✓ Law Verified August 2026
A Delaware eviction record can block apartment applications for years — often regardless of how the case actually ended. This guide answers the question directly for Delaware: whether a sealing law exists here, exactly how to use it if it does, and the real alternatives if it does not. Verified against official Delaware sources as of August 2026.
In This Delaware Guide:
How the Delaware Sealing Law Works
| The law | Senate Substitute 2 for Senate Bill 115 (153rd General Assembly), signed by Governor Matt Meyer on July 29, 2025, codified at 25 Del. C. § 5720 (“Shielding of records”), effective January 30, 2026 |
| Who qualifies | Seven separate grounds under 25 Del. C. § 5720. A tenant (defendant) in a summary possession action may ask to shield the record if: (1) the judgment against the tenant was a judgment on the merits, a default judgment, or a stipulated judgment, AND 5 or more years have passed since the judgment was entered, AND the tenant has satisfied any monetary award in the judgment, AND the tenant has had no other similar summary possession judgment within 5 years before the motion; (2) the parties resolved the case by a stipulated agreement and the tenant has complied with its terms; (3) the landlord withdrew the complaint; (4) the Court dismissed the complaint; (5) final judgment was in favor of the tenant; (6) the landlord and tenant both agree to the shielding; or (7) the Court finds shielding is clearly in the interests of justice. Note the split: grounds 3, 4 and 5 (withdrawn, dismissed, tenant won) carry NO 5-year wait and NO payment requirement — those are the fastest route for many tenants. |
| Automatic or petition | PETITION. Delaware does not seal eviction records automatically. The tenant must file a motion to shield with the Justice of the Peace Court in which the eviction case was originally filed. The statute is written as “a defendant… may apply to the Court… for an order shielding the record.” If the tenant meets one of the seven statutory grounds, the Court must grant the motion — it is mandatory relief, not discretionary, except for the “interests of justice” ground. UNVERIFIED whether the Court effectuates any category on its own motion without a filing; check with the Justice of the Peace Court clerk. |
| Waiting period | 5 years for the main money-judgment track — 5 or more years must have passed since the judgment was entered, and the tenant must have had no other similar summary possession judgment in the 5 years before filing the motion. There is NO waiting period for cases the landlord withdrew, cases the Court dismissed, cases the tenant won, cases resolved by a complied-with stipulated agreement, cases where both parties agree to shielding, or interests-of-justice shielding. |
| Cost | 0 — the statute expressly bars the Court from charging a filing fee for a motion to shield records under 25 Del. C. § 5720. |
Step by Step: Sealing Your Delaware Eviction Record
File a motion to shield the record in the same Justice of the Peace Court location where the summary possession (eviction) case was filed — Delaware evictions are all heard in JP Court, so the case number from the original eviction is what you file under.
Pull your case number and disposition first from the JP Court civil case search or by calling the clerk of the court where the case was heard.
In the motion, identify the case number, the parties, and which of the seven statutory grounds under 25 Del. C. § 5720 you qualify under, and attach proof — a satisfaction of judgment or paid-in-full receipts if you are using the 5-year money-judgment track, or the docket entry showing dismissal, withdrawal, or judgment in your favor.
The landlord is entitled to notice and the Court may hold a hearing before ruling.
Once the Court grants the order, it has 45 days to effectuate the shielding — remove the record from all publicly accessible databases and store the physical and electronic records so they are permanently inaccessible to the public. UNVERIFIED whether the Court has published a numbered statewide motion-to-shield form; ask the clerk or check the Justice of the Peace Court forms page for the current form.
What sealing actually does: If the motion is granted, the Court issues an order shielding the record and setting aside the original judgment, and the action is deemed not to have been filed. The Court must remove the record from all publicly accessible databases within 45 days and store all physical and electronic records permanently inaccessible to the public.
A tenant whose record has been shielded may lawfully answer questions about prior evictions as if the shielded action was never filed — including on rental applications.
Exceptions: a shielded record may still be disclosed to the Delaware Department of Justice on request (which must keep it confidential), to the tenant who was the defendant, and the Court may publish an opinion in the case if it finds publication in the public interest and redacts or obscures the tenant’s name, personal information, and property address.
Practical limit: shielding stops the court record at the source, but tenant screening companies that already copied and resold the record before shielding may still be reporting it — you may need to dispute it separately under the FCRA (below). Many tenants can clear both, but no outcome is guaranteed; check with your court.
Why A Delaware Eviction Record Follows You — and For How Long
An eviction case becomes a public court record the day it is filed — even if you won, even if it was dismissed, even if you moved out voluntarily before the hearing. Tenant screening companies copy these records in bulk and resell them to landlords, which is how a Delaware eviction record from years ago can quietly sink a rental application today.
