Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I purchased a new home last year. The listing agent still has the YouTube video of my home with the address as the title. It shows the exterior and interior of my home. He says it is still available for his marketing purposes. I believe it violates my right to privacy. I know that websites like Redfin and Zillow remove photos after a sale. Is this legal?
1 Answer from Attorneys
This is a very novel question, and one I am afraid you are very unlikely ever to get a conclusive answer to. The only time laws are made is when a matter either a) is of such public importance that it results in the legislature passing a statute, or b) is of such economic consequence to a business or individual with enough money to litigate through trial and up to a court of appeals that a binding appellate ruling is published. So all I can do is offer my educated opinion on what the result might be if you sued.
I think you would lose. It is well established law that you have no right of privacy in anything to do with your home that can be viewed from any adjacent public place without assistive devices (e.g. binoculars, telephoto lenses, etc.). So you certainly don't have a case regarding the exterior photos. That's why Google doesn't need your consent for its Street View feature.
As for the interior, I think you run up against the problem that the photos were taken and published with the consent of the owner at the time, and furthermore do not depict the interior of the house as it is now that you occupy it. You can't go back in time and assert a right of privacy to all past interior images of a house you own. A law that would allow you to do that would allow you to demand that every past owner turn over their family photo albums, for example, or allow you to block them from publishing or selling such photos. That would be an unfair limit on their rights based on an asserted privacy interest in images that don't even depict your home as you live in it. I can't imagine any judge or legislature concluding that would be an appropriate legal rule.
You have a right to control images of the inside of your home as it is now. When you go to sell you may want to negotiate with your listing brokerage regarding rights to any photos or videos they take, but I don't see any basis for you to assert a privacy rights in images that were made before you even owned the house. If those rights even exist, they belong to the previous owner.