Do you have the photos California now requires?
Since April 2025, a California landlord who wants to deduct anything from a security deposit has to be able to produce photographs of the unit. Most landlords I speak to haven't heard of it. Answer four questions and see what your tenancy needs.
It's where the property is that matters, not where you live.
Answer the first question to see what applies.
Read elsewhere that you must share move-in photos, or keep them four years?
Neither is in the statute. Both claims appear in most guides to this law. We set out each one next to the text of §1950.5 so you can check rather than take our word for it — along with an obligation that started in January 2026 and barely gets mentioned.
What most AB 2801 guides get wrongKnowing what's required is the easy half.
The hard half is standing in an empty unit with a phone, remembering every room, and still being able to find the photos years later if someone disputes the deduction. SmartLeaseFlow walks you through it room by room, keeps the camera timestamps, and builds the itemized statement with each deduction attached to its own before-and-after shots.
Why four questions, and not one
AB 2801 is usually described as “California landlords have to take photos now.” That sentence is why so many people get it wrong. There are two separate photo duties in Civil Code §1950.5, they start on different dates, and one of them may never apply to you at all.
The move-out duty covers every California tenancy that has ended since April 1, 2025. The move-in duty applies only to tenancies that began on or after July 1, 2025 — and a tenancy that started before that date never picks it up later. So a landlord with a tenant of six years owes move-out photos and no move-in photos, and every guide telling them to produce “before and after” shots from 2019 is asking for evidence that was never required.
The checker asks when the tenancy started, whether they’ve moved out, and whether you’re deducting, because those three facts are what decide it.
How to read your result
- If it says the photo rules don’t apply — that usually means you aren’t deducting anything from the deposit. Taking them costs nothing and settles arguments, but the statute attaches the duty to the deduction.
- If it lists stages — those are in the order they happen, not in order of importance. The one people miss is the second set: §1950.5(g)(2) asks for photographs before the repairs or cleaning and again after they’re finished. Most summaries mention the first and stop.
- If it shows a statement date — that is 21 calendar days from the day the tenant vacated, not from the day your contractor finishes. This deadline predates the photo rules and it catches far more landlords than the photos do.
Three things landlords get wrong here
Repairing before photographing. Once the carpet is replaced, the evidence for the deduction you’re about to claim is gone. Photograph the damage first, every time, even when it feels obvious.
Assuming the photos have to be printed and posted. §1950.5(h)(2)(D) names four delivery methods, and one of them is a link where the tenant can view them online. A shared album satisfies it. We wrote that one up separately, because it turns an afternoon at a printer into a two-minute job.
Deleting them too early. There is no retention period anywhere in §1950.5 — that part is ours, not the law’s. We suggest 4 years because that’s the limitation period for a written contract in California, so it’s how long you could still be asked to justify the deduction.
The $125 exemption, stated carefully
Where the total deduction does not exceed $125, §1950.5(h)(4) relieves you of the documentation requirement — the photographs, receipts and estimates. It does not relieve you of the itemized statement itself, and under §1950.5(h)(5) the tenant can still ask for the documents, at which point you have to provide them. Small deduction is not the same as no paperwork.
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. Every figure above is read from the same tested source as the checker itself; if something here looks wrong to you, tell us and we’ll check it against the text.