I am going to be direct, because the gentle version is not working. Since January 1, 2026, California has required a conspicuous disclosure on every digitally altered listing photo, plus access to the unaltered original. It is Assembly Bill 723, it added Section 10140.8 to the Business and Professions Code, and it is not an MLS guideline. It is statute.
One review of 297 listings found that 95.3% of them satisfied neither requirement. Not one of the two. Neither.
So let's fix yours.
What counts as altered
The law is about changing how the property is represented. Virtual staging is named directly and it is the big one. Digitally adding furniture, rugs, art, a sectional that does not exist. Also covered: digitally removing furniture or fixtures, which surprises people, because "virtually decluttering" feels like a kindness. It is not. It is an alteration. Swapping a flat gray sky for a dramatic blue one is an alteration. Day-to-dusk conversions are an alteration. Removing the neighbor's RV, erasing power lines, repainting the house, adding a pool that is a drawing. All of it.
What is not covered is ordinary enhancement that does not change what the property is. Exposure, white balance, straightening verticals, basic color correction. Making a dark room look bright is fine. Making a dark room contain a sofa is not.
What compliance actually requires
Two parts, and half a disclosure is not a disclosure.
A reasonably conspicuous statement on or adjacent to the image. The phrasing most MLSs want is "Digitally Altered" or "Virtually Staged," placed in the photo description field rather than buried in a site footer. On most portals the description sits right under the carousel. A disclaimer at the bottom of the page does not count as adjacent.
Access to the original. In the MLS, publish the unaltered original immediately before or after the altered version in the photo sequence. In an advertisement, provide a link, URL or QR code to the original. On a site you control, host the original itself.
Print is where everyone fails. Your open house flyer, your mailer, your magazine ad. If it carries an altered image it needs the disclosure text and a QR code or link to the originals. Yes, on the flyer. Yes, on the just-listed postcard.
The vendor conversation you should be having
Call whoever does your virtual staging and tell them you need two deliverables per room: the altered image and the matching original, with the disclosure already applied wherever they control the output. Any staging vendor still handing you a single file in 2026 is handing you a compliance gap and letting you sign for it.
Same with your photographer on twilight conversions. If the dusk shot was made in Photoshop at two in the afternoon, you need the daylight original in the sequence.
Why I actually like this law
I market luxury listings for a living. My whole job is making a property look like the best version of itself. You would think a disclosure law would annoy me.
It does not, because the alternative is worse. When every listing is quietly enhanced, buyers stop believing any of them, and your beautiful honest photography gets discounted along with everyone else's fiction. A market where altered images are labeled is a market where unaltered images carry weight again. That is good for anybody doing real work.
And practically: a buyer who shows up expecting the staged version and finds an empty room is a buyer who is now suspicious of everything else you told them. The disclosure costs you nothing. The surprise costs you the relationship.
One more thing on the horizon. AB 2025 extends similar requirements to rental listings starting January 1, 2027, so if you or your brokerage touches leasing, that is a calendar item.
Go audit your active listings today. Fifteen minutes a listing, and it is the cheapest risk you will retire all month.
This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Check your MLS rules and talk to your broker or counsel about your specific listings.
