How long should sewer camera reports stay with a rental property’s records?

For a rental property, I’d lean toward keeping both the report and the original video for as long as the property’s records or a possible follow-up could matter. The report is easier to scan, but the footage may help a later contractor compare what was actually visible and where, rather than relying only on a written summary. Keeping them together with the inspection date and property identification seems like a practical middle ground.

For comparing two inspections, I’d put consistent distance markers and the direction of travel near the top of the list: they make it easier to match a spot in the old footage to the same stretch in the new one. Dated defect descriptions then help show what was noted at each inspection, rather than treating the older condition as a current one.

If a later blockage is near a defect noted in an older inspection, I’d use that record to point the contractor toward the same stretch and ask whether the current footage shows a change there. The old video is a snapshot of what was visible on its inspection date; by itself, it can’t establish when the blockage or damage developed or who caused it.

For a hypothetical rental, I’d keep the report and original video for as long as I was responsible for the property, then pass them along with the property records if ownership changed. That gives a future owner a baseline without pretending there’s one universal retention deadline; I’d be reluctant to discard the footage just because the report is easier to store.

If a later inspection runs the camera the opposite way or uses a different distance reference, I’d treat the old marker as a starting clue, not an exact match. A contractor could compare fixed features visible in both videos and the report’s defect description to decide whether it appears to be the same stretch, while noting that the changed references make the match less certain.