Moving out: what counts as wear and tear, and what to fix before you go

#What a California landlord can charge for

The boxes are taped, the truck is booked, and the landlord wants to walk through the flat before you hand back the keys. The next three weeks decide how much of your deposit comes back, and California law gives you more say in that than most move-out advice lets on.

Under Civil Code §1950.5, a deposit can pay for four things only: rent you owe; damage beyond ordinary wear and tear caused by you or your guests; cleaning to bring the unit back to the level of clean it had when you moved in; and, if the lease allows, replacing the landlord's property, keys included. Everything else is a cost of owning a rental.

The statute never defines wear and tear, and San Francisco's Rent Board says it can't help you decide what is or isn't. The state's tenant guide, California Tenants, admits the terms "mean different things to different people" and offers rules of thumb instead, which this guide uses.

Wear is what years of ordinary living do to a room. Damage is something that happened to it.

#Wear or damage? A side-by-side

The usual move-out arguments, sorted the way the statute and the state guide sort them. Cause, age and condition at move-in can move any line across the table.

#Can a landlord charge for painting after two years?

No California statute sets a lifespan for paint. The "two years" people quote matches the state's tenant guide, which suggests sharing the cost of a needed repaint by how long you stayed, assuming interior paint lasts two years; some landlords assume three or more. It's guidance, not law, and in court the landlord must show the amount was reasonable.

Carpet follows the same idea, which the guide calls the useful-life rule: ruin a carpet eight years into a ten-year life and the fair charge is the two years it had left, not a new carpet. After a decade in a rent-controlled flat, the paint and carpet in question may have nothing left to charge for.

#The inspection two weeks out, and the 21-day clock

Of everything here, the initial inspection does the most for your deposit. Once either side gives notice, the landlord must offer it in writing, but it only happens if you ask. Here is the order, from §1950.5:

1. Notice is given

   The landlord offers an inspection

   In writing, within a reasonable time: you may request an initial inspection and attend it. Paid electronically? You must also be told the refund can come back that way.

2. Up to 2 weeks before you leave

   Ask for it in writing

   It can't happen "earlier than two weeks before the termination or the end of lease date." Book it early; a last-day inspection leaves no time to fix anything.

3. 48 hours ahead

   Written notice of the time

   At least 48 hours' written notice, unless you both sign a waiver. The landlord can inspect whether or not you're there.

4. Inspection day

   A list of proposed deductions

   An itemized statement of the repairs and cleaning they would charge for. Wear and tear and older defects can't go on it.

5. Before you move out

   Fix what's on the list

   If the unit was clear enough to see everything, nothing missing from the list can be deducted later, except damage done afterward or hidden behind your things.

6. Hand-back day

   Photos, before and after

   The landlord photographs the unit before any repair or cleaning they'll charge for, then again once the work is done.

7. Within 21 days

   Statement and refund

   "No later than 21 calendar days after the tenant has vacated the premises": the itemized statement, photos and paperwork for each deduction, and the rest of the deposit.

#Before-and-after photos: the shot list

AB 2801 wrote photos into the statute. Since April 1, 2025, the landlord must photograph the unit "within a reasonable time after the possession of the unit is returned," before any repair or cleaning they'll deduct for, and again after the work, then send those photos with the itemized statement. Tenancies that began on or after July 1, 2025 also get move-in photos.

The law doesn't list the shots. The useful ones show each disputed spot twice, at move-in and at move-out, from the same angle. Take your own set on hand-back day, in this order:

1. Start from the move-in record

   Dig out your move-in checklist and photos, and ask the landlord in writing for theirs, as the state guide suggests. Matching their angles keeps every comparison fair.

2. Shoot it empty and clean

   Wait until the last box is out and the cleaning is done. Furniture hides things, and damage it hid at the inspection can still be charged.

3. Wide shots from each doorway

   Stand in each doorway, then each corner, overlapping the frames so no wall goes missing. Lights on, blinds open: the flat gray fog light of the west side hides detail.

4. Close-ups with a scale

   Every patched hole, scuff, chip, stain and burn, with a tape measure or a coin in the frame. Shoot patches from a low angle, where raking light shows whether they sit flush.

5. Floors, low and across

   Crouch and shoot across the floor toward a window. Wear paths, scratches and old water marks show up, and so does how clean it is.

