Security deposit
A dispute over a deposit, from either side.
A deposit dispute comes down to one question: what was the place like when the tenancy began, and when it ended? Tenant or landlord, the answer is in the photos, the messages and the dates. Put them in one place, in order.
Last updated Oct 10, 2026
You're asking for your deposit back
Start with the day you moved in and the day you moved out. The questions will be about everything in between.
- Move-in and move-out photos and video, room by room, with the dates your phone recorded
- The lease and any move-in checklist
- Every message about repairs, cleaning and returning the keys
- Your forwarding address, and the date you gave it
- The list of deductions, if one came, and any receipts with it
- A note of each phone call: the date, who you spoke to, what was said
You kept part of a tenant's deposit
If a tenant is disputing what you kept, your record is the condition of the place at both ends, and what each deduction was for.
- The move-in checklist and photos, and the move-out inspection
- Each deduction, with its invoice, quote or receipt
- Messages about damage or repairs during the tenancy
- The date you sent the itemized list, and how you sent it
- Anything the tenant agreed to in writing
Add the lease as a key document. Key documents sit in their own place, apart from the record. Every photo goes into the plates, two to a page, numbered, with both of its dates.
How it works
One record, either way round.
Everything in one place. Your own notes, photos, files, emails, pasted texts and voice notes go into one dated register for this case.
Two dates on every entry. When it happened, and when you wrote it down. The second date can’t be changed, not by you and not by us.
Letters for both directions. 84 letters, eight of them written for the person answering. Each one fills in the facts from your record and leaves the ask blank. What you want is yours to write. Nothing is sent for you, and when you send one, it goes back into the record as a dated item.
Emails go into the case. Every case can have its own email address. Once you’ve turned it on with Copy in the case’s “Email it in” box, the emails you write from your case carry it in BCC. Emails you forward from your own sign-in address file themselves; anything else waits in Mail waiting until you check it.
Get an AI to help, if you want to. Copy a ready-made request into your own AI and bring the answer back. When it comes back as a letter draft, BuildMyEvidence checks its dates, amounts, item numbers and names against your record. There is no AI inside BuildMyEvidence.
One case file at the end. A cover, a one-page summary, the contents, then the record, numbered and dated, with every file at the back. The summary page also downloads on its own.
What it costs
Free to build. $59 once, when you want the finished file.
Building the record is free, for as long as you need it. So is reading every page of the case file, downloading any single file, and taking everything out: every file you’ve added, each with its fingerprint. You pay $59 once per case when you want to download the finished case file, the summary page or the itemized packs. No subscription. Nothing renews.
What it won’t do
It won’t tell you what happened, who’s right, or what to ask for. It doesn’t give legal advice. It keeps the record that anyone advising you would want to see.
Questions
- I didn't take move-in photos. Is it too late?
- Start with what you have. Old texts, the listing photos, a friend's pictures from moving day. Each goes in with the date it happened, and the record shows when you added it.
- How long do I have?
- Timing rules differ from state to state, and BuildMyEvidence doesn't give legal advice. Write down any date in your lease or in a letter you've received.
- I'm the landlord. Is this for me?
- Yes. The first screen asks once whether you're raising it or answering it. The record works the same either way.
Related
BuildMyEvidence works for any situation where you need a clear, dated record.