ADU Pass
No County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in No County, Delaware navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. We cover 7 cities and 10 ZIP codes in this county.
County ADU details
No county attribution
Cities in this bucket have no county attribution. ADU rules for these cities flow directly from state law (see state foldable below) and city ordinance (see individual city pages). No county-level sections apply.
Delaware state — ADU law and programs
State ADU law
Delaware has NOT enacted a statewide ADU preemption law. Two attempts have been made. Senate Substitute 1 for SB 23 (152nd General Assembly, introduced 2024-05-20) stalled in the Senate Housing and Land Use Committee when the 152nd session ended 2024-06-30. SB 87 (153rd General Assembly, introduced 2025-04-03, chief sponsor Sen. Russ Huxtable) was reported out of committee favorably on 2025-05-07 with Senate Amendment 1, but was tabled at the full Senate floor and has not been taken up in the 2026 portion of the session as of 2026-04-20. In the absence of state preemption, ADU rules are governed entirely by the three counties (Kent, New Castle, Sussex) and incorporated municipalities.
State financing programs
Delaware does not operate an ADU-specific statewide loan, grant, or forgivable-loan program. The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) administers general first-time-homebuyer, down-payment-assistance, and home-repair programs that can apply to properties with ADUs when eligibility criteria are met, but none target ADU construction directly. Senate Joint Resolution 8 (2024) created a Zoning and Land Use Reform Pilot Program that provides technical assistance (not financing) to nine participating jurisdictions, some of which have used that assistance to modernize their ADU zoning.
State housing programs
Delaware supports local ADU implementation through technical-assistance and smart-growth programs coordinated at the state level, rather than a single pre-approved-plan catalog or impact-fee-waiver statute. Governor Matt Meyer's Executive Order 16 (2026-01-30) certified the 2025 update to the Delaware Strategies for State Policies and Spending, directing the Office of State Planning Coordination to establish Corridor Planning Areas, modernize the Preliminary Land Use Service (PLUS) review to a 45-day goal, and expand the Downtown Development District (DDD) program cap from 12 to 15 districts. Housing-density and ADU implementation are implicit in the Strategies but not separately mandated by the order.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.