If you manage units in more than one of these states, the deposit rules are easy to mix up. The deadlines are close but not the same, the penalties range from a $100 fine to three times the damages, and only some states require a written move-in record. This page sets out the seven states we have written about side by side. Each entry links to the full article, which quotes the statute and names the sections we read.
One thing is nearly the same everywhere. Outside Colorado, none of the sections we read mentions photographs, and only Colorado gives a tenant the right to demand them. But every one of these states asks the same question in the end: what was the unit like on the first day, and what changed? Photographs are how most managers answer that.
The seven states
Colorado · C.R.S. 38-12-103
- Deadline
- 30 days after the lease ends or the premises are surrendered. A lease can extend it, but not past 60 days.
- Move-in record
- Not covered by the sections we read. A deposit cannot be kept for damage that “preexisted the tenancy”, and the landlord has to prove the withholding was not wrongful.
- Photos
- On a written request, the landlord must send the relevant documentation, photographs included, within 14 days. This took effect on 1 January 2026.
- Getting it wrong
- Lose the right to keep any of it. Wrongful withholding can cost three times the amount, plus attorney fees.
Utah · Utah Code 57-17-3, 57-22-4
- Deadline
- 30 days after the renter vacates, with a written notice that itemizes and explains each deduction. If you miss it, the renter can serve a notice, and you then have 5 business days.
- Move-in record
- Required: one of a written inventory, a condition form for the renter, or a walk-through offer.
- Photos
- Not mentioned, and nothing in the sections we read lets the tenant demand documentation.
- Getting it wrong
- The full deposit and prepaid rent, plus a $100 civil penalty. Fees go to the prevailing party if the other side acted in bad faith.
Arizona · ARS 33-1321
- Deadline
- 14 days, not counting weekends and legal holidays, for an itemized list. The statute’s clock also mentions “demand by the tenant”. The tenant has 60 days to dispute the list.
- Move-in record
- Required: a move-in form for listing existing damage, plus written notice that the tenant may be present at the move-out inspection.
- Photos
- Not mentioned.
- Getting it wrong
- The money due, plus damages of twice the amount wrongfully withheld.
Idaho · Idaho Code 6-321
- Deadline
- 21 days unless the agreement fixes another time, and never more than 30. A partial refund needs a signed statement that includes a detailed list of expenditures.
- Move-in record
- Not required by the sections we read. Deductions are limited to the contingencies your own deposit arrangement specified.
- Photos
- Not mentioned.
- Getting it wrong
- After 3 days’ written notice the tenant can sue, and the court may award three times the actual damages.
Montana · MCA 70-25-201 to -206
- Deadline
- 30 days for a written list of charges, or 10 days if there is nothing to deduct. Cleaning charges need written notice first, and the tenant then gets 24 hours to do the cleaning.
- Move-in record
- Required: a separate, signed written statement of the condition. Without it, you must prove damage by clear and convincing evidence.
- Photos
- Not mentioned. The burden of proving damage is on the landlord, whatever the paperwork.
- Getting it wrong
- Lose the right to withhold for damage or cleaning. Fees are at the court’s discretion.
Nevada · NRS 118A.200, 118A.242
- Deadline
- 30 days after the tenancy ends, with an itemized written accounting.
- Move-in record
- Required as a lease provision: “a signed record of the inventory and condition of the premises”.
- Photos
- Not mentioned.
- Getting it wrong
- Damages equal to the entire deposit, plus up to the entire deposit again at the court’s discretion.
New Mexico · NMSA 47-8-18
- Deadline
- 30 days from the end of the agreement or the resident’s departure, whichever is later, for an itemized written list.
- Move-in record
- Not required, but the unit must come back as clean as “when residency commenced”, and dirt is not normal wear.
- Photos
- Not mentioned.
- Getting it wrong
- Lose the deposit, any counterclaim and any separate action for damage to the unit, and pay costs and fees. There is a $250 penalty for bad faith.
What the comparison shows
The clock is shorter than “about a month” in two states
Five of the seven run on 30 days. Idaho’s default is 21, and Arizona’s is 14 business days. A portfolio that runs one move-out routine everywhere should time it to the shortest clock it is subject to, not the most common one.
Four states require the move-in record; the other three still depend on it
Utah, Arizona, Montana and Nevada each require a move-in record in some form. Idaho and New Mexico do not in the sections we read, and we did not find one in the Colorado sections we covered. But Colorado bars deductions for damage that was already there, New Mexico measures cleanliness against the first day, and Idaho excludes normal wear. Each of those needs a record of the starting condition. Wherever the statute is silent, your own photographs are usually the only record there is.
The record has to survive being looked at
Colorado tenants can now demand your photographs within 14 days, and in every state a contested deduction can end up in front of a judge. A move-in photo that went through a chat app or a portal often arrives with no camera date in it, so it cannot show when it was taken. A photo someone tidied with a phone’s AI eraser may say so in its own file. Neither makes the damage less real, but each one gives the other side something to argue about.
One routine that works in all seven
- Photograph every unit before move-in, including the places that show cleaning (oven, fridge, bathtub, floors), and attach the set to the state’s required form or lease record where there is one.
- Keep the originals, off the phone by cable, not through a message app.
- At move-out, photograph the same spots, so each deduction points at a matching pair.
- Edit only copies. Circle the damage on a copy and keep the untouched file.
- Diary the shortest deadline that applies: 14 business days in Arizona, 21 days in Idaho unless your agreement says otherwise, 30 elsewhere.
- Fingerprint what you keep. A SHA-256 of each file lets you show later that the photo in front of a court is the one you took.
The limits, stated plainly
- This is not legal advice. It summarizes our seven state articles, each a reading of the current statute text in the sections it names. Summaries lose detail, so read the full article and the statute before relying on any line here. We did not research case law in any of these states, and local ordinances, your lease and the courts can all change the answer. Check with a lawyer or your association in the state concerned.
- Wyoming is not covered yet. Neither is any state outside the seven listed.
- A photo with an intact camera record is corroboration, not proof. Camera data can be edited, and a real photo can still be of the wrong unit or taken on the wrong day.
- A photo with no camera record is not a fake. Screenshots, chat apps and many portals remove it from genuine photos every day.
- Our checker does not judge a picture by looking at it, and gives no confidence score. It reads what is in the file, in your browser, and uploads nothing.
ImposterShield reads the evidence inside image and video files. It runs in your browser and uploads nothing. If a file has been stripped, it says so. If it has not read a file, it says that too.
Check the move-in set before you need it
Drop the move-in and move-out photos on the page together. It shows what each file says about where and when it was taken, and marks any two that are the same file. A filed report lists each file’s SHA-256, so you can show later exactly which files you kept.
Open the checker