Owners, managers and tenants all talk about a "move-in inspection". California law does not use those words for the start of a tenancy. What it requires is narrower and more concrete: photographs of the unit, taken before the tenant settles in. Here is what the words cover, what the statute asks for, how this differs from a home inspection, and who can produce the record.
Whatever you call it, the walkthrough on day one is the only record made before anything is at stake.
General information about California law (AB 2801, Civil Code § 1950.5), not legal advice.
It is the everyday name for walking through a rental at the start of a tenancy and recording its condition, room by room, before the tenant moves in. The same thing is called a move-in walkthrough, a move-in checklist or a move-in condition report; the record it produces is the baseline the security deposit is later measured against.
A walkthrough under that name is not. What AB 2801 requires, for tenancies that begin on or after July 1, 2025, is that the landlord photograph the unit at the start of the tenancy. Without those photographs, a later deduction from the deposit has no documentary basis.
General information about California law, not legal advice. The statute wording prevails over any summary.
A move-in inspection and a move-in condition report describe the same thing: a record of the visible state of a rental on day one. A home inspection is something else. California defines it as an examination of the systems, structure and components of a home, carried out in connection with a transaction to transfer real property, to identify material defects.
Scoutmyplace provides condition reports, not home inspections. We record what is visible; we do not test systems or assess structure.
The law does not reserve it to anyone. The landlord is the one who owes the photographs, and can take them personally, have a property manager take them, or ask an independent third party. The tenant can, and should, make a record too. What changes with the author is how easily the record is accepted by the other side.
The simplest route and the one the statute has in mind. The weak point is consistency: photographs taken in a hurry on handover day tend to skip the corners a dispute later turns on.
Often the person on site. The record is as good as the time they have, and it remains a record made by the side that holds the deposit.
Dated photographs on the first day, sent to the landlord in writing, help show what was already there on day one. They do not replace the photographs the landlord owes.
A record made by someone with no stake in the deposit, in the same structure at move-in and at move-out. This is what we do: a condition report, not a home inspection.
Every room in the same order, wide shots first and close-ups of every mark, with a note on condition and cleanliness, then the keys, the meter readings and the detectors. Done on the empty, cleaned unit, it is the work that saves the argument at the other end.
The day the keys change hands or just before, with the unit empty and cleaned. Every wall is visible and the cleanliness level is the one the tenant will be held to.
Entry, living areas, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, storage, outdoor spaces. The same order at move-out is what makes the two records comparable.
One wide shot per wall for context, then a close-up of every mark, chip, stain or scratch, each one dated and tied to its room.
Condition and cleanliness per element, in plain words. A photograph shows a stain; the note says where it is and how large.
Keys and fobs handed over, opening meter readings, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors present.
Both parties receive the record. Keep it, with the photographs, at least four years after the tenancy ends.
The tenancy is still valid, but the landlord has lost the easiest way to justify a deduction: the burden of proof is on the landlord, and photographs from the start of the tenancy are where that proof begins. A record made later is still worth making, because it fixes a date and a state for everything that follows.
The move-in record only makes sense inside California deposit law. One guide covers every AB 2801 deadline and figure, one gives landlords the list to follow, and one defines the condition report itself.
Primary texts and official guidance this guide is based on. Verify against them: the law changes, this page is general information, not legal advice.
Scoutmyplace produces independent move-in condition reports across Los Angeles. We visit the property, document every room with timestamped photos and video, and deliver the report within 24 hours. It is a condition report, not a home inspection.