AI in real estate listings: what is allowed and how to disclose it

You can use AI-generated images and video in a property listing on two conditions: they must not change what is being sold, and they must say, visibly, that AI made them. Since 2 August 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act has required that disclosure whenever the content could pass for real. In Spain, property advertising law already required listings to match the property, to the point that what is advertised can be enforced.

What Article 50 of the EU AI Act says, in plain terms

Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the AI Act, has applied generally since 2 August 2026, and so has Article 50 on transparency. The digital omnibus on AI, Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, did not move that date. What it did was give providers of systems placed on the market before 2 August until 2 December 2026 to comply with technical marking.

Article 50 splits obligations between two roles:

• Provider: whoever develops an AI system and markets it under its own name or trademark; for example, the company behind a video-generation model. It must mark outputs in a machine-readable format, such as a watermark or metadata, so they can be detected as artificial (Art. 50(2)).
• Deployer: whoever uses the system under its own authority in a professional capacity. If the output is a deep fake, the deployer must disclose that it has been artificially generated or manipulated (Art. 50(4)).

Article 3(60) defines a deep fake as AI-generated or manipulated image, audio or video content that ‘resembles existing persons, objects, places, entities or events’ and would falsely appear to someone to be authentic. It is not limited to people: the European Commission’s FAQ says so explicitly. An aerial-style film of a real villa, generated from its photographs, depicts a real place and could pass for drone footage. The prudent reading is that it qualifies.

Disclosure must be ‘clear and distinguishable’, at the latest on first exposure (Art. 50(5)). The Commission adds that it must be perceivable by people, through a visible or audible label; the machine-readable marking added by the provider is not enough. And the exception for ‘evidently’ creative, artistic or fictional works is hard to stretch to a sales listing, which informs buyers about a real asset.

Breaching Article 50 can cost up to €15 million or 3% of worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher; for SMEs, whichever is lower (Art. 99). The Commission has also published a voluntary code of practice with a set of EU icons for labelling.

Who labels: the studio that makes the film or the agency that publishes it?

The Commission’s FAQ says a company remains the deployer even when third parties, such as contractors or freelancers, operate the system on its behalf and under its responsibility and control. What neither the FAQ nor the analyses we have read fully settle is the everyday case: a studio generating the film with its own tools and an agency publishing it on portals and social media. Until there is official guidance, the practical answer has two parts: the film arrives already labelled, and the contract states who keeps the label in place when it is published.

What Spanish advertising law already required

AI has not changed the underlying rule. Royal Decree 515/1989, which protects consumers buying or renting homes in Spain, requires property advertising to reflect the home’s real characteristics, conditions and use, and not to mislead or leave out essential information (Arts. 2 and 3.1). It also makes the details on construction, location, services and facilities shown in an advert enforceable even if the contract does not mention them (Art. 3.2). Spain’s General Advertising Law treats misleading advertising as unlawful, and its consumer protection law makes what is advertised enforceable by the consumer (Art. 61).

In practice: if a film shows views the house does not have, a garden that does not look like that or a larger pool, the buyer could claim what they were shown. An AI label does not fix that. It says how the image was made; it does not make it true.

What idealista has asked for since 2 August 2026

The Spanish portal idealista ties its page on identifying AI-edited photos, updated on 27 July 2026, to the AI Act’s application date:

• Advertisers must flag content generated or substantially modified with AI when uploading or editing photos. The portal recommends always flagging renders, virtual staging and AI-enhanced photos.
• Flagged photos carry a visible label on the image.
• The portal reads C2PA content credentials embedded in the file (metadata recording how it was made) and, where there are none, uses its own detection model. If it detects AI, it flags the photo automatically; advertisers can ask for the label to be removed, and the portal removes it where the AI intervention is minimal.
• Final responsibility lies with the advertiser, towards users and before the law.

The page covers photos only; it does not say how video is treated. If you publish video on idealista, label it the same way and check its help centre.

Slideshow or camera movement

In a separate page on listings with quality videos, updated on 2 March 2025, idealista recommends real footage in motion and warns that presenting still photos as video with effects and transitions comes across as a lack of professionalism or transparency. It is a recommendation; the page mentions no penalty.

And it makes sense. A slideshow strings still photos together with zooms and fades: the viewpoint never changes. A film with generated camera movement is different: the camera travels through the space and the perspective shifts as it would in real footage. But it is not real footage either, which is exactly why it carries a label.

A reference from the US: California AB 723

California has legislated specifically on property images. AB 723 (Chapter 497, Statutes of 2025), in force since 1 January 2026, requires real estate licensees who advertise with digitally altered images to include a ‘reasonably conspicuous’ statement ‘on or adjacent to the image’, plus a link, URL or QR code to the unaltered original. It covers images altered to add, remove or change elements such as furniture, landscaping, views or neighbouring properties, and excludes routine adjustments such as lighting, colour correction or cropping. It does not apply to listings in Spain, but it is a sensible benchmark: keep the originals, and make them easy to find.

What is reasonable to do

1. Label visibly: in the film itself, from the first frame, and in the listing text. If the listing runs in several languages, label it in each one.
2. Add nothing, remove nothing from the property or its surroundings: views, planting, furniture, an overhead power line, the house next door. Correcting light or colour does not change what is for sale; erasing a pylon does.
3. Keep the original photos and the film as delivered, with their dates. If a buyer complains, that is how you show the film comes from the real property, and what the AI did.
4. Agree in writing who labels: whoever produces the film delivers it labelled, and whoever publishes it undertakes not to crop the label on portals or social media.

At LUXAI, every shot comes from a single photo: the AI computes its depth and moves the camera inside it, with no rooms or objects added. We review every shot with the client before publishing, photo retouching is limited to light, colour and sky, and the film is delivered ready to be labelled. We set it out in our AI transparency policy and in what the AI does and what we review.

Disclosure wording you can copy

On screen, as an overlay from the first second:

AI-generated film based on real photographs of the property.

In the listing description:

The video in this listing was generated with artificial intelligence from real photographs of the property. The AI creates the camera movement only; it does not add or remove anything from the property or its surroundings. The original photographs are [included in this listing / available on request].

On social media:

Made with AI from real photos of the property. Nothing added, nothing removed.

For listings aimed at Spanish-speaking buyers, add the Spanish version: «Vídeo generado con IA a partir de fotografías reales de la propiedad». Use these only if they describe what was actually done: if the film includes virtual staging or anything added, say so. Questions about where and how you can publish our films are answered in common questions about using the films.

Spain: a bill, not yet a law

Spain’s Council of Ministers approved a draft Organic Law on the good use and governance of artificial intelligence on 26 May 2026, published in the Spanish Parliament’s official gazette on 12 June. It would classify failing to disclose a deep fake as a serious infringement and gives supervisory powers to AESIA, the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence. As of 27 September 2026 it is still before the Congress of Deputies, at the amendments stage: it is not law, and its wording may change.

Before your next film goes live

To see what an aerial-style film made only from the photos of one of your properties looks like, ask for a free demo: you will have it within 72 hours, with no commitment. Get the demo.

This guide is for information only and is not a substitute for professional advice.