Case Title: Starling v. Spencer Apartments

Citation: 

Docket Number: 33, 2019

State: delaware

Court: Delaware Supreme Court

Date: 2019-08-29T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
MELODY STARLING, 
 
 
Defendant Below, Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
SPENCER APARTMENTS, 
 
Plaintiff Below, Appellee. 
 
§ 
§  No. 33, 2019 
§ 
§  Court Below—Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware 
§     
§  C.A. No. N18A-09-003 
§   
§    
 
 
 
 
 
 
   Submitted:  July 12, 2019 
 
 
 
 
 
  Decided:  August 29, 2019 
 
Before VAUGHN, SEITZ, and TRAYNOR, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
 
After consideration of the parties’ briefs and the record on appeal, we 
conclude that the judgment below should be affirmed on the basis of the Superior 
Court’s decision dated January 8, 2019.  A tenant who seeks to terminate a rental 
agreement or deduct the reasonable cost of repairs based on a landlord’s failure to 
maintain the rental unit as required must first provide to the landlord written notice 
of the maintenance issue, in accordance with 25 Del. C. §§ 5306-07.  The appellant 
testified that she did not provide written notice of the alleged maintenance 
deficiencies.1 
                                                 
1 Starling v. Spencer Apartments, CPU4-17-004961, Transcript of Civil Trial Proceedings, at 70 
(Del. Ct. Com. Pleas Sept. 6, 2018). 
2 
 
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the Superior 
Court is AFFIRMED.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/  James T. Vaughn, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice