Property management
When a tenant claims the repair wasn't completed
Whoever makes the claim generally has to back it up
Start with the caveat: how the burden of proof is split in a landlord-tenant dispute depends on your state, the type of claim, and the forum, so what follows is general information, not legal advice — check your local rules or an attorney for your situation. That said, the through-line across most civil disputes is simple: the side asserting something generally has to support it. A tenant who says a repair was never done typically has to show that; a landlord defending a charge or a deposit deduction typically has to show the work was done. Small-claims guidance points the same way from both directions — the party making the claim brings the evidence, and photographs are the documentation that does the work for whichever side has them. The useful takeaway is not the legal mechanics; it is that a repair you cannot document is a coin flip you narrate.
The law increasingly expects dated proof, not memory
The expectation is moving from “describe what you did” toward “show a dated record.” California’s AB 2801 is the clearest example: it requires a landlord to take timestamped before-and-after photographs when deducting from a security deposit, phasing in through 2025, and to include them with the itemized statement of deductions. The practical effect is straightforward — a landlord who deducts without that documentation has far less to stand on if the tenant challenges the deduction. AB 2801 is a California deposit rule, not a general repair mandate, and it does not change the burden of proof in a repair dispute. But it is a signal of where the standard is heading for landlord-tenant records generally: a contemporaneous, dated photo is becoming the baseline, and recollection the fallback nobody wants to rely on.
Why an ordinary phone photo is weaker than it looks
Most managers assume a phone photo settles it. It rarely does when the other side pushes back. Three weaknesses show up the moment a record is contested:
- The date lives in editable metadata, which the person holding the file can change.
- A photo pulled from a gallery could be any image, taken anywhere, at any time.
- Nothing ties the image to a moment an outside party has to accept — it is your word about your file.
A self-logged note has the same problem in a different form: it records a claim that the work was done, not a record an outsider can check. When a repair is disputed, the two paths diverge sharply.
Three kinds of record, and how each holds up
Not every “we have photos” is equal. The difference is whether an outside party can verify the record without trusting you.
| When the repair is disputed | A sealed live record | A self-logged note | An ordinary phone photo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who set the time | A server the worker cannot set | The person logging it | Editable metadata |
| A live capture, not a filed image | Live camera only, gallery blocked | A written claim | Gallery upload possible |
| A third party can verify it | Yes, from a shareable link | No | Not really |
| Later edits are detectable | SHA-256 chain of custody | No | No |
| Findable months later | Searchable in the Evidence Vault | If nobody edited the log | If it was not deleted |
What a dispute-ready repair record looks like
The record that answers a “you never fixed it” claim is not a nicer photo. It is a photo an outsider can check. With LockProof the worker taps a link in a text — nothing to install — and the record carries only what was captured at the work:
- A live photo of the work, captured through the camera (gallery uploads blocked)
- GPS coordinates recorded on submission, when the worker shares location
- A server-set time the worker cannot back-date
- A SHA-256 chain of custody that makes any later change detectable
- A searchable place — the Evidence Vault — you can pull it from and share as a tamper-evident link
None of this proves the repair was any good, or on its own that the photo shows the right job — an inspection and the record’s context are for that. What it does give you is stronger, independently checkable documentation: a live photo captured through the camera, carrying a server-set time recorded on submission and sealed so any later change is detectable. That is a record an outside party can examine — not a verdict on the work, and not a claim about the exact moment of capture, but far harder to wave away than a memory or an editable phone photo. See a finished example in a sample verified record.
Common questions
Who has the burden of proof when a tenant claims a repair was not completed?
It depends on your state and the type of claim, so treat this as general information, not legal advice. As a general rule, though, the side making a claim has to support it: a tenant asserting a repair was never done typically has to show that, and a landlord defending a charge or deduction typically has to show the work was done. Either way it comes down to documentation, not whose memory is better.
Are phone photos enough to prove a repair was done?
Sometimes, but they are weaker than people assume. An ordinary phone photo carries a date only in editable metadata, a gallery image could be any file, and nothing ties it to a time a third party has to trust. A record with a server-set time and a tamper-evident seal is far harder to wave away.
Does California require photos for repairs or deposits?
For security-deposit deductions in California, yes — AB 2801 requires landlords to take timestamped before-and-after photos when deducting from a deposit and to include them with the itemized statement. Without them, a deduction is much harder to defend if it is challenged. It is a California deposit rule, not a general repair mandate, but it shows dated photo proof becoming the expectation.
What makes a repair record dispute-ready?
A dispute-ready record is one an outside party can check without taking your word for it: a live photo of the work, a server-set time the worker cannot back-date, GPS recorded on submission when shared, and a chain of custody that makes any later edit detectable — kept where you can pull and share it months later. The time is set by the server on submission, not by the worker's phone, and the sealed record cannot be changed afterward without detection — it does not, on its own, prove the repair met standard.