Photo of house on estate agent marketing material

[nonymouse]

This is a slightly odd one, so please bear with me! I live opposite a pair of semi-detatched houses. One of the houses (number 5) has just been sold by a local estate agent. The house it's attached to (number 7) is my friend's house.

 

This morning, along with the post, a glossy marketing leaflet from the estate agent who sold number 5 has come through the door. It's got pictures of a number of local properties, with a slogan 'We've Sold All These Houses!'. My friend from number 7 has just been over brandishing a copy of the leaflet, very upset that right there on the front of the leaflet is a picture of number 5 and number 7 (obviously, they're semi-detached!) but she's annoyed that her house is being used on the leaflet even though it's not been sold (or even for sale) by the estate agent, and she's not given them permission to use a picture of her house. I've tried telling her it's fine and it's just not possible to show a picture of one half of a semi-detatched house without it looking silly, but she won't listen - she does not want her house used for marketing purposes.

 

I suppose I can kind of see her point - it wouldn't bother me, personally, but it bothers her. She's not a CAG user, hence I'm posting here on her behalf - Does anyone know if the estate agent has done anything wrong by using a photo of someone's house on marketing material without the owner's permission?

 

Thanks in advance!

[unclebulgaria67]

She could go legal on this and ask them to stop using any picture showing her house on marketing literature. They will probably just agree to not publish again. She could not go directly to any court for any time of judgement/compensation for this. Any court would want her to contact the Estate Agent first and get them to stop. By go legal, I mean she should write to them to get them to stop using any image of her property.

 

There have been cases before, where someone was selling a calendar of houses in a town and one of the property owners took the calendar company to court. I think because the house was featured for one of the months, without the property owners permission, some form of compensation was paid, based on the number of catalogues sold. I can't remember exactly, as this was years ago. But you could google it to see if any results come up.

[nonymouse]

Thanks Uncle Bulgaria. She's calmed down a bit now (!) but that's really helpful, thanks.

[Conniff]

I wouldn't bother to do anything, the leaflet has been circulated so can't be withdrawn and there probably won't be the same pictures on the next leaflet.

 

 

I don't see what her point is anyway as people can see her house when they walk or drive by.

[nonymouse]

 

 

I don't see what her point is anyway as people can see her house when they walk or drive by.

 

I agree with you, and have made that point, but she feels very aggrieved that the picture has been used without her permission!

[ericsbrother]

the house is not a trade mark or similar device so permission is not needed to photograph and use an image of it (same applies to taking pictures of people in the street) as long as the advert it appears in is not intended to deceive. Can only suggest she contacts estate agent and asks that they dont use it again as she has no intention of moving and it is embarassing to appar as doing so.

[ssparks2003]

Agree with ericsbrother, people get too hung up on things like this. as long as the house is visible from the road (ie they have not commited trespass etc to take the photo) then it their choice. has your friend complained to google yet for their use of the house in streetviews?

[andydd]

Yes...people do get hung about about this, I recently saw a YouTube video of guys taking photos around London, they were approached by 'security guards' at every location, and most threatened to call the police, the police arrived and Im happy to say that the police told the security guards that the photographers were quite entitled to take the pictures.

 

Of course in this instance, if by claiming the property was sold it caused a loss in some way you may have a hope of pursuing successful legal action but its unlikely.