What you can and cannot edit in a listing photo

You can edit a listing photo as long as it still shows the property truthfully. Fixing the light, straightening the walls and removing a bin left on the kerb are routine. Adding furniture or turning day to dusk is fine when the listing says so. Removing a power line, a crack or the neighbour’s wall is not, however good it looks. No Australian law lists edits one by one. The rule is the general ban on misleading buyers, and state regulators have said how it applies to photos.

The one test

Ask whether a buyer who sees the photo, then walks through the property on Saturday, would feel misled. That is the practical form of the law: the Australian Consumer Law bans misleading or deceptive conduct and false or misleading representations about land. Our virtual staging guide sets out both sections and the penalties under “What the law says”.

Two points in Victoria’s guidance catch agents out (Consumer Affairs Victoria):

• An offence can occur whether or not you meant to mislead. A well-meant edit is judged on what the photo shows.
• Silence, or leaving out relevant facts, can mislead. A photo can mislead by what it hides as well as by what it adds.

Generally fine

These edits change how the photo looks, not what the property is. None of them is named by a regulator except lighting, so the list is our reading of the guidance, not a ruling.

• Brightness, colour and white balance. NSW Fair Trading says adjusting the lighting to make up for poor light may be acceptable (NSW Fair Trading). Correcting a dark room or a blue cast is exactly that.
• Straightening and cropping. Fixing leaning walls and levelling the horizon makes the photo truer, not less true. Cropping is fine unless the crop exists to hide something a buyer would care about.
• Temporary objects. A wheelie bin on the kerb, a car in the driveway, a hose on the lawn, the vendor’s washing. None of these is part of what is for sale. A rubbish pile or a skip that will still be there at the inspection is a different matter.
• A dull sky. The sky is not part of the property, and a grey day is not a feature. A new sky stops being fine the moment it covers something real: power lines, a tower, a neighbouring building.

Fine if you disclose it

These add something that is not there, or show the property at a time or in a state the buyer will not see. They are accepted practice when the listing says so.

• Virtual staging. Furniture is not part of the sale, so staging an empty room is accepted, provided the room itself is untouched and the photo is labelled. Our virtual staging guide covers wording and cost.
• Day to dusk. A twilight conversion changes the time of day, not the property. Say so where your agency requires it, and keep the building, the garden and the outlook exactly as shot.
• Boundary lines. A line drawn on an aerial is a claim about what the buyer gets, and traced by eye it is an estimate. Mark it as indicative on the image, put a disclaimer in the listing, and check it against the title plan (see boundary lines on aerial photos).
• A greener lawn. This is the edit to be most careful with, because the lawn is part of the property. Evening out the colour of a healthy lawn is one thing; painting grass over bare dirt, weeds or damage that a buyer will see at the inspection is the kind of enhancement Consumer Affairs Victoria warns about. Keep it light and say so.

Never

These change the property itself, or misstate where it is. The guidance names most of them directly.

• Removing or adding permanent features. NSW Fair Trading says agents must not change the appearance of a property by digitally removing or adding features (NSW Fair Trading). That means power lines and poles, a substation, the neighbour’s wall, a water tank, an air conditioning unit, a fence.
• Hiding defects. Cracks, stains, damp, mould, peeling paint, damaged surfaces. Photos enhanced to hide undesirable features are exactly what Consumer Affairs Victoria lists as giving the wrong impression (Consumer Affairs Victoria).
• Changing fixtures and finishes. New benchtops, different flooring, a repainted wall, updated appliances. Features and fixtures are among the characteristics Victoria says must not be misrepresented.
• Zooming in on a view. NSW Fair Trading names this: do not zoom a photo of the view to make it look closer.
• A view or a park that is not from the property. A photo of a nearby beach or park taken off the property must say “location shot” on the photo (NSW Fair Trading).
• Old photos. A photo taken before the property deteriorated or changed no longer portrays it, and NSW Fair Trading gives it as an example of a misleading advertisement.
• A renovation shown as fact. A render of what the kitchen could look like is a statement about the property’s potential, which Victoria also lists. If you use one, it must be unmistakably labelled as a concept, never presented as the room today.

What each state says

The Australian Consumer Law applies in every state and territory. These are the regulators we checked in October 2026 and what each says about photos.

• New South Wales has the most specific guidance: no digitally adding or removing features, lighting adjusted only for poor light, no zooming a view, “location shot” labels, and photos must truthfully and fairly represent the property (NSW Fair Trading).
• Victoria lists photos “digitally or otherwise enhanced to hide undesirable features or promote other features” among those that give a wrong impression (Consumer Affairs Victoria).
• Western Australia says agents must not make false or misleading claims “verbally, in writing or in photographs” (Consumer Protection WA).
• Queensland’s property advertising guidance does not mention photos. It states that a false or misleading representation about selling land is an offence under the Australian Consumer Law, which covers photos as much as words (Queensland Government).

Agency policies are often stricter than any of these. Where yours is, it is the rule that applies to you.

NSW: tenants’ belongings

Since 21 September 2026, agents in New South Wales who photograph a rented property for publication must give the tenant notice first. If a photo or video shows the tenant’s or their dependent child’s belongings, inside or out, the agent must give the tenant a free copy and get their written consent before publishing it (NSW Fair Trading). If you plan to remove belongings digitally instead, check with NSW Fair Trading whether that changes what you need. A separate NSW rule on disclosing digitally altered rental images is also on its way; see “Rentals in NSW” in our virtual staging guide.

How to disclose

• Put the label on the image itself, so it travels with the photo to the portals and to social media.
• Say it in the listing text as well.
• Keep the original photos, so you can show what was changed if anyone asks.

This article is general information, not legal advice. For a specific listing, check with your agency’s compliance team or your state regulator.

How Duskpix handles it

Duskpix is built around this line. Its edits hold walls, windows, floors and fittings as shot and make only the change you ask for. Staging adds furniture and nothing else (see virtual staging), Declutter clears clutter and belongings from a room, and item removal takes out the bin or the car you point at (see item removal), and a boundary prints “Indicative boundaries only” on the photo by default and hands you the disclaimer wording to paste into the listing. The judgement about what a buyer should see stays with you.