How to control who sees what when you sell

The answer, straight away

When you sell you can decide in advance which information goes out, to whom, and in what order. This is not a favour from the agent: it is a clause in the instruction.

Three levels work. The first circulates freely among professionals. The second opens once the buyer is qualified. The third is only seen at the viewing.

What sits in the first level

Approximate area, type, rough size, price band, and a detail photograph that does not identify the property.

Enough for a colleague to know whether they have the right buyer, without telling them which house it is.

What sits in the second

Interior photographs, floor plan, age and condition, running costs, asking price. Still without the exact address where discretion is high.

It opens after means are verified and the confidentiality agreement is signed, in that order.

What sits in the third

Address, documents, everything else. At the viewing.

The four clauses to put in the instruction

Four lines, and they change the owner's position entirely.

That the property cannot be published on any portal or social channel without written authorisation.

That the photographs remain the seller's and cannot be passed to other intermediaries.

That the address is not disclosed before the buyer is qualified.

That the agent reports in writing, at an agreed interval, who the property has been shown to.

The last one is the one nobody asks for and the most useful: knowing who has seen your house is how you notice in time if it is circulating where it should not.

What happens when nothing is decided in advance

Photographs end up in a group chat and do not come back. The property is recognised from the view. The price reaches the neighbour, and from then on it is the price everybody knows.

None of this is bad faith. It happens because it was never prohibited.

A case

An owner discovered photographs of their house had appeared online without authorisation. They were removed and the arrangement was rebuilt: nothing recognisable in circulation, and written reporting of who received the information.

The problem was not the damage. It was that the rule did not exist, so nobody had broken it.

What to ask before signing

Who will receive the information, in what form, and how you will know. If the agent has no ready answer, you are writing that answer together now, and this is the right moment.