Estate agent using old photos

picju96

I was nosing around RIghtmove earlier and looked up my old house I sold 2 years ago to an investor, who immediately rented it out. It's now up for rent again with a different estate agent, however the listing has the photos which were taken when we were marketing to sell it, so with our belongings and by a different estate agent.

I'm not going to do anything about it, but it astounded me that this was ok - unless it's not? I don't think there are any rules or regulations around estate agency are there - only codes of conduct?

davidmcn

I think it's only really a copyright problem for your estate agent - unless the photos are genuinely misleading I'm not sure that it breaches any other rules.

Guest101

The photos belong either:


to you - unlikely but possible


or to the original estate agent - more likely


It could be an agreement between agents to use each others photos as properties transfer from sale to lettings


There's a lot of law that governs this, and many other aspects, of running an EAs

googler

The previous agent owns the copyright on the photos, so they have a case against the new agent.

They're not your photos, you don't have copyright. You don't own the property anymore, so have no case against the new agent on those grounds.

So what if someone sees your belongings now? Everybody who looks at RM saw them when you were selling? So what if some new folks see them now?

ReadingTim

Well, technically it's a copyright problem for your agent, but I can't imagine they'd care - it's not that different from using an image from the manufacturer's website on an ebay listing.

That said, if I was the vendor, I'd be a bit annoyed that they hadn't taken more recent pictures, or that the ad might not represent the place as it currently is, and disappoint viewers.

But that's not your problem...

Chelsea__Thomas

Maybe contact you old Estate Agent and ask?

glasgowdan

I think the OP just wanted to share their surprise rather than take action.

picju96

Yes, I'm not going to take action, I was just surprised to see our old living room still in a listing, 2 years on! It does make me wonder what the state of the property is now, but that just makes me sad more than anything (yes, I am possibly over-invested in my very first house!)

theartfullodger

Yes, such a terrible shock & surprise to find an Estate Agent doing something most would consider unethical and a bad advert for his business.

BlaEm

When I sold my last place, the BTL buyer listed it for rent with another agent before we'd even completed - using all the pics from my sales listing.

I thought it was pretty cheeky (especially as they went on to detail all the refurbishments they'd be doing before the renters moved in ).

AdrianC

<shrug> I've just listed a flat, looking for a new tenant. Using the same photos as when it was listed last time, two years ago. Which used the photos from the sale, taken six months earlier.
<thinks> Actually, they might have been taken before a previous tenant moved in. It's been a rental since it was built, nearly ten years ago.

It still looks the same, after all.