Estate Agent Reuse of Photos

turnitround

If you look at the 'Sold house prices' on Rightmove you can see all the photos from when the last sale took place anyway.
If the current owners had not put the house up for sale and instead decided to live in it for the next 15 years your photos from when you sold the house would still be available for all to see. My parents house is on there as it has never changed hands again since we sold it and occasionally I have a look. Although to be fair we had removed all personal posesions before the photos were taken.
The last 2 houses I have sold are still there showing the hose as it was when I put it up for sale and I have a look at those occasionally. 

ThisIsWeird

Murphybear said:

Cashmygiro said:

Most estate agents are dodge. Around here they blatantly steal photos and descriptions off other agents if you instructed more than one agent to sell your property.

I must be lucky.  When I lived in rural Devon the majority of Estate Agents were independent and weren’t dodgy.  

You must have been able to avoid the largest of them, Webbers, then?!

ThisIsWeird

GDB2222 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Hi Emma.

The house may not have been lived in since purchase, or barely so. If the buyer had updated the house in any way, then surely at least some of the photos would also have been updated? The 'newly replaced' carpets could still be effectively so.

Can you confirm - were these photos taken after you had cleared the house of your mum's personal possessions, or do these still appear in the photos? If her possessions are still on display in these photos, then I can absolutely understand your distress, and a complaint would be in order so that they will (should) replace these photos.

But, if they were taken after you'd cleared the house, as upsetting as this unexpected reminder must have been for you, my take is that it wouldn't be reasonable to complain about this. The description and photos may well remain - within reason - quite accurate. In which case, what would your actual 'complaint' be?

" If her possessions are still on display in these photos, then I can absolutely understand your distress, and a complaint would be in order so that they will (should) replace these photos."

Can you explain that, please? I don't think there's any rights under DPA/GDPR? So, maybe you have an estate agency code in mind?

No rules or rights or codes that I am aware of, and no intention of looking.

They morally 'should', and almost certainly will, remove them if it's the case that Emma's mum's possessions are still shown. Even EAs will blanche given enough incentive - like being reported.

They should do so, and almost certainly will, once their utter insensitivity is pointed out. And a phone call to the local rag would absolutely ensure it - happy to bet the same £iver I've yet to lose :-).

GDB2222

I couldn’t take your money off you.

There must be a reason why the agent is using the old photos, and until you know that it is difficult to understand what they will do when they hear from the op. It could just be a mistake, of course.

ThisIsWeird

GDB2222 said:

I couldn’t take your money off you.

There must be a reason why the agent is using the old photos, and until you know that it is difficult to understand what they will do when they hear from the op. It could just be a mistake, of course.

You are too kind. I'll buy you a pint instead

We still don't know if the personal possessions were removed before the photos were taken. If they had been, then I don't think Emma has a just cause for complaint - the house is very likely to be pretty much as presented.

But it would have been very thoughtless to have reused photos showing it as it was, as Emma's mum's 'home' with her personal possessions. We don't know if this is the case. And, even so, the actual EA who relisted the property might not be aware of the circumstances, and just felt the photos showed a homely home.

powergen_insider

emma203 said:

To clarify - the images show the house before I cleared it so they have all of my mother's furniture and personal possessions in situ.  

They did mention it.

BlueVeranda

GDB2222 said:

emma203 said:

To clarify - the images show the house before I cleared it so they have all of my mother's furniture and personal possessions in situ. There are no new pictures to show how it currently looks, which could make for some interesting viewings. 

I fully accept that this is now someone else's home, and if the images just showed empty rooms this wouldn't really bother me, but it isn't "their" home that is being marketed, it's my mother's. 

Not so easy to just ignore when the situation involves your own bereavement - I know I have no rights over these images (as a photography student I'm well versed in copyright) but I will be writing to the agent to ask them to appeal to their client to have their own images taken and to stop and think when they plan to use such images in future. 

Fair enough. Given that a year has gone by, I wonder whether the buyers are mid-refurbishment, and the agents don't want to show pictures of a building site? 

But if the house currently looks like a building site, it'd be so misleading to show it furnished with the previous owners belongings.

I wonder if they've actually told the EA nothing has changed since they bought it so that's why the EA reused the photos. In other circumstances that could be ok but with the last sale being a probate sale and the pictures showing a furnished house, I can understand why OP feels distressed.

RHemmings

BlueVeranda said:

I wonder if they've actually told the EA nothing has changed since they bought it so that's why the EA reused the photos.

My money is on laziness. 

ThisIsWeird

powergen_insider said:

emma203 said:

To clarify - the images show the house before I cleared it so they have all of my mother's furniture and personal possessions in situ.  

They did mention it.

Argh! Thanks Powergen - and sorry, Emma.

Not only did I miss your post, but the whole of page 2 of this thread.

I see you have emailed them - well done. I hope they do the right thing.

GDB2222

RHemmings said:

BlueVeranda said:

I wonder if they've actually told the EA nothing has changed since they bought it so that's why the EA reused the photos.

My money is on laziness. 

That's certainly possible. The OP said the asking price is higher than the house sold for a year ago, whilst we all know prices are down significantly. So, maybe the agents are not expecting anyone to buy? 

Ironically, the OP may be the only person to do more than glance at the advert on RM.