Acceptable Use Policy

 
This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) establishes the rules and requirements governing the use of the virtual staging, virtual renovation, image enhancement, AI-assisted image generation, and related services (collectively, the “Services”) provided by Virtual Staging Ottawa (collectively referred to in this Privacy Policy as “we”, “us” or “our”).
This Policy applies to all Clients, users, customers, real estate professionals, home builders, developers, property marketers, and other persons or organizations using our Services (“Client”, “you”, or “your”).
By accessing or using our Services, you agree to comply with this Acceptable Use Policy, our Terms and Conditions, our Privacy Policy, and all applicable laws and regulations.
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1. Purpose of This Policy
Our Services are designed to help real estate professionals, home builders, developers, and property marketers create professional visual representations of properties for legitimate marketing and presentation purposes.
The purpose of this Policy is to ensure that the Services are used:
• Lawfully;
• Honestly;
• Responsibly;
• Respectfully;
• In accordance with applicable real estate advertising requirements;
• In a manner that respects intellectual property and privacy rights; and
• In a manner that does not mislead consumers.
We reserve the right to refuse, suspend, modify, or terminate Services where we reasonably believe that the Services are being used in violation of this Policy or applicable law.
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2. Permitted Uses
Subject to these Terms, the Services may be used for legitimate purposes including:
• Virtually staging vacant residential properties;
• Creating alternative interior design concepts;
• Showing potential furniture arrangements;
• Creating marketing images for new homes;
• Presenting design possibilities to prospective home buyers;
• Creating virtual landscaping concepts;
• Creating renovation visualization concepts;
• Enhancing property marketing photographs;
• Creating social media content for legitimate property marketing;
• Preparing brochures and promotional materials;
• Marketing homes for sale or lease;
• Presenting design concepts for new construction projects.
All uses must remain truthful, lawful, and consistent with applicable advertising and real estate requirements.
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3. Accurate Property Representation
Virtual staging images are intended to enhance the presentation of a property.
They must not be used to intentionally create a materially false or deceptive representation of a property.
Clients must not use our Services to falsely represent:
• The size of a room;
• The dimensions of a property;
• The number of rooms;
• The number of bathrooms;
• The property’s structural layout;
• The location of doors or windows;
• The existence of permanent fixtures;
• The condition of the property;
• The availability of amenities;
• The condition or existence of landscaping;
• The existence of renovations that have not been completed;
• The existence of construction features that do not exist;
• The location or characteristics of the property.
Virtual staging should generally enhance or illustrate the potential appearance of a property rather than falsely represent its actual physical condition.
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4. No Fraudulent Property Marketing
You must not use our Services to create fraudulent or deceptive property listings.
Prohibited activities include using generated images to:
• Advertise a property that does not exist;
• Create fake property listings;
• Impersonate a property owner, realtor, brokerage, builder, or developer;
• Misrepresent ownership of a property;
• Misrepresent the availability of a property;
• Mislead potential buyers or tenants;
• Conceal material defects where disclosure is required;
• Falsely advertise renovations;
• Falsely advertise construction status;
• Create fake real estate advertisements;
• Facilitate real estate fraud.
The Company may refuse Services if a request appears to facilitate fraudulent activity.
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5. Structural and Architectural Misrepresentation
Clients must not intentionally use the Services to create images that materially misrepresent the physical structure of a property.
Examples of prohibited uses include intentionally creating images that falsely show:
• Additional bedrooms;
• Additional bathrooms;
• Larger rooms;
• Additional floors;
• Different building footprints;
• Additional windows;
• Different entrances;
• Different property boundaries;
• Structural additions that do not exist;
• Major architectural features that do not exist.
Conceptual renovation images may be permitted where they are clearly presented as concepts, proposals, renderings, or future possibilities.
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6. Virtual Renovation and Construction Concepts
Virtual renovation and design visualization may be used to illustrate potential future improvements.
