What the Delaware Property License Covers
Property is its own line of authority in Delaware under 18 Del. C. §1707(a), covering direct damage to property — homeowners, dwelling fire, commercial property, inland marine.
Delaware genuinely separates it from liability. There is no combined Property & Casualty exam in this state: the Pearson VUE content outlines carry a Property exam and a Casualty exam, and the Insurance Code lists them as separate lines. Producers wanting both sit both — with the same-day concession making the second exam free.
The state's property market is shaped by its coast. Hurricane and coastal windstorm along the Atlantic shore and Delaware Bay, plus flood, are the dominant catastrophe perils, and Delaware responds with a plain-language hurricane deductible disclosure requirement under §4140 that includes a worked dollar example. The residual market is the Delaware Basic Property Protection Plan.
And a scheduling note that will matter more here than in most states: Delaware offers no online proctoring. Delaware Insurance does not appear on Pearson VUE's OnVUE program list. Every exam is taken in person at a test centre.
Exam Options & Format
The Property examination comes in two portions: General Knowledge, 50 scored plus 5 pretest, and State Specific, 35 scored plus 7 pretest. Eighty-five scored questions in total.
That 35-question state portion is the lightest Delaware-specific load of any major line — Casualty carries 45, Accident & Health 42, Life and Personal Lines 40 each. It is a genuine reason to sit Property first if you are building toward a P&C book and want an early pass under your belt.
Scoring is scaled from 0 to 100, with a cut of 70 on some exams and 80 on others that Delaware does not publish. Prepare for 80. And retakes work portion by portion — fail one and you re-sit only that one, provided you clear it within a year of passing the other. The Accident & Health guide covers results and retakes in full.
Time limits are not published anywhere primary. The handbook places them on its back cover, which is not in the machine-readable text; the content outlines carry none. Check the back cover of the current handbook rather than a third-party figure.
Most Tested Topics on the Delaware Property Exam
Thirty-five state questions is a manageable target, and Delaware's property material concentrates in three places: how rates get approved, what happens on the coast, and the residual market. Each is verified against the Code:
| Concept | The Delaware rule |
|---|---|
| Rate regulation | Modified prior approval — a 'deemer' system. Rates must be filed at least 60 days before use and are deemed approved at 60 days unless the Commissioner acts within 45 days; the review period may be extended (§§2503, 2504, 2506) |
| Credit information in personal lines | Permitted but restricted. An insurer may not deny, cancel or nonrenew based solely on credit information, and may not use income, gender, race or ZIP code; a lack of credit history must be treated neutrally (§8304) |
| Residual property market | The Delaware Basic Property Protection Plan — an industry placement facility making basic property coverage available to owners who cannot obtain it in the standard market (§4103 et seq.) |
| Catastrophe exposure | Hurricane and coastal windstorm along the Atlantic shore and Delaware Bay, plus flood |
| Hurricane deductible disclosure | Delaware requires a plain-language wind-and-hail deductible disclosure stating the trigger and a worked dollar example (§4140) |
| Surplus lines prerequisite | An active Delaware Property & Casualty producer licence, plus a separate Surplus Lines Broker licence (§1902 et seq.) |
| Surplus lines diligent effort | Required — a diligent effort to place the risk in the admitted market first (§1904) |
| Surplus lines broker fee | $275 — more than double the $125 producer licence |
| Flood producer training | 2 hours of flood continuing education each biennium for producers writing NFIP business |
The deemer system is the highest-yield item, because it sits between the two regimes most study material describes. Delaware is not a file-and-use state where a rate takes effect automatically after a short notice period, and it is not a pure prior-approval state where nothing moves until the Commissioner signs. It is modified prior approval: file 60 days ahead, and if the Commissioner has not acted within 45 days the rate is deemed approved at day 60. Learn both numbers and which attaches to which step.
The hurricane deductible disclosure is the most distinctively Delaware consumer-protection rule on this exam. It is not enough for a policy to contain a percentage wind deductible — §4140 requires the disclosure to be in plain language, to state the trigger, and to include a worked dollar example so the policyholder can see what the deductible means on their own dwelling. Expect a question about what the disclosure must contain rather than what the deductible is.
