Terms used here: MLS is a property listing system. Disclosure means telling people a photo was edited. Check the source dates and your local board’s current rules.
Halifax listings run on the NSAR MLS®, whose Rule 3.20(a) allows virtual staging for existing homes when the words 'virtually staged' are on the photo. Local photographers add staging for $30 to $60 a room on a day's turnaround; physical staging of a vacant home starts around $1,900 plus $900 a month.
Sedam Staging is built in Halifax and burns the NSAR wording into every listing image by default.
Stage a Halifax listing — free The NS rule in fullUnder Nova Scotia Real Estate Commission and the Nova Scotia Association of REALTORS®. The full text, quoted, is on the Nova Scotia page.
| Tell buyers what changed | RequiredOn the photo itself: NSAR Rule 3.20(a) requires the word 'virtually staged' prominently displayed on every rendering. No remarks-line rule, but By-law 759 makes an undisclosed staged photo 'reasonably capable of misleading'. Source |
|---|---|
| Label on the image | YesThe words 'virtually staged', prominently, on the photo. Rule 3.22 bans any other text on listing images, so the label is the sanctioned exception. Source |
| Original photo | No specific rule foundNeither the NSAR rules, the by-law nor the Advertising Requirements require an unaltered original. Sedam Staging ships one with every listing anyway. |
| Changes that are not allowed | ProhibitedNo falsely manipulated photos (3.20); no views that are not physically possible, no removed power lines, water towers or highways (3.20(c)); only personal property may be added or replaced (3.20(b)); NSREC: 'changing permanent features or misrepresenting the property is not' allowed. Source |
Published local prices, read September 2, 2026. Physical staging is priced per month; virtual staging per photo or per room.
Sedam adds a Virtually staged label to listing images, keeps your original and checks each result. Compare both photos before posting. See images that failed the check.
The words 'virtually staged' prominently on the photo (NSAR Rule 3.20(a)), nothing else written on the image (Rule 3.22), and no edits to anything the owner does not control, such as views or power lines (Rule 3.20(c)).
Published local prices run $30 to $60 a room for virtual staging through photographers and about $1,900 plus $900 a month for physical staging of a vacant home.
How this page was made. Each quotation was read at the linked source on September 2, 2026; our confidence that it is current and complete is high (every quotation is from the primary PDF text; the NSAR rules file is member-hosted, so cite it as the NSAR MLS® Rules & Regulations, October 9, 2025). Rules change and boards add policies; the linked documents are the authority, and this is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Spotted a change? Tell us and we will fix the page.