Virtual Staging for Rental Listings: What You May Show

Yes, you can virtually stage a rental listing, and the test is the same as for a sale: the photo may show furniture that is not there, but it may not misrepresent the home, and more of the rules now want you to say it was altered. Rentals also have rules of their own. California's new Civil Code section 1940.11, from 1 January 2027, requires anyone advertising a rental with an altered image to say so on or next to it and to include the original. NSW has passed a similar rule that is waiting to commence, and New York City has announced one. In the UK, the codes for letting agents and landlords treat a photo as a statement about the property.

This guide is for landlords, property managers and letting agents in the US, the UK and Australia, and quotes the rules as we read them on 25 October 2026. We make an AI staging tool, AI Flip Room, so we have an interest in staging being used. It is a reason to quote the rules rather than paraphrase them.

Which rules apply to a rental listing?

California: a disclosure law for rentals from 1 January 2027

AB 2025, approved by the Governor on 27 September 2026, adds section 1940.11 to the Civil Code: "A person who includes a digitally altered image in an advertisement or other promotional material for rental of real property shall include in the advertisement or promotional material a disclosure that the image has been altered. The disclosure shall be reasonably conspicuous and located on or adjacent to the image." The ad must also "include the unaltered version of the images from which the digitally altered images were created in the posting", or a link, URL or QR code that leads to them.

Four details matter to landlords:

1. It covers everyone. The section speaks of "A person", not only of licensees, so a landlord advertising their own unit is covered. A licensee who breaks it "shall be deemed to have violated that person’s licensing law."
2. Staging counts. The definition of an altered image is the one in AB 723 and lists "furniture"; light, colour, exposure and cropping do not count. An image made entirely by AI counts too: "It has been fully generated through artificial intelligence software by or at the direction of a person."
3. Pure renderings are spared the original, not the label. The duty to include the original "does not apply to an image, architectural rendering, or artistic rendering that was not originally created through the use of a capture device." A staged photo was made with a camera, so it needs both.
4. A label does not cure a misleading photo. "This section does not alter or abridge any law pertaining to false or misleading advertising."

The same Act amends AB 723's section so that the sale rule "does not apply to an advertisement or other promotional material for a leasehold exceeding one year’s duration". Our reading: from 2027 a long lease is advertised under the rental rule, which also wants the original in the posting. The sale side is in our California and Los Angeles articles.

New York City: announced, not yet a rule

The city's Rental Ripoff Hearing Report of July 2026 says New Yorkers "are regularly let down when the reality of an apartment does not meet the expectations set by the rental listing photos." The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) plans to use its rulemaking power "to require that any rental listings containing digitally altered photos include a clear and conspicuous disclosure to consumers" that "the photos have been modified by AI or were digitally altered." The report speaks of what happens "After the rule is finalized and goes into effect"; we found no rule text yet. The rest of the state is in our New York article.

Rentals listed in an MLS

A rental in an MLS is under the MLS's photo rules. Houston's HAR sets its photo minimums for "Single Family, Townhouse-Condominium, High Rise, Multi-Family and Rentals" alike, and its staging rule is the same for all of them: staging "limited to the addition of furnishings and wall décor", indicated in the Photo Description. CRMLS's rule 11.5.2 applies to any altered image submitted to the MLS: the original "immediately before or after", and a label such as "Virtually Staged" in the photo's text field. The rules for each MLS we have read are in MLS virtual staging rules by state and province; the free disclosure wording tool gives the label and the field for one listing.

The UK: the letting codes treat a photo as a statement

No UK rule we read names virtual staging of a let, but three codes for letting agents and landlords put photos on the same footing as words. The Property Ombudsman's code for letting agents in England, clause 7a: agents must "take all reasonable steps that all statements that you make about a property, whether oral, pictorial or written, are accurate and are not misleading." Rent Smart Wales, 2.6: "All statements made about a property, whether spoken, in pictures or in writing, must be correct and not misleading." Scotland's statutory Letting Agent Code of Practice, paragraph 38: "Your advertising and marketing must be clear, accurate and not knowingly or negligently misleading." Over all advertising sits CAP Code rule 3.1: "Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so."

The portals ask for the same thing in their own words. Rightmove: "AI images should be displayed alongside genuine photographs of the property". Zoopla's member terms: where photos are made with AI or similar technology, "the Member will make this clear". The full UK picture is in our UK article.

