Move-out records, DMV area
Move-out damage records for DMV-area landlords.
A tenant moves out. We walk the property and write up the damage. The record is dated and comes from us, not from you, so what you keep from the deposit holds up.
$149 per record
The walkthrough, the write-up, and the finished record in your hands.
Illustration. Rowhouse, garden unit, or single family, across DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland.
Roughly one in five recent renters report a disagreement over damage or repairs when they move out. Those arguments are almost never about what the damage is. They are about when it got there, and who can show it.
Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report, 2024 (19%).
Why bring in someone else
Photos you took yourself are your word. A dated record from someone with nothing at stake is evidence.
01
Nobody gets to grade their own homework.
You are a party to the disagreement, so your own photos get read as your side of it. A record built by an outside party, dated and citing what came before it, gets read as documentation instead.
That shortens arguments. When neither side is relying on its own camera roll, there is less to argue about and less reason to escalate.
02
Deposit law punishes the undocumented claim.
A deduction that is itemized, dated, and sourced tends to hold up. One that is not tends to get written off, or come back later as a penalty, which is the expensive version.
DC is specific about the steps and the dates, and about what happens when they slip. The clock is further down this page.
What you get
One record per property, built to be used, not filed.
01
Before and after, item by item.
Each item is shown against what the property looked like before, with the source and its date cited: old listing photos, your own move-in photos or checklist, prior records, and our walkthrough.
02
Damage or ordinary wear, tagged.
Every item gets called one or the other, in writing. You know which lines are worth taking and which ones are not before you write anything down.
03
A cost table with a source.
Your own estimate or invoice is attached as an exhibit when you have one. When you do not, the record uses a clearly sourced typical DC range, adjusted for how much life the item had already used up.
04
A paste-ready itemization, unbranded.
The itemization table drops straight into your own deposit notice. No logo on it, no third-party voice in it. It goes out from you, in your name.
05
The deadlines for the jurisdiction.
A checklist of the dates that matter where the property actually sits, DC first. Nothing in the record is worth much if the calendar runs out first.
06
A custodian certification page.
Who built the record, when it was made, and how it has been held since. The page that makes everything ahead of it hold together.
Itemization
Illustrative excerpt
| Item | Finding | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedroom 2, wall gougeDamageNot present at move-inMove-in photo 03.02.2024. Walkthrough 04.18.2026. | Damage | Move-in photo 03.02.2024Walkthrough 04.18.2026 | $180 |
| Living room carpet, traffic pathsOrdinary wearConsistent with the age of the carpetInstalled 2019. Prorated over useful life. | Ordinary wear | Installed 2019Prorated over useful life | $0 |
| Kitchen, cabinet door off trackDamageIntact in the prior recordPrior record 09.14.2025. Walkthrough 04.18.2026. | Damage | Prior record 09.14.2025Walkthrough 04.18.2026 | $95 |
An excerpt of the itemization table, drawn for illustration. It is unbranded on purpose, so it pastes into your notice and goes out under your name.
A turn is the one moment a property is empty and the story is about to change hands. One walkthrough closes out the tenant who is leaving and sets the baseline for the tenant moving in. Two tenancies documented, one visit.
Local rules
The DC deposit clock, and what it does when the record is thin.
Day 0
The tenancy ends.
The clock starts here. Whatever the record shows at this point is the record you will be working from for everything that follows.
Within 45 days
Return the deposit, or give written notice you intend to withhold.
DC gives landlords 45 days after the tenancy ends to do one or the other (14 DCMR § 309.1).
Then 30 more days
Deliver an itemized statement with the cost of each item.
Thirty days after that notice, item by item, with the cost of each (14 DCMR § 309.2). This is the document the record is built to fill.
Miss those steps and the burden flips.
Failing them is prima facie evidence that the tenant is entitled to the full deposit back (14 DCMR § 309.3). Withholding in bad faith carries treble damages (§ 309.5).
The optional move-out walkthrough runs on its own clock.
In DC it is optional, and it requires written notice at least 10 days beforehand, within 3 business days of termination (14 DCMR § 310).
Ordinary wear and tear is never chargeable.
And something that failed because of its age counts as wear no matter what the lease says (D.C. Code § 42-3502.17(c)). That is exactly the line the record tags item by item.
Across the DMV
Same walkthrough, different clocks. The deadline checklist in the record follows the property.
District of Columbia
45 days to return or give notice, then 30 more to itemize (14 DCMR § 309).
Virginia
A written move-in condition record is due within 5 days (§ 55.1-1214). Itemization runs 45 days (§ 55.1-1226).
Maryland
Botching a properly requested move-out walkthrough, or skipping the itemized cost statement, forfeits the entire right to withhold (§ 8-203(f),(g)). Wrongful withholding risks up to 3x plus attorney’s fees.
We walk all three.
What it includes
One walkthrough, one record, nothing else to buy.
The visit, the item-by-item write-up against what came before, and the unbranded itemization table you paste into your own notice. That is the whole job.
Book your first recordWho does the walkthroughs
A DC-based team of property management professionals.
We work across the District, Northern Virginia, and Maryland. We have written the deposit notices ourselves and sat through the arguments that follow them, which is why the record is built the way it is.
Same walkthrough whether you own two doors or manage two hundred.
What Wide Angle does not do
Nothing goes to your tenant. The record is delivered to you and only to you. We never contact the resident.
No notice sent on your behalf. The itemization is unbranded. You send your own notice, in your own name, on your own timing.
No contractors, no quotes, no scheduling. Your vendors stay your vendors. We document condition and hand you the file.
No legal advice. The record describes condition and cites dates. What you do with it is yours to decide, with your own counsel.