I viewed a property yesterday to find two rusted out car wrecks on the lawn. The photos and brochure show lovely garden and, of course, cars air-brushed out. To me this seems ethically wrong, but my question is are they doing anything legally wrong. Of course they want to make the vendors property look good but surely this is too far?
Pretty poor imoâŚ..you should complain, see what they say. You could complain to the property ombudsman, just to make a point.
It should be possible to look things up. It may depend where you are. Iâd not have viewed the property if Iâd seen the wrecks in the details.
What was the rest of the property like? If you are interested in it this might also add to your bargaining chips. Out of interest, what are the wrecks, is there a reason they are there and are they valuable?
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I have noticed mainly with interior rooms that a number of agents are using digitally enhanced AI images to âre-decorateâ the rooms.
Fortunately in most cases they reveal this in the small print.
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Ethics and sales people never go hand in handâŚ.
Estate agents (sales people) have always been economical with the truth and they do what they do to hit sales targets - their purpose is not to find you a dream houseâŚ.
Seems a massive waste of time to bring people to a viewing under false pretences but itâs all too common.
There is an ombudsman but I wouldnât waste your time and energy, I would just feed it back and let them know they wasted your time and ask them not to do it againâŚ.
House buying and selling is a faff and lots of poor process to deal with!
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I am surprised, I have an estate agent coming next week and my gardeners are coming at the end of the month.
I do appreciate that âNo mow in Mayâ makes the garden look bad for sales in June
The cars in question should be enquired about , they could be there for a reason
I wonder if the house is a repossession. There should be a clause in the details indicating the cars will be removed as a condition of completion.
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If they are fast Fords they may be worth more than the house. 
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We always do street view of houses weâre interested in, gives a good idea of an area and a houses history.
As an example the estate agent said our house had new double glazing but we identified that it was installed after 2012 and before 2016 from the images on line.
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To provide a bit of context the house was an old timber framed âshedâ, built about 1900 and in the same family since not even registered with Land registry. I wanted it for the land to build a new property. Beside the house was a clapped out Vauxhall Vectra and rusted pieces of an old 2cv
Not worth my time and energy complaining, I know agents clean up the interior pictures and blue sky etc, but this felt poor to air brush the tat out
(I didnât take it further as no access for lorries)
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Twice been caught out by this. One lovely looking property from the online brochure - booked a viewing. Turns out all carpets, wall coverings, furniture and curtains were âphotoshopâ fakes. The property hadnât been lived in for a year and was fly blown and dank. We compained only to be told is had been âdigitally representedâ to show itâs potential which we clearly didnât appreciate.
Second was a property with realistic photography but was a tip when we visited. Garden edgings rotted out. Garage door falling off. Interiors worn and a totally tatseless composite door replacing the beautful wooden Edwardian original. Complained again only to be told this time that the pictures dated from the previous sale - none taken by the vendor or their agents - as this presented the house at its best. Total waste of time. In both instances the estate agents were very quick to point out it was our lack of understanding or imagination. DGP
If youâre in the UK then agents airbrushing or altering photos is illegal
Assuming itâs a freehold property the contracts between you and the seller will will include the phrase âvacant possession on completionâ this means everything that is not a fixture or fitting MUST be removed by the seller prior to completion unless the âfixtures and fittingsâ part of the contract includes items both parties have agreed can stay.
If theyâve not done that, contact your conveyancer/solicitor and they can resolve the matter.
â airbrushingâ! A technique my long since gone father used when he was a commercial artist in NYC in the early 60s. Even for my wife, a once graphic designer, that is a technique she has never used. Of course the icons used in photoshop from the early 90s ( itself a paint package) attempted to mimic this â airbrushingâ.
No it isnât. I have sold my properties with photographs as is, and with AI renditions of the same with furniture in place and marked as such. It is akin to having a professional come in and dress your property for sale. I also tell any enquiries who the company is that does the AI for me so that they can ask for dressed photos using their furniture choice, contemporary, antique etc.
If an estate agent has misrepresented the property they may be in transgression of their licensing (or whatever it is called), though they might get away with it if they have added a note saying that the picture is how the garden could look. Otherwise houses are normally sold âas seenâ with the onus on the buyer to check everything unless warranted by the seller. That said, the seller is normally required to remove all waste from the property (and that would include all bits of cars): in Britain there is normally wording to that effect in the purchase contract, whence not doing so would be breach of contract, meaning that after purchase you could potentially claim off them the full cost of professional removal.
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Guidelines and Legalities:
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Permissible Editing: Minor enhancements like enhancing color, brightening, or clearing up images to present the property in its best light is acceptable to create a professional appearance.
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Prohibited Changes: Misrepresentation is illegal. Editing should not change the layout, hide significant defects, or make a property appear fundamentally different than it is in reality.
Obviously thereâs a difference between misrepresentation and clearly indicating that there are some added AI renders to show potential (redecs, furnishings, etc).
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