrecorded lease or an option to purchase. Actual notice is what a party genuinely knows, typically from a disclosure or a conversation, and no one has told this buyer anything. Constructive notice comes from the public record, which by definition cannot reveal an unrecorded lease. Treating an unrecorded interest as invisible is the classic error, because possession is itself notice. A broker should always ask who occupies a property and on what terms.

The Delaware Real Estate Commission has nine members appointed by the Governor. Those nine seats are divided into:

• a.Five professional members and four public members✓
• b.Nine licensed brokers, three drawn from each county
• c.Six professional members and three public members
• d.Five public members and four professional members

24 Del. C. § 2903(b) sets the Commission at “9 members appointed by the Governor: 5 professional members, 3 of whom shall be licensed brokers, 1 associate broker, and 1 salesperson; and 4 public members.” The professional side is deliberately mixed rather than all-broker, so the associate broker and salesperson tiers each keep a seat and a bench of nine brokers is not the design. Nor is the split six and three, because the statute puts four public seats on the Commission — one from each county and one from the City of Wilmington — and an act or vote by a member appointed in violation of that subsection is invalid. Reversing the ratio inverts the point: the public members are a minority check, not the working majority. Every member must have lived in Delaware for at least five years before appointment.

A member of the public files a complaint against a Delaware licensee. Under Chapter 29 that complaint is investigated by:

• a.The Attorney General, who issues a final written report to the Commission
• b.The licensee's local board of Realtors, which forwards its findings
• c.The Division of Professional Regulation, which issues a final written report✓
• d.The Commission chairperson, who reports the findings orally at the next meeting

24 Del. C. § 2911 provides that all complaints “shall be received and investigated by the Division in accordance with § 8735 of Title 29, and the Division shall be responsible for issuing a final written report at the conclusion of its investigation.” Investigation and adjudication are kept apart on purpose, so the chairperson does not investigate; under § 2906(a)(9) the Commission refers complaints to the Division and assigns a member only to advise on technical aspects. The Attorney General enters at a different point — § 2907(e) requires a referral where an applicant supplied intentionally false information — not as the routine investigator. A board of Realtors is a private association that can enforce its own code against its own members but has no statutory role in license discipline.

After a disciplinary hearing the Delaware Real Estate Commission decides to fine a licensee. The statutory ceiling on that penalty is:

• a.$1,000 for each violation
• b.$2,500 for each violation
• c.$5,000 for each violation✓
• d.$10,000 for each violation

24 Del. C. § 2914(a)(3) lets the Commission “impose a monetary penalty not to exceed $5,000 for each violation,” and § 2914(a) allows the sanctions to be imposed singly or in combination with a letter of reprimand, probation, suspension, or revocation, permanent or otherwise. The lower figures understate the ceiling; the higher one belongs to a different statute, since the $10,000 maximum in § 2924 is a criminal fine for a second or subsequent conviction for unlicensed practice, imposed by the Justices of the Peace rather than by the Commission. Note also that the penalty runs per violation, so a course of conduct can carry several $5,000 exposures rather than one.

A consumer holds an uncollectible judgment against a Delaware licensee for fraud. The most the Real Estate Guaranty Fund can pay in connection with that one transaction or claim is:

• a.$10,000
• b.$25,000
• c.$50,000✓
• d.$100,000

24 Del. C. § 2922(a) caps recovery at “the sum of $50,000 in connection with any 1 transaction or claim, regardless of the number of persons aggrieved or parcels of real estate involved.” The $25,000 figure is the trap: it was the cap for decades and still appears in older Delaware study guides, but 85 Del. Laws, c. 274 (Senate Bill 201, enacted 1 June 2026) doubled it, and that section took effect on enactment rather than on a delayed date. The $10,000 and $100,000 figures correspond to nothing in the section. The claim itself must be verified and filed within 60 days after the final judgment, and § 2922(d) lets the Commission suspend or revoke the license until the licensee repays the Fund in full with interest — a discharge in bankruptcy does not lift that.

Which of these people needs a Delaware real estate license to do the work described?

