To think estate agents/ their photographers should tidy up a bit?

Absolutely not! They are photographers not cleaners. Totally the responsibility of the seller.

It’s the home owners responsibility. If they want to present it as a mess then that’s on them. It’s not go to the photographer to fix.

Whoever asked them to go in should have done all that first.

I know what you mean OP. I feel really sorry when I see the photos of some places where it’s obvious it’s been an elderly infirm person’s home.

He really should have got a professional cleaner and put in some personal effort

You can't expect an EA to do it. Although, perhaps its a service they could offer. At a price naturally....

Not EA's job but family could have organised a cleaner before having photos taken.

It is the vendor's job to tidy the house. In this case, a relative. If they want the best price, then clear the house and 'stage' it, etc.
Hire cleaners, etc
if the elderly person has gone into a Care Home, then I presume the proceeds from the sale will be used to pay for her care.
Even if you live at a distance, I would expect (in this case a relative), to travel, possibly to sort through important papers, etc, and then hire a clearance - see the other thread.
We had to do this for my elderly mother when she went into a Care Home.

Living at a distance doesn't stop him travelling to his mothers house though.

It's unreasonable to ask estate agents and their photographers to dispose of rubbish. There could be any kind of waste in there! Also what's the point of doing that without wiping the sides down. If you wipe the sides you may aswell wipe the cupboards.... see how it can just snowball?

It's likely that the house is in a highly desirable location and the sellers wanted a quick sale. So rubbish on the kitchen counter or not its gonna sell for what it's priced at.

If the people selling the house want to get the money from the sale and the most they can from it, they’ll make the effort to clean/tidy or pay someone to do it.

£300 to a cleaner to blitz the place to achieve a 6 figure sale is a no brainer.

I’m an agent and we do this!

The photographs are for the benefit of the vendor and the purchaser. Not the neighbours.

Some Agents (like me) will include a home tidying and styling service so the house looks its best for photos and viewings. But like anything in life you get what you pay for. A cheap agent won’t do this.

And some sellers don’t want to pay more for a better service that will help sell their home faster and for more. they just choose the agent with the cheapest fee! It’s a false economy though.

I'm sure some people would be appalled at estate agents touching their belongings. They could also be accused of theft if something is moved or thrown away in the rubbish.

It's not the estate agent's job, but having said that the estate agent taking photos of our flat ready to sell spent a lot of time moving lights, rearranging accessories and even shifting some of the furniture etc so that he could get the best possible pictures. My sister used the same estate agent and the guy taking the photos was more junior and in and out in ten minutes flat.

Who needs to be advised of that? The son will know it needs to be tidy for a quick sale but clearly Cba as he hasn’t employed a cleaner to go in first. No one needs to be told to make their bed before it hits right move

its not their job and they have enough to do. i do see a lot of photos which are awful but yes i agree relatives should sort it out or get a company in to clean if they cannot

Yes, it’s their job, but the agent should have advised them to do it. As in, do an hour’s tidying to get a quicker sale.

YABU

It’s always on the homeowners to do so. Photographers and real estate agents don’t and shouldn’t.

We’re putting ours on the market and DH had the photographer coming by assuming it would be fine as is and thought it could be finish over a weekend. Not only could we not with the kids around, but we have a three floor home and a lot of clutter. Photographer came earlier than expected (DH got the time wrong!) and gave us some tips. I bit my tongue not to tell DH off in front of the photographer because he was trying to tell the guy how to do his job. He loves looking at houses and seems to think he is an expert 🙄. Been spending most of the week decluttering and continuing to sell stuff off (been selling stuff off for months now).

It’s a lot of work so unless you plan on going over yourself and helping your elderly neighbour and her son out who is likely busy trying to sort things out for his mum, you need to keep your opinions to yourself.

To be fair that would be good.

It could be a good service for the estate agents to offer a "photo ready" cleaning and housekeeping service in conjunction with a local cleaning firm.

Her son should have booked cleaners to go in and do all that if he wasn’t able to do it himself. It’s no the EA or photographer’s job.

Sounds like the son couldn’t be bothered as he must have given the EA’s the key.

I've seen some awful examples of messy homes for sale on EA advertising and have wondered if the agents suggest tactfully that before photos are taken it is advisable to unclutter and make rooms presentable. This could be done a few days prior to the photographer's appointment. Maybe it IS suggested but folk are too lazy or not interested. No idea.. but it's certainly not the agents responsibility as everyone here has agreed.

It’s definitely not their job. But they should have been in contact with someone for the keys and access (the son?) and they should have recommended a professional clean. Maybe they did and it was ignored by relatives. Shame for the lady.

No I don't think that is their job.Maybe this home staging should become a thing. It is in some countries.