Estate Agent drone photos - do I have any rights?

[queenrollo]

The property next door to me has gone online today and on viewing the listing there are two photos taken by drone which include my garden and the rear of my property.
The garden shot is greyed over, leaving the house being marketed in colour, but you can zoom in and still see my garden.
The other shot quite clearly shows the rear elevation of my property including my kitchen doors (this is the rear access to the property) and my garage door.
My kitchen door is open, so I was in the garden at the time the drone was up (though I am not visible due to my position) though I was not informed they would be using one.
They have taken these images from the road outside our properties.

Due to very high hedges and tall boundary fences none of this is visible except from the high elevation of a drone.

I am not happy with these images on the listing. I phoned the estate agent to ask they edit or remove them, but it was the end of the day. The person I spoke to said he would speak to the director in the morning. But he basically laughed at me.

I am hoping the director will just agree to edit the photos out of courtesy. But if he doesn't, do I have any legal recourse?
I am most concerned about the photo showing the back doors to be honest.

Yeah - thats a no. No to taking photos of private property (especially areas not visible from the public footpath). Thats a breach of privacy laws. CAA website gives more detail.

"...though I am not visible due to my position"

This is the relevant point. If you had of been eg sunbathing in your back garden and they had published a photo that included your image without blurring you out then you may have grounds to insist that they blurred your image.

In contrast, what you describe is just a photo that also includes your back garden.

Most estate agents use smaller drones that have few regulations as to their use compared to heavier drones. As a result, as long as the drone took off from the public highway or their client's property then there is really nothing that can be done in this situation.

Hate to break it to you but you can see everything you've described on Google earth

isn’t it viable on Google Earth though?!

i checked google earth for comparison and it is so blurry you can’t really even make out where my house ends and my garden starts! And you can legally request your property is obscured on GE too for privacy reasons.
the drone images are very clear.

It’s all a bit unclear legally. From the CAA rules though, they are using these images commercially and that means following CAA and GDPR rules. It could be interpreted that they have breached them.
Hopefully they will agree to blur out my actual house as a courtesy.

My garden yes, though it’s just a blur.
You cannot see the rear elevation of my house and my doors though.

I don't know anything about the legalities of this but could you explain a little about why this bothers you? I'm not saying it shouldn't bother you, would just like to understand what you're worried about.

And I know some people just aren’t bothered about this kind of thing, but I value my privacy and I do find all of this aerial and satellite imagery unsettling.
Ultimately if they are legally within their rights to use the images I will leave it.

I don’t see how GDPR is relevant as you aren’t in the picture.

Partly that rural crime is an issue where I live and now my back door and garage door are clearly visible on the photo.

And I do also have an ongoing antisocial behaviour case against a village resident (not just me affected by this). He will absolutely look at this listing and use the knowledge of the layout of my garden to his advantage.
It really is that clear an image.

I'm not understanding why you're so keen for them to blur out your house... presumably your house is perfectly visible to anyone who is passing by anyway?

I can't see how knowing the layout of your garden will advantage anyone.
Unless it's the size of a national park, the whereabouts of your house (and by definition, your back door) will be perfectly obvious to anyone looking over your hedge.

She's quite clearly said that it isn't.

like pp I was going to mention google earth - it’s good enough to see what type of deck chairs - style and colour we have. So I wouldn’t have thought it was that much of a difference between drone and google earth pictures. Certainly drone footage on estate agents details has been more ‘show the boundaries’ style and it’s been much better to actually use google earth!

But it’s not obvious. The layout of my house is not straightforward due to its age and the back of the property and the garden are completely hidden by a huge hedge, which was here when we bought the property.
This person has trespassed other properties as they are all the same layout.
He hasn’t come into my garden, to my back door, because he didn’t know the layout. If he sees this he will.
There is police involvement so this isn’t just some annoying neighbour.

Just the bit that shows the layout of my back door and rear garage entrance.
It is completely private and I would like it to stay that way.

I couldn’t care less about the front of my house, which is 8ft from the road and often photographed because it’s very old and was a central part of village life until the 1960s.

It does seem slightly excessive; I’d just leave it if I were you as I don’t think you have much of a chance legally. Even if someone knows where your back door is, I’m not sure why that’d be an issue. If someone can find the front of your house, surely they’d be able to find the back if they really wanted to anyway. I just think maybe you’re overthinking this a little but I understand privacy is obviously a big thing for you

Have a look on Bing maps. I can guarantee there's a clear view of your property which can be revolved through 360 degrees. Sorry but you're being ridiculous.

I have had three years of hell with an antisocial neighbour, so my desire for peace and privacy is definitely heightened.

I am not pushing this any further than requesting they alter the image. They will either do it out of courtesy or they won’t.

I just wanted to know where I stood legally.

Not a leg to apparently.

Actually there isn’t. It’s an overview of the village, which can’t be zoomed in so you can’t even tell which is my house.

But whatever. I just came to see where stood legally. I have my answer.

Legally they have done nothing wrong, they don't need to change anything.

Have you explained the security/police issue to the estate agent? They might be more inclined to help if they thought it was someone in fear for their safety rather then just someone being weird and paranoid. Wording as you have had security issue in the past and don't want views of the rear access to your house online. Please could they use a different angle or blank your property out etc. Perhaps calling them rather then emailing?

I haven't heard of bing maps so looked at my house and the quality is terrible, I can't zoom in very much at all and there's no way anyone could get any information about my back garden

A clear view it is definitely not

I haven’t, but the person I spoke to said the director would phone me tomorrow so I will see what they say.
On that particular photo they only need to crop the edge of the photo out.
I would be happy with that even if the one of my garden had to stay.

Hopefully the director of the agency will be happy to crop the picture when the situation has been explained.