Deducting without photos in LA: the 4 ways it now backfires on owners

If you own a rental in Los Angeles and still treat move-out photos as optional, the law stopped agreeing with you in 2025. Since April 1, 2025, California expects photos of the returned unit before any repair or cleaning you plan to deduct, and again after the work. For tenancies that began on or after July 1, 2025, it also expects photos taken at move-in. Skipping them rarely makes headlines. It just quietly turns a reasonable deduction into one you can't defend.

Here is what happens to a deduction made without the photos, read from Civil Code 1950.5 as rewritten on January 1, 2026. General information, not legal advice.

1. The itemized statement is incomplete

The code ties the photos to the paperwork. When you deduct for repairs or cleaning, subdivision (h)(2)(D) says you "shall provide" the photos with the itemized statement and the written explanation of costs. Mail, email, a flash drive or a link to view them online all work. A statement with invoices but no photos is missing a required piece, inside the same 21-day window.

2. The burden of proof was already yours

Subdivision (m) puts the burden on the landlord to prove the amounts claimed are reasonable. Photos were always the easiest way to carry that burden. Now that the code lists them as part of the statement, a judge who sees none has two reasons to doubt the charge: no evidence, and a skipped legal step.

3. Bad faith changes the math

An honest slip is not the same as a habit. In Granberry v. Islay Investments (1995), the California Supreme Court held that a landlord who fails the paperwork rules in good faith can still recover proven, reasonable damages in a later court case. Bad faith is another story. Under (h)(7), a landlord who fails in bad faith to comply with the return rules is not entitled to claim any amount of the deposit, and under (m) a court can add statutory damages of up to twice the deposit. An owner who never photographs anything, tenancy after tenancy, is not well placed when that word comes up.

4. Small claims is the tenant's home court

Deposit disputes can be heard in small claims, and a tenant suing as an individual can claim up to $12,500 there, according to the California Courts self-help guide. It is a court designed for people without lawyers, and the first question is usually the same: what did the unit look like on the first day and on the last?

What a defensible file looks like now

• Move-in photos dated at, or just before, the start of the tenancy.
• Photos after the keys come back, before any cleaning or repair you will charge.
• Photos after the work is done.
• All three sets sent with the itemized statement, receipts attached.

Our guide to AB 2801 and California security deposits walks through each deadline. If you'd rather not hold the camera yourself, Scoutmyplace produces dated, room-by-room move-in and move-out condition reports (not a home inspection), delivered within 24 hours.

The takeaway. Without photos, a deduction is a number on a page. With them, it's evidence. AB 2801 turned that difference into a legal requirement.