• a.An executor who sells estate property under an order of a court
• b.An on-site rental agent who negotiates lease terms and approves tenants✓
• c.An auctioneer who cries a sale of real property on the day of the auction
• d.An attorney-at-law who drafts a deed while representing a client

The rental agent is describing licensed activity. 24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 9.1 exempts a provider of property management services only for limited duties — maintenance, clerical support, collecting rent, showing units, supplying and receiving applications — and § 9.2 then bars that unlicensed person from negotiating or drafting lease agreements, approving applications, or varying the terms the owner set. Everyone else on the list is expressly outside the chapter: 24 Del. C. § 2901(e)(3) excludes services rendered by an attorney-at-law and any person selling real estate under order of any court, including an executor, and § 2901(e)(4) excludes an auctioneer as defined in 30 Del. C. § 2301(a)(3). The auctioneer exemption is narrow in time rather than in kind: rule 1.4.1.1 confines it to the day of the auction, though advertising the auction beforehand is still allowed.

A Delaware brokerage operates as a limited liability company. Under Chapter 29 the company itself is:

• a.Licensed as a corporate broker under a separate class of license
• b.Licensed jointly with the designated on-site supervisor of its office
• c.Licensed as a brokerage organization once its members qualify
• d.Not licensed; it must have a broker who is licensed and responsible✓

Delaware licenses people, not firms. 24 Del. C. § 2901(c) states that “no brokerage organization, corporation, partnership or other business entity shall be licensed under this chapter,” and then permits the firm to provide real estate services so long as it has a broker who is responsible for those services and who may have affiliated associate brokers or salespersons working under supervision. § 2902(a)(3) confirms the point by defining a brokerage organization as the entity “which is not licensed but is acting as a broker under § 2901(c).” So there is no entity license to be earned by qualifying the members, no corporate broker class, and nothing for a designated on-site supervisor to be jointly licensed with — that supervisor runs a branch office under § 2919(d) and holds an individual license like anyone else.

Delaware licenses renew biennially and expire on 30 April of each even-numbered year. To renew, a licensee must complete:

• a.30 hours across ten prescribed three-hour modules
• b.21 hours across seven prescribed three-hour modules✓
• c.14 hours across seven prescribed two-hour modules
• d.12 hours of any courses the Commission has approved

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 14.1.2 requires “21 acceptable CE hours in the following 7 Modules during the previous licensure period in order to renew,” three hours each in agency and fair housing, professional standards, real estate documents, office management, legislative issues, practices of real estate, and electives. The count and the module structure travel together, which is why a bare hour total with free choice of subject is wrong — Delaware prescribes what the hours must be about, and rule 14.12.3 excludes Module 5, legislative issues, even from the advanced-course substitutions. The other totals match no Delaware requirement. Newly licensed individuals carry an extra burden under rule 14.13: twelve more hours, in four named new-licensee subjects, within 90 days of license issuance.

A Delaware salesperson's advertisement for a listed property shows her own name and mobile number. The advertising rules also require it to carry:

• a.The registered brokerage name and office phone, more prominent than her name✓
• b.Her license number and the date it was issued, in the same size as her name
• c.The seller's name and the county where the deed is recorded, set in bold type
• d.The MLS number and the cooperating brokerage's name, adjacent to her name

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 8.6.5.3 requires the complete brokerage organization name registered with the Commission and the registered office phone number, and says “the advertisement shall prominently display the Brokerage Organization name and phone number in greater size and visibility than the Licensee's name.” Relative prominence is the operative idea, so a rule that put anything in the same size as her name would miss it, and Delaware does not require a license number or issue date in advertising at all. The seller's name and the recording county are not advertising disclosures; the seller's identity is ordinary transaction information, not a consumer protection. An MLS number is a cooperation convenience with no rule behind it, though § 8.6.5.4 does require team advertising to show the supervising broker's brokerage name adjacent to the team name and larger than it.

A Delaware broker's license is revoked. What becomes of the licenses of the salespersons affiliated with that broker?

• a.They are unaffected, because discipline attaches only to the broker at fault
• b.They are automatically revoked along with the broker's own license
• c.They convert to inactive status for the remainder of the license period
• d.They are automatically suspended pending a change of employing broker✓

24 Del. C. § 2917 provides that revoking a broker's license “shall automatically suspend every real estate service provider's license granted to any individual by virtue of employment either directly or indirectly by the broker whose license has been revoked, pending a change of employing broker or brokerage organization and the issuance of a new license.” Suspension is the deliberate middle ground: the affiliated licensees cannot practice while they have no supervising broker, but they have done nothing to warrant losing their own credential, so automatic revocation would punish them for someone else's conduct and leaving them unaffected would leave them practicing unsupervised. Inactive status is a voluntary election a licensee requests under § 2921(b), not something imposed. The replacement license is issued without charge if it is granted in the same licensure period.