Delaware Temporary Licenses — What They Are and Are Not
Start with what a Delaware temporary licence is not: a route into the profession. It is not a provisional licence you take while studying, not a sponsored trainee permit, and not a way to start selling before you pass the exam. Competitor guides get this wrong more often than almost any other Delaware fact, and a candidate who applies for one hoping to skip the exam has wasted a fee.
What it actually is, under 18 Del. C. §1711: an instrument for keeping an existing book of business serviced when the person who was servicing it can no longer do so. The Commissioner "may issue a temporary license for a period not to exceed 180 days without requiring an examination if the Insurance Commissioner deems that the temporary license is necessary" for the continued transaction of insurance business.
Who qualifies — four categories, all of them successor situations:
(1) The surviving spouse or court-appointed personal representative of a licensee who has died, or the designee of a licensee who becomes disabled. (2) An employee of a licensed business entity on the death or disability of the entity's designated individual licensee. (3) The designee of a licensee entering active service with the armed forces. (4) Any other circumstance the Commissioner considers to be in the public interest.
180 days is a ceiling, not an entitlement. The statute says "not to exceed", and the Commissioner sets the actual term. The Department's Producer License Laws FAQ restates the provision in the same terms — a temporary licence issues where it is "necessary to provide continued service to policyholders."
The Commissioner can also fence it in. Section 1711 allows the Commissioner to "by order limit the authority of any temporary licensee in any way deemed necessary to protect insureds and the public." A temporary licensee may be permitted to service existing policies but not to write new business, for instance. Read the order you are issued; the licence is only as broad as it says.
The fee appears in Delaware's fee schedule at $75 for a temporary insurance producer — the same tier as an apprentice adjuster or appraiser, which NIPR independently lists at $75. We flag that figure as coming from a converted reading of 18 Del. C. §701 rather than a verbatim statutory block, so confirm it when you file.
If you are a new producer reading this section hoping for a shortcut, there isn't one — but Delaware is already the shortcut. No pre-licensing education, no waiting period, a 24-hour booking lead time and a 24-to-48-hour licensing turnaround. The reason Delaware's temporary licence is so narrow is that the ordinary route is so short.
Two adjacent instruments worth not confusing with it. Delaware also issues an apprentice adjuster/appraiser licence at $75 — a different thing, for a different profession. And §1709 grants exam waivers to producers moving in from other states, which is the provision most people actually want when they go looking for a temporary licence. The Personal Lines guide covers those waivers.
What It Costs
About $300 on a first-time pass: $90 for the exam, roughly $85 for the combined state and FBI criminal history report, and $125 for the licence through NIPR, plus NIPR's transaction fee — and no course to buy.
Taking Casualty on the same day costs nothing further at the test centre and $50 for the additional line of authority, so a full P&C book comes to roughly $350. If you later move into surplus lines, note the step up: an active P&C producer licence first, then a separate Surplus Lines Broker licence at $275.
Eligibility Requirements
Minimum age 18, a Delaware address for resident applicants, and no active Delaware nonresident licence held at the same time. No pre-licensing education, no experience requirement, no sponsorship requirement.
The one real gate is the criminal history check — both a state and an FBI report, dated within 90 days of reaching the Department. The Casualty guide covers it step by step.
Keeping Your License Active
Important CE details: Delaware's approved-course search and CE transcripts both run through the NAIC's State Based Systems rather than a Department portal, so check your posted credits there rather than assuming a provider filed them.
24 credit hours per biennium including 3 hours of ethics (18 Del. Admin. C. §504), on a cycle running 1 March to the last day of February of an even-numbered year. Holding Property alongside other lines does not increase the total.
The Property-specific addition is flood: producers writing under the National Flood Insurance Program must complete a 2-hour flood continuing education course. In a state with Delaware's coastal and bay exposure that is a working requirement rather than a box to tick, and the Department's renewal notice lists it alongside the annuity and long-term care requirements.
The P&C guide covers renewal, the fixed 28 February deadline, and what happens if you miss it.
Quick Reference
Official Links
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