However, Clients must not present a conceptual image as proof that:
• Construction has been completed;
• A renovation has been approved;
• A permit has been obtained;
• A feature is legally permitted;
• A product or material has actually been installed;
• A building meets a particular building code;
• An architect or engineer has approved the design.
Where appropriate, Clients should clearly identify conceptual or proposed images as such.
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7. Virtual Landscaping
Virtual landscaping images may be used to demonstrate potential landscaping concepts.
Clients must not represent a virtual landscaping image as confirmation that:
• The landscaping has been installed;
• A particular plant is guaranteed to survive;
• A particular plant is permitted at the property;
• A particular landscape design complies with municipal requirements;
• Underground utilities or other site conditions have been verified;
• Drainage requirements have been satisfied;
• Construction or landscaping work has been completed.
Clients should obtain appropriate professional advice before implementing landscaping or construction concepts.
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8. Copyright and Intellectual Property
You may only upload photographs, floor plans, drawings, logos, designs, or other materials that you own or are legally authorized to use.
You must not upload materials that infringe the intellectual property rights of another person or organization.
Prohibited activities include uploading:
• Copyrighted photographs without permission;
• Professional real estate photographs without authorization;
• Photographs obtained from another brokerage without permission;
• Architectural drawings without authorization;
• Builder or developer materials without permission;
• Stock images without an appropriate licence;
• Logos or trademarks without authorization;
• Images copied from websites without permission.
You are responsible for obtaining all necessary rights and licences.
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9. Privacy and Personal Information
You must not use the Services to unlawfully collect, process, disclose, or distribute personal information.
Before uploading photographs containing identifiable individuals, you must ensure that you have the appropriate authorization, consent, or other lawful basis required by applicable law.
You should avoid uploading unnecessary personal information.
Examples of information that should generally not be included unless necessary include:
• Government identification;
• Passport information;
• Driver’s licence information;
• Credit-card information;
• Banking information;
• Medical information;
• Passwords;
• Private correspondence;
• Confidential documents.
If a property photograph unintentionally contains sensitive information, you should remove or obscure it before uploading the photograph whenever reasonably possible.
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10. Personal Information in Property Images
Real estate and property photographs may unintentionally contain personal information such as:
• Family photographs;
• Children’s photographs;
• Names;
• Mail;
• Packages;
• Documents;
• Vehicle license plates;
• Personal correspondence;
• Computer screens;
• Security information.
Clients should review photographs before uploading them and remove or obscure unnecessary personal information where reasonably practical.
The Company may process such information when it is incidentally contained within an uploaded image, but Clients remain responsible for determining whether they have appropriate authority to submit the photograph.
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11. Prohibited Personal Data Processing
You must not intentionally use our Services to process sensitive personal information for unrelated purposes.
The Services must not be used to:
• Identify private individuals;
• Track individuals;
• Profile individuals for discriminatory purposes;
• Analyze a person’s private characteristics;
• Generate unauthorized facial recognition information;
• Create unauthorized identity documents;
• Process personal information for unlawful surveillance;
• Expose private information about another person.
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12. AI-Generated Content
The Client acknowledges that our Services may use AI-assisted technologies.
AI-generated images may occasionally contain:
• Visual inconsistencies;
• Incorrect details;
• Distorted objects;
• Unexpected architectural changes;
• Incorrect proportions;
• Inaccurate materials;
• Unintended objects;
• Other visual artifacts.
Clients are responsible for reviewing generated images before publication.
You must not knowingly use an obviously inaccurate AI-generated image in a manner intended to deceive consumers.
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13. Prohibited AI Manipulation
You must not use the Services to create deceptive visual evidence.
Prohibited activities include generating images intended to falsely show:
• Completed construction;
• Completed renovations;
• Existing property features;
• Actual furniture or appliances;
• Actual landscaping;
• Actual property conditions;
• Actual construction progress;
• Actual damage or repairs;
• Actual photographs of events that never occurred.