Under the Commission's rules, a Delaware licensee must obtain the Seller's Disclosure of Real Property Condition Report from a residential seller:

• a.Before the buyer's inspection contingency expires
• b.At settlement, along with the deed and the transfer forms
• c.Before the licensee accepts a written listing agreement✓
• d.Within ten days after the listing agreement is signed

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 10.7.1 says licensees “shall obtain a Condition Report from the seller of residential property prior to accepting a written listing agreement and shall make the Condition Report available to any buyer,” and the same subsection requires the most recent report to reach the buyer before the buyer enters into an agreement of sale, with the report made part of that agreement. The deadline sits at the front of the engagement because the report is meant to inform the buyer's offer, so any date measured from the signing of the listing, from an inspection contingency, or from settlement arrives after the decision it exists to inform. There is a separate Commission-approved New Construction form under § 10.7.2 for residential property that has not yet been issued a certificate of occupancy.

A residential seller qualifies for an exemption from Delaware's Condition Report. The licensee must then obtain from that seller:

• a.The Exempt Property Certification, before a written listing agreement✓
• b.Nothing further, since an exempt seller has no disclosure paperwork at all
• c.A written waiver signed by the buyer when the offer is presented
• d.A Commission-issued exemption letter, before the property is advertised

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 10.7.3 provides that where the seller meets one of the exemptions, “licensees shall obtain a certification in lieu of the Condition Report and Radon Disclosure prior to accepting a written listing agreement and shall make the certification readily available to any prospective buyer.” The exemption substitutes one document for another rather than removing paperwork, which is why a seller who simply hands over nothing has not complied. The buyer has nothing to waive here, because the duty runs from the seller to the licensee before the buyer is even in the picture. And the certification comes from the seller, not from the Commission, so there is no letter to apply for; like the Condition Report it must be given to the buyer before the agreement of sale and made part of it.

Along with the seller's most recent Radon Disclosure, a Delaware licensee must give the buyer:

• a.A signed statement that the seller has never tested the house for radon
• b.A copy of the federal booklet on lead-based paint hazards in housing
• c.A copy of the booklet “Radon Rights, Risks and Remedy for the Home Buyer”✓
• d.A copy of the property's most recent radon test result from DNREC

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 10.8.1 requires the licensee to provide the seller's most recent Radon Disclosure “along with a copy of ‘Radon Rights, Risks and Remedy for the Home Buyer’ to a buyer before the buyer enters into an agreement of sale,” and to make the disclosure part of that agreement. The companion booklet is an education piece, so it is owed whatever the house's testing history is; DNREC does not hold a per-property test file to be copied, and a seller who has never tested simply says so on the disclosure rather than on a separate signed statement. The lead-based paint booklet is a real obligation but a federal one, arising from the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act for target housing built before 1978, and it neither substitutes for nor satisfies the Delaware radon rule.

A buyer asks a Delaware licensee, in writing, whether a former occupant of the house had HIV or AIDS. The licensee must:

• a.Refer the buyer to the Division of Public Health for a written answer
• b.Decline to disclose, because the statute forbids disclosure even on request✓
• c.Answer truthfully to the best of the licensee's knowledge, as with any request
• d.Ask the seller, then pass along whatever answer the seller gives in writing

24 Del. C. § 2927(d) is unusually blunt: the owner, landlord or licensee “shall not make any disclosure concerning those psychological impacts of HIV, AIDS, or any other disease which has been determined by medical evidence to be highly unlikely to be transmitted through the occupancy of a dwelling place even if a customer or client specifically asks about such psychological impacts.” That express carve-out is what defeats the truthful-answer option, which is otherwise the rule under § 2927(c) for other psychological impacts such as a homicide or suicide on the property, where a specific written request does trigger a truthful answer. Passing the seller's answer along is the same prohibited disclosure wearing a middleman, and steering the buyer to a health agency invites the same information by another route. § 2927(a) confirms that psychological impact is not a material fact requiring disclosure in the first place.

Delaware's rules on copies of listing agreements, agreements of sale and leases require the licensee to deliver:

• a.A fully executed copy only, within thirty days of the settlement date
• b.A copy at signing, with no further duty once the contract is complete
• c.A fully executed copy only, and only to the party the licensee represents
• d.A copy at signing, and a fully executed copy once all parties have signed✓

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 8.4.1 requires that every party “be furnished with a copy when the party signs or initials it and a fully executed copy of such agreement or agreements after all parties have signed it,” and makes delivery of the executed copy the licensee's responsibility within a reasonable time. Two deliveries are the point: the first proves what the party actually signed, the second proves the deal that resulted, so a rule offering only one of them leaves a gap. Nor is the duty owed only to the licensee's own client, since the subsection reaches every party to the agreement. There is no thirty-day clock, and copies may be furnished in paper or electronic format.

