How to Photograph a Tenanted Home

It’s a good idea to market a property rental early so a tenant is ready to move in shortly after the current one vacates. However, photographing a tenanted rental is not as simple as dropping in to take a few shots.

Property Managers and Landlords will find, when they fill in Entry Notice RTA form 9, that there is no tick box allowing for a photographer. What you can do instead is get mutual consent from the tenant to enter the property for this purpose.

Once you’ve gained access to the tenanted property, you’ll also need to be cautious of how you take photographs. You will need written permission from the tenant to use photos of their permission in advertising. This includes furniture, vehicles and personal items inside and outside the property.

In fact, using such photos without a tenant’s permission is an offence. If they don’t consent to use of photos with their possessions featured, you have a few options.

You can lodge a dispute resolution request with the RTA to see if both parties can reach a mutual agreement. You can also digitally remove possessions from the images. Or, you can go ahead and wait for the property to be vacated or simply advertise the property with no images.

Removing items from images is efficient and fairly quick when conducted by professionals. It is not considered false advertising because there is no modification to the actual property, which is still represented in its true form.