2026-07-27 · Delaware · Legislation

For three decades a qualifying Delaware neighborhood or homeowners association was a statutory “victim” of crimes committed in its community, with the notification and participation rights that status carries. That provision was repealed on August 20, 2025, and almost nobody noticed.

The repeal came in Senate Substitute 1 for SB 17, an omnibus crime-victims bill, published as 85 Del. Laws c. 142.¹

What was repealed

Two things, working together.

11 Del. C. § 9419 — “Rights of qualifying neighborhood or homeowners' associations” — is gone. The Delaware Code now records it plainly: “§ 9419. Rights of qualifying neighborhood or homeowners' associations [Repealed]. 70 Del. Laws, c. 101, § 2; repealed by 85 Del. Laws, c. 142, § 1, effective Aug. 20, 2025.”²

And the hook that made it operate was struck from the § 9401 definition of “Victim”: “‘Victim’ includes qualifying neighborhood or homeowners associations as defined by § 9419 of this title.”

The original provision dated to 70 Del. Laws c. 101 — 1995. It is the oldest piece of Delaware community-association law to be removed in years.

What it means concretely

A qualifying association is no longer a “victim” for the purposes of Delaware's Victims' Bill of Rights. The rights that flowed from that status — notification about proceedings, and the ability to participate in them as a victim — no longer attach to the association as an entity for crimes committed in its community.

Individual residents who are themselves victims of a crime retain every right they had. Nothing in this repeal touches them. What is gone is the association's separate standing.

1. 85 Del. Laws c. 142 (Senate Substitute 1 for SB 17), approved August 20, 2025 — chapter text repealing 11 Del. C. § 9419 ↩
2. 11 Del. C. ch. 94, subch. I — § 9401 definitions and § 9419 [Repealed by 85 Del. Laws c. 142 § 1, effective Aug. 20, 2025] ↩