Are you using a professional photographer to take photos of your listings? A pro has access to software, equipment, and tools you may not, carries the expense of their equipment and editing time, likely has faster shooting and turnaround times, will deal with the headache of organizing and storing large file images, and has the experience and knowledge to remove visual distractions (for example problems with color temperature, reflections, brightness, etc.) from their photos. Ideally, polished listing photos mean your marketing and brand are perceived as more professional, the home is better represented and sells faster than listings with amateur photos or no photos at all.
When dealing with copyrighted images, it is important to fully understand photo copyright laws and the rules for the MLS and any other platform where you plan to post the photos. Otherwise, you could find yourself in the middle of a lawsuit, fined, or at the very least, have the images removed. Take this court case against Zillow, for example.
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The whole concept behind “who owns these photos?” was a bit blurry to me, so I sat down with professional photographer Tom Hamilton of Sightline Photography to better understand how the copyrights of real estate photos work.
Tom explained that a common misconception is that if an agent pays for photos, it’s implied that the photographer is giving them full rights to use those images. This is simply not true. Consider a home that you might rent. As the renter, you sign an agreement that you will rent the house for X amount of time, and pay an X amount of money. At the end of this contract, you don’t own the home — you simply paid an agreed upon amount of money for usage of the home under certain conditions. When you hire a photographer to take photos, you don’t own those images, you are paying for the usage of those images in a specific, agreed upon way.
Another comparison would be a music streaming service — you pay for the rights to stream music, but you don’t own the music itself. If you want to own rights to the music, you’d have to pay a much larger fee than your streaming subscription. A photographer sells you limited usage rights to the images, for a much lower cost than if you were to buy the full rights.
The bottom line is, you need explicit permission to use any photos you did not take. Permission needs to be clearly outlined in a written and signed agreement between the photographer and the agent, or whoever is paying for the photos. Here are a few sample agreements, or your photographer will likely have a standard one they use. Make sure to keep a copy for your records.
So, why is this even an issue? Photographers should be compensated fairly for their work, and problems arise when money is lost because someone uses their photos without permission and then profits (or has the potential to profit) from those photos. If you hire a photographer to shoot listing photos, and then a builder or property manager ends up using those same images for marketing purposes, the photographer loses out in two ways, 1) They didn’t collect any usage fees and 2) They weren’t hired for another shoot, and the offending party now has the potential to make a lot of money off photos they have no rights to.
Here is how it is addressed in section 11 of the Intermountain MLS Rules & Regulations –
“By the act of submitting any property listing content to the MLS, the Participant represents that he or she has been authorized to grant and also thereby does grant authority for the MLS to include the property listing content in its copyrighted MLS compilation and also in any statistical report on “comparables”. Listing content includes, but is not limited to, photographs, images, graphics, audio and video recordings, virtual tours, drawings, descriptions, remarks, narratives, pricing information, and other details or information related to listed property.”
And in section 1.2:
“Any office or agent cannot use another agent’s or office’s photographs, digital images, virtual tours or sketches to promote a new/active listing without written permission. Any violation of this policy shall be considered a violation of the MLS Rules and Regulations and may be subject to a fine.”
Moral of the story? Don’t post or use photographs unless you have permission. Not sure if you have permission? Reference your agreement, and then ask your photographer if you need further clarification. Want to learn more? Check out REALTOR®Mag’s article “Protect Yourself Against Copyright Claims.”
Thinking about finding a photographer to work with? Here are some tips for finding the right fit:
- Make sure you find someone you can communicate with.
- Get recommendations from your colleagues.
- Ask to see samples of their work to determine if you like their personal style.
- Professional photographers will also be insured. If they aren’t insured, you don’t want them going near your listings.
- Find more tips from REALTOR®Mag’s article, “Rules for Hiring a High Quality Photographer.”
Update: IMLS members can market another member’s listing, as long as they have the listing agent’s permission and give credit to the listing brokerage. If you have other questions about this issue, please contact IMLS Director of Finance/Director of Rules and Policy, Kim Griffin.
