UK estate agents are allowed to use artificial intelligence to improve property photos, but there is a legal line they cannot cross. That line is now drawing attention as more buyers report homes that look nothing like their online listings.
The trend has been nicknamed “housefishing.” It describes listings where AI edits go beyond making a home look appealing and start to mislead the people viewing it.
Where the Legal Line Sits
Trading Standards told the BBC that agents can use AI for basic photo edits. They can also virtually furnish an empty room or garden, as long as they make clear the technology was used.
Structural changes are treated differently. Adding a window or hiding features in a room could mislead consumers and break the law.
Agents have long used wide-angle lenses and Photoshop to make homes look bigger. AI has made this kind of editing faster and easier for anyone to do.
The Guild of Property Professionals, a trade group for independent agents, says it is hard to measure how common the practice is. The group has issued guidance on using AI enhancement responsibly.
A recent survey of 906 UK homebuyers found that one in five who bought a home in the past year had viewed a property with digitally enhanced listing photos. Those photos made the home look better than it really was.
Buyers and Sellers Spot the Changes
Earlier this year, Olivia Nicole, 29, was looking for a five-bedroom home in south-west London. A house on Rightmove caught her eye, but at the viewing she first thought she was at the wrong address.
She said the rooms were much smaller than in the pictures and the decor was totally different. A raised section of wall behind the sofa was missing from the photos, and the windows were smaller in real life.
The same images also appeared on Zoopla and on the Winkworth website. Nicole said the AI use was not clear in the listing, and she had to make up several hours she took off work for the viewing.
All three companies said they have strict rules on AI use on their sites. They have since removed the images.
Jack Bushrod reviews unusual Rightmove listings on his social media channel, Housing Horrors. He says he has seen a surge of AI-enhanced photos over the past six months.
He thinks AI is fine for decluttering a busy room or adding furniture to an empty one. However, he once saw a listing where a pillar had been removed and a window added, and most edited images he has seen were not clearly labelled.
Sellers are noticing too. Cara, 38, who is selling her home in Lowestoft, Suffolk, was surprised by the photos her agent, Howards, posted on Rightmove.
One image showed her son’s room emptied of toys and clutter. In another, of her daughter’s room, a doll’s house was removed, the room was brightened and the shape of a rug was changed. That image has since been taken down.
Cara said one person at a viewing commented on the differences, but she still trusts the agent. She said she would object if anything structural had been changed.
Bushrod wants agents to be required to label AI photos clearly and mention the edits in a listing’s key features. He expects more agents to follow the trend.
Howards has now introduced a policy of labelling all AI-enhanced photos. A spokeswoman said the firm has never used AI to misrepresent the fundamental features of a property.
