Why it matters
In July 2026 the Mamdani administration announced that the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection will require rental listings containing AI-altered or digitally altered images to carry a clear and conspicuous disclosure, enforced in coordination with major listing platforms once the rule is finalized. Separately, Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal’s A11635 would amend the Real Property Law to require disclosure of digitally altered images statewide and to publish the unaltered version alongside the altered one; it carries no fines and is expected to be taken up when the legislature convenes in January. California and Wisconsin already have disclosure laws on the books.
Both measures draw the same line: disclosure is triggered by edits that change the condition of the property, not by the use of software. Virtual staging that adds furniture is on one side. A white-balance correction is on the other.
What it changes
Disclosure side: adding, removing or altering furniture, appliances, flooring, walls, landscaping, or anything else that is not at the property.
No-disclosure side: exposure, sharpening, white balance, color correction, straightening, cropping and angle — adjustments that do not change what is actually there.
The state bill would require the unaltered image to run alongside the altered one. If you stage virtually, keep the original frame paired with the staged frame in the same folder; you may have to publish it.
Enforcement is planned through the portals. A disclosure on the portal feed and none in your email blast is exactly the inconsistency someone screenshots.
Nothing here prohibits virtual staging. What is prohibited is presenting a staged room as the room — which was already a misrepresentation problem before anyone wrote a rule.
Use this language
The disclosure line
Some images in this listing are virtually staged. Furniture and décor shown are digital and are not included; the apartment is delivered unfurnished. Unaltered photographs of each staged room are available on request.
Next steps
- Add an “AI or virtually staged” flag to listing intake and carry it into every channel, including email.
- Keep every staged image paired with its original file for the life of the listing agreement.
- Put the disclosure in the same place in the same words every time, so nobody has to remember the phrasing.
- Re-check the DCWP rule and A11635 in January rather than assuming today’s position holds.
From field note to send
See what the listing email actually looks like
Compare the four single-listing designs before deciding whether a $99 send fits this property.