Since April 2025, California landlords must include photographs with any security deposit deduction. Since July 2025, they must photograph units at move-in. Here's how to use both rules.
Deposit disputes used to come down to memory. Your landlord said the unit was clean when you got it and dirty when you left. You said the opposite. Neither of you had proof, and the person holding the money had the advantage.
AB 2801 changed that. As of 2025, California landlords have to produce photographs — and the burden of documentation now sits with them, not you.
They’re separate rules with separate dates, and conflating them is the most common error in the coverage of this law.
When a landlord withholds any portion of your deposit, the itemized statement must include photographs documenting the condition that justifies the deduction. Under the statute, photos are taken within a reasonable time after possession is returned, and again after any repairs or cleaning are completed.
That “after” photo matters more than it looks. It means the landlord has to document not just the alleged problem but the remediation they charged you for. A claimed $300 cleaning with no photograph of the cleaned result is a claim with a hole in it.
For any tenancy beginning on or after July 1, 2025, the landlord must photograph the unit immediately before, or at the inception of, the tenancy.
This is the baseline. Every cleaning or damage deduction under § 1950.5 is measured against “the condition at the inception of the tenancy” — and now, for newer tenancies, there is a photographic record of exactly what that condition was.
The legal standard hasn’t changed. A landlord can only charge you to restore the unit to its move-in condition, minus ordinary wear and tear. What changed is who has to prove what that condition was.
Before, the practical burden fell on tenants. If you hadn’t photographed the unit on day one — and most people don’t — you had no way to contest a claim that it was pristine when you got it.
Now, for tenancies starting after July 2025, that photographic record is a legal obligation on the landlord’s side. If they claim the oven was spotless at move-in and it wasn’t, they have to produce a photograph that supports the claim. If they can’t produce one, the absence is itself informative.
Request the photos in writing, specifically. Vague requests get vague responses. Ask for:
Put a deadline on it. Email is fine and creates its own record.
Compare the “before” photos to the deduction. This is where most unlawful deductions fall apart. Charged for oven cleaning, but the move-in photo shows a used oven? The baseline was a used oven. Charged for carpet cleaning, but the move-in photo shows carpet with existing traffic wear? That’s ordinary wear and tear, and it was already there.
Check whether the “after” photo exists at all. A landlord charging for cleaning that was never performed is a real pattern, and the post-work photo requirement is precisely what exposes it.
Note what the photos don’t show. Photographs establish condition, not necessity. A photo of a slightly dusty ceiling fan doesn’t establish that professional cleaning was reasonably necessary to restore move-in condition. Necessity is still the legal test.
The landlord’s obligations don’t replace your own documentation — they supplement it. Your photos are independent evidence, and taking them costs nothing.
On move-in day, before you bring in a single box: photograph every room from multiple angles, every appliance including interiors, the floors, the walls, the bathrooms in detail, and any pre-existing damage in close-up. Email the set to yourself so it’s timestamped somewhere outside your phone.
On move-out day, after everything is out and the cleaning is done: repeat the same shots from the same angles. Matching pairs are enormously more persuasive than a scattered collection.
Photograph the meter readings and the keys being handed over, if you can. It fixes the date you surrendered possession, which is when the 21-day clock starts.
Fifteen minutes of work at each end. Against a deposit that’s routinely a full month’s rent in California, it’s the highest-return fifteen minutes available.
If you hire a cleaning service for your move-out, the photographs come from a third party rather than from you — and the invoice describes exactly what was done and when.
That combination is harder to argue with than either piece alone. A dated invoice listing “oven interior, refrigerator interior, baseboards, window tracks, cabinet interiors” plus photographs of each is documentation your landlord has to affirmatively contradict, not just dispute.
It’s not required. But when the deduction at stake is several hundred dollars, the documentation is often worth more than the cleaning.
MaidSimple’s move-out cleans include before-and-after photographs of every room and an itemized invoice — the evidence package California tenants actually need. See move-out cleaning →
Since April 1, 2025, supporting photographs are required. Request them in writing. A deduction that can’t be documented as the statute requires is one you have strong grounds to challenge.
The move-in photo requirement applies only to tenancies beginning on or after July 1, 2025, so your landlord had no obligation to take them. However, the requirement to document deductions with photos applies to any deduction made on or after April 1, 2025 — so that part still protects you.
The statute requires photos taken within a reasonable time after possession is returned. A substantial delay undermines the connection between the documented condition and your tenancy — other people may have had access in the interim.
They must be included with the itemized statement provided to you within 21 days of your vacating.
Then the deduction fails the statutory test — you can only be charged to restore the unit to its inception condition. Cite the photograph directly in your demand letter.
This guide explains California law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your specific situation, consult a tenant attorney or your local legal aid organization.
A move-out clean from MaidSimple comes with a dated, itemised invoice and photographs of every room — the documentation, not just the clean. Flat price in about a minute.
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