Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Delaware ratifies special assessments automatically at a required owner meeting unless a majority vote to reject them, and separately mandates minimum reserve funding tied to a current reserve study.
Key statute: 25 Del. C. § 81-324 (Adoption of budget), § 81-315 (Assessments for common expenses), and § 81-316 (Lien for assessments), Delaware Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, Title 25, Chapter 81, Subchapter III
How Delaware lets an association approve it
Delaware follows the same ratification-by-non-rejection structure used elsewhere under the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Under § 81-324(b), “the executive board may at any time propose a budget which would require a special assessment against all the units,” and “the special assessment is effective only if the executive board follows the procedures for ratification of a budget described in subsection (a) of this section and the unit owners do not reject that proposed special assessment.” The ratification procedure itself, § 81-324(a), provides that “Unless at that meeting a majority of all unit owners or any larger vote specified in the declaration, voting in person or by proxy, reject the budget, the budget is ratified, whether or not a quorum is present.” A separate emergency path exists too: if the executive board determines by unanimous vote that the assessment is necessary to respond to an emergency, “the special assessment shall become effective immediately in accordance with the terms of the vote…”
The notice you’re owed
Delaware’s notice rule is built into the ratification procedure. Under § 81-324(a), “within 30 days after adoption of any proposed budget after the period of declarant control, the executive board shall provide to all unit owners a summary of the budget, including any reserves and a statement of the basis on which any reserves are calculated and funded.” At the same time, “the executive board shall set a date for a meeting of the unit owners to consider ratification of the budget not less than 14 nor more than 60 days after providing the summary.” For an emergency assessment, the board only has to see that “notice of the emergency assessment shall be promptly provided to all unit owners,” with no fixed day count specified.
Paying it: plan, interest, and late fees
Delaware’s statute doesn’t create an owner right to a payment plan for a special assessment; that’s a matter for the declaration and bylaws. The lien statute does assume installment plans can exist: § 81-316(a) notes that “if an assessment is payable in installments, the lien is for the full amount of the assessment from the time the first installment thereof becomes due.” On interest, two provisions apply. § 81-315(b) says “any past due common expense assessment or installment thereof bears interest at the rate established by the association not exceeding the lawful rate of interest,” while § 81-316(a) sets a more specific cap: “Unless the declaration provides for a different rate of interest, interest on unpaid assessments shall accrue at the rate of the lesser of 18% per annum or the highest rate permitted by law.”
Delaware associations have a statutory lien on a unit for unpaid assessments under § 81-316(a), which states “the association has a statutory lien on a unit for any assessment levied against that unit or fines imposed against its unit owner,” and foreclosure cannot begin until the owner owes at least 3 months of common expense assessments and the executive board has voted to proceed.
Does Delaware require a reserve study?
Yes. Delaware defines and requires a reserve study, distinct from Florida’s SIRS structural-inspection law. § 81-103(40) defines a “reserve study” as “an analysis, by 1 or more independent engineering, architectural, or construction contractors or other qualified persons, performed or updated within the last 5 years, of the remaining useful life and the estimated cost to replace each separate system and component of the common elements,” intended “to inform the executive board and the association… of the amount which should be maintained from year to year in a fully funded repair and replacement reserve to minimize the need for special assessments.” § 81-315(a)(2) ties the association’s minimum reserve-funding percentage (5%, 10%, or 15% of the annual budget, scaled to how many building systems the association maintains) to whether that reserve study is current: “In the event that the association does not have a current reserve study as required by this chapter, the minimum percentages of the association’s budget to be assigned to the repair and replacement reserve shall be the percentages prescribed in this paragraph.” This is a funding-formula requirement built around a defined reserve study, not a structural-integrity inspection law like Florida’s.
Honest gaps
All figures on this page for Delaware were confirmed directly from the state’s own official code site.
Source note. Read from https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c081/sc03/index.html ; https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c081/sc01/index.html on September 4, 2026.
Related: HOA rules in a 55+ community · how a special-assessment foreclosure actually works · lump sum vs. a payment plan.
General information drawn from each state’s own statutes as read at its official legislature or code-publisher site (or a verbatim codified mirror where noted), not legal advice. Special-assessment law is state law, and every association’s own declaration and bylaws add rules on top of the statutory floor described here. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.