Conceptual images may be permitted when appropriately identified as conceptual or illustrative.
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14. No Deceptive Before-and-After Comparisons
Clients must not create misleading before-and-after comparisons.
If an image represents a proposed or conceptual transformation, it should not be presented as evidence that the depicted work has actually been completed.
Clients should clearly distinguish between:
Actual property photograph
and
Virtually staged, digitally altered, proposed, or conceptual image.
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15. Real Estate Advertising Compliance
Clients are responsible for complying with all applicable laws, regulations, professional requirements, brokerage policies, listing-service rules, and advertising standards.
This may include requirements applicable to:
• Realtors;
• Real estate brokerages;
• Home builders;
• Developers;
• Property managers;
• Sales representatives;
• Advertising platforms;
• Real estate listing services.
The Company does not determine whether a particular image requires a disclosure in a specific listing or advertising environment.
Clients are responsible for determining whether virtual staging disclosures are required.
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16. Discrimination and Protected Characteristics
The Services must not be used to create discriminatory or unlawful advertising.
You must not use the Services to create property marketing content that unlawfully discriminates against individuals based on protected characteristics under applicable Canadian or Ontario law.
Examples may include discriminatory statements or imagery concerning:
• Race;
• Color;
• Ethnic origin;
• Place of origin;
• Citizenship;
• Religion;
• Sex;
• Sexual orientation;
• Gender identity or expression;
• Disability;
• Age;
• Family status;
• Marital status;
• Other characteristics protected by applicable law.
The Company may refuse requests that appear to facilitate unlawful discrimination.
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17. Illegal Activities
You must not use the Services to facilitate, promote, plan, or participate in unlawful activities.
Prohibited activities include:
• Fraud;
• Identity theft;
• Money laundering;
• Theft;
• Harassment;
• Extortion;
• Blackmail;
• Unlawful surveillance;
• Unauthorized access to computer systems;
• Copyright infringement;
• Trademark infringement;
• Privacy violations;
• Deceptive advertising;
• Other unlawful activities.
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18. Harmful or Abusive Content
You must not use the Services to create or distribute content intended to:
• Harass;
• Threaten;
• Intimidate;
• Defame;
• Exploit;
• Humiliate;
• Abuse;
• Incite violence against another person.
The Company may refuse requests that present a reasonable risk of harm or abuse.
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19. Malware and Security Abuse
You must not use our website, systems, accounts, or Services to:
• Upload malware;
• Upload viruses;
• Distribute malicious code;
• Attempt unauthorized access;
• Circumvent authentication;
• Probe or scan our systems without authorization;
• Attack our infrastructure;
• Interfere with the operation of the Services;
• Attempt to access another Client’s data;
• Circumvent security controls.
You must not attempt to reverse engineer, compromise, disrupt, or interfere with our systems or third-party systems used to provide the Services.
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20. Automated Abuse
You must not use automated systems, scripts, bots, crawlers, or other tools to excessively access or abuse our Services unless expressly authorized by us.
Prohibited activities may include:
• Excessive automated image submissions;
• Automated account creation;
• Scraping;
• Circumventing usage limits;
• Attempting to overload our systems;
• Automated extraction of other Clients’ information.
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21. Account Security
If you have an account with us, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials.
You must:
• Use a reasonably secure password;
• Keep login credentials confidential;
• Notify us if you believe your account has been compromised;
• Avoid sharing account credentials with unauthorized persons.
You are responsible for activities conducted through your account unless caused by circumstances outside your reasonable control.
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22. Commercial Misuse
You may use completed images according to the licence granted under our Terms and Conditions.
Unless expressly authorized, you must not:
• Resell our Services;
• Resell access to our platform;
• Provide third parties with unauthorized access to your account;
• Use our Services to create a competing virtual staging platform;
• Reverse engineer our proprietary workflows;
• Copy our website or branding;
• Copy our proprietary templates or systems;
• Remove copyright or ownership notices where applicable.
