Reference
MLS photo compliance glossary.
Plain-English definitions of the terms behind AB 723 and MLS virtual-staging disclosure — what each one means, and how it shows up in a real listing.
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Terms
The vocabulary of listing-photo compliance.
- AB 723
- California Assembly Bill 723, effective January 1, 2026. It requires a real estate licensee who publishes a digitally altered listing photo to clearly disclose the alteration and make the original, unaltered photo available through a publicly accessible source identified in the listing.
- Business & Professions Code §10140.8
- The California statute section added by AB 723. It is the operative legal text behind California virtual-staging and digitally-altered-image disclosure requirements.
- Digitally altered image
- A listing photograph that has been changed to add, remove, or modify objects or features of the property — including furniture, flooring, paint color, landscaping, and views through windows.
- Virtual staging
- A form of digital alteration that adds furniture, decor, or finishes to a photo of an empty or sparsely furnished room so buyers can visualize the space. Under AB 723 and most MLS rules it must be disclosed.
- Conspicuous (clear and conspicuous) disclosure
- A statement that a photo has been digitally altered, presented so it is readily noticeable to a typical viewer — for example, on or immediately adjacent to the altered image rather than buried in fine print.
- Original (unaltered) image
- The photograph as originally captured, before any digital alteration. AB 723 requires the original to remain available to prospective buyers via a publicly accessible source.
- Verification URL
- A public, buyer-facing web page that displays the original photo alongside the altered version with the disclosure text. SEAREI generates one per listing to satisfy AB 723’s publicly-accessible-original requirement.
- Compliance certificate
- A tamper-evident record documenting which jurisdiction’s rule was applied, the disclosure wording used, and the timestamps of staging and delivery. SEAREI issues one with a SHA-256 manifest as a permanent paper trail.
- Audit trail
- A timestamped log of every state change to a listing image — upload, overlay applied, certificate generated, re-render after revisions — used to reconstruct provenance if an MLS or regulator asks.
- Disclosure-labeled export
- The staged or altered image delivered with the required disclosure wording placed on or adjacent to it, ready to upload to the MLS.
- CRMLS Rule 11.5.2
- The California Regional MLS (the largest MLS in the US) rule implementing AB 723. It requires the unaltered original to appear in the listing immediately before or after the altered image, and the altered image to be labeled in its photo description field.
- NWMLS Rule 80
- The Northwest Multiple Listing Service rule governing disclosure of digitally altered or virtually staged listing photographs in Washington, enforced by the NWMLS Compliance Committee.
- NAR Code of Ethics, Standard of Practice 12-10
- A National Association of REALTORS® standard of practice (2026 Code) addressing truthful presentation in real estate advertising and online content. It applies nationwide to REALTOR® members.
- MLS (Multiple Listing Service)
- A private database where real estate brokers share listing information. Each MLS board sets its own rules — including, increasingly, disclosure requirements for digitally altered listing photos.
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