How to Photo-Document Apartment Condition at Move-In/Move-Out (NYC)

This guide covers how to shoot a rental unit properly, what New York law actually gives you, and where photos stop being enough.

The 45-minute walkthrough checklist

Do this on move-in day before a single box comes in, and again on move-out day after the last box goes out. Same order, same rooms, both times.

1. Shoot a continuous video walkthrough first. One unbroken take, narrating out loud: date, address, unit number, which room you're entering. This is your anchor; stills come after.
2. Photograph every room from all four corners. Wide shots establish context. A close-up of a scratch proves nothing if nobody can tell which wall it's on.
3. Then shoot the defects close. Scuffs, holes, stains, warped floorboards, cracked tile, chipped counters, gouged door frames.
4. Get every floor, wall, and ceiling separately. Ceilings are where water damage shows up, and nobody photographs them.
5. Open everything. Cabinets, closets, drawers, the oven, the fridge, the medicine cabinet, the dishwasher.
6. Document appliances with serial numbers visible, plus a shot of each one running.
7. Test and film every outlet, switch, and fixture. Note which ones don't work.
8. Run all water. Every faucet, shower, and toilet — film for ten seconds so pressure and drainage are visible. Then shoot under every sink for leaks and staining.
9. Photograph windows and their locks, the entry door, all locks and keys, plus any fire escape access.
10. Capture existing pest evidence, mold, or odor sources — droppings, sticky traps, discolored grout, dark patches near baseboards.
11. Shoot utility meters and the thermostat at whatever they read that day.
12. Write the condition down too. Photos show; a signed written list characterizes. Do both.

Do not delete the "boring" shots. The clean wall you photographed in September is exactly what disproves a damage claim in June.

What New York law actually gives you

Under General Obligations Law §7-108 — amended by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 — a residential security deposit in New York cannot exceed one month's rent, and you have two specific inspection rights worth using:

At move-in: after the lease is signed but before you begin occupancy, the landlord must offer you the chance to inspect the unit together. If you request it, both parties sign a written agreement recording the unit's condition and specifically noting existing defects or damage. Anything on that signed list cannot later be deducted from your deposit. This is the single most valuable thing in the statute and it's routinely skipped.

At move-out: after either side gives notice of ending the tenancy (unless you give less than two weeks' notice), the landlord must notify you in writing of your right to request an inspection and to be present for it. That inspection happens no earlier than two weeks and no later than one week before the tenancy ends, with at least 48 hours' written notice. Afterward you get an itemized statement of proposed deductions — and an opportunity to fix those things before you leave.

Then the deadline everyone knows: within 14 days of your vacating, the landlord must provide an itemized statement of anything retained and return the rest. Miss it, and the landlord forfeits the right to retain any of it. In a dispute over the amount, the landlord bears the burden of proving the deductions were reasonable — and cannot charge you for ordinary wear and tear of occupancy or for damage a prior tenant caused.

As of November 15, 2025, amendments to §7-107 extended these protections — the 14-day return, the itemized statement, and pre-move-out inspection rights — to rent-stabilized tenants as well.

Gear that actually helps

You don't need much, but three things measurably improve documentation photos.

Small landlords: this cuts both ways

The same 14-day clock and itemized-statement requirement that protects tenants also protects you — if you can substantiate the deductions. Since the burden of proving reasonableness falls on the landlord, "the apartment was fine when they moved in" is not a defense; a dated photo set is. Run the identical checklist at every turnover, offer the move-in inspection in writing, and keep the signed condition agreement in the lease file. Photograph repairs and the receipts for them.

The same archive doubles as your insurance file. The Insurance Information Institute recommends a photo-and-video home inventory with serial numbers and receipts for exactly this reason — the documentation you build for a deposit dispute is the documentation an adjuster will ask for after a fire or a burst pipe.

Why the photo's provenance matters

Here's the uncomfortable part: a JPEG's metadata is trivially editable, and both sides know it. If the other party argues your "move-in" photos were actually taken the week you moved out, an ordinary camera roll gives you very little to say back. That's the gap EtchImage is built for — photos captured with a C2PA-signed manifest carry a cryptographic, tamper-evident record of when the image was made and whether it has been altered since. It doesn't win the argument about whether a scuff is wear and tear. It does close off the argument about whether your evidence is real, which is usually where these disputes actually get stuck.

Sources: NY GOB §7-108 · NY GOB §7-107 · NYC Rent Guidelines Board — Security Deposits FAQ · NY AG — Residential Tenants' Rights Guide · NYC Small Claims Court · Triple-I — Renters Insurance · C2PA Specification