The deposit is settled in the three weeks after the keys come back, on the strength of what each side can show. A move-out condition report records the state of the property the day it is handed back, before any cleaning or repair, in a form that can be set against the move-in record. Here is the sequence California law lays out, from the last weeks of the tenancy to the itemized statement.
Every rule in the move-out sequence rewards the side that documented, and none of them can be satisfied from memory.
General information about California law (AB 2801, Civil Code § 1950.5), not legal advice.
A move-out condition report is a dated, photo-documented record of the state of a rental on the day it is handed back, room by room and element by element. It should be made when the keys are returned, once the unit is empty, and before any cleaning or repair that might be charged to the deposit has started.
Yes. California gives tenants the right to request what the statute calls an "initial inspection" (Civil Code § 1950.5(f)): a walkthrough with the landlord during the last two weeks of the tenancy, after which the landlord hands over a written list of the repairs and cleanings that could become deductions. The tenant then has until the end of the tenancy to fix them.
Either party gives notice that the tenancy is ending. From that moment, the landlord must inform the tenant in writing that a pre-move-out walkthrough can be requested, and that the tenant has the right to be present.
The walkthrough is optional and happens only if the tenant asks for it. The landlord then proposes a date, with at least 48 hours of written notice unless the tenant waives it in writing.
No earlier than two weeks before the end of the tenancy. The landlord looks at the unit in its current state, belongings still in place, and notes what could be deducted.
The landlord gives the tenant an itemized statement of the repairs and cleanings proposed as deductions. Later deductions are limited to what was on that list and was not fixed, to damage that occurred afterwards, and to what the tenant's belongings were hiding at the time.
Until the tenancy ends, the tenant can carry out the repairs and cleanings on the list, or let them stand and accept the deduction. Either way, nothing on the final statement should come as a surprise.
The move-out condition report records the unit as it is actually returned. That is the photo set AB 2801 requires before any work starts, and the reference for the 21 days that follow.
General information about Civil Code § 1950.5(f), not legal advice. The statute wording prevails over this summary.
The same rooms and the same elements, in the same order: what was recorded at move-in against what is recorded at move-out. The comparison shows what changed during the tenancy. Whether a change is normal wear or deductible damage is a separate question, and the report does not answer it.
A comparison only works when both records look at the same things. The kitchen counter at move-out answers the kitchen counter at move-in, or there is nothing to compare.
For each element, the record shows whether the condition moved, and in which direction: good to worn, clean to soiled, or unchanged.
A burn on the counter, a hole in a door, a missing fixture: anything with no counterpart at move-in is the first thing a deposit conversation turns to.
The landlord can only charge the cleaning needed to bring the unit back to its move-in level. Both records need a cleanliness note per room for that to be measurable.
Normal wear from everyday living cannot be deducted, however visible. Where California draws that line is its own guide, linked below.
A condition report records facts. What follows from them, a deduction or none, is for the parties or a court to decide. That restraint is what keeps the record useful to both sides.
The landlord has 21 calendar days from the day the tenant vacates to return the deposit, in full or with an itemized statement of deductions. Since AB 2801, that statement travels with the photographs of the unit before and after the work, and with receipts once the total passes $125.
Three weeks is short when the record has to be built after the fact. It is comfortable when the record already exists.
General information about California law (AB 2801, Civil Code § 1950.5), not legal advice.
The move-out report still records the state of the property at the end of the tenancy, dated and photographed. What it cannot do is prove what the unit looked like on day one. Under California law that gap weighs on the landlord, who carries the burden of showing that a deduction is justified.
Without move-in photographs, a deduction for damage rests on your word against the tenant's. For tenancies that began on or after July 1, 2025, the missing photographs are the missing basis the law asks for. Document the move-out anyway: it fixes the end state and becomes the baseline of the next tenancy.
What existed before you cannot become your deduction, and it is not on you to prove it. Your own dated photographs from move-in day, a written report of pre-existing defects sent at the start, and a neutral move-out record all help.
A move-out record without a baseline is half a comparison. It still beats no record at all.
Two guides complete this one: where California draws the line between normal wear and deductible damage, and the full AB 2801 reference with every deadline and figure. The move-in guide covers the other end of the tenancy.
Scoutmyplace produces independent move-out condition reports across Los Angeles, in the same structure as our move-in reports: every room documented with timestamped photos and video by a scout with no stake in the deposit, delivered within 24 hours, well inside the 21 day window.