Delaware Code Title 16. Health and Safety § 305. Cleansing or closing unfit dwellings;  recovery of expenses

(a) Any local board of health when satisfied after an examination that any cellar, room, tenement or building within its jurisdiction occupied as a dwelling place has become, by reason of the number of occupants or want of cleanliness or other cause, unfit for such purpose, and a cause of nuisance or sickness to the occupants or the public may direct the owner or owners, or occupants thereof, to have the premises properly cleansed, or if it see fit, may require the occupants to remove or quit the premises within such time as the local board deems reasonable.

(b) If the person or persons so notified neglect or refuse to comply with the direction of the local board, it may cause the premises to be properly cleansed at the expense of the owners or may remove the occupants forcibly and close up the premises.  The premises shall not again be occupied as a dwelling place without permission, in writing, of the local board.  If such owner or owners refuse to pay the expenses incident to the execution of such orders, the treasurer of the local board, or the city council, or town commissioners, shall recover the same with interest and costs from the person who ought to have paid the same, as debts of like amount are recoverable.