Under federal reporting rules these records generally stop appearing on screening reports after seven years, but the public court file itself can remain searchable far longer unless it is sealed.
That is why the filing itself, not just the outcome, is what matters — and why sealing laws are spreading state by state. Most landlords never read the court file; they read the one-line summary a screening company sells them. Getting the Delaware eviction record sealed, corrected, or accurately described is what changes that one line.
Check Your Delaware Eviction Record First
Before filing anything, find out what your Delaware eviction record really looks like to a landlord. Search the online case index for the court where the eviction was filed, and request your file from the major tenant screening companies — you are entitled to it.
Tenants are often surprised in both directions: some discover the case they worry about was never reported, others find a case they had forgotten, or one that is not even theirs.
Knowing exactly what appears, and how it is described, tells you whether to pursue sealing, a dispute, or both.
Screening reports are also where errors live. A dismissed case reported as an eviction, an old address matched to the wrong person, or a paid judgment still shown as owing are all fixable — and fixing the report is sometimes faster than any court process in Delaware.
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Your Federal Rights Against Tenant Screening Companies
Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 and following, a tenant screening company is a consumer reporting agency and you have enforceable dispute rights.
Step 1 — if a landlord denied you, raised your rent or deposit, or required a cosigner based in whole or in part on a screening report, that is an adverse action and the landlord must give you an adverse action notice naming the screening company.
Step 2 — you are entitled to a free copy of that report from the screening company within 60 days of the adverse action, and you are also entitled to one free report every 12 months on request.
Step 3 — dispute the wrong or outdated eviction entry in writing to the screening company; send it by certified mail with return receipt and include your Delaware JP Court case number, a copy of the docket or the shielding order, and any satisfaction of judgment.
Step 4 — the company has 30 days to reinvestigate (extended to 45 days if you send additional documents during the 30-day window), must forward your dispute to the furnisher, and must delete or correct information it cannot verify. Step 5 — you can also send the same dispute directly to the furnisher of the data.
Independent time limits: most adverse civil judgments and collection items cannot be reported after 7 years, so a very old eviction judgment may be too stale to report even without shielding.
If a screening company keeps reporting a shielded or already-corrected Delaware eviction after a proper dispute, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint and with the Delaware Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Unit, and know that the FCRA allows a private lawsuit with attorney’s fees for violations.
Timing matters more than tenants expect. If you are apartment-hunting right now, start the screening-report disputes today — they run on federal deadlines and cost nothing — while any Delaware court process moves in parallel. If the move is months away, that is enough time for most sealing petitions, vacated judgments, or corrected reports to finish before a landlord ever pulls your Delaware eviction record.
Worth watching in Delaware: The shielding law is brand new in practice — 25 Del. C. § 5720 only took effect January 30, 2026, roughly 7 months ago, so JP Court clerks and local landlords may still be unfamiliar with it and forms and procedures may still be evolving; confirm current practice with the clerk of the JP Court where your case was filed.
Delaware has no county pilot program — the Justice of the Peace Court is a single statewide court covering New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties, so the same shielding procedure applies everywhere in the state. The law applies retroactively in effect, because the 5-year track and the dismissed/withdrawn/tenant-won tracks reach back to eviction cases decided long before 2026.
Beyond § 5720, Delaware tenants also have the Delaware Residential Landlord-Tenant Code at 25 Del. C. Chapter 51 and the summary possession chapter at 25 Del.
C. Chapter 57, and free legal help through Delaware’s civil legal aid providers, which is worth using before filing since the motion requires you to match your case to the right statutory ground. No further pending Delaware sealing bill verified as of August 20, 2026 — UNVERIFIED whether any follow-up bill to automate shielding is currently before the 153rd General Assembly; check the Delaware General Assembly bill tracker.
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Official Delaware Sources & Resources
- Delaware Courts Self-Help: courts.delaware.gov/JPCourt/eviction-shielding.aspx
- Delaware Statute: delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c057/index.html
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
- Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex
Taking Control of Your Delaware Eviction Record
A Delaware eviction record is not a life sentence — it is a document, and documents can be sealed, corrected, or accurately explained. The tenants who struggle longest are usually the ones who never look at what their Delaware eviction record actually says, so start by pulling the court file and your screening reports.
Whether Delaware offers sealing or only the federal dispute route, acting on the Delaware eviction record beats hoping landlords will not check — they almost always do. A short, honest cover letter to a prospective landlord explaining the circumstances can also do real work while the record process runs.
This Delaware eviction record guide was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Sealing laws are changing fast — new states pass them every year, so re-check before relying on this page.
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Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.