Safety comes first: do not enter a hazardous area, touch exposed wiring, disturb suspected asbestos or lead materials, climb unstable surfaces, or delay emergency help to take a photo. If there is immediate danger, leave and contact the appropriate emergency service.

Before documenting

  • Choose a safe time and place. Ask another trusted person to accompany you if that reduces risk.
  • Check your lease, local tenant guidance, and advice from a tenant organization or lawyer for notice requirements and deadlines.
  • Write what you directly observe: location, size or extent, sound, odor, temperature, moisture, frequency, and effect on use of the space.
  • Keep a separate note for interpretations, health concerns, or questions that need a qualified professional.
  • Make sure the device is locked and has enough storage. Avoid shared cloud albums if they expose tenant identities or locations.

A useful photo sequence

  1. Start wide. Show the room or area so a reviewer can understand where the condition is located.
  2. Move to context. Show the condition in relation to a wall, fixture, window, doorway, appliance, or other stable reference.
  3. Capture detail. Photograph visible staining, damage, gaps, pests, standing water, or another observable feature without entering danger.
  4. Add scale carefully. If useful and safe, place a clean ruler or common object nearby. Do not cover or alter the condition.
  5. Describe each capture. Record the room, surface, direction, and what the image is intended to show. Avoid diagnosing a cause you cannot establish.
  6. Repeat consistently. For changing or recurring conditions, use a similar angle and note the new occurrence date rather than replacing an earlier image.

Preserve the original: keep the unedited file. If you crop or annotate a copy for explanation, label it as a derivative and retain the original separately.

Keep the repair and notice trail together

  • Save each repair request in the form actually sent, plus a delivery confirmation when one exists.
  • Record the date and method of a phone or in-person conversation, who participated, and a factual summary.
  • Keep management responses, appointment messages, entry notices, invoices, work orders, and inspection reports.
  • After work, record what changed and what remained. Photograph recurrence as a new event.
  • Distinguish when something happened from when you added it to the record. Explain late entries in plain language.
  • Keep records received from inspectors or contractors separate from tenant-created descriptions; identify their source.

For requests made through a text thread or property portal, follow the maintenance request record-preservation guide to save the input, attachments, confirmations, status history, replies, closure, and a portable copy.

For complaint IDs, inspection reports, citations, reinspection, and closure records, continue with the housing inspection records guide.

Organizing across households? The blank building condition survey CSV separates pseudonymous private-unit reports from common-area reports and records permission before aggregation. It is an organizing aid, not proof of notice, receipt, or a condition.

Reduce privacy and retaliation risk

Documentation can contain addresses, faces, children, medical details, access codes, signatures, financial records, and the daily routines of a household. Collect only what serves the purpose, control who receives it, and review every export.

  • Do not post tenant names, addresses, photos, evidence, or case details in GitHub issues or public forums.
  • Avoid including bystanders, neighbors, mail, prescriptions, identity documents, or screens unless they are necessary and you have a safe reason to do so.
  • Do not secretly record people without first getting advice about the law where the recording occurs.
  • Use synthetic records when evaluating Habitable Evidence. The project has not completed a real-world partner evaluation.

Know when a tool is not the next step

Eviction, repair, inspection, and retaliation rules vary by place and can involve short deadlines. USAGov’s tenant-rights directory links to state agencies and legal-help paths. The Legal Services Corporation provides a national finder for LSC-funded civil legal-aid organizations.

For dampness and suspected mold, use health and cleanup information from a qualified local agency or clinician. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s mold and moisture guidance explains why moisture control matters; it does not replace a local inspection or medical advice.