Photos of property in the UK

Am I allowed to use photos of interesting buildings?

[surfgatinho]

Just got this email. I run a local photo library:

"Dear Sirs
Please remove this image from your website since it is a private house and the photograph was taken from a private garden without permission and the owner does not wish it to be advertised.
Please understand that if it is not removed immediately, the strongest possible legal action will be taken against your website."

Also worthy of noting. The photo was taken at a friends wedding - which is why I was in the garden.

Does he have any legal grounds and if so is there anything stopping me taking another photo from outside the garden?

[surfgatinho]

Just for the record the guy has his own website with at least one photo on. What an idiot?!

[Wonderstuff]

I'm not a legal expert. Usually, the rights to a photo belong to the photographer. There are many sites e.g. tourism sites that display images that strictly speraking they may not have obtained prior permission for.

If you site is not defaming the owner, then on what grounds would legal action be taken?

My advice, however, is remove it. It's always good to get on with your neighbours - and to sleep soundly at night.

[Matt Probert]

If the photo does not contain any recognisable human faces, then the owner of the house can go whistle. He has no legal right to stop you using the photo, so long as you're not micking up a "for sale" advert! <bg>.

Matt

[rogerd]

I wouldn't assume that the property owner has no rights at all. You may run into intellectual property rights (in the US, buildings built after 12/1/1990 are copyrightable), property rights, and privacy rights. So if the photo is recognizable and being used for commercial purposes, e.g., in an advertisement, in some jurisictions they might have a claim. There could also be issues if the house was used in some negative sense, e.g., to illustrate an article titled, "Crack Houses Multiply in Neighborhoods" or "Termite Damage Not Always Obvious". Use of a photo in a legitimate news story is different than use in an advertisement. Here's one link that addresses some, but not all, of the issues involved in taking pictures of buildings: [photosecrets.com...]

Even if I thought I was on 100% solid ground legally, I'd just change or remove the photo. Why annoy someone who could continue to harass you and perhaps end up requiring you to hire an attorney to defend yourself? And if someone uses the photo you took, you could find yourself in the middle of a dispute between your client and the property owner.

[cellularnews]

Difficult one.

While you own the copyright to the photo - the fact that it was taken on private property and is of another property puts you in a difficult situation as you are publishing the image.

If being used for advertising - then the ASA would generally find against you. They recently found that an estate agent using a "generic" photo of an actual house in their promotions for the entire housing estate was a breach of the advertising code.

Also, if you are a publisher, you might come under the remit of the Press Complaints Commission which bans the taking of photos of other properties (and people) from 3rd party private property.

As to legality though - that is a grey area and I don't have any exact examples to quote.

Both the ASA and the PCC are not "legal bodies" - and don't have a legal mandate, but they can make life very difficult if you cross them.

[surfgatinho]

I was pointed to this document on law and photographs:
[sirimo.co.uk...]
which seems to say it's OK.

The photo itself is of a listed building built in 1910 in a reasonably popular tourist destination. It is on website that tries to be as comprehensive as possible about the area and is accompanied by a brief history of the property. So, nothing offensive and the photo was taken when I had permission to be on the property.

I think I'm just going to ignore it. The guys an idiot he has a photo on his own website - maybe I'll agree to remove mine if he does the same just to annoy him!