All parties sign a Delaware agreement of sale on a Friday. The broker must deposit the earnest money into the escrow account within:

• a.48 hours, excluding weekends and federal holidays
• b.72 hours, excluding weekends and federal holidays✓
• c.ten business days, excluding federal holidays
• d.24 hours, counting weekends and federal holidays

24 Del. C. § 2923(d) requires the licensee to pay over the money promptly and provides that “the broker shall deposit the moneys into the broker's escrow account within 72 hours of the signing of the written agreement by all parties, or by the dates defined therein, excluding weekends and federal holidays.” Both halves matter and the wrong answers each break one of them: the exclusion of weekends and holidays is what makes a Friday signing workable, so a period that counts them misstates the clock, and 48 hours or ten business days misstate its length. The trigger is the signing of the agreement by all parties rather than the moment the deposit changes hands, and § 2923(c) requires the deposit to be accepted in the brokerage organization's name unless the parties have agreed on a different third-party escrow agent.

A Delaware licensee wants to pay $500 to an unlicensed neighbor who sent her a buyer. Under the Commission's rules she:

• a.May not, because commission income cannot be a finder's fee to a non-licensee✓
• b.May, provided the payment is disclosed in writing to both parties at settlement
• c.May, provided the neighbor signs an acknowledgment describing the referral
• d.May not, unless the payment comes out of her own personal funds instead

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 8.8.1 says licensees “cannot use commissions or income received from commissions as rebates or compensation paid to or given to non-licensed persons, partnerships or corporations as inducements to do or secure business, or as a finder's fee,” unless paid under a written cooperation or affiliation agreement the chapter permits. Because the bar is on the payment itself, disclosing it or documenting it after the fact does not cure it, and relabelling the source as personal funds does not either — commission income does not stop being commission income once it reaches the licensee's own account. What Delaware does allow is different: § 8.8.2 permits a rebate, discount or other thing of value given directly to the purchaser or seller of the real estate, and § 8.8.3 then requires timely written disclosure to the principal of any rebate that may be made to the other party.

Delaware licensees may assist buyers and sellers in preparing offers and counteroffers, on one condition:

• a.A Delaware attorney reviews each form before the parties are asked to sign it
• b.The licensee's broker countersigns the offer as the preparer of the document
• c.The parties waive in writing any claim arising out of the drafting of the form
• d.The forms used advise the parties they may seek legal advice before signing✓

24 Del. C. § 2936(e)(6) lists among the actions an agent may take without breaching any duty: assisting buyers and sellers in preparing offers and counteroffers, “providing that the forms used advise the parties that they may seek legal advice prior to signing.” The notice is what keeps form-filling on the licensee's side of the line between real estate practice and the practice of law, which is why the answer is a line of text on the form rather than a lawyer, a countersignature or a waiver. Requiring attorney review of every offer would make the permission useless, a broker's countersignature addresses supervision rather than the legal-advice boundary, and a waiver of claims is the opposite of a consumer protection. § 2936(b)(4) adds the related duty to advise parties to obtain expert advice on material matters beyond the licensee's expertise.

Chapter 29 lets a Delaware licensee prepare a competitive market analysis in most situations but not:

• a.For an owner who is deciding what price to list a property for sale at
• b.For a landlord who is deciding what rent to ask for a vacant unit
• c.For the mortgagee, on a property under a signed agreement of sale✓
• d.For a potential buyer who is deciding what price to offer for a property

24 Del. C. § 2931 permits the competitive market analysis as part of real estate services but adds that “a licensee shall not perform a competitive market analysis for the mortgagee on a property that is the subject of a signed agreement of sale.” That is the moment a CMA would be doing an appraiser's job, valuing collateral for a lender's credit decision, and § 2931(1) confines the permitted purposes to an existing or potential seller or owner listing a property and an existing or potential buyer or tenant purchasing or leasing one — which is exactly what the other three options describe. A CMA is not an appraisal, and § 2931(2) requires the analysis to carry, in at least 12-point bold face immediately after the estimated market price, a disclosure saying so and directing anyone who needs a value for a mortgage, divorce, estate or bankruptcy purpose to a licensed or certified appraiser.

