CRMLS Rule 11.5.2.
How the largest MLS in the United States implements California AB 723 — what Rule 11.5.2 requires, how CRMLS Compliance enforces it, and how SEAREI ships the four deliverables in one delivery.
Stage your next listing in 24 hours.
Create an account, upload photos, and get designer-reviewed staging delivered before your listing appointment. Already have staged photos? The MLS Ready Package is $49 per listing flat.
No credit card required · Designer-reviewed · MLS disclosure package included
CRMLS Rule 11.5.2 (Digitally Altered Images).
The California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS) — the largest MLS in the United States — drafted Rule 11.5.2 in adherence to California AB 723, which took effect January 1, 2026. CRMLS’s published guidance states the operative requirement:
When adding a digitally enhanced image to the MLS, the original, unaltered version must appear in the listing immediately before or after the digitally enhanced image. Clearly label the digitally enhanced image in the photo description text field. Use terms such as “digitally enhanced,” “digitally altered,” or “virtually staged,” etc.
Two obligations follow: the unaltered original must be present in the listing’s image set, positioned immediately adjacent to the altered version, and the altered image must carry a written disclosure in its photo description field. This is CRMLS’s implementation choice; AB 723 itself (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §10140.8) requires a conspicuous disclosure plus a publicly accessible original, and leaves the placement mechanics to each MLS.
What a CRMLS Rule 11.5.2 review looks like.
Per CRMLS’s guidance, a user who violates the rule “will be contacted by CRMLS Compliance to correct the issue as any user would be for any other violation.” CRMLS’s current guidance states that violating the rule “will result in a warning at first and then, if not corrected in a timely manner, a $250 fine” — so brokerages should treat documentation as something they may need to produce on request, not an optional nicety. The underlying state law adds real exposure: a willful AB 723 violation is a crime under California Real Estate Law (Bus. & Prof. Code §10185).
The disclosure wording for this market.
Virtually staged / digitally altered. Original, unaltered image available at the verification URL or via the QR code.
Four concrete deliverables per job.
- Disclosure-labeled export with the digitally altered / virtually staged wording, ready to paste into the CRMLS photo description field and placed on or adjacent to the image.
- Unaltered original retained and hosted at a permanent public URL — so the before/after pair Rule 11.5.2 wants in the listing is always available, even if an image slot is later re-ordered.
- Dated certificate that can’t be quietly changed — an HTML certificate plus a tamper-proof fingerprint of every file, recording the disclosure text, the staging and delivery times, and the job ID.
- A dated record of every change. Every step — upload, label applied, certificate generated, re-rendered after revisions — is saved with a server timestamp and shown on the verification URL, so a CRMLS Compliance officer can see exactly what happened to every image.
CRMLS guidance: CRMLS Knowledge Base — Digitally Altered Image Guidance (FAQs). State law: California Legislative Information — AB 723 (2025–2026).
SEAREI provides compliance workflow tools. This page is not legal advice and is not affiliated with or endorsed by CRMLS. Confirm current rule text and requirements with CRMLS and your brokerage.
Last updated: June 15, 2026 · SEATECHONE LLC
New to the rules? Start with the complete AB 723 guide or the disclosure glossary.
The rule differs board by board. A few related markets to compare — the full list is on the compliance overview: