California stopped treating move-in photos as optional and put the dates in the statute.

AB 2801 amended California Civil Code §1950.5. Its photograph requirements arrived in two stages: from April 1, 2025, landlords must photograph the unit after the tenant returns possession and before repairs or cleaning charged against the deposit, and again after that work is completed. From July 1, 2025, landlords must also photograph the unit immediately before or at the inception of the tenancy, for tenancies beginning on or after that date. The bill separately limited professional cleaning deductions.

The move-in photograph requirement applies to tenancies beginning on or after July 1, 2025. The move-out and post-repair photograph requirements are not limited that way — they apply from April 1, 2025 onward, including to tenancies that started long before. Photographing an existing unit at your next opportunity is still worth doing, because the comparison you will need at move-out is only as good as the earliest record you have.

For repair or cleaning deductions, §1950.5(h)(2)(D) requires applicable photographs with the itemized statement and a written cost explanation, subject to the documentation exceptions and tenant-request rules in paragraphs (4) and (5). Photo-taking duties under subdivision (g) still apply. Delivery can be by mail or email, or by making the photographs available on a flash drive or through an online link.

The statute does not set a number. The working test is whether someone who was never in the unit could place a move-in photograph beside a move-out photograph and see the same surface. In practice that means every room, close framing on any existing defect, and enough context in the frame to tell which room it is.

California does not prescribe a move-in checklist or condition report form, and a tenant is not required to sign one. The statutory obligation is the photographs. A condition report is the common way landlords organize those photographs, with their dates and room labels, so they can actually be used later.

Only when it is reasonably necessary to return the premises to the condition it was in at the inception of the tenancy, ordinary wear and tear excluded. AB 2801 removed routine professional carpet cleaning and other professional cleaning as a default charge against the deposit, which puts the weight on your move-in record to show what that starting condition actually was.

No. The initial inspection under Civil Code §1950.5(f) happens near the end of a tenancy, on the tenant’s request, and produces an itemized statement of proposed deductions so the tenant has an opportunity to remedy them. A move-in condition report documents the starting condition at the beginning of the tenancy. They are separate obligations at opposite ends of the tenancy.

Nothing is lost. Dated move-in photographs remain useful evidence whether or not the tenant acknowledges them, and no California rule obliges a tenant to sign a condition report. A tenant who reviews the report and records a written disagreement is also useful, because the objection is known at move-in rather than at the deposit deadline.

Electronic signatures are generally recognized in California under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Civil Code §1633.1 and following) and under the federal ESIGN Act, provided the signer consented to transact electronically and intended to sign. Deposit Docket records that consent, the signer’s typed name, and the surrounding details, and issues a certificate of completion. Whether a particular record is sufficient in a particular dispute is for a court to decide.

No. It documents the condition at the start of the tenancy. Whether any deduction is lawful still depends on what actually changed, whether it exceeds ordinary wear and tear, whether the amount is supported, and whether the statutory accounting and deadline were met.