The evidence that decides most deposit disputes is unglamorous: dated photographs of the property at move-in and move-out, the move-in inspection checklist, your lease, written proof of your forwarding address, and proof that your landlord received what you sent. Collect it before you need it — after the keys are handed back it is usually too late.
Why does the evidence matter so much?
Because in most states the landlord has to substantiate a deduction, and evidence is what makes that burden real.
If a landlord claims $600 of carpet damage and you have dated move-out photographs of clean carpet, the argument is effectively over. Without them, it becomes one person's word against another's — and the person holding your money has less incentive to resolve it.
What should I photograph?
Every room, at move-in and again at move-out, after you have emptied and cleaned.
Be systematic rather than artistic:
- Each room as a whole, from the doorway
- Floors and carpet, particularly walkways and under where furniture stood
- Walls, especially where pictures hung
- Kitchen and bathroom surfaces, appliances inside and out
- Anything already damaged when you arrived, in close-up
- The meter readings and any keys handed over
Make sure the timestamps survive. Photos taken on a phone carry a date; screenshots and re-sent images often lose it. Email the originals to yourself the day you take them — that creates an independent dated record.
What documents are worth keeping?
The lease, including any addenda and anything you signed about condition or cleaning.
The move-in inspection checklist. Fourteen states require one, and in six of those a landlord who failed to provide it loses the right to claim deductions for condition. If you have one, it is often the single most useful document you hold. If you never got one, that absence is itself worth noting.
Proof of your forwarding address in writing, and the date you sent it. In some states this is what starts the landlord's deadline.
Every message about condition, repairs or the deposit — texts, emails, portal messages. Repair requests you made during the tenancy matter, because a problem you reported and they never fixed is not damage you caused.
Receipts for anything you paid for — cleaning, repairs, replacements.
Proof of what you received — the itemized statement, the cheque, the envelope with its postmark.
What if I already moved out and took no photos?
You are not out of options.
The landlord generally still has to substantiate their deductions. Ask for the invoices, the dates the work was done, and the age of anything replaced. If a seven-year-old carpet was replaced, its age matters regardless of your photographs.
Other things still available to you:
- Move-in photos, if you took those
- The checklist, if one exists
- Messages showing the property's condition or repairs you reported
- Witnesses — a flatmate, a friend who helped you move
- The listing photos from when the property was advertised after you left, which sometimes show the very condition being charged for
How should I keep it?
In one place, with the dates intact.
A single folder — cloud or email — with the lease, the checklist, photo sets labelled by date, and a plain text note of the key dates: move-in, move-out, forwarding address sent, statement received. When you come to write a demand letter or stand in front of a judge, that timeline is what you will be asked for.
What do I do with it?
Evidence on its own does not recover a deposit. It supports a specific written argument about a specific charge.
The step that uses it is a written demand that ties each disputed deduction to what the landlord failed to do, cites the provision that applies in your state, and makes clear what documentation you hold.
SecurityDeposit.co turns your answers into that letter, matched to your state's rules and your facts, ready to sign and send by certified mail with delivery on record.
Frequently asked questions
How long should I keep everything? Until the dispute is fully resolved, and comfortably beyond. Time limits for bringing a claim are measured in years in most states.
Do phone photos count as evidence? Yes. Dated photographs are used in small claims routinely. Keep the originals rather than screenshots so the date survives.
What if the landlord's photos disagree with mine? That is normal, and it is why timestamps and completeness help. A full set taken the day you left is more persuasive than a handful taken later.
Is a video walkthrough better than photos? It is good, and better still alongside stills. Video shows continuity; photos are easier to reference charge by charge in a letter.
I reported a problem during the tenancy and they never fixed it. Does that help? Often significantly. A documented repair request for a defect you are later charged for is one of the more useful things a tenant can hold.
Last reviewed: 30 August 2026. Documentation requirements vary by state; check your state's current statute for what your landlord was obliged to provide.
Sources. The landlord's burden to substantiate a deduction, and the documentation duties that go with it, sit in each state's landlord-tenant statute — linked per state in the state table. Two examples of statutory documentation duties: Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(g), which requires receipts or invoices with the itemized statement above a threshold, and Tex. Prop. Code § 92.104, which requires deductions to be itemized. State court self-help services publish guidance on what evidence small claims courts expect.
SecurityDeposit.co turns what a renter documented into a written demand built on their state's rules.