Pet damage photos in Colorado: a $300 pet deposit, and photos that have to show what changed

A tenant moves out after two years with a large dog. The bottom of the back door is chewed, the carpet in the second bedroom is stained and smells, and the living room blinds are bent. The carpet alone will cost more than the pet deposit you were allowed to take. Whatever you keep has to be justified, and in Colorado the tenant can now ask to see the photos you are relying on.

This piece covers Colorado only. It sets out what the pet deposit law says, what a photograph can and can’t show about damage a pet did, and how to keep files that will still say something when the tenant opens them. It is not legal advice.

What the law says

We read these sections in the official Colorado Revised Statutes 2026.

• The pet deposit is capped at $300. C.R.S. 38-12-106, in force since 1 January 2024 (House Bill 23-1068), says a landlord “shall not demand or receive an additional security deposit of more than three hundred dollars” as a condition of letting a pet animal live in the unit, and that the deposit “must be refundable to the tenant.”
• Pet rent is capped too: no more than $35 a month or 1.5% of the monthly rent, whichever is greater. Pet rent is rent, not a deposit, so it is not there to pay for damage.
• “Pet animal” is defined by reference to another statute, 35-80-102(10). Assistance animals are a separate matter under fair housing law and are generally not treated as pets. Whether and how you can recover for damage an assistance animal causes is a question for your attorney, not this article.
• The general deposit is capped at two months’ rent (38-12-102.5, since 7 August 2023). Section 106 does not say how the pet deposit and the general deposit relate when the damage costs more than $300. Read your lease, and ask your attorney.
• Normal wear and tear can’t be deducted. The definition in 38-12-102, as amended from 1 January 2026, is deterioration, damage or uncleanliness that comes from the intended or typical use of the unit “without negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse” by the tenant’s household or guests. It does not mention pets. Whether a particular scratch is wear or damage is a question of fact, and the photos are most of the facts.

On top of that come the deposit rules that changed on 1 January 2026 (House Bill 25-1249, amending 38-12-103), which we covered in detail here. The statement of deductions is due within thirty days (a lease can extend that to sixty). The tenant can ask in writing for the photographs, inspection reports and invoices behind it, and must get them within fourteen days. The landlord carries the burden of proving the deduction, and damage that “preexisted the tenancy” can’t be charged. Missing the deadlines forfeits the right to keep any of the deposit.

What no photo can show

Start with the limit. A photo of a chewed door cannot show who or what chewed it. Teeth marks, claw scratches and urine stains look much the same whichever animal made them and in whichever tenancy. If the last tenant also had a dog, a move-out photo on its own says nothing about which dog. A stain in a photo doesn’t say what the stain is, and a smell doesn’t photograph at all.

What carries a pet damage claim is a comparison: the same door, the same stretch of carpet, photographed at move-in and again at move-out, with something to show when each photo was taken. The move-out photo shows the damage. The move-in photo shows it is new, which is the point the law now asks you to prove.

What the files can show

When each photo was taken

A photo taken with a phone’s camera app and kept as the original file usually carries the camera’s own record of when it was taken. Our checker reads that record and shows it. If the move-in photo of the back door says it was taken the week the lease started, and the move-out photo says it was taken the day the keys came back, the pair tells a clear story.

If the move-in photo went through a text message, a chat app or a portal that rebuilds pictures, that record is often gone, and the checker will say Can’t Verify. That doesn’t mean the photo is fake. It means the photo can’t vouch for its own date at the moment you need it to. Where you keep inspection photos covers which storage routes keep the record and which strip it.

Whether two photos are the same file

Pet damage claims often come with a vendor invoice: carpet replacement, a new door, odor treatment. If the vendor sends photos, check them in one batch with photos from your other units. Two files that are byte-for-byte the same show up as Identical file. The same picture attached to invoices for two different units is worth a phone call. The piece on contractor invoice photos goes further into this.

Whether someone used AI on it

Some phone editing tools write a note into the file when generative AI was used, for example to brighten a dark closet or remove a cord from the frame. The checker reads that note and shows AI Edited. A move-out photo that someone on staff “cleaned up” so a stain shows better is now a file that says, in its own words, it was altered. The stain may be real. You’ve still handed the tenant an argument. Edit a copy, never the original.

A routine that holds up

1. At move-in for a tenant with a pet, photograph the places pets damage: the bottoms of exterior and bedroom doors, door frames, baseboards, the carpet in each room, blinds and screens, and the yard if there is one. Use the camera app, and keep the original files.
2. At move-out, repeat the same shots from the same angles. The pair is the evidence.
3. Get vendor photos as original files, not pasted into a PDF. We tested a PDF: the camera record inside the photo was gone.
4. Check the move-in and move-out photos together before you send the statement. It is better to learn that a move-in photo lost its date while you can still look for a better copy.
5. When the tenant asks, send the files themselves, and keep a record of exactly what you sent. A saved report lists every file’s SHA-256, so anyone can confirm later that the file you bring to a hearing is the file you sent.

The limits, stated plainly

• A photo cannot show which animal, or which tenancy, caused the damage. Dated photos from both ends of the lease are corroboration, not proof. Camera clocks can be set wrong, and camera data can be edited by someone who means to.
• A photo with no camera record is not a fake. Text messages, chat apps and many portals remove the record from genuine photos every day.
• Our checker gives no confidence score and does not judge a picture by looking at it. It reads what is in the file, in your browser, and uploads nothing. A file with no AI marker is not proven real.
• Colorado statutes are from the official Colorado Revised Statutes 2026. The definition of normal wear and tear was corrected on 30 October 2026 after we read the signed House Bill 25-1249. We have not summarised fair housing rules on assistance animals here, federal or state. Colorado’s House Bill 26-1045, effective 12 August 2026, added state rules on them, so read it before applying this piece to an assistance animal.
• This is not legal advice.

All eight states on one page: deposit deduction rules across the Mountain West, side by side.

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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.