How to disclose a virtually staged photo in California

The bill and the section

AB 723 of the 2025–2026 session was chaptered as Chapter 497, Statutes of 2025. It added Business and Professions Code § 10140.8, which took effect on 1 January 2026. The section text is also published at california.public.law; check the chaptered bill text if the two ever differ.

Who has the duty

Section 10140.8(a)(1) applies to “a real estate broker or salesperson, or person acting on their behalf” who includes a digitally altered image in an advertisement or other promotional material for the sale of real property. If that is you or your vendor, the duty travels with the image.

What AB 723 requires

1. A statement that the image has been altered. It has to be reasonably conspicuous, located on or adjacent to the image, and include language indicating that the unaltered images can be accessed at the linked website, URL or QR code.
2. A link to the original. The advertising has to include a link to a publicly accessible website, URL or QR code that includes, and clearly identifies, the original, unaltered image.
3. The original in the posting, where the site is controlled. If the advertisement is posted on a website the broker or salesperson controls, the unaltered version has to be in the posting; a link to a public page with the original is allowed.

The requirement is about the altered image and the original, not about the style of the staging. A staged frame with no statement and no route to the original does not meet it on the reading above.

What counts as digitally altered

The section defines a digitally altered image as one altered with photo editing software or artificial intelligence to add, remove or change elements in the image, including fixtures, furniture, appliances, flooring, walls, paint colour, hardscape, landscape, facade, floor plans, and elements outside of, or visible from, the property. Staged furniture is on that list, so a furnished photograph is covered.

The section excludes an image where only lighting, sharpening, white balance, colour correction, angle, straightening, cropping, exposure or other common photo editing adjustments are made that do not change how the property is represented.

What that looks like for one photo

The same rule applies to every staged image in the listing, not only the hero photograph. If the listing is also entered in an MLS with its own label or watermark rule, satisfy the stricter combination; the five rule sets are compared on /mls-disclosure.

How this site's output should be labelled

This site delivers the staged frame; the original is the file you uploaded. Keep both. The site does not add the AB 723 statement for you, so add it in the listing tool or overlay it before upload. Do not rely on the file name, the gallery caption or the page title: the statement has to travel with the image.

This page is a dated reading of the published text, checked 2026-11-02, and is not legal advice. The bill text is the authority, and a broker or a lawyer decides how it applies to a particular listing.

Sources

• California Legislative Information, AB 723 (2025–2026) — the bill text and status; Chapter 497, Statutes of 2025.
• Business and Professions Code § 10140.8 — the section that carries the requirement.
• CRMLS, Digitally Altered Image Guidance & FAQs — an MLS reading of the label and original-photo mechanics.

Checked 2026-11-02. Report a correction if the section text or the date is wrong.