Under NSW Fair Trading’s guideline for agents, a photo taken on the property itself needs no label, while a photo taken in the immediate surrounding area, not on the property, should carry the words ‘location shot’. The words around a picture count too: statements made with photographs of views and local facilities must not be false or misleading either.
General informationThis page reads NSW Fair Trading’s advertising guidelines for property agents and Consumer Affairs Victoria’s explanation of the national consumer law, as at October 2026. It is not legal advice; NSW Fair Trading or a solicitor can say how the rules apply to a particular advertisement.
Where the picture was taken decides the label
The guideline’s own example is a photograph of a magnificent beach view. Without a label, a buyer cannot tell whether that view is seen from the property or the beach is simply nearby. So the guideline sorts pictures by where the camera stood. A water view, parkland or bushland photographed on the property needs no label. The same kind of scene photographed nearby, but not on the property, should have ‘location shot’ printed on it.
The label has a narrow meaning. NSW says ‘location shot’ should refer only to photographs of facilities and services in the immediate surrounding area, such as a park, playground, beach, shopping village or café, and that the scene in such a photo generally cannot be seen from the property and was not taken on it. A location shot tells the viewer the scene is close by, not that the home looks out on it.
Pictures and words the guideline marks down
NSW lists examples of photographic advertisements that are likely to mislead, give the wrong impression or be unclear to anyone relying on them. In our words, they are:
- UnclearA water view or scenery placed next to a photo of the house, so a viewer cannot tell whether it is seen from the house or is a location shot.
- No distance givenCafés and shops with ‘minutes to this!’ or ‘stroll to the shops’ typed above them, which gives no clear idea how far away they are.
- Not the viewA park and river captioned ‘opposite home’ when that view cannot in fact be seen from the property.
- Needs moreA beach with ‘90 seconds walk to water’s edge, not actual view’ printed along the bottom, which the guideline says needs more clarification.
The last example carries a label and is still marked down. Consumer Protection WA, writing about advertising in general, makes a related point: the overall impression an advertisement creates is important, and a qualification in small print may not correct a misleading impression made by bigger, bolder words.
Distance written as a number
For the description that goes with a photograph, the guideline prefers a measured distance to a vague one, and gives two pairs of examples.
| Vague wording | Wording the guideline prefers |
|---|---|
| ‘close to beach’ | ‘2 km to beach’ |
| ‘within walking distance of shops’ | ‘village shops within 3 km’ |
Behind the pairs sits an older ACCC guide for the real estate industry, written under the Trade Practices Act 1974, which NSW still cites: vague statements about where land is are likely to mislead, and only factual information about location should be used. The ACCC’s current advice to every business is the same in spirit: a business must be able to prove any claim it makes or advertises.
How the guideline’s examples might read on one caption sheet. The home, the distances and the captions are made up; only the rules applied to them come from NSW Fair Trading.
- Frame 1 · living room, photographed in the home
- No label needed: it was taken on the property.
- Frame 2 · harbour, seen from the home’s balcony
- No label needed, for the same reason: it was taken on the property.
- Frame 3 · beach, not visible from the home
- Printed with ‘location shot’; caption gives a measured distance, such as ‘1.4 km to beach’, in place of ‘close to beach’.
- Frame 4 · café strip, not visible from the home
- Printed with ‘location shot’; caption ‘village shops within 900 m’, in place of ‘stroll to the shops’.
What the law says about land
NSW Fair Trading sets out section 30 of the Australian Consumer Law: in trade or commerce, no one may make a false or misleading representation about what interest in the land is on offer, the price to be paid, where the land is, its characteristics, what it can be used for or may lawfully be used for, or whether facilities associated with it exist or are available.
Consumer Affairs Victoria gives the plainest example: a real estate agent would be misrepresenting a property’s characteristics by advertising ‘beachfront lots’ that do not front the beach. It adds two points that matter for captions. A representation can mislead even when it is partly true , and whether one misleads depends on the circumstances, because what misleads one group of consumers may not mislead another.
NSW’s guidance ends its labelling advice by saying agents and their employees should make every effort to give consumers an accurate depiction of the property’s features. The full guideline carries more examples than this page repeats.