Delaware's consumer information statement must be delivered no later than the earlier of the first scheduled appointment, the first showing, or making an offer. It must be signed:

• a.Before an agreement of sale, listing or other brokerage agreement is signed✓
• b.Within three business days after the licensee's first substantive contact
• c.At the same moment it is delivered, or the delivery does not count at all
• d.Before the licensee answers any question at all about a listed property

24 Del. C. § 2938(b) sets delivery at the earlier of those three moments and then adds separately that “the CIS must be signed by the customer or client prior to signing an agreement of sale, listing agreement or any other brokerage agreement, unless otherwise exempt.” Delivery and signature are therefore two different deadlines, which is why an answer that collapses them into one moment is wrong: the statement can be handed over at a showing and signed later, and § 2938(g) makes that gap explicit for residential rentals, where the tenant need not sign until applying or signing a lease. No three-day period appears in the section. Answering factual questions about a property is not the trigger either — § 2938(c) says the CIS need only be available at an open house unless the consumer asks for more than factual information or shows interest in making an offer.

Under Chapter 29 a Delaware licensee's duty of confidentiality to a customer begins:

• a.When the customer signs the consumer information statement
• b.When the customer signs a written brokerage agreement
• c.Upon the first contact between licensee and customer✓
• d.Upon the first scheduled appointment between them

24 Del. C. § 2934(a) and § 2938(d) both provide that “the duties of confidentiality as required by § 2936(c) of this title begin upon first contact between a licensee and the customer,” and only then list the later triggers — the first scheduled appointment, the first showing, making an offer, or otherwise working for the client — for the other statutory duties. Confidentiality is pulled forward on purpose, because a consumer volunteers motive and price flexibility in the first conversation, long before any paperwork exists; hanging it on the CIS or a brokerage agreement would leave that first conversation unprotected. § 2936(c) then names what is protected, including that a buyer would pay more or a seller take less, the parties' personal motivating factors, and material confidential information about the parties or the property. Under § 2934(b) confidentiality survives the end of the relationship.

Two of a Delaware licensee's clients want to bid on the same listed house. Under the permitted-actions provision the licensee may:

• a.Present both offers only if the seller consents to the arrangement
• b.Present offers on the same property for more than one of them✓
• c.Present only the first client's offer and withdraw from the second
• d.Present both offers only once each client waives confidentiality

24 Del. C. § 2936(e)(4) lists “present offers on the same property for more than 1 customer or client” among the things an agent may do “without breaching any obligation, duty, or responsibility to a customer or client.” The same subsection permits listing competing properties, showing one client's property to another, and showing alternatives not owned by the broker's other clients, so competing interests inside one brokerage are contemplated rather than treated as a conflict to be cured. Because no breach occurs, nothing needs curing: withdrawing from the second client, extracting a confidentiality waiver, or asking the seller's permission all treat a permitted action as a forbidden one. The duty that does persist is confidentiality under § 2936(c) — neither buyer's price ceiling may be leaked to the other — and § 2936(f) confirms there is no imputation of knowledge between licensees in the organization.

A Delaware licensee has not been hired as a common law agent by any written brokerage agreement. That licensee functions as:

• a.A common law agent, with fiduciary duties implied from the relationship
• b.A transaction broker, owing no duties to either side of the transaction
• c.A subagent of the listing broker, owing fiduciary duties to the seller
• d.A statutory agent, as an independent contractor rather than a fiduciary✓

24 Del. C. § 2936(a) states that “unless specifically hired as a common law agent by a written brokerage agreement, a licensee is a statutory agent and not a common law agent for any party,” and § 2902(a)(25) defines that statutory agent as functioning “as an independent contractor and not as a fiduciary.” Common law agency is the opt-in, not the default, so it cannot be implied from conduct. Transaction broker is a status other states use and Delaware does not — § 2930(c) says a Delaware licensee who works as one in another jurisdiction is not treated as having that status here — and it misdescribes the duties in any event, since § 2936(b) loads the statutory agent with obligations from reasonable skill and care to disclosing adverse material facts actually known. Subagency is not the default either, and § 2936(e)(10) bars common law subagents from other firms in one-to-four family residential transactions.

