New Castle County's condo inspection deadline passed a year ago
New Castle County's condo inspection deadline passed a year ago
2026-07-26 · Delaware · Compliance
Delaware's first condominium structural-inspection mandate has a deadline that is already behind us. New Castle County Ordinance 23-094 required initial inspection results to be filed with the Department of Land Use no later than July 31, 2025. That was over a year ago, and no compliance figures have been published.
What the ordinance requires
Adopted July 25, 2023 and effective July 27, 2023, it applies to common-interest-community buildings in unincorporated New Castle County only.1
Façade inspections for buildings of four stories or more, plus second- and third-floor balcony inspections on buildings of three stories or fewer that have balconies or decks.
Primary Load Bearing System (PLBS) inspections for buildings of concrete, masonry, steel or heavy-timber construction, and buildings with structural slabs over unconditioned space.
Who inspects: a Delaware licensed design professional, following ASCE guidelines.
The recurring cycle: new buildings get a PLBS inspection within 15 years of occupancy, then no more than 10 years apart for the first 20 years and no more than 5 years apart after 20 years. Façade inspections every 5 years.
The initial deadline: “These initial inspection results shall be submitted to the Department of Land Use no later than July 31, 2025.”
What we could not establish
Two things, and we would rather name them than fill them in.
The county page does not state penalties. We looked. What happens to an association that missed the deadline is not published there.
No compliance data exists publicly. How many buildings were covered, how many filed, and how many findings were adverse are all unpublished. The trade write-up available gives no cost figures and no count of affected communities.
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Related Delaware HOA Topics
- New Castle County, “Condo Safety Inspections Ordinance 23-094” — official county page: scope, inspection types, ASCE standard, and the July 31, 2025 initial submission deadline ↩
- CAI Keystone, “New Castle County, Delaware Adopts Building Integrity and Reserve Study Standards,” July 2023 — task force recommendations and ordinance summary ↩
- 25 Del. C. ch. 81, subch. III — §§ 81-303(a), 81-315, 81-316 (director duties; reserves) ↩
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