Australia: the NSW rental rule and the portals

NSW's Residential Tenancies Amendment (Protection of Personal Information) Act 2026 inserts section 22B into the Residential Tenancies Act. Subsection (5) says a landlord or agent "must not include in an advertisement or other offer relating to residential premises offered for rent digitally generated or altered images that would be reasonably likely to mislead or deceive a person unless" the advertisement states "the fact the images are digitally generated or altered". The maximum penalty is 50 penalty units for an individual and 200 otherwise. The Act commences "on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation", and when our Australia article last checked, on 13 October 2026, it had not. "The Secretary may issue guidelines" on what is likely to mislead.

The government's release named the case it was aimed at: "using artificially generated furniture that shows a double bed in a bedroom that is only large enough to fit a single, or digitally modifying photos to obscure property damage." Our reading: staging that keeps the room's true proportions is not what the release describes, but label it anyway, because the test is the renter's impression.

The portals already ask. realestate.com.au's policy covers "residential property listings for sale or for rent", and clause 4.1.40 allows AI-edited content only where it is "not likely to mislead prospective buyers or renters on the nature, condition, or features of the property being marketed or the surrounding area" and "the AI usage is clearly disclosed in a prominent location on or adjacent to the relevant content." Domain wants images that are "current and unembellished representations of the opportunity". More in our Australia article.

Furnished or unfurnished? The question a staged rental raises

A buyer knows the seller's sofa leaves with the seller; a renter may not, because many lets are offered furnished. A staged photo of an empty flat can be read as a promise that the furniture comes with it. CAP's advice on misleading advertising names the risk: images that suggest "the product comes with extras when it does not, are likely to mislead."

Our reading: say that the flat is unfurnished in the first lines of the listing, and label each staged photo on or next to it. If the unit is let furnished, photograph the real furniture instead of staging it; a renter will hold you to it. Portals check too: Zillow says that "On rentals, for example, photos are automatically screened before posting to filter out images that are irrelevant to the property or inappropriate for the platform."

BeforeAfter

What changes when the renter comes to view?

Renters often decide at the first viewing, and the photo has set what they expect. That is the gap New York City's report describes. Three habits close it: put the original next to the staged photo, so the viewing holds no surprise; stage to the room's real size; and when you re-let a home with a tenant still in it, ask before you photograph their belongings. In NSW that is the law, and its rules on notice and consent, including digital removal of a tenant's things, are in can you remove furniture from listing photos? Edits other than furniture, such as the sky, the lawn and the view, follow the line in which listing photo edits are allowed.

What Airbnb and the other portals say about edited photos is in virtual staging rules by listing portal.

Sources

Every source below was read on 25 October 2026. The date after each is the source's own, where it gives one.

• California Legislature, AB 2025, Tenancy: digitally altered images: disclosure, Chapter 572, approved 27 September 2026. Read 25 October 2026.
• CRMLS, Rules & Policies (PDF), rule 11.5.2, effective 10 July 2026. Read 25 October 2026.
• HAR, MLS Rules and Regulations (PDF), rule 1.25.1. Read 25 October 2026.
• City of New York, Rental Ripoff Hearing Report (PDF), section 4.2, July 2026. Read 25 October 2026.
• The Property Ombudsman, Code of Practice for Residential Letting Agents, England (PDF), clause 7a, effective 1 May 2026. Read 25 October 2026.
• Scottish Government, Letting Agent Code of Practice, paragraph 38, in force since 31 January 2018. Read 25 October 2026.
• Welsh Government, Rent Smart Wales Code of Practice (PDF), 2.6. Read 25 October 2026.
• CAP, UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, section 03, rule 3.1. Read 25 October 2026.
• CAP, Advice Online: Misleading advertising. Read 25 October 2026.
• Rightmove, Reporting misleading property adverts, modified 22 September 2026. Read 25 October 2026.
• Zoopla, Member Terms and Conditions, clause 5.1(c), updated 1 December 2025. Read 25 October 2026.
• Parliament of NSW, Residential Tenancies Amendment (Protection of Personal Information) Bill 2026, as passed by both Houses (PDF), section 22B. Read 25 October 2026.
• NSW Government, ministerial release on the rental advertising law. Read 25 October 2026.
• NSW Government, Advertising rental properties in circumstances of domestic violence and abuse, the landlord's page on taking and publishing photos. Read 25 October 2026.
• realestate.com.au, Acceptable Use Policy – Residential, clause 4.1.40, amended September 2026. Read 25 October 2026.
• Domain, Breach listings: images and URLs. Read 25 October 2026.
• Zillow, AI-generated listing photos and why transparency matters, 22 July 2026. Read 25 October 2026.

The names of the MLSs, portals and organisations above are their owners' trademarks; we're not affiliated with any of them. Rules change: check the current version before you rely on it. This is not legal advice.