A new bill in New Jersey seeks to protect homebuyers’ privacy by removing interior listing photos from public MLS feeds after a home is sold.
The bill, introduced in the New Jersey State Assembly earlier this month, requires real estate brokers to provide an image removal request form to homebuyers before the date of sale then have the MLS remove the images offline within 30 days of receiving the form back. The legislation takes it a step further and calls for financial penalties—$500 for the first offense, and up to $1,000 for each subsequent violation.
With data privacy and security front and center amid widespread AI adoption, there’s broad consumer support for other states to adopt similar legislation, according to a recent survey.
In 2025, Hypewired, a digital marketing firm, conducted a survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers which found that 76% of respondents said states should require MLS associations and real estate websites to remove interior listing photos once a home is sold. Homeowners overwhelmingly cited security and family privacy (at 69% each) as their top concerns for pulling interior photos offline, followed closely by doing so as a matter of principle (53%) and fear of scams (48%).
Policies diverge
Many regional MLSs already have policies about removing or hiding interior photos from public syndication feeds after a home is sold, leaving only a single exterior image for public viewing. However, the archive of all listing photos is usually still viewable within the MLS database as part of the property’s official record, accessible only to real estate brokers who subscribe to that MLS, said Tony Verducci Jr., a real estate broker with SERHANT. in Short Hills, New Jersey.
Verducci said that his local MLS, Garden State MLS, recently switched to a system that automatically removes all listing photos or leaves only one exterior image after a home sale.
“When I close out a listing…I have to choose either zero or one photo,” Verducci said.
Homeowners tend to request the removal of interior listing photos that could reveal a home’s layout or for other privacy concerns, Verducci noted. Other times, new homeowners want an image trail removed if the home is in rough shape and needs extensive work, he added.
“Our average sale price is $4 million to $5 million, so it’s higher; the affluent buyers are more concerned, I find,” Verducci said.
While an MLS can hide interior photos on public third-party syndication feeds, a broker can’t just delete photos from the database, which erases part of the property record.
According to connectMLS—a software system many regional MLSs use to power their databases—listing photos cannot be removed. The only acceptable changes include replacing a photo for a change in seasons, adding a higher-quality photo of the same image or new photos reflecting improvements to a home.
Ambiguity on the ground
While reporting on this piece, an RISMedia journalist searched for listing photos of their own home sale from 15 years ago. Zillow and other search portals still display multiple interior photos, with identifiable family portraits hanging on the walls. At the same time, interior listing photos from the journalist’s current home do not appear on these portal sites.
These kinds of scenarios illustrate how inconsistent policy and enforcement can leave consumers exposed, as photos are shuffled around various platforms during a transaction.
In areas where an MLS doesn’t have a clear-cut policy around photo removals, it’s up to the listing broker or agent to remove images from the MLS feeds if the new homeowner requests it.
The process is a little different for FSBO sellers who market their own listings online, according to Omer Reiner, a licensed Realtor® and president of FL Cash Home Buyers and Texas Home Buyers Group.
“The easiest way to remove the pictures is to go to your dashboard or your account settings on each site and search for a ‘hide’ or ‘request removal’ prompt to take them down,” Reiner said.
It can take some MLSs time to update listing information, so Reiner recommends that homeowners who asked their agent to remove photos keep checking various sites to ensure the images are removed. Buyers who want the images of their new home taken offline should talk to their agent and share their concerns, Reiner said.
Beyond the MLS and its respective IDX feeds, brokers also have to remove listing photos and videos from their own marketing channels, including the websites and social media accounts of the agent and the brokerage, Verducci pointed out.
SERHANT., which bills itself first and foremost as a media company that sells real estate, markets its agents’ listings to millions of followers across multiple social channels such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
“We know where all of that is, so it’s easy for us to remove it if we need to,” Verducci said.
Having to take listing photos offline might frustrate agents who want to use the images in their own marketing—especially for high-end or prestige properties, Verducci said. However, he noted honoring clients’ requests comes with the career territory.
“If you want to show it privately at a listing appointment, that’s probably different, but I think you have to keep in mind that you are here providing a service to buyers and sellers, and their needs (for privacy) should override yours,” Verducci said.