A Delaware licensee is working for both the buyer and the seller of a single-family home. Under Chapter 29 that licensee is:

• a.A common law dual agent owing fiduciary duties equally to both parties
• b.Presumed to be a statutory dual agent unless a signed CIS says otherwise✓
• c.A dual agent only once both parties have given informed consent in writing
• d.Barred from continuing, because Delaware prohibits dual agency outright

Delaware does not run dual agency on a consent model. 24 Del. C. § 2933(c)(1)c provides that for one-to-four family residences “a licensee working for both buyer and seller is presumed to be a statutory agent representing both parties as a dual agent,” and § 2933(c)(3) allows that presumption to be rebutted only “by the consumer signing a consumer information statement establishing a different agency relationship.” The status therefore arrives by operation of law and is undone by a document, not created by permission, which is why an informed-consent answer inverts the mechanism; informed consent appears in this chapter at § 2936(c), attached to confidentiality, not as a gate on dual agency. Dual agency is not prohibited outright, and it cannot be the common law kind here: § 2933(a) expressly abrogates the common law of agency for statutory agents, and § 2932(c)(4) bars common law agency in one-to-four family residential work unless the broker's policy is single agency and never dual.

A Delaware licensee completes every term of the Voluntary Treatment Option for chemically dependent or impaired professionals. That licensee's record of participation:

• a.Does not reflect discipline and is not open to public inspection✓
• b.Is published in the Commission's public minutes for the meeting
• c.Reflects a letter of reprimand that stays on the license for two years
• d.Is forwarded to every jurisdiction in which the licensee holds a license

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 15.6.7 provides that “the regulated professional's records of participation in the Voluntary Treatment Option will not reflect disciplinary action and shall not be considered public records open to public inspection,” while reserving the Commission's right to consider those records in setting a sanction in a later matter where impairment is again at issue. Confidentiality is the inducement that makes the option work, so publishing the participation, converting it into a reprimand, or reporting it to other jurisdictions would each defeat the design. The option is not a license surrender either: § 15.4 lets the professional continue to practice, subject to any limits deemed necessary to protect the public, provided the agreed treatment plan is followed. Failing to cooperate or to progress disqualifies the professional and triggers an immediate investigation under § 15.5.

A buyer under a written agreement to purchase a Delaware unit governed by the Unit Property Act obtains the treasurer's written statement of unpaid assessments. If that statement understates them, the buyer is:

• a.Jointly and severally liable with the seller for the full amount actually owed
• b.Liable for the shortfall only if the seller cannot be found within one year
• c.Liable for half the shortfall, with the council of unit owners absorbing the rest
• d.Not liable for any amount above the unpaid assessments the statement shows✓

25 Del. C. § 2237 makes the grantee jointly and severally liable with the grantor for unpaid common-expense assessments charged against the unit, and then supplies the escape: a person who has entered into a written agreement to purchase may obtain a written statement from the treasurer, and “if such statement does not reveal the full amount of the unpaid assessments as of the date it is rendered, neither the purchaser nor the unit shall be liable for the payment of an amount in excess of the unpaid assessments shown thereon.” So joint liability is the default the statement displaces, which is why the unqualified joint-and-several answer describes the position of a buyer who never asked. The one-year and half-share answers appear nowhere. The Unit Property Act is opt-in — § 2203 applies it only where the owners submit the property to it by a duly recorded declaration — and § 2201 makes it subject to DUCIOA in Chapter 81, which supersedes parts of it.

A Delaware unit owner asks the association for the resale certificate needed to sell. The association must furnish it within:

• a.Five business days of the request, and may charge no more than $50 for it
• b.Sixty days of the request, and may charge no more than $500 for it
• c.Ten days of the request, or it may charge no fee at all for that certificate✓
• d.Thirty days of the request, or it may charge no fee at all for that certificate

25 Del. C. § 81-409(b) requires the association, “within 10 days after a request by a unit owner,” to furnish the certificate, caps the fee at $200 (plus up to $50 more for a paper copy), and adds the sanction that “if the association fails to provide the requested certificate within the 10-day period, the association may not charge any fee for providing that certificate.” The other periods and fee figures are inventions. Two further deadlines travel with this one: § 81-409(a) makes the owner furnish the certificate and governing documents to the purchaser no later than the signing of the contract, with the information correct to within 120 days, and if the purchaser is not given it before executing the contract, the purchaser may cancel within 5 calendar days after first receiving it. Do not assume older communities are outside this: § 81-119 applies § 81-409 to common interest communities created before DUCIOA's 30 September 2009 effective date.

