Terms of Business
1. Who this applies to
These terms cover image and video work, social media management, website builds and on-site support, between Darius Christ, Georg-Kerschensteiner-Strasse 42, 81829 Munich, Germany ("the producer") and the client.
The service is offered to businesses only — real estate agents, brokerages, developers, property managers and real estate photographers. No contract is formed with private individuals. Because of this, the consumer withdrawal rights under EU distance-selling law do not apply.
2. What is being produced
Four services, bookable separately or together:
a) Image, video and visualisation — virtual home staging, refurnishing, renovation, decluttering, image optimisation, exterior visualisation, listing videos and virtual tour videos, made from photographs the client supplies. Under German law a Werkvertrag (contract for work, §§ 631 ff. BGB): a defined result is owed.
b) Social media management — ongoing posts and replies. A Dienstvertrag (contract for services, §§ 611 ff. BGB) as a continuing obligation: the agreed activity is owed, not a given level of reach, engagement or enquiries.
c) Websites — design and build to the agreed page count. A Werkvertrag with acceptance under section 8.
d) On-site support — viewings, open houses and shoots at the property, on the client's instruction. A Dienstvertrag.
Generative AI is used for the image and video work. Rooms may be furnished, surfaces changed and objects removed. Such changes deliberately do not depict the actual condition of the property. They are labelled under section 7, and the client must keep that label when publishing.
On-site work is showing and reporting, nothing more. Receiving viewers, showing the property, noting questions and passing them on in writing. Brokering, advising on the transaction, and any negotiation of price or terms are expressly outside these terms — the agency agreement, the advice and the commission stay with the client, and no licence under § 34c GewO is required for the producer's part.
Not included unless separately agreed: drone footage, floor plans, walkable 3D tours, listing copywriting, publication to portals, paid advertising, and any marketing or sales outcome.
3. Scope, timing and what you supply
Standard scope: one listing video of 45 to 60 seconds, delivered in 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1, plus one revision round.
The 48-hour figure for the first cut refers to business days and starts only once complete photographs and all required information have been received.
You supply at least twelve photographs at adequate resolution. Delays caused by incomplete or late material extend the deadline accordingly.
A revision round means your consolidated feedback in one pass. Further rounds are charged by effort. The producer quotes the price before carrying them out; without your agreement no additional fee arises.
4. What you confirm when you commission
You confirm that you hold all rights needed for the work, and in particular the right of adaptation (§ 23 UrhG) covering conversion of the photographs into moving image, and the right to pass that on to the producer. Usage rights in property photography commonly sit with the photographer and do not automatically extend to video adaptation. This is the single most frequently overlooked point in this business.
You confirm that any consents required from identifiable individuals are in place, and that the owner of the property agrees to publication.
You confirm the photographs contain no personal data unnecessary for marketing — no identifiable individuals, vehicle plates, name plates, documents or third-party personal belongings.
You indemnify the producer against third-party claims arising from a breach of these confirmations.
5. Rights in the result — read this one
German copyright (§ 2 (2) UrhG) requires a personal intellectual creation. Purely machine-generated elements therefore attract no copyright protection in Germany, and the US Copyright Office reaches a comparable result: material without human authorship is not registrable. No exclusive rights can be granted in those elements, by anyone.
Where the selection, arrangement, pacing and treatment do reflect the producer's own creative decisions, and to the extent that neighbouring rights in moving images (§ 95 UrhG) exist, you receive on full payment an unlimited, non-exclusive licence in time and territory, for marketing the property concerned and for your own brand presentation.
Rights in the supplied photographs remain with their respective owners and are unaffected.
The producer may use the work as a portfolio reference once you have consented to that work in text form. You may withdraw the consent at any time with effect for the future.
6. Music
Music is sourced from licensed catalogues. On request the producer will tell you the source and the scope of the licence.
Important for you: the audio libraries built into Instagram, TikTok and comparable platforms are licensed for personal use. A brokerage promoting a listing is acting commercially, which requires a separate licence. In Germany this produced a wave of four-figure demands in 2025; US collecting-society and sync-licensing rules differ in mechanism but are no more permissive. Using platform audio yourself is at your own risk.
Responsibility for lawful publication in your chosen channel, including the music, rests with you.
7. AI disclosure
Every delivery includes a label identifying the video as AI-assisted, plus a short written note recording which images were used and what was changed.
Under Article 50(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the disclosure duty for artificially generated or manipulated image, audio and video content falls on the deployer — the party putting the content to use and publishing it. These obligations have applied since 2 August 2026. Note that the producer is established in the EU, so the AI Act applies to this work irrespective of where you are based.
You agree to keep the supplied labelling in place on publication, and to check your own MLS, brokerage and platform requirements yourself. If you remove the labelling, the resulting risk is yours alone.
8. Acceptance
After delivery of the final files you have ten business days to accept the work or notify defects in writing. If you do not respond within that period the work is deemed accepted; you will be reminded of this consequence on delivery.
Acceptance may not be refused on grounds of taste. Not liking the result does not reduce the fee. Using the work, in particular publishing it, counts as acceptance.
9. Fees and invoicing
The prices shown on the website at the time of commissioning apply, or those in a separate quotation.
All prices are net and subject to statutory German VAT, currently 19 %, which is shown separately on every invoice. If the statutory rate changes, the new rate applies to work delivered after the change.
For business clients established in another EU member state the reverse-charge mechanism applies under § 13b UStG; the client supplies its VAT identification number before invoicing. For clients in third countries no German VAT is charged.
Invoices are payable without deduction within 14 days of the invoice date.
The free sample cut is a one-off, unpaid introduction. There is no entitlement to it and the producer may decline without giving reasons.
10. Defects
In case of defects the producer has the right to remedy first.
A defect means a deviation from the agreed scope, or the depiction of property features not present in the supplied photographs. Not defects: quality limits caused by the source material — blurred, badly or very unevenly exposed, or low-resolution photographs.
11. Liability
Unlimited liability for intent and gross negligence, and for injury to life, body or health. For ordinary negligence, liability arises only on breach of a material contractual duty and is limited to foreseeable damage typical of this type of contract.
No liability is accepted for the lawfulness of your publication of the work — including compliance with portal, platform, MLS or professional rules — or for rights in the photographs you supply.
12. Data protection and confidentiality
The privacy notice applies. It is in German; ask if you would like the substance explained.
Because the producer is established in the EU, the GDPR applies to this work regardless of where you are based. Photographs you send are processed under it.
Most of the work happens locally, using Adobe Photoshop and DaVinci Resolve among others; nothing is transmitted in that step. For generative production steps the image material is sent to providers of generative image and video models established in the United States; the transfer relies on the standard contractual clauses under Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Only property material without personal data is put through these services. Shots showing people, name plates, licence plates or personal documents are removed or obscured beforehand and processed locally only; you supply the material in that form where you can. Details are in the German privacy notice.
Unpublished property material is treated as confidential and deleted after completion unless otherwise agreed.
13. Governing law
German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Place of jurisdiction for merchants is Munich.
If any provision is invalid, the remainder stays in force.
In case of any discrepancy between this English summary and the German AGB, the German text governs.
Version: 2 September 2026. Changes apply only to contracts concluded after the change.