How to send security deposit photos to your tenant
If you're deducting for repairs or cleaning in California, the photographs go to the tenant with the itemized statement. The part that catches people out is how — most assume everything has to be printed and posted, and start counting pages.
It doesn't. The statute names four delivery methods, and one of them is a link where the tenant can view the photos online. A shared album satisfies it. That single line turns an afternoon at a printer into a two-minute job, and it's buried in a subdivision almost nothing else quotes.
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The photographs can be a link — you don't have to print them
The statute names four ways to get the PHOTOS to the tenant: mail, email, a computer flash drive, or a link where they can view them online. A shared album satisfies it. Note the limit of what this covers — it's the photographs. The itemized statement itself is a separate delivery with its own rules.
§1950.5(h)(2)(D)Read the statute
(h)(2)(D) If a deduction is made for repairs or cleanings allowed by this section, the landlord shall provide photographs taken pursuant to subdivision (g), along with a written explanation of the cost of the allowable repairs or cleanings ... The landlord may provide such photographs to the tenant by mail, email, computer flash drive, or by providing a link where the tenant may view the photographs online.
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They only have to go out if you deducted for repairs or cleaning
Returning the deposit in full? No photos to send. The duty attaches to the deduction, not to the move-out. Take them anyway — you can't know on day one whether you'll deduct on day twenty, and the pre-work set can't be recreated afterwards.
§1950.5(h)(2)(D)Read the statute
(h)(2)(D) If a deduction is made for repairs or cleanings allowed by this section, the landlord shall provide photographs taken pursuant to subdivision (g), along with a written explanation of the cost of the allowable repairs or cleanings ... The landlord may provide such photographs to the tenant by mail, email, computer flash drive, or by providing a link where the tenant may view the photographs online.
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A written explanation of the cost goes with them
Photographs alone don't discharge it. The statute pairs them with a written explanation of the cost of the repairs or cleaning. That's a separate limb from the bills and receipts the same subdivision asks for — an invoice on its own isn't obviously an explanation, so send both.
§1950.5(h)(2)(D)Read the statute
(h)(2)(D) If a deduction is made for repairs or cleanings allowed by this section, the landlord shall provide photographs taken pursuant to subdivision (g), along with a written explanation of the cost of the allowable repairs or cleanings ... The landlord may provide such photographs to the tenant by mail, email, computer flash drive, or by providing a link where the tenant may view the photographs online.
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At $125 or less you can skip the documentation
Where repairs and cleaning together do not exceed $125, you need not supply the documents with the statement. Note the boundary: exactly $125 is inside the exemption, not outside it.
§1950.5(h)(4)Read the statute
(h)(4) The landlord need not comply with paragraph (2) or (3) if either of the following applies: (A) The deductions for repairs and cleaning together do not exceed one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125). (B) The tenant waived the rights specified in paragraphs (2) and (3). The waiver shall only be effective if it is signed by the tenant at the same time or after a notice to terminate a tenancy ... has been given.
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The exemption disappears the moment the tenant asks
They can request the documents after receiving the statement, and then you have to produce them. Assume you'll be asked, and keep everything in a form you can send. The statutory windows are set out in the text below.
§1950.5(h)(5)Read the statute
(h)(5) Notwithstanding paragraph (4), the landlord shall comply with paragraphs (2) and (3) when a tenant makes a request for documentation within 14 calendar days after receiving the itemized statement ... The landlord shall comply within 14 calendar days after receiving the request from the tenant.
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Organising the photos is not a reason to send the statement late
The 21-day clock runs from the day the tenant vacated, and the photos are due with the statement, not after it. If the work isn't finished, send a good-faith estimate on time and follow with the real figures within 14 days — that route exists precisely so the deadline isn't missed.
§1950.5(h)(3)Read the statute
(h)(3) If a repair ... cannot reasonably be completed within 21 calendar days after the tenant has vacated ... the landlord may deduct the amount of a good faith estimate of the charges that will be incurred and provide that estimate with the itemized statement. ... Within 14 calendar days of completing the repair or receiving the documentation, the landlord shall complete the requirements in paragraphs (1) and (2).
Name the files so a stranger could follow them
Practice, not law — the statute says nothing about labelling. But the audience for these is a tenant who disagrees, and possibly a judge. Room, then what it shows, then when: "kitchen-oven-interior-before.jpg". Group before and after for the same thing side by side, because the pair is the argument.
not statutory — practiceOur recommendation, not the lawKeep the link alive, and keep a copy
A link that has expired by the time there's a dispute is the same as no photos at all. Don't rely on a share URL that lapses. Keep your own copies for 4 years — the limitation period for a written contract — because the tenant's copy is not your evidence.
not statutory — practiceOur recommendation, not the law
What's at stake if you get it wrong
Where a landlord acts in bad faith, §1950.5 puts at risk the right to claim any of the deposit at all, plus statutory damages of up to twice the deposit and actual damages. That isn't a fine — it's the deposit you were trying to keep, plus up to twice it again.
One thing worth checking before you assemble anything: if this tenancy began before July 1, 2025, you never owed move-in photographs at all, and you don't have to produce them now. A lot of people spend an evening hunting for photos that were never required. The 21-day deadline is the one that actually matters, and it doesn't pause while you organise a folder.
Which of these actually apply to your tenancy?
Four questions — when the tenancy started, whether they've moved out, whether you're deducting. No signup, no email.
Check my tenancyRelated
Which photos are required, and when
The move-in and move-out duties have different start dates.
What most AB 2801 guides get wrong
Two rules repeated everywhere that aren't in §1950.5.
Deposit return letter generator
Build the itemized statement the photos attach to.
AB 2801 landlord checklist
Every deposit duty, in the order it arises.
California move-out checklist
The whole sequence, if you're earlier in it than this.
How this page was checked
Every figure here is read from the same tested source as our compliance tool, and each was verified against Cal. Civ. Code §1950.5, as amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 340, Sec. 1 (AB 414), eff. 2026-01-01 on August 14, 2026. Where we state a figure, the statutory text it came from is quoted above it.
This is general information about a statute, not legal advice about your situation, and we are not lawyers. Local ordinances can add requirements this page doesn't cover. If something here looks wrong to you, tell us — we'll check it against the text and correct it.