A Delaware one-year residential tenancy ends. The landlord must remit the deposit, or an itemized list of damages with payment of the difference, within:

• a.20 days, or owe the tenant double the amount wrongfully withheld✓
• b.30 days, or owe the tenant double the amount wrongfully withheld
• c.45 days, or forfeit the right to claim any damages from the tenant
• d.60 days, or owe the tenant treble the amount wrongfully withheld

25 Del. C. § 5514(e) and (f) both run on 20 days from expiration or termination — one for remitting the deposit, one for the itemized list of damages and estimated repair costs — and § 5514(f) adds that failing to send the list “shall constitute an acknowledgment by the landlord that no payment for damages is due.” § 5514(g)(1) then entitles the tenant to double the amount wrongfully withheld. Thirty days is the number most people carry over from other states and it is the trap here. The cap is conditional rather than absolute: § 5514(a)(2) limits the deposit to one month's rent where the rental agreement is for a year or more, § 5514(a)(3) extends that to month-to-month tenancies once they have lasted a year, and § 5514(a)(4) exempts furnished rental units altogether. A pet deposit is capped at one month's rent regardless of term.

A Delaware county has enacted the full 1½ percent local realty transfer tax, so the state rate on the transfer drops to 2½ percent. The resulting tax is:

• a.Paid entirely by the grantee when the deed is recorded
• b.Apportioned three quarters to the grantee, one quarter to the grantor
• c.Apportioned equally between the grantor and the grantee✓
• d.Paid entirely by the grantor when the deed is recorded

30 Del. C. § 5402(a) sets the state realty transfer tax at 3 percent “unless the municipality or county where the property is located has enacted the full 1½ percent realty transfer tax authorized by § 1601 of Title 22 or § 8102 of Title 9, in which case 2½ percent,” and closes with “said tax is to be apportioned equally between grantor and grantee.” The customary Delaware total of 4 percent is therefore 2 percent from each side, not a seller's or buyer's charge and not an uneven split. First-time buyers get relief but not an exemption: § 5402(c) reduces only the grantee's portion, by ½ percent of the lesser of the property's value or $400,000, and expressly does not relieve the grantor of the grantor's portion. § 5402(b) imposes no tax where the actual value transferred is less than $100.

A Delaware deed conveys land to two unmarried co-purchasers and says nothing about survivorship. They hold title as:

• a.Tenants in partnership, unless the deed provides some other tenancy
• b.Tenants in common, because survivorship has to be granted expressly✓
• c.Joint tenants with right of survivorship, which is the Delaware default
• d.Tenants by the entirety, which Delaware presumes for any co-grantees

25 Del. C. § 701 provides that no estate in joint tenancy shall be held or claimed under any grant, devise or conveyance to persons other than executors or trustees “unless the premises therein mentioned are expressly granted, devised or conveyed to such persons, to be held as joint tenants and not as tenants in common.” Delaware therefore presumes a tenancy in common and puts the burden on the drafting language, which is the opposite of the joint-tenancy default some states use. Tenancy by the entirety is not a presumption available to unmarried grantees; where it does apply, § 309(c) gives it its distinctive strength — “property held by the entireties shall not be subject to the claims of a creditor of only 1 spouse.” Tenancy in partnership answers to partnership law, not to a silent deed. § 311 confirms that a grantor may convey directly to himself and another as joint tenants with right of survivorship.

Which of these is a protected status under the Delaware Fair Housing Act but not under the federal Fair Housing Act?

• a.Familial status
• b.National origin
• c.Disability
• d.Source of income✓

6 Del. C. § 4603(b)(1) forbids discrimination in the sale or rental of a dwelling “because of race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, marital status, familial status, source of income, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, military status, or housing status.” Familial status, national origin and disability are all on that list, but they are also three of the seven federal classes, so none of them is the Delaware-only answer. Source of income is, and it matters in practice because it reaches a housing voucher. Delaware also adds creed, marital status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, and housing status, the last defined in § 4602(18) as a person's current overnight residence regardless of permanence or habitability. Enforcement runs through the Division of Human and Civil Rights and the Delaware Human and Civil Rights Commission — renamed from the old Human Relations Commission — with a complaint due within one year under § 4610(a) and a private civil action within two years under § 4613(a).