6. Kitchen, doors open

   Oven interior, the empty and defrosted fridge, the cabinets, under the sink. The oven, the fridge and the kitchen floor all appear in the state guide's list of fair cleaning charges.

7. Bathroom up close

   Caulk, grout, the toilet base, the mirror, the fan grille. Mildew you leave is a cleaning charge; a ceiling stain from the unit upstairs is not yours. Fog-belt mildew has its own guide.

8. Windows, hardware, keys

   Window locks, blinds, knobs and pulls, then every key, fob and remote laid out on the counter in one shot.

9. One slow video

   Walk the whole unit on video, saying the date and the address. Keep the original files unedited; their metadata carries the date and time.

10. Line them up against theirs

    The itemized statement must come with the landlord's photos for each repair or cleaning deducted. Put yours beside them, item by item, before you agree to anything.

#Repairs worth doing before you hand back the keys

Fix what is plainly damage you caused, and only if you can fix it well: a lumpy patch or a dab of paint in the wrong sheen draws the eye to the very spot. In an older flat with plaster walls, patching is its own craft; see the plaster guide. These jobs usually earn their time:

• Fill the holes you made

  Pull anchors and screws, fill, sand flush and spot-prime. Plaster and drywall take different patches.

  Read more

• Touch up only with a match

  Same color, same sheen, ideally the same can. A near-match flashes and invites a charge for the whole wall.

  Read more

• Replace what you broke

  A missing cabinet pull, a towel bar torn from the wall, a cracked toilet seat: broken, not worn, so billable.

  Read more

• Re-caulk what you let go

  Mildew is a cleaning item the state guide names. If scrubbing won't lift it from the tub caulk, re-caulk.

  Read more

Skip the jobs that are the landlord's to begin with, and spend the time cleaning to the move-in standard:

• Repainting whole rooms after a stay of two years or more
• Replacing carpet worn thin by ordinary walking
• Stripping years of built-up wax off a kitchen floor
• Anything noted on your move-in checklist, or left by the last tenant

If you painted, drilled or mounted something

Your lease, not the deposit statute, decides whether you may paint or drill. Ask first and get the answer in writing, including whether you must undo the work at move-out. A bedroom painted dark green without permission can be charged back to its move-in color, and putting it back is a real paint job, not a touch-up.

Once a job reaches $1,000 in labor and materials, or needs a permit, California requires a licensed contractor (Business and Professions Code §7048); for painting, that's the CSLB's C-33 Painting and Decorating class, and the hiring guide covers the checks. Changes made for a disability follow their own rules: the landlord must allow reasonable modifications, and most won't need undoing (aging in place).

#Getting the deposit back

Within 21 days of moving out, you should have the whole deposit, or an itemized statement and the rest of it. Each deduction needs a reason, plus a copy of the bill if someone else did the work, or the hours and a reasonable hourly rate if the landlord did. When repairs and cleaning total $125 or less, that paperwork can be skipped, but ask for it within 14 days of getting the statement and the landlord has 14 days to send it.

Since January 1, 2026, if you paid the deposit or rent electronically, the refund must come back electronically to an account you name in writing, unless you agree in writing to another method. The statement comes by hand or first-class mail unless you've agreed to email, so give a forwarding address in writing either way.

Three laws that changed the rules

• AB 12 (July 1, 2024): one month's rent at most, two for some small landlords, never two from a service member. Bill text.
• AB 2801 (2024): the photo rules above, and no professional cleaning charges unless reasonably necessary.
• AB 414 (January 1, 2026): electronic refunds, and one check for roommates unless all of you agreed otherwise in writing. Bill text.

• Heard this?A "cleaning fee" or "last month's rent" isn't part of the deposit.Tap for the factsWhat's trueWhatever it's called, it's security under §1950.5, and no lease can make any of it nonrefundable.
• Heard this?The landlord has 30 days.Tap for the factsWhat's trueTwenty-one calendar days after you move out, for the statement and the refund together.
• Heard this?Miss the deadline and the landlord owes double, automatically.Tap for the factsWhat's trueNothing is automatic. Bad faith can cost the landlord the right to keep any of it, and a court can add up to twice the deposit on top of actual damages.

If the money doesn't come or a deduction looks wrong, write to the landlord: what you dispute and what you're owed, and keep a copy. The courts' deposit guide takes it from there to small claims court, where lawyers can't represent either side at the hearing. San Francisco's Rent Board doesn't decide deposit disputes.

#A move-out checklist for California renters