Under 25 Del. C. § 81-318(a), a DUCIOA association has to maintain detailed receipts and expenditures, including reserve-fund accounting kept to generally accepted accounting practices; minutes of every members' meeting and every executive-board meeting, plus a record of any action taken without a meeting or by a board committee; and a membership list showing each owner's votes and class. On top of that, it must keep copies at its principal office of its certificate of incorporation and bylaws with all amendments, three years of member-meeting minutes and financial statements and tax returns, a current list of directors and officers, its most recent annual report to the state, its most recent reserve study (for condos and cooperatives), and the records it needs to issue resale certificates.
Section 81-318(b) turns that recordkeeping duty into your right: any owner, or an authorized agent, can examine and copy essentially all of it, as long as the request is made in good faith for a purpose related to your ownership, during reasonable business hours (or another mutually convenient time), with five days' written notice identifying your purpose and the specific records you want. Section 81-318(e) caps any fee the association charges at the actual cost of materials and labor; there's no room for a markup used to discourage requests.
What the board can lawfully withhold
Section 81-318(c) lists exactly eight categories the association can withhold: personnel or medical files, contracts currently under negotiation, pending or threatened litigation or formal enforcement proceedings, attorney-client privileged communications, information whose disclosure would violate other law, executive-session minutes, and individual unit owner files other than your own. Section 81-318(d) adds that the association's outside attorney's files aren't association records at all and can't be pulled from the association. The board also doesn't have to compile or summarize data for you (§ 81-318(g)), and you can't use what you get for commercial purposes (§ 81-318(h)). One practical consequence: if you're trying to document a neighbor's violation history to build a selective-enforcement argument, the board can lawfully refuse to hand over another specific owner's individual file. You'll want your own dated documentation for that (see the selective-enforcement guide).
Older Unit Property Act condos: the treasurer's ledger, and not much else
If your condo is still under the Unit Property Act, § 2218 is essentially the entire records statute: the treasurer must keep detailed records of receipts and expenditures, itemizing common-element maintenance, repair, and replacement expenses and any other expenses, plus an accurate per-owner record of assessments and payments, and make all of it "available for examination by the unit owners during regular business hours." There's no separate copying right in the statute, no written-request procedure, no minutes requirement, and no exemption list. It's the financial books, open for you to look at in person. If your own bylaws promise more, and many do, that promise is what you actually lean on.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
25 Del. C. § 81-318
Spells out the books, minutes, and financials the association must keep and gives owners a right to inspect and copy nearly all of it on five days' written notice, limited to eight specifically listed exemptions.
25 Del. C. § 2218
Under the older Unit Property Act, the treasurer must keep detailed financial records and make them available for owner examination during regular business hours, with no separate copying right written into the statute.
25 Del. C. § 81-113
Imposes an obligation of good faith on every duty DUCIOA creates, including how the association is expected to handle a records request.
Step by step
How to request HOA or condo records in Delaware
A clean, statute-anchored records request that invokes § 81-318 (DUCIOA) or § 2218 (Unit Property Act) and preserves your remedies if the board stalls.
- 01
Confirm which act covers your records right
DUCIOA owners get the detailed § 81-318 regime. Unit Property Act owners get the thinner § 2218 financial-books right. Know which one you're invoking before you write the request.
- 02
Put the request in writing with five days' notice
For DUCIOA owners, § 81-318(b) requires a written request identifying your purpose and the specific records, given at least five days before you want to inspect. Date it and keep proof of delivery.
- 03
List exactly what you want
Name the documents: minutes, financial statements, the reserve study, the membership list, the annual budget, and the officer/director list. A vague request is easier for a board to slow-walk.
- 04
Check any refusal against the eight exemptions
If the board withholds something, ask which of the eight categories in § 81-318(c) it's relying on. A refusal that doesn't fit one of those categories isn't a valid basis to deny you.
- 05
Track fees and delivery
Fees can't exceed the actual cost of materials and labor under § 81-318(e). Document any inflated invoice or unreasonable delay in writing before escalating.
Straight answers
Common questions
What records can I actually get from my Delaware association?
Under § 81-318, DUCIOA associations must maintain and, on request, let you inspect and copy financial records, meeting minutes, the membership list, the reserve study, and governing documents, subject to eight specifically listed exemptions in § 81-318(c).
Can the board refuse to show me anything I ask for?
Only within the eight categories § 81-318(c) actually lists: personnel/medical files, contracts under negotiation, pending litigation or enforcement proceedings, privileged attorney communications, information barred by other law, executive-session minutes, and other owners' individual files.
Can I get a neighbor's individual violation file to prove a pattern?
Generally no. Section 81-318(c)(8) lets the board withhold individual unit owner files other than your own. You can still request the association's general minutes and financial records, which may show a broader pattern.
My condo is under the older Unit Property Act. What can I actually get?
Section 2218 gives you the treasurer's financial books, itemized and available for examination during regular business hours. The statute doesn't guarantee a copying right, a written-request process, or access to meeting minutes; check your bylaws for anything beyond that.