A Delaware contract for unimproved land where central sewerage and water are not available is, under the statutory notice, contingent on all of the following except:

• a.The lot conforming with the applicable local zoning ordinance
• b.A DNREC permit already issued in the buyer's name before signing✓
• c.A satisfactory site evaluation allowing an approved on-site disposal system
• d.The availability of a water supply for the parcel being purchased

25 Del. C. § 313 requires every contract for the sale of unimproved real estate in Delaware to carry a conspicuous NOTICE TO BUYER, and where central sewerage and water are unavailable that notice makes the contract contingent on exactly three things: “(1) a satisfactory site evaluation that will allow the installation of an approved on-site disposal system, in accordance with the regulations promulgated by the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control, that is acceptable to the buyer; (2) the availability of a water supply; and (3) the lot conforming with the local zoning ordinance,” failing which the contract is null and void and all deposits are returned. A DNREC construction permit is a later step and is issued to the person installing the system, not a precondition to signing. The notice also fixes who requests the site evaluation and by what date, who pays, and lets the parties modify or the buyer waive the provisions by an addendum both sign.

An open-house directional sign is placed beside an interior street inside a Delaware residential subdivision that has a sidewalk. The clear zone from which the Department may immediately remove it runs from the pavement edge to:

• a.Seven feet, or the far sidewalk edge, whichever is the shorter distance✓
• b.Ten feet, measured perpendicular to the edge of the pavement
• c.The nearer edge of the sidewalk, whatever that distance turns out to be
• d.The front property line of the nearest lot fronting on that street

17 Del. C. § 525(b)(2) gives interior streets within residential subdivisions their own, tighter clear zone: from the edge of the pavement “for the shorter distance of either: a. Seven feet perpendicular to the pavement edge, or b. If there is a sidewalk adjacent to the street, the sidewalk edge further from the street.” Ten feet is the figure for every other road under § 525(b)(1), which is why it is the near miss. The nearer sidewalk edge and the front property line are not the statutory measures. Within the zone § 525(a) gives the Department immediate authority to remove non-official signs and other obstructions, § 525(c) imposes a $25 civil fine for each item removed, and § 525(d) charges a $15 recovery fee and lets the Department dispose of anything not reclaimed within 30 days. § 524(b) reaches signs stapled to utility poles in the right-of-way at any location, and § 526(a) bars commercial advertising signs from rights-of-way in unincorporated areas.

Every Delaware contract for the sale of real estate under which the seller agrees to provide financing must include, as an integral part of the contract:

• a.A title insurance commitment issued in the purchaser's name before signing
• b.A recorded purchase money mortgage naming the seller as the mortgagee
• c.An appraisal by a Delaware certified appraiser dated within the last 90 days
• d.A complete amortization schedule signed by the seller and the purchaser✓

25 Del. C. § 314(a) requires every seller-financed contract, improved or unimproved, to “include as an integral part of the contract a complete amortization schedule for all payments to be made under such financing agreement,” with a per-payment breakdown of principal and interest, the unpaid balance remaining after each payment, a statement that both sides have read and understand it, and the signatures of seller and purchaser. § 314(b) adds that the contract must state the principal amount of seller financing exclusive of interest, and that interest may not be folded into the stated purchase price. Nothing in the section requires a title commitment, a recorded mortgage or an appraisal — those are lender and closing practices, not statutory contract contents. Under § 314(e), failing to comply with subsection (a), (b) or (c) makes the contract voidable at the option of either party before settlement.

A Delaware parcel lies within a tax ditch. The taxes levied on it under the tax ditch chapter are:

• a.Collectible only on a sale of the parcel, out of the seller's net proceeds
• b.Unenforceable unless the ditch organization records a separate lien notice
• c.A first and paramount lien, subject only to the lien for state and county taxes✓
• d.Subordinate to every recorded mortgage and to all recorded mechanics' liens

7 Del. C. § 4180 provides that “all taxes levied under this chapter shall constitute a first and paramount lien against the lands to which they apply from and after the date of such levy, subject only to the lien for state and county taxes,” enforceable by sale in the same manner as the county tax lien. It therefore outranks mortgages rather than yielding to them, attaches at the levy rather than waiting for a sale, and needs no separate filing, because § 4195(c)(3) has the Resident Judge's confirming order recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds. The right-of-way surprises buyers: § 4105(a) sets it at 80 feet from the top of the bank for a ditch designed with a 0 to 4 foot bottom width and 120 feet for a 4 to 10 foot bottom width. Willfully obstructing a tax ditch draws a fine of up to $100 under § 4186(c), while structures already there on 17 July 2008 are grandfathered as a legal nonconforming use.