Virtual Staging Disclosure

ProperPics · Effective date: 30 September 2026

ProperPics produces virtually staged property images for estate agents. We believe staging should help buyers picture a home, never mislead them. This page explains exactly what virtual staging is, and the honesty rules we hold ourselves to.

What virtual staging is, and is not

Virtual staging means furniture, rugs, art, plants and décor shown in some listing images are digitally added to an empty or sparsely furnished room, to help buyers picture how the space could be used. It is a visualisation aid, not a photograph of the room as it actually stands, and no substitute for viewing the property in person.

Where a room already contains furniture, we may digitally clear the seller's movable furniture and décor and restyle the room afresh. When we do this, we reconstruct only the wall, floor and surface finishes that the removed furniture was covering, reproducing them faithfully from the surrounding photograph. We keep the room's structure, fixtures, finishes and any defect exactly as they are, and we never use clearing or restyling to hide damage, wear or any feature of the property.

Furniture and décor are illustrative: not included in the sale

Any furniture, fittings, appliances, soft furnishings or décor visible only because of virtual staging are illustrative. They are not physically present, do not form part of the property, and are not included in the purchase or rental price unless separately and expressly agreed in writing. Small décor we add to dress a kitchen or bathroom, such as towels, plants and tableware, is illustrative in the same way.

We do not alter the property itself

Virtual staging adds movable furnishings only. We do not add, remove, hide or alter walls, windows, doors, built-in fixtures, room dimensions or proportions, views, the building's exterior, the garden, or any defect, damage or feature of the property (for example damp, cracks, or neighbouring structures). This keeps our images compliant with the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008, in particular section 41(3), which makes it a false representation to imply that immovable property has characteristics or amenities it does not have.

The permitted treatments described on this page (clearing movable furniture, recovering a real window view, the optional day-to-dusk exterior conversion described below, and cosmetic brightness, colour and haze correction) are the only ways in which a photograph is changed. None of them adds, removes, hides or alters the structure, dimensions, fixtures, finishes, the building's exterior, the garden, or any defect or genuine feature of the property. Apart from the day-to-dusk conversion, which changes the light and the sky and nothing else, each leaves the time of day as photographed.

Photo enhancement

Some photographs are enhanced rather than staged. Enhancement means cosmetic adjustments to the photograph itself, such as correcting brightness and colour, straightening a crooked or tilted image, sharpening, and clearing atmospheric haze. Enhancement only improves how clearly the existing property is shown. It never changes the property, its dimensions or its condition, and it is never used to make a defect or fault less visible.

Where a window appears over-bright or "blown out" in the original photograph, we may recover the view through it by restoring detail that is genuinely present in that same photograph. We only ever recover the real view the camera actually captured. We never invent, add to or improve a view the property does not have.

Enhancement adjusts only the photograph, never the property. Apart from the day-to-dusk conversion described below, we do not change the weather, time of day or season shown, and we do not replace the sky. The building, garden and surroundings are left exactly as photographed.

Day-to-dusk exteriors

One treatment does change the time of day shown, so we name it on its own. A day-to-dusk conversion re-lights an exterior photograph to a twilight sky with the interior lights on. It is optional, it is used only on an exterior, and a listing includes a small, stated number of them (see our pricing page for the current allowance). The conversion changes the light and the sky and nothing else: the building, garden, boundary, surroundings and every defect stay exactly as photographed, and nothing is added to or removed from the property. A converted photograph comes with the visible "Digitally Enhanced" mark, switched on by default, so a buyer can see that the light in it is not the light the camera captured.

How staged images are marked

Every virtually staged image we deliver comes with a visible, legible on-image mark reading "Virtually Staged", which is switched on by default, and a matching disclosure sentence is included in the listing copy we generate. Every image file also says it is virtually staged in its embedded metadata; we always write that, whether or not the visible mark is on. Agents may choose to download images without the visible mark; if they do, the agent is solely responsible for disclosing that the images are virtually staged wherever they publish them. The same holds for photographs agents furnish themselves with our online tool: each comes with the visible mark, which the agent may switch off before downloading, and the agent is then responsible for that disclosure. The disclosure sentence in the copy is the primary disclosure and should be kept wherever the image is published, even if the image itself is cropped or edited. For example:

"Selected photographs have been virtually staged; furniture and décor shown are illustrative and not included in the sale. Original photographs are available from the agent on request."

Photographs that are only cosmetically corrected (brightness, colour, straightening, sharpening, haze) carry no visible mark, because nothing in the property is changed. Their file still says, in its embedded metadata, that the photograph was digitally enhanced by us. Photographs we change beyond that, with a day-to-dusk conversion, a recovered window view or cleared furniture, carry a visible "Digitally Enhanced" mark on the same terms as a staged image: on by default, the disclosure always embedded in the file, and the agent responsible for the disclosure if they switch the mark off.

In short: the visible mark is on every staged photograph and every photograph changed beyond a cosmetic correction, and every photograph we have edited says so in its embedded metadata.

What we will not do

  • We will not insert people into images.
  • We will not invent features the property lacks (for example a sea view, a fireplace, a pool or a chandelier).
  • We will not conceal or erase defects, damage or undesirable surroundings.
  • We will not misrepresent a room's size or condition.

The estate agent's responsibility

We supply staged images to the estate agency. The agency, as the property practitioner, remains responsible under the Consumer Protection Act and the Property Practitioners Act 22 of 2019 for not misleading buyers, including keeping the "Virtually Staged" mark and disclosure intact wherever the image appears (or, for an image downloaded without the visible mark, disclosing that it is virtually staged), and disclosing the property's actual condition. Virtual staging never replaces an agent's duty to disclose a property's defects. Buyers should always inspect a property in person.

ProperPics is not itself a "property practitioner" under the Property Practitioners Act 22 of 2019. We supply images and copy as a service; the agency holds the mandate and remains the property practitioner responsible to the buyer.

Questions

If you are a buyer and want to see the original photograph, please ask the estate agent marketing the property: the agent keeps the originals. If you want to check whether a specific image was virtually staged by us, contact us at hello@properpics.co.za.