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23. Misuse of Generated Images
You must not use generated images in a manner that suggests that:
• The Company owns or sells the property;
• The Company guarantees the property’s condition;
• The Company has inspected the property;
• The Company has approved construction;
• The Company has certified architectural or engineering compliance;
• The Company guarantees the accuracy of the depicted property.
Unless separately agreed in writing, the Client is responsible for the final use and publication of generated images.
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24. Third-Party Rights
You must not use our Services to infringe or violate the rights of third parties.
This includes:
• Copyright;
• Trademark rights;
• Privacy rights;
• Personality or publicity rights;
• Confidentiality rights;
• Contractual rights;
• Property rights;
• Other applicable legal rights.
If you receive a complaint regarding material submitted to or generated through the Services, you must cooperate reasonably with our investigation.
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25. Client Responsibility for Uploaded Materials
You are responsible for all materials you upload or submit through our Services.
You represent and warrant that you have the necessary rights and permissions to provide those materials to us.
The Company is not responsible for determining whether a Client has lawful authority to upload a photograph, property image, floor plan, logo, or other material.
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26. Company Right to Refuse Content
We reserve the right, but do not assume an obligation, to refuse, limit, modify, suspend, or terminate Services where we reasonably believe that:
• A request violates this Policy;
• A request violates applicable law;
• A request infringes third-party rights;
• A request may facilitate fraud;
• A request may create significant legal or reputational risk;
• A request involves prohibited content;
• A request could compromise the security of our Services.
We are not required to provide detailed reasons where doing so could compromise security, privacy, or abuse-prevention measures.
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27. Reporting Violations
If you believe that another user is violating this Acceptable Use Policy, you may report the matter to us.
Reports may be submitted to:
Email: daniel@virtualstagingottawa.com

Where appropriate, we may investigate reported violations.
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28. Enforcement
Depending on the circumstances, violations of this Policy may result in:
• A warning;
• Request for corrective action;
• Removal or rejection of submitted content;
• Suspension of an account;
• Suspension of Services;
• Termination of an account;
• Cancellation of an order;
• Refusal to provide future Services;
• Disclosure to appropriate authorities where required or legally permitted.
We may take immediate action where reasonably necessary to protect our users, systems, business, or third parties.
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29. No Guarantee of Availability
The Company does not guarantee uninterrupted access to the Services.
Services may be temporarily unavailable due to:
• Maintenance;
• Software updates;
• Third-party service outages;
• AI provider availability;
• Internet disruptions;
• Security incidents;
• Technical failures;
• Circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
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30. Relationship With Terms and Conditions
This Acceptable Use Policy forms part of the Company’s Terms and Conditions.
If there is a conflict between this Policy and the Company’s Terms and Conditions, the Terms and Conditions will generally govern unless this Policy specifically addresses the matter.
The Company may update this Policy from time to time.
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31. Changes to This Policy
We may modify this Acceptable Use Policy periodically to reflect:
• Changes to our Services;
• Changes in technology;
• Changes in applicable law;
• Changes in industry practices;
• Changes to our security requirements.
The current version will be posted on our website with the applicable effective date.
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32. Governing Law
This Acceptable Use Policy is governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the applicable laws of Canada.
Subject to applicable law, disputes relating to this Policy will be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Ontario having appropriate jurisdiction.
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33. Contact Information
Questions regarding this Acceptable Use Policy may be directed to:
Virtual Staging Ottawa
Ontario, Canada
Email: daniel@virtualstagingottawa.com
Website: virtualstagingottawa.com
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34. Acceptance
By accessing or using our Services, submitting property photographs, requesting virtual staging, uploading materials, approving generated images, or otherwise using our platform, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to comply with this Acceptable Use Policy.
Effective Date: Jun 12, 2026
Last Updated: Aug 25, 2026